Welcome to the blog!

Let's start with an article I wrote to promote my upcoming book... it was never published so it won't step on any toes.  It talks about getting started in VO and how important it can be to an actors toolbox!  Enjoy!

Fill Out Your Tool Box

            Trying to make your living as an actor can be hard. 

            That's not quite right.

            Trying to make your living as an actor can be monumentally, impossibly, ridiculously, mind numbingly, soul wrenchingly terrifyingly hard. 

            That's better.

            Most actors get out of school or finish their training knowing little to nothing about the different tools available to supplement their income.  They are solid on acting theory but the actual practice and business of living as an actor is something that is barely covered, if at all, in their training.  An actor who is successfully making their living in their field must have a full and useful toolbox of skills to compete.  This often means (gasp) commercial work.  In the artistic havens of academia, commercial work is rarely mentioned and when it is, it is looked down on as "selling out."  The truth of the matter is that "selling out" often means being able to eat food, a necessary staple of living.        

            Of the many ways to "sell out", dipping your toe into the Voice Over world is among the most agreeable.  But just like any discipline of acting, it is a skill that must be learned and constantly perfected.  Taking that first step down the path to VO work can be confusing and a bit daunting, but with a little patience and research, it can also be quite rewarding. 

            The first step toward learning how to do VO is to find a beginner class or a coach who will teach you the basics.  Do your research when looking at a school or a teacher to study with.  Ask other actors who they recommend and who they have worked with.  There is currently a glut of options on the market, and some are more interested in stringing along the actor to drain them of the little money they have, and less interested in preparing the actor to compete in the highly competitive VO world. 

            Every school of thought on the approach to acting (Meisner, Stanislavsky, Chekhov etc.) has an accompanying text often referred to as "acting theory."  Just so, the study and performance of commercial VO has a set of rules that can be referred to as "Commercial Theory."  This "Commercial Theory" is the how and why of commercials, how and why they work and how we as actors work in them.  The trick to any good commercial read is to play by these rules, while being different from everyone else that plays by the same rules. 

            Confused?

            Think of it this way:  everyone plays the game of Football by the same rules.  Yet every player who plays the game has their own special way of playing that makes them unique.  The world of commercial VO is just like that.

            When you are shopping for a teacher/coach to start you down the path of VO, you want to find someone who is going to explain the rules of the game to you and not just toss you in a booth to figure it out for yourself.  A classroom filled with 10 actors trying to figure out VO is great, but if the teacher is not explaining why things work or don't work, it is not much use to the beginning VO actor.  This is something you want to look for when looking for that first teacher:  someone whom you trust to be honest and show you the ropes.

            It can be a long journey from learning the ropes to auditioning for work, but that should be expected.  The eventual goal is to make a VO demo, get representation and start auditioning.  If you cut a demo before you are ready, the chances of getting representation (and work) are extremely slim.  Any producer can make someone sound good on a demo, but if you are not able to back up the work that is on your demo in one take, you are not ready to have a demo.  This should be your ultimate goal in training:  the "one-read".  You should be able to get a piece of copy, read it through once and deliver a read on-mic that could go on the air tomorrow without any direction. 

            Getting to this skill level involves a lot of work and there are a lot of ways to get there.  There is no one right or wrong way. Some aspects of one school of thought may work for you and other aspects of that same school may not.  I use Shakespeare First Folio technique as a tool when working on and performing commercial copy.  For some people this works, for some it doesn't.  Ultimately, whatever works best for YOU is the right way to sharpen the VO tool to put in your toolbox.  In my upcoming book "Starting Your Career As A Voice Over Actor," I discuss the specifics of "Commercial Theory," the specific steps to start your career and different ways to get to the "one-read."  How you get there is not important, all that matters is that you get there... because we all have to eat.  Check out the book at www.StartingYourCareerInVoiceOvers.com.