George

Clients, agents and being in the middle

October 22, 2010 by George 2 Comments

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Like most voice artists, I have a number of agents. My agent here in Charlotte however generally only represents me for on camera work. Last week I had the opportunity to audition for an industrial video. I didn’t get the part, but my agent was kind enough to mention to the clients after I left that I also do voiceover. This resulted in me having the opportunity to audition for and win the narration job for the video. Good news!

As I waited for the script, I got a call directly from the client asking about my rate. This confused me, as though I do offer rates directly to clients, I felt that since my agency found this gig, it was not my place to set the rate, especially since there was a rate previously mentioned (if not agreed to in total) in emails that had moved back and forth. I did hem and haw well enough to make sure I was still getting the gig, but deferred to my agent for pricing. It has since been cleared up, and will be done soon.

This situation does bring this point up: how do you handle this kind of situation? I say honor your agreement with your agent. Don’t undercut them, don’t take things away from them, ESPECIALLY in the instance where you would not have gotten the gig without them. In general, your agent has your best interests in mind: in this case, they were able to get a gig for me even beyond the on camera aspect of the original audition. I am not so naive to think there is not self interest involved. Indeed, they were able to book an additional talent for the job they weren’t even planning on having available, and that is direct revenue to them. But the truth is, that revenue is also coming to me through their efforts. That is good enough to earn my loyalty when dealing directly with the client, and in the end, strengthens my relationship with the agency.

I would love to hear from others how they have dealt with similar situations. I’m sure this isn’t a rare situation, and I think that people new to the field and dealing with agents would find additional input valuable.

Have a great weekend….and thanks, Mary Kay!

Going viral

October 18, 2010 by George 1 Comment

So this is fun: I did a web ad with Terry Daniel and and ad firm in Minnesota for a Senate candidate in Alaska. It was a spoof of the Old Spice ads everyone loved so much (me included). It got enough attention that it made the Today Show this morning.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21p0anYBsFc]

Honestly, I don’t know if you can beat that kind of exposure.

Here’s the full ad. Thanks to Michael Wilson at Odd Lamps and Terry Daniel from Voice Over Club for bringing me onboard!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEL5UKQxsUE]

He’s not an octopus

October 15, 2010 by George 2 Comments

I haven’t met David Houston in person. We are linked on most social networking platforms, but I haven’t yet had the pleasure of shaking his hand. Regardless of that fact, David Houston is a funny man. And he is not, in fact, an octopus.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfRgoS2GiA8&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3]

Follow him on Twitter. Because he’s not an octopus.

Networking: A Must Do

October 13, 2010 by George 2 Comments

As voice artists, and as ordinary working folk, we have been given an enormous number of tools at our disposal to connect with others, particularly in our field. Years ago, we didn’t get in contact with each other unless we ran into one another at a studio or over an ISDN connection.

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Now we have what seems to be every conceivable tool to stay in touch and see what everyone is up to. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, the VO-BB, Voiceover Universe…the list is dizzying, and probably a bit overwhelming even if you have sat yourself down and tried to make sense of it all. Where do you start? How do you do it? And do you even have to?

Let me make one part of this very simple: yes, you do have to do it. This is how the world works nowadays, and you need to be a part of it. And no, you are not going to generate lots of jobs and money directly from your efforts there, at least not quickly. But you must integrate the use of social media, and the networking with other artists, studios, and production houses into your plans to make sure you are not missing out.

Dave Courvoisier and Terry Daniel have put together a very helpful and complete listing of social media resources for the voice actor at Social Media VO. It includes links to all the biggies, and some techniques to try in the social media space. But don’t forget the most important part of this social media experience: the people you are connecting with.

In all of the areas you need to explore, it is not enough to be a “lurker,” someone who watches, but never participates. You can gain information, hints and tips by lurking, no doubt about it. But you will not gain the connections you want and need without participating. For instance, on Twitter, you must follow the #vo and #voiceover hashtags. But don’t just watch: comment, compliment, retweet. Pass along opportunities that you can’t fulfill, but one of your followers or someone you are following can. Make sure you are out there doing something, not just passively observing. That person you congratulate on their latest gig may know someone you need to talk to.

Back to the overwhelming nature of the social media world: it’s hard to manage it all. However, there are people who have great ideas about how to stay on top of it. Michael Stelzner runs the Social Media Examiner website and daily email newsletter, and it is packed solid with information and tactics for using the social networks. My favorite article so far is “5 Easy Steps to a Winning Social Media Plan” by Emily Soares Proctor. It give you a framework for what to update when, definite strategies, and even provides you with a calendar.

What can I point to that shows this can work? How about a job I did for Terry today. Or the great conversations I have had with Pamela Vanderway of Dialect411.com, and the very cool project she pushed me into working on. Or the studios I have found and signed up with for messaging on hold, commercials and e-learning. Or even just the fact that I now know Monte Bratten, Cia Court, Jud Niven, and Lisa Rice.

It’s a lot to do. And I don’t adhere exactly to it yet. But you have to get started somewhere. Go to Dave and Terry’s site and get some pointers. Get on Twitter and start following the hashtags and the people you meet there. Get on VU and VO-BB. But get started.

Because networking is not optional.

Travellin’ Man – Recording on the Road

July 26, 2010 by George Leave a Comment

As parents, my wife and I don’t often have “spur of the moment” travel moments. A blended family like ours has to do a lot of logistics planning to get the kids all in one place in order to go to another place. But two weeks ago, Katherine and I had a chance to go out of town to see my brother’s family and my parents in Illinois, plus get her up to see Chicago in the summertime. We went from “let’s go to Atlanta” to “Let’s go HOME” in about 10 minutes. We packed up the car that night and were ready to hit the road in the morning.

This meant I had to be ready to record auditions over the course of the trip. Originally, we were going to go for a long weekend, but ended up staying the entire week. Rather than unwire my PreSonus Firebox and mic, I planned to stop and pick up a USB interface and use my AT-3035 mic (now relegated to backup duty after getting the VO-1A. So while cruising the perimeter of Indianapolis, we stopped and got a Blue Microphones Icicle USB Interface, a small mic stand and cable. So armed, we headed to meet my brother Brandon (lead singer of Champaign’s mighty Beat Kitchen), his wife Megan and my nephew Everett.

We overnighted at a little hotel down the road from their place, and as Katherine indulged in a swim, I set up my mobile kit for recording a few auditions.

A new bit I have been working into my home studio is the Sony Reader Touch Edition (seen laying atop my laptop in the picture). Printing so much paper for auditions seemed wasteful of paper and ink, and a drag on the environement I could control. Because I was not ready to shell out for an iPad, I looked for an ebook reader that was capable of allowing markups of notes and documents on the screen. The only reader capable of this is the Touch Edition. I had just started using it in my studio when we decided to go on our little jaunt, so it was the perfect opportunity to give it a real run. I copy the text of the script into a RTF (Rich Text Format) file and transfer it to the Reader, and it was definitely an advantage when I was on the road without access to a printer.

To isolate while I was voicing, we covered the small table in the room with both the blanket and comforter from the bed and ran the mic under it.

A word of warning: ALWAYS bring good headphones with you in this set up. I failed to do so, and that will come up later.

I was able to get good, quick auditions done before Katherine was done with her swim. Perfect!

The following Monday, we were at my parent’s home in Kankakee, IL. We were preparing to head out the door to spend the evening in Chicago when I got a call on my cell. It was the producer for one of the spots I auditioned for in the hotel room two days earlier. He wanted to record the spot I auditioned for that day. I told him we would be able to do that once we got to our hotel. After a bit of a drive, lunch (Katherine’s first experience with Chicago style stuffed pizza…winner!), and a frantic setup once the hotel let us get into our room, I had a similar treatment plan in the new hotel. This time (after a false start), I put the foldable towel rack in the center of the bed, flipped the comforter and blanket over the rack, and ran the mic under. After recording, the lack of quality headphones came to a head. Katherine was kind enough to walk down to Radio Shack two blocks from the hotel and pick up some headphones I could use while I did the preliminary edits. Once we got that all done, the files were off, and by morning, the completed spot was ready to go.

Here’s the video for those who can’t see the embed: UPH Commercial.

And with that, the road recording adventure was at an end (well, less a couple more auditions, one of which resulted in me as a play by play announcer for a Louisiana Lotto radio spot). It was an effective load out that earned me money on the road. A few things to remember:

A good USB interface for using your road mic is a very good thing. Blue Microphones, Shure, and CEntrance make good ones.
Don’t forget your headphones!
Explore paperless solutions to your studio like the Touch Reader, the iPad or the like for easy portability.
Know what your settings are for processing your files on your laptop as well as you know them on your studio rig.
Use the tools at hand to treat your area. You can spend money on finished solutions like the PortaBooth, but blankets and comforters can work in the clutch.
Have an understanding, supportive partner for your travels. It makes the whole trip more enjoyable.

Making Professional Jealousy Work for Me

June 21, 2010 by George Leave a Comment

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb. And all I remember was thinking “I want to be like them” – Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”

Eight years ago, I was asked to be the host of a corporate video for my then current employer. That “gig” expanded a bit into being a semi regular host of the same videos as my company merged with another. It also gave me the chance to go into a recording studio for the first time in order to record some wild lines to go into the video. Walking through the studio, sitting in the booth in front of the of the first Neumann TLM 103 mic I had ever seen, reading the script: I was smitten. I asked the very friendly and helpful people at the studio how to get to do voiceover work. They directed me to research, practice and come back, and they would make my demo and give me some contacts to get me started.

I moved forward, getting a demo done, making contacts and getting gigs. Voiceacting was most definitely my side work to my main job, and I many times reassured myself that I was perfectly happy with that arrangement.

I’m here to tell you that I was not.

I have worked with some outstanding voice talents during the intervening 8 years. Men and women who had been in the game for many years, and were making the vast majority of their income in the voice acting arena, voicing almost every day. And that experience caused that little knot inside, the one that whispers in your ear “You can do that…you KNOW you can,” to grow. To make me jealous of their choices and their success.

Now, today, I am exposed to more talented voice artists than ever before. Twitter, Voiceover Universe, the reports back from VOICE 2010, Facebook, all of them give me insight to the motivated, talented professionals that populate this field in all of its many areas of expertise. And I’m not going to lie: that knot of jealousy is still there.

But now I am doing something about it. And that is the key: doing something about it. Taking that feeling of “You can do that,” and moving forward with it. Yes, it will be while trying to balance every other thing in a busy life, but that’s no different than any other aspiring, working voice actor. This is manipulating the “jealousy” into self motivation, determination, drive. So that I am like my “heroes” as the Gnarls Barkley quote lays out above, living life out on a limb.

My goal is at least one good project every day. I’m not there yet, but I can see it from here.

Can you?

George

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