Auditions Verses Actual Gigs Landed Concerns

Anthony Reece · **Voice Talent** Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 53

Hi All, I've read a few posts about this topic and wanted to lend my 4-cents (per word that is) So some food for thought!

Having been one of the original vo talents to sign up for voice 123 when it was still free. My experience over the last 3 - 4 years now as a "talent" is mixed with my vast exp's using the service as a client to also "cast" gigs as a director and producer.

In a normal month I likely use voice 123 to hire between 5 and 7 talents as a "client" too. But as a "talent" who knows most of the key players in the vo industry, I too at times wondered how after 18-years at this stuff I can only land a few gigs here and there each year. (even after remaining humble to my ability and exp)

Then one day early in the game it happened to me as a casting client of voice 123. See I placed my first or second post for an animation vo cast for a client project at my studio and WOW...over 275 people replied. To say the least, there was no way I could really sit around and listen to all 275 plus auditions (most of them general non relative demos and that issue is another post to discuss sometime) Oh did I mention those 275 plus replies were within the 1st 48 hours?

Now think about it as a "client" of v123 casting a gig. If 275 people reply, and it takes about 1-minute to click play, let it load and then respectfully listen to at least a portion of the sample, how long is that in actual time, or TSL in radio terms? Add it up.

Now with that kind of response from the dB of v123, can and does anyone REALLY listen to them all? NO WAY! I've actually asked other clients this too. That is over 3-hours of actual listening time by the client with most of the demos being that of generic content and not even based on the casting specs.

Then it hit me as a talent. No wonder I don't land many gigs here (again being humble to my skills) see how can anone with a real job really land a gig IF by the time they reply, they're number 197 of 275 samples. It is VERY likely the client never even got that far down the audition page. Try it yourself sometime. Cast a "paying" job and have fun spending hours weeding through both generic and custom samples even when you request a CUSTOM clip. You'll soon find from the view of the client, these days there are just too many hungry talents of which many are very good at the broadcast / on-hold vo stuff making up what 85% of the castings, to compete if you're never heard. Maybe v123 should have a auto-reply that tells you when and IF your auditon is even heard. (we can talk more about how frustrating it is spending hours each week creating custom samples only to hear it is VERY likely the sample is never even heard. Very disrespectful to say the least.

So as a 'talent' at this point in my feedback I share this with all my fellow frustrated vo talent faithfully answering every "good" paying lead. At voice 123 it is more about who is the lowest bidder AND where your submission lands on the clients audition response page. Your talent is not the most important aspect of this program. Those days are long gone.

So in other words....the early bird gets....well..."listened too" Smile

or do they?

I welcome your experiences and feedback about this viewpoint..
Anthony Reece
www.anthonyreece.com

Tom Greenlee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 945

Thanks for posting that Anthony. That was very informative.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007, 19:46 (GMT) Post subject:

...and the problem I have doing actual well done customs is that even if I am sitting at the site with my finger on the trigger, I print out the copy, fire up the software, do a few takes, add a slate, maybe some music and ten minutes later I am submitting number 66. I am getting past frustrated and starting to flirt with angry. There is NO WAY those other 65 are well done custom auditions. For a start, all auditions should require browsing to a file on your local PC. I know that some would just browse to their generic demo as a local file, but it might slow them down and make them think a bit. If you are going to just sit there and send generics all day, go into some other line of work. It is starting to make me think I should do the same and just hit REPLY - GENERIC. If they require a custom, just browse to my generic demo file.

Todd Ellis · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007, 01:57 (GMT) Post subject:

Colin - I often get in under 20 on the audition tree, and I get my share of jobs. I will say this with MUCHO respect to your vast production talents ... I believe you expend too much time and effort of fully produced demos. Here's a list of what I (usually) don't do for an audition: music, sfx, compression, anything involving the multi-track window. Here's what I do (usually) for an audition: try to give my best interpretation of the script. Again, I have great respect for your production skills, so please don't take this the wrong way.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007, 02:23 (GMT) Post subject:

Nah, no offense taken. I did the straight reads, dry for almost a year. Got a few jobs when I was home from work and able to answer quickly. I started the production thing for fun really. Since I have a day job, I am not able to get in early most of the time so I just have some fun. I have been going back to a lot of dry reads lately as well but I don't post them here much.

Amy Snively · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 1028

I'm still submitting dry leads, but I've started doing them topless in the hopes that it might help.

George Karnes · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 905

Amy do you bid $4.99 a minute when you do that? Wink

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Amy:
You make a couple of outstanding points there.....
Breast thing I've read all day.
Vice On!

Keith D. Milby · **Voice Talent** Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Posts: 570

Amy,

That is so cool, me too.

Also, no pants. Sorry for that image.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007, 03:37 (GMT) Post subject:

Oh geeze, Amy! Now look what you've started!

Everyone is going to want to milk this thing dry and start going tit for tat with each other! Twisted Evil

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Oh Scott, don't be such a boob.
We're all grown-ups here. We're not going to bust out about some titillating talk.
We've got voiceover to think about. And our health.
Remember: An ipple a day keeps the doctor away.
So grow up, Scott!

Keith D. Milby · **Voice Talent** Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Posts: 570

(beavus on) Scott said tit, Robert said ipple. Cool. (beavus off)

Tom Greenlee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 945

You guys are a HOOT ERrrr.....riot. it really doesn't aMOUND to much, so let's just all relax. I have my hands full at the moment and can't really squeeze the meaning out of your posts. Don't worry though I'm abreast of the situation and am getting a firm grasp on things. Well, I need to go bust open a soda and get my caffeine day going.

Anthony Williams · **Voice Talent** Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 663

hahahahahahaha

funny! Laughing

Anthony Reece · **Voice Talent** Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 53

I totally understand and can only relate to well to that. There were even times I thought maybe there was a "preferred" list of names who got the lead before the others in the dB? hmmmm. can we see a time stamp v123? anyways, being speedy is key. hang in there friend. thanks for the reply to my post.

anthony