Voice over blog with useful information and strategies on the business of voice over, the voiceover industry, how to get voice-over clients, how to grow your voice-over business, voice over marketing, professional development, personal development, and more.
For a list of recommended industry blogs, click here.
It's no secret. Actors historically are notoriously bad business people. We just are.
And statistically, we're even bad at booking work, something that we're supposed to be able to do as part of the job.
Even elite voice actors book maybe 5 to 10 out of every 100 auditions they do. And chances are you're booking way less than that. And today I'm going to teach you why.
Read MoreLet's face it. There's a lot of B.S. and myths out there about becoming a voice over actor, a professional VO actor, and about the voiceover industry in general. And sadly, a lot of this bullshit is put out by snake oil salesman, so-called coaches in this business who will fleece you from your money or pick your pocket. And I'm not being disingenuous.
So today we're going to bust the top seven myths about becoming a pro voice actor. And we're going to set the record straight.
Read MoreToday, a fascinating discussion with the CEO of UK-based Voquent, one of the major voiceover service providers globally about their recent stand against AI. It's an especially strong stand in the context of the ones that the other providers have taken in recent months, and we talked to Miles Chicoine today about that stance. Miles has got some amazing insights, some really interesting insights about AI and how it's affecting both the voiceover industry and the world at large. This is our chat with Voquent CEO Miles Chicoine.
Read MoreHere, today, right now, those developing generative AI are threatening to put a lot of us out of work. In October of 2020, the World Economic Forum said that while AI would likely take away 85 million jobs globally by 2025 (and we’re more than halfway there, by the way), it would also generate 97 million new jobs in fields ranging from big data and machine learning to information security and digital marketing.
But here’s the thing: The jobs it’s taking away aren’t the same jobs it’s creating. It’s not creating jobs for creatives. It’s taking them away. Good luck quitting your job as an actor and waltzing into a machine learning job.
And for a prime example of just how this is happening, look no further than our own industry and the current SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild of America strikes against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which includes the major streaming services and Hollywood studios.
Read MoreMaybe you’re building your voice over website for the first time. Or maybe you’re redesigning your VO website. How do you design your voiceover website to not just look good, but to actually help grow your business? Specifically, what are the website features you must have? How do you make it easy for customers to do business with you through your website?
So in this video I’m going to give you 6 website features you must have on your voice over website to insure it will help you grow your VO, and at the end I’ll tell you how you can get my Top 10 Website Strategies ebooklet that has 4 additional strategies you can use to boost the effectiveness of your VO website design.
Read MoreWhen you think about it, the gym and the VO booth have more similarities than you might think, and I think the gym is a great metaphor for the booth. Both are dedicated spaces where you’re focusing on self-improvement, on learning new skills, on getting uncomfortable and stretching and literally growing. In both you have tools for feedback – in the gym it’s a mirror, in the booth, it’s your headphones and studio monitors. Both have coaches or trainers to help guide us.
So, let's dive into the 9 voiceover lessons I've picked up from an unlikely place - the gym.
Read MoreSAG-AFTRA is on strike, and it can be very confusing to non-union actors and voice actors, and those who aren’t actors.
Today I’m gonna break down the major issues around the strike, why this is a watershed moment in the history of acting (and no, I’m not overblowing it), and why non-union actors should not only pay attention, but should absolutely support the strike and advocate for us all.
Remember that episode of friends, when Joey lost his health insurance?…
Read MoreLoneliness. Doubt. Knowledge gaps. Distraction. Overwhelm. Rejection.
Voice actors battle these struggles every day and oftentimes they lead to unfocused action, wasted resources, poor decision-making, and feelings of overwhelm (or VO-verwhelm).
Without the right support and resources, it's no wonder why so many voice actors and audiobook narrators burn out before achieving their dreams.
VO-verwhelm is a real thing, and today we’re going to talk about what it is, and how to recognize the feelings of overwhelm, reduce stress, and simplify your VO life.
Here are 7 strategies to tame the overwhelm beast:
Read MoreThere are a million voice over Facebook groups and most of them are great, but let’s face it, Facebook itself is a toilet and all the groups are largely the same thing – it’s an online forum and that’s mostly it. Discord is powerful but looks like Slack on meth and has a big learning curve.
So the question has been how do we leverage the power of community to help educate, connect, and support voice actors in a way that we currently haven’t been able to reach.
How do we bring together growth-minded, driven voice actors who are committed to their craft, along with top coaches, the best educational tools in the business, and help them more deeply connect with each other, learn from each other, and support one another?
Well, I have an answer: VO Pro.
Read More
