Just a quick note tonight. The SunSpots Productions booking staff and I were chatting on Friday about conversations they’ve had with voice talent over the past weeks. The changes in the economy and the overall changes in our industry are affecting all of us in way or another. A few talent are having tough times finding gigs and getting a little tired of doing multiple auditions for us and other studios.
In my 20-plus years experience of doing voiceovers I’ve noticed that almost 90% of jobs now require an audition. What’s strange to me is that the clients are asking for auditions even when they’re very familiar with the voice they’re having audition. I’ve heard the reason for it is that their end client needs to hear the read to make a better decision in choosing voice talent. I totally understand that. The hard part for us as professional voice talent is that sometimes we may feel like not doing the auditions. We think, “The client knows my voice and skills. I’ve been voicing for 10 or 20 years and I have to do an audition? Please…” Well, you know what? If you don’t do the auditions, you’re 100% guaranteed to not get the job. It’s like saying that you don’t want the money.
When the “got to have auditions” phase began about 3-4 years ago I protested it and noticed something. I was losing work. So these days, send me auditions all the time and I’ll knock em out.
Now, it’s common knowledge, to most if not all of us, that we MUST do these auditions every hour if need be or be passed over because we chose not to. Remember there’s always some new guy or gal out there waiting for that big break and you saying no could be just that.
I’ve had dreadful, animated phone calls with talent saying how it isn’t fair, they’re well known voices, they’re longtime pros, they’re big names in the biz and the clients should know their skills by now.
It comes down to this, no audition done and no work gained.
So go ahead, it’s just a few minutes of undirected fun. Do the auditions and keep swingin’ the bat! The more you swing, the greater the chance of getting home run. I’ve been blessed to have a couple of those; I did radio and tv spots for Circuit City for many years and voiced Nissan for a few years, both as a SAG/AFTRA member.
Happy Voicing!
Tom
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Hi Tom,
Great article! Yes, there have been a significant number of changes in the voice over industry over the past five years.
You’re absolutely right: if you aren’t out there auditioning, you won’t be heard and subsequently, not hired for those jobs.
Thanks for touching on this topic
Best wishes,
Stephanie
The volume of auditions has increased dramatically even in just the last year, much less the last several years. Unfortunately, it’s just the nature of the beast anymore. I can completely sympathize with talent that audition and audition and audition and rarely see results or book a gig. I think though, that in order to keep up with the game it’s important to keep trying and I do strongly believe that it will pay off eventually. You just have to stay positive and keep up the enthusiasm, it makes a huge difference.