Special Reports by Susan Berkley

How to Avoid the Most Common Mistakes
Causing Voiceover Careers to Crash and Burn
copyright 2000, The Great Voice Company | All Rights Reserved

Ever since I began coaching voice talent in 1987 I have had the opportunity to observe many careers. Interestingly, I have often noticed that those who had the most "talent" were not necessarily those who became the most successful. A career that looked promising would crash and burn before it ever got off the ground. In taking a closer look at this phenomenon, I noticed there were seven factors that surfaced again and again. They are:

1. Lack of training
2. Poor demo tape
3. Poor attitude
4. Unrealistic expectations
5. Poor organizational skills
6. Giving up too soon
7. Lack of professionalism

Take a closer look at each of these:

1. Lack of training
Successful athletes, singers, and actors all have coaches, even (and especially) when they are at the peak of their career. It's no different for a voice actor, though sometimes a beginner with a certain degree of natural talent might think they can go it alone. It is very difficult to hear yourself as others hear you. And it's very hard to both act and direct yourself at the same time. A good coach will help you turn your raw talent into bankable skills. They will teach you how to move beyond simply reading a script to making the words your own. To succeed in voiceover today, you need much more than a good voice. You need studio skills, acting skills, marketing skills and the self-discipline to keep from beating yourself up when the going gets rough. A good coach can shorten the learning curve by years and give you the support you need to go for the gold.

2. Poor demo tape
Nothing is as important to your voiceover career as a good demo tape. Sadly, this is the one place where many beginners cut corners and fail. Your tape must give the illusion of real commercials (or narration samples) that actually ran on the air. You do this with copy that is appropriate for your voice type and vocal age range, up-to-date background music and high-quality audio production. Your tape should be a short compilation of 5 or 6 selections - no more than 90 seconds long, and it should grab and hold the attention of the listener. A good director and a studio with experience producing voiceover demos can help make this a reality. A tape that is home made, badly acted or poorly produced will get tossed in the trash. The most successful voice actors train for months before making their tapes. It can be expensive to produce- anywhere from $500 to $2500 dollars. Do not do it until you are ready.

3. Poor attitude
In the voiceover business, or any business today, good social competence- the ability to work well with others- is a must. There is no place for prima-donnas or actors with attitudes. You have to be able to take direction graciously, put up with fickle clients, and take rejection with equanimity. I have been to too many auditions where the actors sat in the waiting area grumbling about the business or putting their competition down behind their back. I have also seen actors try to "pull rank" and barge ahead of others in an audition because of time constraints. Such negativity has a way of catching up with you and is the fastest way to undermine a career.

4. Unrealistic expectations
People often ask me how long it will take before they will start to make money in voiceovers. That depends of many factors: the quality of your demo tape, your talent and training, the amount of time you spend on marketing yourself, and your persistence. An agent (if you can find one who will represent you) will not do it for you. At most, you'll be lucky if an agent sends you out on more than a few auditions a month. You must be willing to market yourself and that means finding casting directors, ad agencies, producers and recording studios who are willing to listen to your tape and consider you for future jobs. This can take months or even a year or more to do. But it can be done. I did it and you can too.

5. Poor organizational skills
I suggest getting 300 tapes into the marketplace your first year in the business, at the rate of about 5 tapes per week. Each of these tapes must be followed up on and this typically takes about 7 phone calls to each recipient. That's 2,100 phone calls a year! You'll need a good computer data base and good organizational skills to keep track of your follow up efforts.

6. Giving up too soon
I once regularly called a prospective client, a large Cable TV network, once a month for two years in a row. They were very nice to me but never hired me for anything. They complimented me on persistence and follow up skills and apologized, telling me they had just contracted with a male voice talent to do all their voice recordings. The next day they called and asked me to come in to work. "What happened to the guy you signed to contract?" I asked. "Oh, he's on everything," they said. "We're tired of him!" Go figure! They then became a regular client of mine for many years. Had I given up I would have never had this wonderful opportunity. I have also had many students who made their demo tapes but then lost their nerve and never sent them out. They sabotaged their careers before they even got started.

7. Lack of professionalism
Showing up late for sessions and auditions. Arguing with the director. Not being prepared. Showing up drunk or under the influence. Letting a bad mood show. Spreading gossip. Bad mouthing other talent at every opportunity. Not caring for personal hygiene (sounds incredible, but my agent swears he has clients who smell like they never bathe). Not following up on opportunities and leads.