Voiceover Industry

Where Things Stand, Part 1: The Voiceover Industry in the Year of COVID.

Today’s blog is the first in a series where I reached out to some of the most recognizable VO thought leaders to gather a 360-degree view of the voiceover industry as we approach the home stretch of 2020. In this year that has changed so much, I wanted to take a deep dive into as many corners of the business as possible, to see how different parts of VO are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and where work has slowed, remained steady, and grown as a result.

Below you’ll find contributions from VO thought leaders Joe Cipriano, Carrie Olsen, and Dave Walsh, each discussing their primary areas of expertise. I’ll be back at the end to add a few words. It’s a long read, but an enlightening one, and should leave us all with a sense of hope in a time of much darkness.

JOE CIPRIANO (Joe Cipriano is best known as the promo voice of the Fox, CBS and NBC Networks. He’s been the live announcer for the Grammy Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards and some of TV’s biggest events. Joe is the recipient of the Don LaFontaine Legacy Award and co-founder of the Don LaFontaine Voice Over Lab at the SAG/AFTRA Foundation in Hollywood.)

JMC: How has the pandemic impacted Promo voiceover? What is the current state of play?

JOE: The “norm” for voicing promos for the past decade has been for talent to record from their
home studios, via SourceConnect, ISDN or iPDTL, for live recording and MP3 for “record on your own”
sessions. It’s very rare that we would actually “go in” to the network, vendor or studio to voice
promos anymore. So, “work from home” is something we’ve perfected and carried out for
years.

As we’ve all experienced the past 5 months, there has been a LOT of television, on-demand and
movie viewing going on as we all hunkered down in our homes looking for entertainment. That
required a lot of content from the providers and a lot of promotion to attract and educate the
viewers, which means a lot of promos. So, while production of NEW shows is non-existent, the
networks and suppliers still need to get the word out to entice the viewer to tune in. Because
of that, there has been a lot of work for voicing promos during the pandemic shutdown.

JMC: What can talent be doing right now to prepare themselves for the post-pandemic
Promo world?

JOE: I’ve said it many times, but this business is ALL about relationships. So, what we all should have
been doing during the shutdown and what we should ramp up as we start to come out of this
period, is to keep in touch with our buyers. It’s important to stay “top of mind” with the people
you have worked with in the past, and to have an effective outreach for new business. I think
it’s important now more than ever because we’ve all been disconnected from one another.
Reconnect. Resume. Reach Out. Repeat and Repeat.

JMC: What long term changes can we expect in Promo as a result of the current crisis?

JOE: I think the changes actually started a few years ago. With more and more content from the
streamers and on-demands resonating with mass audiences, the old model of network, cable
promos is changing. With broadcast networks steadily losing audiences, they are also losing the
platform they use to promote their shows. It doesn’t do you a lot of good to run promos for
new shows on the network when there are not as many eyes watching the network. It’s a
challenge. It used to be so easy to launch new shows with promos that ran during your hottest
programming. You had a built-in, huge audience to “sell” to.

The traditional tag line that might say, “Name of Show” Wednesday at 9, 8 Central on “Network
Name” doesn’t work anymore. Who the heck tunes in to see a show at a specific day and time.
Those days are gone, yet the networks still are clinging to it. Every traditional broadcast
network now has an online presence or streaming app for their content. So, I see the model for
promoting their shows changing. I think there will be more pre-rolls, a lot more social media
promotion for shows. My son is a social media marketing specialist for content, both network,
streaming and movies, and the creative ways they promote and engage viewers across all social
platforms is remarkable. Their strategy and pitch meetings are impressive and innovative.
Social has become and is increasingly the best way to promote and engage the general audience. I think voiceovers can be used in that medium and I’m sure there will be new ideas on the horizon for that. But for the time being we’ll still voice promos for network and cable
outlets (HGTV, Food Network, AMC, FX etc) in a more traditional 30, 20, 10 second format to be
used on-air and online. The change has been rapid and I think the lockdown accelerated new
ideas and new ways to engage viewers and promote content. It’s going to be exciting. If you
want to be a part of it, you have to read the trades. Keep up on what’s new, who the players
are and as always, be a student of the genre.

CARRIE OLSEN (As an e-learning designer, Carrie Olsen developed and subsequently narrated corporate online courses. When she discovered voiceover as an industry, she jumped in with both feet, quitting her job to do voiceover full-time. She began what she calls a ferocious e-learning narration marketing effort that eventually became the blueprint for her course for voice actors: Book More E-learning with Gusto and Elegance. She has since made a home in the voiceover world, partnering with REI, Home Chef, Dreamworks, Netflix, AT&T, TNT, Disney Plus and most recently HBO Max for commercial, e-learning, and promo work. She is committed to sharing her journey with others and now funnels her e-learning and entrepreneurial expertise into her online courses, blog, and Facebook groups. If you want to see her light up, start talking about your dreams. She loves to help people expand their view of what’s possible.)

JMC: How has the pandemic impacted E-Learning voiceover. What is the current state of play?

CARRIE: In the last few months, we’ve seen services that have been almost exclusively delivered in-person (for example, martial arts, religious services, and even summer camps) shift to virtual. Many of these industries were forced to innovate on the fly to stay afloat. Fortunately for the corporate education industry, the blueprint was already there: In 2017, 77% of US companies were already using e-learning.

When we think of e-learning, we usually think of corporate training delivered online. However, e-learning has always been a far-reaching term, applying to corporations, schools, self-improvement, and even purely recreational industries. Since the pandemic these other, less common types of e-learning are starting to take up more space, with more schools and entrepreneurs moving more training content online.

And there are ripple effects. With so many working to adapt their current model to a more remote model, cybersecurity and other online support industries are preparing for an uptick in the demand for their services.

How does all this affect e-learning voiceover? In a general sense, the e-learning industry is growing, so it seems to follow that there will be growing demand for e-learning courses to be narrated, which translates to more job opportunities for voiceover talent.

This sounds like a good thing for voice talent, however, you must keep in mind that while some companies have sustained, or even thrived throughout this crisis, others have experienced budget cuts, layoffs, and even closures. So while we will continue to see more remote work opportunities and training moved online, many companies are being forced to wait out economic difficulties or even cancel e-learning projects they had planned for this year.

Depending on who your clients are, you may be overbooked with e-learning narration work right now, or your work may have all but stalled out.

The good news for e-learning narrators is that regardless of how they are currently weathering the storm, every company has had to take a hard look at how they will deliver training now and into the future. According to elearningindustry.com, most executives are already greenlighting e-learning in their organizations. So we will definitely see the demand for e-learning overall continue to grow in the coming years.

JMC: What can talent be doing right now to prepare themselves for the post-pandemic E-Learning world?

CARRIE: Companies have a lot of options when considering voiceover talent, so don’t wait for the work to come to you. Research the industries you are uniquely suited to partner with, and reach out to them.

Some Basics:

Have a great e-learning demo
Be proactive with getting referrals
On your website, call out to companies who may be moving their content online and share how you can help them
Have a great value proposition
Develop relationships with e-learning developers and freelance instructional designers
As you seek to connect with potential clients, be sensitive to their situation
Have standards and workflows in place so that you can most effectively and efficiently serve your clients
As always, do good work

JMC: What long term changes can we expect in E-Learning and the industry in general as a result of the current crisis?

CARRIE: Many companies that would have never considered moving their offerings online have now discovered ways to do so. We’re going to see a lot more innovation in the way things are taught and even how school/training is defined.

Long-term, we can expect to see more creativity in the way e-learning is delivered. We’ll see more interactivity in online courses and virtual conferences as presenters and teachers seek to keep attendees’ and learners’ attention.

In the coming months and years, we’ll see more small and large businesses moving their training online. The demand for instructional designers will increase. Voice actors who are proactive and prepared will have more opportunities to partner with clients in need of e-learning narration work.

DAVE WALSH (TrueTell™ founder Dave Walsh has enjoyed a truly multi-faceted career on both sides of the Hollywood glass, as successful artist, coach and director as well as studio executive. Walsh has been a key national and international voiceover talent for almost 20 years, fronting signature campaigns for commercial and television icons including AT&T, HBO, Honda, Entertainment Tonight (ET), Modern Marvels, Shell, NBC’s The Biggest Loser, Wells Fargo, The E! True Hollywood Story, CBS’ Big Brother and Hyundai. Dave has also spent the better part of the last decade coaching and cultivating the voiceover careers of some of the most established artists in the United States, Canada and Latin America.)

JMC: How has the pandemic impacted Commercial voiceover. What is the current state of play?

DAVE: Since March of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has greatly impacted the commercial voiceover industry in many unforeseen ways.

We all remember that first general sense of panic which took hold in mid March, as country after country began shutting down. In The United States, a few major talent agencies closed their voiceover departments entirely overnight, leaving performers scrambling to find other representation. In those first few weeks, a sense of malaise, dread and fear fell over the industry. Questions abounded: “What do you think will happen?” “Are we next?” “Is the industry over?”

Well, the irony is that the commercial voiceover industry adjusted to these changing times and challenges in ways we could not have imagined. It has been hard for ALL of us, no doubt. But voiceover has proliferated while other parts of the entertainment industry have come crashing to a hault. VO performers with broadcast quality home studios continued on with business as usual while those who didn’t quickly learned that it would be their only means of survival for the foreseeable (and probably long-term) future.

But nowhere have I seen a greater, more swift evolution in the commercial industry than in the voiceover read itself. Over the past five to six months, I have frequently commented on and seen a dramatic shift in script specs. Reads in March and April were what we termed, “The Covid Read” – compassionate, sympathetic, a “we’re all in this together” type of feel. By early May, that read shifted into more of a hopeful, wishful, positive one, mixed with an underline of compassion. Then, within the United States, fueled in part by the federal government’s push to reopen the country’s business and financial centers, a new read surfaced. It was what I call the “Business As Usual” read. Then, soon after the reopen, when some in the U.S. realized the opening was too much, too fast, there was a slight pendulum shift backward toward the more Compassionate read. But this time, it was fueled by the mantra of mask wearing versus the stay-at-home edict from several months prior.

Now, we find ourselves at the forefront a new read once again.

It’s what I call The Permissive Read.

The Permissive Read is fueled by a subtext of giving the consumer the permission and comfort of a guilt-free decision to do things they haven’t done since the dawn of Covid – particularly buy or rent a car and travel. Kia Motors, Jeep, Enterprise Rent A Car and Southwest Airlines are four examples of major brands capitalizing on this direction.

This compilation of performance styles is the swiftest and most comprehensive shift in commercial advertising I have seen and heard in the 30 years that I’ve been a voice actor and coach. And, as we move closer to a vaccine and continue to feel the push/pull of opening businesses and schools versus the fear of contagion, our commercial industry will continue to be in flux. It is therefore crucial for actors to stay vigilant and on their game and to keep abreast of the daily changes in news and the culture. For it is from there that the next read change will evolve.

JMC: What can talent be doing right now to prepare themselves for the post-pandemic Commercial world?

DAVE: To prepare themselves for a post-pandemic commercial voiceover marketplace, it is imperative that actors spend time now researching and strategizing their approach. That includes: 1). Making sure their marketing materials are at the top of the game. 2.) If they haven’t already, invest in broadcast-quality home studio upgrades. 3. Finally and most importantly, take risks and get curious of how to improve performance skills and evolutions.

A key area gravely overlooked by many is the strengthening of self marketing and the relationships with agents and/or future representatives. With regard to self marketing, I would highly suggest reaching out to VO marketing gurus such as Marc Scott of VOPreneur or Anne Ganguzza of VOPeeps to learn how to effectively upgrade their own promotion and marketing platforms. Also, find creative ways to stay (respectfully) top of mind with your reps.

With regard to performance and demos, actors should employ coaches and/or demo producers to maximize the effectiveness of their marketing materials. While, in some agent circles, demos are not used as often as the key driver of auditions or bookings, in the self-marketing world, they are a major force of promotion and visibility. So, whether an agency client, self-marketing actor/entrepreneur or both, these materials should be at their best.

Also keep in mind that in a post-pandemic world, clients, vendors and agents will learn and reach for new, cost-effective ways to run their businesses. Most, if not all agencies are being run from home offices at present. Like so many other industries, whether or not some or all of them return to a bricks and mortar homebase remains to be seen. Therefore, actors who record auditions at their reps’ offices may see a drastic shift in that practice, post Covid. The best piece of advice there? Be ready.

JMC: What long term changes can we expect in Commercial VO and the industry in general as a result of the current crisis?

DAVE: In my estimation, the major long-term changes to the commercial voiceover industry post pandemic will center around the continued shift in physical production and the financial adjustments to accommodate for those shifts.

While on camera commercials will resume on-set production as safety protocols and the decline of the spread become more evident, commercial voiceover may see the short-term changes we adapted to become more permanent. For example, at the present time, most, if not all, commercial spots are recorded in home studios or in heavily isolated recording studios that follow extremely strict health guidelines. As such, advertisers and producers are becoming much more used to working with actors in these environments, resulting in a considerable financial savings. This may have a long-term effect on where commercials will be recorded. So, expect for home studios to continue proliferating through the early to mid part of the decade if not longer.

VO Thought Leaders Closing Words

I hope you found these contributions valuable. In the next few weeks I’ll return with another installment featuring Portia Scott of The Coast to Coast Talent Group, Thom Pinto, and Celia Siegel. Stay tuned, and stay safe!

Revenge of the Boomers: How Voiceover Casting is Shifting in 2020

by J. Michael Collins 8 Comments

Young. Fresh. Hip. Current. Real. Gen Y. Gen Z. Millennial. If you’ve been around the voiceover industry for more than a week you’ve probably learned those terms by heart. They are the adjectives that have dominated voiceover casting for the past five years, as buyers have flocked to youthful talent with the sound of the 18-34 generation that is so heavily targeted, especially in advertising.

Indeed, many middle-aged and senior talent who have entered the market in the past decade with golden voices and enunciation to spare have been shocked to find demand for their dulcet tones on the wane, and have struggled to understand why experience and gravitas no longer seemed to fit the majority of casting specs.

The world has been tumultuous for a while, but with an economy that was generally doing well, low unemployment, and few large-scale concerns other than daily grumbles about politics or corporate greed, the order of the day for the better part of the twenty-teens was chill, casual, and relaxed. Less-is-more dominated the voice casting zeitgeist, and the fresher and less intentional your reads the better. Talent under 30 owned castings in broadcast genres, and made strong inroads into even traditionally weighty fields like Corporate Narration, e-Learning, and Medical Narration.

Sadly, 2020 happened. With one terrifying headline after another emerging from early in the year, the voiceover industry hit an inflection point, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Indeed, for a period of time in March, as the COVID pandemic was new and beyond frightening, demand for younger talent came to very nearly a screeching halt. Suddenly every spec was 35-65, warm, reassuring, calming, and authoritative. Zoomers got ghosted by buyers across the genre spectrum. Under-30s were sitting in front of their 416s waiting for calls from agents that just weren’t coming. It was like a switch had flipped.

Since the dark early days of the crisis the industry has pivoted back to a middle ground, but one trend remains clear: Older talent is more in demand right now than at any time in the past decade. The average voiceover casting brief I see currently is 35-45, whereas just six months ago it was heavily 18-30. There are more jobs looking for 40-65+ talent than at any time in recent memory. Fortunately for younger talent, fatigue with the haunting tone of so many crisis spots has shifted a good deal of work back in the direction of the younger set, but there is a new balance that I expect will last for some time.

If your sound is 40+, this is your moment. The market is calling. Are you prepared to answer?

As for you youngsters…..us middle-aged folks are happy to see you booking again, but please…..stay the hell off of our lawn.

Desperate Decisions are Bad Decisions: Don’t Invest Your Last Dime in VO

by J. Michael Collins 8 Comments

The last couple of months have changed the world, and in most cases not for the better. Health issues aside, the economy is suffering its greatest tribulation since the 1930s, and as usual, people at the less privileged end of the socioeconomic ladder are being hit the hardest and the most at risk for making bad decisions.

And the wolves are drooling.

A friend of mine who is connected to people in the internet marketing and multi-level marketing world told me recently that the crisis would be the best thing to happen to that industry in its history. As the desperate and near-destitute grasp for quick fixes to their economic problems, many a hand will be outstretched offering help, if only you’ll place your last dollar or thousand in its care.

Even in good times people desperate for a last resort way to earn a living try to enter the VO world. It almost never works out. They cut corners, are in a hurry, and often wind up in the hands of “schools” offering a slick pitch and promises of fast success.

In hard times, the phenomenon multiplies.

A good candidate to succeed in voiceover usually has one of two financial profiles:

1.) Existing financial security to the extent that investing in the uncertainty of a voiceover career can be considered risk capital.

2.) Has saved and planned for how to move forward with coaching and eventually pro demos after doing considerable research, and is well aware that even the best talent often don’t see a return on their investment for many months. This group understands that they should not expect to make a living from voiceover in the short term and that such a result will only be accomplished with a combination of hard work, smart business planning, and a confluence of other factors coming together to help them succeed.

Before you decide it’s time to launch your voiceover career, take a hard look at whether you can handle an investment that will often run as high as ten thousand dollars in equipment, coaching, demos, building a website, or casting site memberships if appropriate, and other ancillary expenses.

If you are relying on your stimulus check or PPP money or other unemployment funds to make it happen, please……don’t.

Not only are there no guarantees, but if you tell a story of being out of work and “needing” to make this happen most honest coaches will say no. It’s not that we don’t want to work with you, or that there’s zero chance you might beat the odds and be a success story….but rather our experience watching desperate new entrants into the industry crash on the rocks of unrealistic expectations.

If you are worried about feeding your family as you train, or on demo day, or with every audition you do, it will come through in your reads. It will also come through and manifest itself in ignoring advice not to pursue agency rep or management too early, in hard-sell marketing that will turn off buyers, and finally in last-resort rate cutting that will guarantee you are mired in pizza-money jobs while undercutting the industry at large.

Please, don’t make this mistake. Times are tough, and it’s tempting to want to jump into an industry that somehow seems to weather the worst economic storms. And yes, it’s easy to give this advice from a place of privilege and abundance.

But I’ve seen this story too many times, and I know how it ends. Find stability first, as much as you can, and if this is really your passion, your dream, and you are suitably talented, wait to begin until the time comes when you can do so without putting your well-being and that of your family at risk. We’ll be here to help you when you get there.

COVID-19 and Voiceover: How to Protect Your Business

by J. Michael Collins 14 Comments

The world today faces its greatest challenge in perhaps many generations. The virus known as COVID-19 has shut down public life across the globe, and will have untold impacts on every facet of society. Lives will be lost. Loved ones will be mourned. For many, much will change.

I am not a doctor, a nurse, an EMT, a home healthcare worker, a staffer at a nursing home, or any of the other millions of heroes who are about to emerge from this tragic fight. These people, including my sister, an MD in Sydney, Australia, will be waging the war on our behalf. They will see things that we will be spared. They will suffer in ways we will not. And, more than likely, they will fall victim to this scourge more than any of us comfortably sheltered in whatever place we find ourselves.

We can all find ways to help them, volunteer in support roles when called upon, and consider the needs of the many over the needs of the few. For the moment, when it comes to COVID-19 and voiceover, the best thing we can do is to listen to the scientists who know best and follow their advice.

As a voice actor, even one with a platform from which to speak, I cannot do much to help. But, in this uncertain and frightful time, I find myself unable to sit still and do nothing. So the best I can offer is guidance for my colleagues on how to protect your business from the imminent changes to come.

Over the years I have always talked about the importance of thinking ahead, usually by a period of some years. Right now, the coming months are a critical time for most of us who pursue this profession. Humanity will prevail over this disease. Life will return to normal. Yet for a while, it will not.

In the next several months, there will still be money spent on voiceover. Our profession, at its core, is not at risk. However, if you do not anticipate the coming changes, your personal voiceover business may be.

COVID-19 and Voiceover

For perhaps as long as the rest of 2020, all learning will be E-Learning. Academic. Corporate. Institutional. Governmental. Some classes and seminars will be held online, but many will be shifted to classic E-Learning models. E-learning companies, already part of a rapidly growing industry, will see unprecedented growth. E-Learning voiceover will follow.

Medical Narration, which informs both educational and corporate, will witness demand on a previously inconceivable level. Every public and private entity in the entire world will be creating content regarding the outbreak, whether to educate, inform, promote products and innovations, avoid liability, or for countless other reasons. Medical narrators will be the most in-demand voice actors for the next year.

Commercial voiceover will change. Those of you who have been patiently waiting for the return of the middle-aged, polished, authoritative, and reassuring read; This is your moment. Whether advertising contactless delivery services or other creations of the COVID-19 world, the dawn of a new age of products requiring warm mature voices is upon us.

Corporate and Industrial Narration may take a temporary hit, but as companies find their footing they will be developing new processes and platforms for navigating a changing social and business dynamic, and they too will continue to need us.

Politics, sadly, will remain contentious, and even now commercials invoking the crisis are in production, filled with the standard styles of political VO.

If you rely on a sector of the industry likely to be heavily impacted by interruptions to on-camera work, live events, and places where people congregate, RIGHT NOW is the time to pivot to where the work will be going.

Our industry is as old as the first recorded audio. It never disappears. It never dies. It simply adapts, changes, and moves on.

Our heroes are out there, protecting us. Now it is time for us to protect our families and our livelihoods. Look ahead. See what is coming regarding COVID-19 and voiceover. And you will continue to thrive.

May we all stay safe, healthy, and united as we move forward into this new era.

Getting Started in VO: Is There Really a Right Path and Wrong Path?

by J. Michael Collins 18 Comments

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “Do we really need another ‘getting started in VO’ blog post?” There are hundreds of these out there, penned by every VO expert and thought leader you can think of. Add to that the almost daily posts on VO social media asking for and receiving advice, and it would seem that this horse is long overdue for the glue factory.

Yet, depending on where you turn for advice, it can sometimes be contradictory. Many of us consistently repeat the mantra that there are no shortcuts, with success in voiceover usually arriving as the end result of a methodical, studied approach that is not rushed and requires a substantial upfront investment in coaching, demo production, branding, and marketing.

Others suggest that this is all nonsense. Just jump on Fiverr with low-budget gear and fake it until you make it. Learn on the job, and let the chips fall where they may.

In between are folks who are dubious of both arguments, who believe diving in as an amateur on a beer-money site with no clear plan is foolish, but unable to grasp the value in spending thousands of dollars and many months or even years on training and preparation before throwing their hat into the ring.

Who’s right?

Here’s where you probably expect me to reflexively return to the mantra of doing it the “right way,” right?

Not so fast.

Here’s the thing; The folks advocating quick returns on Fiverr and VoiceBunny and the like are actually right. You can go on those sites with zero training, no professional demos, and average gear, and if you’ve got a nice sound and some natural ability you will book work. They are right about something else, too; People do make a respectable living from sites like Fiverr and VoiceBunny. I know of at least two talents that I can personally confirm earn over $100,000/year doing voiceovers on those platforms. That’s two out of tens of thousands, but it’s not impossible. Many hundreds if not thousands of others are supplementing their income or earning a living of $20, $50, $75 at a time on these kinds of sites. If you’re coming from a retail or service industry job, that can look like a hell of a step up.

There’s a low-end in every business. Voiceover is no different. The vast majority of buyers on low-budget platforms would NEVER consider paying fair market rates to well-trained professional talent. Some companies will commission a team and spend six or even seven figures market testing the right logo for their brand and pay handsomely for a professional firm or artist to do the design. Others just want something decent for fifty bucks. That’s economics.

We’ve thrown a lot of shade over the years at people hyping Fiverr and similar sites as a great opportunity for voice talent. Some of these people have a slimy feel and try to trap you into spending hundreds or more to learn things that you could discover for free with some research, but others mean well and are sharing what they see as their path to a better life. Scammers and hucksters deserve shame, but those saying, “Hey, this worked for me, and here’s how,” don’t.

Folks in the middle, those who aren’t big fans of the low-budget platforms and the wildcat cowboy approach to just diving into a new business, but who feel comfortable that a little bit of coaching and perhaps a single demo is enough to get them started both on more professional online platforms and with their own marketing, often find themselves torn between both worlds. They suspect that they have the inherent talent to compete for higher-end market-rate professional work, but they may have a pressing income need that dictates a streamlined approach. Often they will start out on platforms like Voice123 and Voices dot com after a handful of coaching sessions. Most successful pros would counsel against this approach, but the truth is that it serves a purpose for some people. I’ve seen many talents find themselves booking a handful of well-paying jobs per month after following this road. There are many in the industry who will tell aspiring VOs that if you are doing this for the money, or if that is your primary motivation, you are setting yourself up for failure. There’s a lot of validity to that, but it’s easy to proclaim high principles from the top of the mountain. People have debts, and obligations, and need to feed their families. The judgment heaped upon them for not following orthodox paths has a way of making my skin crawl.

Of course, most of us preach a patient and well-considered approach for a reason. The question is, what do you want out of this business? If you are looking for a quick buck, the down and dirty or halfway methods might actually be right for you. However, if you are looking to make a career of this, they most definitely are not your best option.

Why?

Here’s what the people selling the short road either aren’t telling you or haven’t figured out for themselves: Yes, it can yield some income, but it comes at the expense of slowing down the long-term arc of your earning potential and career path.

What do I mean by that?

A middling or mediocre talent working on a beer money site is probably in the right place. You might think that a high-booking talent on Fiverr should focus on moving up the food chain, but in truth, most of the top bookers on sites like Fiverr have found their lane. They know the system like a pro, but talent-wise they are at their ceiling. Yes, you can hear a few great VOs on Fiverr, but once you start digging past a select few these are folks whom abundant coaching and unlimited demos wouldn’t make much difference for. They are unlikely to ever be competitive on more professional online sites and would be DOA if presented to an agent or manager. People buying a Smart Car are not interested in the same things as people buying an Aston Martin or a Mercedes. These talents have found their market.

The ones who do have the chops, however, are costing themselves far more than they know. Are they booking? You bet! $10, $30, $75 at a time, all day every day. It adds up, and they are CONSTANTLY working. That’s the problem. Strong talent spending all day actually working micro-budget jobs are not developing their marketing, their branding, their skill set, or building a business that will sustain regular income without massive effort output on a daily basis. They can’t take vacations, they can’t get sick, and eventually, all that work for not much pay will lead to massive burnout. It’s not sustainable, and even if they are earning $75,000/year working 60-80 hour weeks, if they actually have the fundamental ability they are preventing themselves from living a future where they can earn that much and more working 20-40 hours per week, with more time to rest, recover, and live. It’s short-term thinking. If it covers an immediate need, it’s understandable, but it is a dismal long-term strategy for quality talent.

The same applies to middle-of-the-roaders. Yes, one can earn with less effort and training than a lot of experts would like you to believe, but these talents are missing the plot. If you can book consistently on near-market-rate platforms like Voice123, Voices, Voiceovers.com, bodalgo, VO Planet, etc….you are good enough to build your career the way you want. Competition on these sites is heavy at the high end, and if the market is validating your auditions you have something the market wants. That said if these sites represent the totality of your strategy, and you don’t reinvest in training and the tools to grow your business, this is where you will live. That can be a respectable living, but once more you are leaving money and career growth on the table.

When you pay a top coach $150-$300/hour for coaching…….when you spend $1500-$3500 with a top demo producer……when you invest in the latest training with someone like Marc Scott on how to market yourself effectively and directly…..when you work with a branding expert or dedicated talent manager……you are declaring that YOU WANT MORE. One of my missions in this industry over the past decade, in particular, has been to reverse the trend of small-think that has infected the business. I have dozens of friends and colleagues in this industry earning healthy six-figure and even a few seven-figure incomes. None of them are on the micro-budget sites. Many of them are on the more professional sites, but very few of them earn more than 25% of their substantial incomes from those platforms. They have elite agents, management, well-established marketing processes, community engagement, and great SEO on their websites. They have diversified VO income streams, because they have spent the time and money needed to not just be good, to not just be a booker, to not just make a living, but to be ELITE.

The question is simple: What do you want your VO business to be? A quick buck? There are people who can help you with that. Steady but unspectacular? That can be done, too. Or do you choose to be elite?

There’s lots of advice out there about how to make money in VO. The advice you take dictates the results you’ll see.

Talent Profiles: The Sundholm Family

by J. Michael Collins Leave a Comment

My Talent Profiles series continues with the incredibly talented Sundholm family, including young rising stars Everett and Ashton, VO pro mom Michelle, and epic producer dad Steve. Here, Michelle Sundholm sits down for a chat about their careers.

JMC: Tell us about your career as a VO

Michelle: I’ve always had a passion for words and music. I grew up acting out Shakespeare for family talent nights and singing for anybody and everybody…anywhere. I’ve sung professionally since my childhood days and have held positions in the corporate world that taught me everything I need to know about follow-through, planning, and being ready to execute that plan. All of these things mixed with the love of brands led me to the incredible world of Voice Over.

My VO career started six years ago. I contacted my good friend and talent extraordinaire Melissa Disney to see if she would be interested in being my acting coach. I trained with her for a solid year before even touching one audition. I used this time to take in everything I could from her and grow as an actor and eventually dive into who I am as a brand. After a year of training and making a plan for my business, I started submitting auditions and booked my first voice over job within a few days! I was ecstatic! My first year proved to be successful, but I knew I wanted to learn more and take my business to the next level, which included training with some guy called JMC.

Around the same time, I also submitted to a few agencies that I thought might be a good fit for both parties, and am proud to say I’m represented by some of the absolute best agents all across the U.S.

I’ve had the privilege of voicing everything from an A.I. Character for the Nintendo WiiU Starghost Game and a Movie Trailer for The African Survivors, to voicing a Superbowl Car Commercial, an HGTV National spot, and voicing thousands more projects for Radio, TV, and Corporate Narration. I’m thankful for the incredible conferences, sessions, coaches, family, and friends that continue to inspire me and support me on my path, and hopefully, I can always give something back in return to each of them.

How did Everett and Ashton get interested in voice acting?

Ahh…Everett and Ashton, aka The Sundholm Brothers…my two wonderful sons!

I think they’ve always shown a little bit of quirky, mixed with some crazy, and they both have a very serious and compassionate side that reflects an old soul.

All of those great character traits make for a versatile voice actor. They are both thrilled to be professional actors!

As an award-nominated VO yourself, was starting the boys in the business a natural fit?

Starting the boys in the business was both rewarding and tough at the same time. I was already very busy with my voice over clients and really didn’t see how it would be possible to manage the boys as well.

However, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and where there is passion, there is bound to be a flame.

Both Everett and Ashton had that strong will, the passion, and the parents to support them in their journey.

Once they decided they wanted to do it, I would say it was very natural, but also a frustrating and sometimes bumpy road. They had me as their built-in coach and director for auditions and jobs that didn’t need a directed session. They had their Dad who is a professional music producer and engineer, able to assist their sessions, edit and even produce their demos. It has become a true entertainment “All in the Family.” So, yes, more natural than not.

Describe the process you went through when launching their VO business

I sat both boys down and had a serious talk with them about life goals and determination and making sure they still play and have fun. I asked both of them if voice acting is something they wanted, not just because of the money, but because of wanting to act, to story tell, and be a business owner. They both said “YES!” I suggested that they give everything they have to it for one year and then we would reevaluate at the end of that year. If they decided they loved it, we’d keep it going with no sign of turning back. On the other end of the spectrum, if after that year, one or both of them decided it wasn’t for them, I’d support that decision too. So, I began working through scripts with them and helping them with their branding. We put outfits together, took professional pictures at scenic places, and started putting together their website platform. Kudos to their Dad, Steve Sundholm for the photography, their website and even producing their demos! They were ready for someone other than their “Mom” to learn from and that is when we found out about the magnificent Lisa Biggs. She started working with them as their voice coach and sending them auditions. Things really started to come together and they both began booking jobs and were welcomed onto agency rosters.

Has it been more difficult than you anticipated? Less?

I knew it would be difficult, only because there is only so much time in the day AND…they’re kids. I also knew that if they accepted the challenge of riding out the daily rejection roller-coaster, they would become young businessmen through the process and hone their craft of acting into something unique and special.

What has been their most interesting/exciting role/s so far?

They both have had some pretty epic roles and opportunities and really get into each project they’re hired for. Each job can be both fun and challenging, but a GOOD challenge. You can never have growth without a little stretching, right?

I would say Ashton’s top favorites were voicing for the character “Winston” on the Weebles, his National TV spot for Nestle Pure Life Water, and voicing as the Character “Chutlu,” the purple elephant for the popular game Heroes of New Earth.

Everett’s favorites also include voicing for the Weebles as the character “Wally” and being cast as the voice of the top 100 Amazon Selling Fisher-Price Toy RockIt! He enjoyed collaborating with his colleague and friend Cassie Glow who is RockIt’s best friend.

And…of course…their absolute #1 favorite is a job they voiced TOGETHER this past year called “Let Vader Handle It” for STAR WARS LEGOS! What kid, (or adult,) wouldn’t think that was the coolest?! They are avid Star Wars fans and have a ton of LEGOS including the Death Star and The Millennium Falcon that they bought all by themselves with some of their VO wages.

What type of work do the boys find themselves doing most frequently?

The boys have voiced many different genres. Everything from Animation and Video Games, to Corporate Narration, Commercials, and Singing. I would say they book broadcast spots and web videos the most frequently.

Where do you see their careers going from here?

I see very bright futures for both Everett and Ashton. Yes, I AM their Mom and I’m pretty sure any parent would say that about their kids, but I see them taking this seriously, while also making sure to have fun with it. I think that is a perfect balance. They both strive to do great work and always give respect to the creative director and client, but still reveal their personality in the directed session. They had some amazing news just this past month! Along with myself, they were just welcomed to Pandora’s talent roster! I know they will do excellent work for them and am very proud.

I can see Everett voicing movie trailers and documentaries as he gets older. His voice has always had a really great texture that blends with anything but stands out at the same time. He has a natural lower register that would work quite nicely in those genres.

For Ashton, I see him getting into voicing more video games and breaking into the world of promo! He has a ton of natural energy and can take that energy from high to low and back in a split second, or so it seems. He also has a very caring side and would do anything for a lost puppy, so maybe more PSAs as well!

Everett was nominated for a Voice Arts Awards this year. How did he react?

Yes, we were so excited for him! Everett has worked very hard to be honored as a nominee in The Best Toy Category for his Fisher-Price RockIt! He had to learn thirteen songs in one day and be ready to be on his own during the two-and-a-half-hour live-directed session. I always tell the boys that I’ll help them before the session, but once the session begins, it’s just the director, the client, and them on their own and getting the story/character across to the listener with impactful meaning.

When I told Everett, he just stared at me with no smile or any expression really… THEN…a huge smile! I think he was shocked but incredibly happy! He’s looking forward to walking the red carpet in his new suit at the Voice Arts Awards. The event is held on November 17, 2019, at The Warner Bros. Theater in Burbank, CA, and hosted by the inspirational and classy Joan Baker and Rudy Gaskins, the creators of SOVAS.

For parents with young talent, leave them with one key piece of advice

My one piece of advice to parents with young talent is to make sure that your child has an authentic PASSION to get into voice over. Without a natural desire to act and tell the story, their career will end before it begins. All the training, demos, and fancy gear won’t make the listener listen. It has to come from an authentic place.