Voice Overism – The easy way to riches …sort of…..

On Thursday 14th May 2008 I spent the morning flying over the county of Morayshire on the north east coast of Scotland in a Cessna C172, very nice it was too! I got home at around 2pm and took Jazz my two year old Border Collie for a walk along the beach at Portgordon, the place I have called home for about 6 years. Following a light lunch I then spent a few hours in my Wee Huttie which was the name given to my voice over booth by a friend’s 8 year old twin daughters Chloe and Charlotte. The time spent working earned me a 4 figure sum for reading out loud.

Before shutting up shop I checked my emails. Victoria wrote and told me that a commercial I voiced about a year ago was going to be used once more by the client and she gave me a purchase order number so I could invoice the company and get paid. The aeroplane is parked at RAF Kinloss and I get my tea and coffee at no cost so my day was very much in the spirit of Dire Straits – Money for nothing and my drinks for free.

Talk to any Voice Overist in the UK and the USA and you’ll discover that every day for them is very similar to my Thursday. WHO SHOUTED “NO”? WHO SWORE? It’s true I tell you, I am SO being honest about ……………

Deep breath, here goes. Out of 100 people who set out on the road to Voice Over heaven, 95 will not make a cent let alone make a profit. If as a Voice Overist you are earning $50,000 per year you are doing extremely well and if like the book promises “Y’all kin make millions with your voice” you are one of no more than a dozen people. Why on earth are you bothering? Why would anyone bother? I don’t know but if you want to make a living as a Voice Overist you better be sure you know.

If being a VO was a criminal offence in the USA Philip Banks could not get arrested. Agents in LA, New York and Chicago on hearing my name would shrug their shoulders and say “Who?” Quite rightly so. As recently as last Sunday my voice was being broadcast on TV across the USA …………..No one cares. Why would they?

The first major date in US President Obama’s diary was a speech at the world economic forum in Davos. The voice promoting the TV coverage? The voice doing the show intro. A fat bald bloke in Portgordon, Morayshire, Scotland. Perhaps if you stand close to me some of my greatness will rub off, try it.

Here in the UK there are a number of VOs with ISDN home studios who spend all day every day doing sessions for local radio commercial producers. Each session takes around 15 minutes and pays roughly $30. Without breaking a sweat $100,000 pa is easily achieved but like the numbers I stated earlier some don’t do as well, most don’t do as well. I know one man who signed with the same London agent as me, set up his ISDN home studio and in 12 months earned $200. Why on earth are you bothering? Why would anyone bother? I don’t know but if you want to make a living as a Voice Overist you better be sure you know.

In the USA there appears to be the audition culture, everything requires an audition, even jobs without the real reward for getting through to win first prize.
Daniel Radcliffe auditioned for Harry Potter, he’s now worth around $40,000,000, that was worth his time and effort. Yesterday I was asked to audition for a job paying $25 per finished minute. The person who requested the audition said “well that’s the way the market is going” – It’s only going that way because you’re allowing it to go that way me old matey. Be polite when responding to an audition request for a dud job. All you have to say is, thanks for the opportunity but the fee is no where near enough to make it worth my time.

As far as I can tell there are two ways of doing VO work and making it pay. You pile it high and sell it cheap or like a Rolls Royce dealer you only sell a few cars a year but boy is it worth it. The trouble is that using either approach you’ll discover that there simply isn’t enough work for everyone. Subscribing to the so-called “pay to play” sites will not solve the problem, getting an agent in every city will not solve the problem, marketing yourself internationally won’t solve the problem, networking, blogging, Twittering, Facebooking and kidnapping the children of a major TV network executive won’t solve the problem. All these things will give you a radar image but be sure that people, people with work for you, see you as someone with something to say not someone with something to sell – No one likes being networked so don’t do it. All you have to do is be you. Do it for no other reason than it’s easier!

Out there in the big wide world of VO you’ll hear people say that it is REALLY competitive. If you are selling a voice, that’s true but if you’re selling you and your voice you have no competition. In the VO market there is one Philip Banks and I get all his work.

If you say “I am a VO” all you have to do is get the market to agree with you. It’s not easy to get that agreement but well worth the effort.