Can You Shed Some Light?
A voice-over subscriber writes: ?I have an agent in Pittsburgh and so far she has proven to be worthless (I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true). I am quite good at this and simply need a break and really don’t know where to turn. Any thoughts? Thanks so much?.
Susan says:
You describe a common scenario. You are not alone. Here are some reasons why your agent may not be getting you work:
YOUR AGENT HASN’T BEEN GETTING CALLS FOR YOUR TYPE OF VOICE
I don’t know what kind of voice you have, but maybe it’s just not the type of voice that advertisers are looking for right now. Let’s face it, Pittsburgh is a smaller market so opportunities might be more limited than they would be in NY or LA.
YOUR AGENT IS NOT A GOOD MARKETER
My hunch says that this is probably the reason. Many (but not all) agents I know are frustrated voice talents or theatre people with poor business backgrouns. They don’t really understand how hard you need to work to grow a business. There are, of course, some notable exceptions.
THE AGENCY HAS TOO MANY OTHER VOICE TALENTS THAT SOUND LIKE YOU
If there are only a limited number of auditions with a limited number of spaces per audion, your agent might be favoring other voice talent with a better track record or their exclusive signed clientele.
THE PITTSBURGH VOICE-OVER MARKET IS SLOW
Sometimes there are market forces we can’t do anything about. But, a talent agent who understands marketing can find opportunities even in a slow market or expand into other markets using the internet.
YOUR DEMO CD IS WEAK
I haven’t heard it, so I don’t know. But, often an agency will add your demo to their house reel or website and send it to potential clients. Your demo must be a real ?grabber? so you stand out from the pack and get people to sit up and take notice.
There is a lesson here for all of us. You cannot depend on anyone else for success. I don’t care if you work and live in NY, LA, Pittsburgh or Sheboygan. No one is coming to your rescue. You must study marketing and learn how to do it yourself. I will be revealing the secrets of how I built (and continue to enjoy) a million dollar voice-over career at the next Voice-over Bootcamp Oct 11th-13th. But, you’ll have to hurry. There are only two seats available, so click here for more details or call Jason at 800-333-8108 x229 for more details.
