While I try never to dodge a question, this is the kind of inquiry that demands an insertion of my personal disclaimer: I have been around this business for enough years to provide me with substantial knowledge of what I don’t know to be a certainty. It helps me to acknowledge when asked for my opinion, most of the time, the person asking the question has as much chance of being accurate with their answer as I might be with mine.
I choose to deal with the question: “How will I continue with voiceover?” as opposed to “How do I get started?” You’re in a beginning state, true. But your fire has already been ignited. You are started. Reading this offering will hopefully be of help with most of what your voiceover intentions happen to be.
In my opinion, voiceover is not a business but another in a long line of subjective art forms. I refer to it as a condition of the heart. We always ask our students the same question that most coaches ask their athletes: “How badly do you want it”? That’s what it all boils down to. Don’t waste your time trying to figure it out.
Like I said, it isn’t a business. It isn’t a friendly nurturing relationship shared by two lovers. You may love it, but if you expend too much of your energies trying to figure out why it doesn’t return your love, then you’re fostering the same form of deceit rendered to all who have devoted their lives fighting an endless uphill battle.
From the least of paydays (radio) to the best (TV) voiceover has to offer… it really doesn’t matter. Each and every time an actor works or takes an audition, I advise the actor to think of it as an opportunity that may provide a life-changing adventure.
Appreciate the fact: It’s not just another audition. Think for a moment about how many people will be listening to what you do during “just an audition.” I could easily cite many cases where an actor was requested by an advertising agency because they had experienced that actor’s work while listening to a totally unrelated audition that might have been conducted months earlier.
– HK –
