Readers of The Magazine of Santa Clarita continue to send in great questions about the voiceover business, but this one is typical of many that I receive.
Q: A producer sent a request for an audition for a female character for a major videogame, WOW—World of Warcraft. It’s a big thing now with kids. He’s got everything I have in terms of great voice samples in mp3 format, yet he asks me every job for voice auditions. I wanted to know if my voice is landing in someone’s product and I’m unaware of it. –Ellen G. Agoura, CA
A: Ellen, a reputable producer wouldn’t or couldn’t use an audition for a videogame project—it’s just a few sample lines. The person they ultimately cast has to come in and perform hundreds of lines, and be directed. And the WOW people can’t extrapolate lines from previous characters you might have auditioned for.
Q: Is it beneficial (and perhaps cost-effective) to record commercial and narration demos at around the same time? –Mariel Q, West Hollywood, CA
A: Mariel, it’s really not a good idea and it’s not particularly cost-effective. It’s best to concentrate on each demo on separate days. You’ll have more energy, and you may decide to use different studios, with different microphones and different directors for each demo. Just make sure the production values are equally good for both. Break a lip!
Q: Should I target production companies with calls, letters and demos and not ad agencies? –Mary W., Solana Beach, CA
A: Correct, Mary. Ad agencies now solely deal with talent agencies. So your correspondence should go to talent agencies for representation; then after you have an agent, you should be sending your demo and ancillary material to commercial Radio and television production companies, casting agencies, in-house production departments of corporations, and promo departments of local television stations.
I’ll share more voiceover questions and answers in the coming months. If you have any questions, please write to me and I’ll get back to you.
Cashman Commercials © 2012
Marc Cashman creates and produces copy and music advertising for radio and television. Winner of over 150 advertising awards, he also instructs voice acting of all levels through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques in Los Angeles, California and at Cal Arts. He can be contacted at cashcomm@earthlink.net or his website, www.cashmancommercials.com.