GARY MASON

443.624.3014

gary@gary-mason.com

Getting Started

FORE!

Encouragement, Getting Started, Training, Voice Over

Welcome Back!

Thanks for reading, and if you are a new subscriber; Welcome and thanks for joining us!

Golf

If you know me, you’ll know that if the question is: Golf? The answer is always: YES! Like voiceover and acting, I started golfing later in life. WOW was that a mistake!  I am now working diligently to make up for lost time by playing as many rounds a week as humanly possible.  Just this past 4th of July weekend I played Friday, Sunday, Monday, AND Tuesday.  Notice my weekend began on Friday and extended through Tuesday…when you are no longer working that “day job” your weekend can be as long as you want it to be!  And just to rub it in, I just booked s tee time for TODAY as well.

I’m not very good at it, though

I mean, I guess for someone who has only been playing the game for a little over three years, I’ve done alright but I am at the point now where I typically shoot in the high 90’s or low 100’s.  For those of you who golf, you’ll know that this skill level will never get me qualified for the PGA.  Or any other tournament for that matter.

Nonetheless, I enjoy it

Now, the people on the tee behind me, waiting for me to clear the fairway (HA – the fairway – it’s a mythical place where balls never land!) are probably not having nearly as much fun as I am, but this post is about ME and golf, not the frustrated golfers behind me.  I enjoy the challenge of it all, and the aspect of competing with myself each round.  Every time I tee up on the first hole I am trying to improve on the game from the day before. Sure, it’s great to have a lower score than the people you’re playing with, but in reality, you are competing against yourself out there.

And THIS weekend…

I managed to do JUST that. I broke 90…yes, that’s right, I shot an 87 yesterday!  Again, not going to qualify me for the PGA, but it was definitely a personal best.  Sure, I still sliced the ball into the rough, the sand and even the trees (Trees are not my friend on the course, as pretty as they are I wish they’d just cut them all down), but somehow I managed to hit some really good approach shots that got me close to the pin on my second (or third on the longer PAR 5 holes) shot.

And how did I do that?

Simple, lessons. That’s right, after I joined our local club, the Springfield Golf & country club, I quickly signed up for lessons with one of their pros.    And then I hit the driving range a couple times a week to practice what he was teaching me.  And then I played as much golf as I could.

I hate it when things wear out…

I’ve been steadily improving (last year I was hitting 110-120 and the year before that…well, you don’t want to know).  So this weekend, I needed a new golf glove because the one I was using developed a hole in the palm, so I headed to the pro-shop and picked up a new one.  By the time I finished the round, the NEW glove had a hole in the same place.  I thought “cheap gloves” and yesterday returned to the pro-shop to complain and maybe get a new glove.

One Thing…

Of course, one of the club pros was there, and when I explained to him what was going on he asked me a few questions about where the glove was wearing out and what type of wear.  He actually walked down to the cart to look at the old glove…great customer service at this club!  The first thing he said was: “Your glove shouldn’t be wearing there at all, show me your grip”.  You see where this is going, right?  I was gripping the clubs wrong.  He looked at my grip, made one suggested change, and sent me on my way.

AMAZING!

It’s amazing to me how JUST changing the grip changed my game!  Balls were (mostly) flying straight and a lot of them actually landed IN the fairway.  For those of you who golf, and like me rarely hit from the fairway, I am here to tell you that hitting from the short grass is MUCH better.  Anyway, the point is, all I had to do was change the way I was HOLDING (vice swinging) the club for an improvement of about 10 strokes.

Here’s the thing…

Voiceover is much the same.  No, you should not be recording from the fairway – far too much background noise as the people teeing off behind you will NOT be happy.  But like golf, a career in voice over is not as easy as it seems it should be.  I mean, in golf all you’re doing is smacking a little ball around in a field, and in voiceover all you’re doing is speaking into a microphone.  Seems like they should each be pretty easy to accomplish – until you try them.

Lessons!

The lessons helped in golf, and they help in voiceover AND acting as well.  Just like you can’t simply buy a set of clubs and start competing on the links, you can’t just buy a microphone and start recording professional voiceovers that people will want to buy.  You are going to need to get training.  There are numerous ways to get the training you need, from pre-recorded video lessons like Masterclass (better than nothing, but not the best since you don’t get direct feedback), to structured coursework like you’ll find at Edge Studios to in-person or virtual group classes like you’ll find at Such a Voice, right down to one-on-one training with a personal coach like Scott Burns. Take lessons, it helps!

Coaching…

Taking classes is good, but it is not enough to finish classes and then just jump in.  Individual coaching is a necessity in this field.  Each person is different, and structured classes, while needed, will not address individual adjustments.  A personal coach will be able to find that “one thing”, like my golf grip, that needs attention and help you make the correct adjustments.  And no, your grip on the microphone will not need to be adjusted because…never, never, never…hold the microphone in your hand!

Time…

As with almost everything in life, improving your voiceover or acting skills takes TIME.  If you are frustrated with where your career is at, start by giving yourself a break, then a coach, and then time to practice what you’ve learned.  Over time your performances will get better and better, until one day, you’ll be hitting under 90 every round!

A quick aside.

Thanks for reading to the end, but if you’re looking for something else to read, why not take a look at a couple of the promotions running through book funnel now:

A New Dawn – Non-Fiction / How To & Instructional and Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Mega Non-Fiction Promo – Non-Fiction / How To & Instructional, Non-Fiction / Inspirational, and Non-Fiction / Self-Help

There are a LOT of great titles in these book promotions, you are almost guaranteed (ALMOST) to find something that strikes your fancy.  And if you haven’t already gotten it, you’ll find my book, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Getting Started in Voice Over, But Didn’t Know Who to Ask, in both of them.  Happy hunting!

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

 

A bit about ACX

General, Getting Started, P2P Sites, Voice Over

Welcome Back!

Thanks for reading, and if you are a new subscriber; Welcome and thanks for joining us! This week let’s talk a little bit about Amazon/Audible’s Audiobook Creation Exchange – ACX.

What IS ACX?

In short, ACX is an online casting site that matches the Rights Holders (RH) of (most often) independent books with narrators for the purpose of producing audiobooks from the author’s titles.  The RH of a book is the person or company that holds the rights to the audio version of a book.  Most often, on ACX, the RH is the author themselves, but sometimes it is a publishing company or an individual who has purchased the rights from the author.

Who owns the rights?

Typically, the author of the book is the original RH for all versions of the book.  Depending on how the book is originally published, and what the contractual arrangement with a publisher may be, the RH COULD be the publisher of the book or maybe even a third party who has managed to purchase the rights from the original RH.  For books in the public domain there MAY not BE a RH at all.  It can get pretty confusing, but generally, on ACX, the RH is either the publisher or author of the work.  What you need to know is this: SOMEONE (not you) owns the rights to the audio version of a book.

How does it work?

The concept behind ACX is pretty simple: A RH posts their title to ACX (The print or kindle version of the book must be available on Amazon to qualify) and then narrators audition.  The RH selects a narrator, offers the book to them and after negotiating rates there is a contract through ACX that describes the terms of the relationship.  All pretty straightforward in concept.  If only it were that simple in execution.

Good, Bad and Ugly.

There is good and bad (and sometimes a little ugly) on the ACX platform though, and since people are involved, of course it gets a little more complicated in execution.

Types of contracts through ACX.

Generally speaking, there are three types of relationships between RH’s and narrators on ACX: Royalty Share (RS), Per Finished Hour (PFH) and a hybrid call RS Plus (RS+).  Each has advantages and disadvantages that you need to be aware of, so let’s spend a little time talking about that.

Royalty Share.

Essentially, a RS arrangement means that the RH offers the book for production and the narrator produces the book without any money changing hands up front. Once the book is complete, and passes ACX QA standards, the audio version of the book goes on sale at Audible, Amazon and iTunes.  For each sale of the audio version, the cover price is split between ACX, the RH and the narrator.  ACX (which is owned by Amazon, BTW.) takes 60% for their part (which is a pretty high percentage IMHO, but that’s a topic for a different day) and the RH and narrator split the remaining 40% 50/50.  ACX tracks sales, and pays both the RH and narrator monthly.

For the math wizards out there…

Just in case, like me, you don’t do math problems easily in your head, that means both the RH and narrator each take 20% of the cost of the book.  It doesn’t sound too bad, but the majority of audiobooks sold through ACX are based on “credits” and the cover price typically doesn’t account for much.  Neither the RH nor the narrator have any say in what the cover price is.  My experience is that the 20% cut for most books produced amounts to $2.00 or less.  Usually less.  Usually, WAY less.  You can make money doing RS titles, but if you want to support yourself this way it becomes a numbers game – you need to produce a lot of titles.

Per Finished Hour.

On a PFH contract, the RH and narrator negotiate a rate of pay for each finished hour of an audiobook. The narrator is paid that rate, times the actual number of finished audio hours that comprises the finished product.  WHEN the payment is made is negotiated directly between the RH and narrator; ACX is not involved at all in the payment for PFH titles.  Typically, a narrator must pass the first 15 minute checkoint with the RH before expecting even partial payment, but it is really up to you to negotiate that with the RH.  If you are working with someone for the first time, it’s probably a good idea to ask for some portion of the estimated number of finished hours after the first 15 minute checkpoint and before the book is produced.

A bit about rates.

I’ve talked about VO rates in a previous post, but just a quick aside about audiobook rates.  First, ALWAYS check the GVAA Rate Guide, but generally speaking $250 Per Finished hour is the MINIMUM you should be working for. If your project is RS+, you should be asking for about ½ of whatever PFH rate you charge (minimum $125).  If not, at LEAST make sure you are asking for enough to cover any production costs such as an audio editor or proofer.

Royalty Share Plus.

RS+ titles are a hybrid of the RS and PFH model.  The RH and narrator negotiate a reduced PFH amount and then share in the royalties based on sales.  The reduced PFH rate is paid directly to the narrator by the RH, and the royalties are paid monthly by ACX.  This model allows the narrator to cover production costs and reduces the risk of not making any money on a given title.

Risk.

Speaking of risk, if you’ve followed along so far, you’ll note that for the narrator RS is the riskiest model.  Since on average it takes anywhere from 2-8 hours of work to produce ONE finished hour of audio (based on the narrators experience and workflow), the narrator can spend many hours on an RS title, only to have it not sell very well. Since you only get paid with this model when the title sells, if it DOESN’T sell you (as the narrator) get paid a pittance for a lot of work.  PFH is riskiest for the RH (and least risky for the narrator) and RS+ means the RH and narrator SHARE the risk.

Much less risk…

Have you noticed who is NOT really at risk here?  Right, ACX.  Don’t get me wrong, ACX (a la Amazon) is providing a service, and should be compensated for that.  I’m just not sure they should take the largest cut for the least amount of risk of ANY of the publishing models.

The good.

The good thing here is that the platform provides a way to connect RH’s and narrators to produce many audiobooks.  They have also established and enforce minimum quality standards so that really terrible (note I said MINIMUM quality standards) audiobooks are not published on their sites.  It’s likely that MANY very good audiobooks exist today thanks to the ACX platform, and likely many narrators exist that previously would only be “aspiring” narrators.

The bad.

There are, however, some bad things about ACX.  ACX does not vet the authors or the books up for production except to insist that the print or kindle versions are for sale on Amazon in order to be able to post them at ACX.  This means it is up to the narrator to vet the titles to decide if they might sell well.  ACX does provide some handy tools to do that, showing the narrator the Amazon ranking of the non-audio versions of the book along with a link to the title at Amazon so you can see reviews.  This helps you decide which titles to go for.  And there are some bad titles on the platform.  You’d think they could at LEAST make sure that the book is not chock-full of grammatical and spelling errors before allowing it to be listed.  This is not terrible I suppose, and narrators should absolutely insist on seeing the full finished manuscript BEFORE accepting an offer to produce anyway.

The ugly.

But it gets worse.  Not only are there some books by authors who just aren’t very talented there (which, I guess, goes under both good AND bad, maybe) there are also a LOT of scams.  When I say scams, what I mean is there are people who claim a title from Amazon as their own, but do not actually hold the rights to the title.  Typically, they offer the book as a RS project, have someone produce it and then they download the audio files for their own use once ACX takes the title down.  The narrator never gets paid.  Just today I saw a Harry Potter book on ACX offered as RS, and you just KNOW J.K Rowling is not posting that to ACX…besides, there is ALREADY an audio book published!  You’d think ACX could do SOMETHING to at least reduce the number of these offerings on their platform, but they don’t vet the books AT ALL.

Buyer beware.

Well, narrator beware anyway.  If you are going to work through ACX, you’ll need to get good at spotting scams and books that won’t sell well.  Remember that well known authors and their publishing houses are NOT listing books on ACX (generally) and when they do, they offer a decent PFH rate because they want to keep the full 40% of royalties.  As a general rule, always remember: If it seems too good to be true; it is.

At the end of the day…

ACX is, or CAN be, a great place for narrators to find titles to work on and connect with authors.  Just know that if you decide to start using ACX as a platform, you’ll need to be aware of the scams that lurk there, understand the payment models used, vet the titles well to decide if they’ll sell (if doing RS) and for PFH jobs make SURE you are negotiating a fair PFH rate!

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

 

Skiing and Voice Over…or…DON’T GIVE UP!

Encouragement, General, Getting Started, Training, Voice Over

Welcome Back!

Thanks for reading, and if you are a new subscriber; Welcome and thanks for joining us! I know you were eagerly awaiting a post last week, but as I mentioned week before last, I was in Salt Lake City, Utah for my M-I-L’s 80th birthday.

UTAH

Have you ever been to Utah?  No? Neither had I till my met Karen, who grew up just outside Salt Lake City.  Man, what a beautiful place.  If you didn’t know, SLC sits in a VERY flat valley surrounded by gorgeous mountains.

This picture does not do it justice

We had a really great time this trip, and the birthday party was a HUGE success.  It’s really nice to celebrate a milestone birthday with someone and see how many people love them.  Happy Birthday mom!

A Funny Story

Yeah, I know this blog is supposed to be about Voice Over, I’ll get to that…but I have a funny story to tell you about one of my first trips to Utah.

You see, Karen grew up there (as I mentioned) and with perfect mountains all around, it is easy to understand why someone would become a skier.  Karen did.  I, on the other hand, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and while Cleveland definitely has some things to offer (like Lake Erie!) the one thing it does NOT have is a mountain.  Hardly even a hill.

I was not a skier

But, when I started to date Karen, I agreed to give skiing a try since she liked it so much.  She got me hooked on golf, but THAT’S another story.  Anyway, we headed to Wisp (in MD) and I took about ½ day of lessons and practice on the bunny slope…and I was HOOKED!  I actually got the point where I could:

  1. Turn
  2. Stop
  3. Get ON the lift without falling
  4. Get OFF the lift without falling.

I was sure I was ready for the Olympics!  Well, not really, but I was CERTAIN I could do this skiing thing!

And then…Utah

So we were heading out to visit her mom in the winter and we decided we needed to bring all of our ski stuff so we could spend some time on the slopes while we were there.  It would be an understatement to say I was not prepared for what faced me there.  Just in case you weren’t aware, with an elevation of under 4000 feet,  Marsh Mountain in Garrett County Maryland (where Wisp Resort is located) PALES by comparison to the 11,000+ feet of the  Wasatch Mountains situated to the East of SLC and Snowbasin Ski resort, where Karen took me because they had “easy slopes”.

This is NOT your mama’s ski resort!

First, when you ski on the East Coast, it is a simple affair of getting on the lift, getting off the lift, skiing to the bottom, then getting on the lift and going to the top again.  If you want to go to a different slope, you just get on a different lift at the bottom…well, for the most part.  At any rate, it is SIMPLE.  At Snowbasin, you need a MAP.  Depending on where you park, you’ll probably need to SKI to the first lift, and then choose a run to take, then get on a different lift and head to another run.  You can easily get lost working your way around the mountain.

SLOPES!  HA!

The very first thing I noticed when we got out of the car and started to head downhill was:  There are no “slopes” on this mountain, and it is NOT a “hill”.  I found myself staring straight down (or so it seemed to me) a cliff.  Well, I suppose straight down is technically a slope, if you’re a mathematician:  I was far less worried about math, and a LOT more worried about dying on the mountain that day.

It MAY be a guy thing…

I don’t know, but when Karen and her friend gracefully headed down the “slope” (I’ll just call it that from now on I suppose), nice and smooth and at a reasonable pace, there was no WAY I was going to chicken out and not head down myself.  I refused to be shown up!

My skis

When I bought my shiny new skis, I told the 20-something guy helping me at the ski store that we were headed to Utah.  He selected the perfect pair of skis for me to ski in Utah.  Karen questioned the wisdom of the extra-long skis he chose, but I told her he assured me they were perfect.   If you’re a skier, you know that “extra-long” can be translated to “Very fast and difficult to control”.  **NOTE TO SELF**: Never listen to a 20-something ski guy when you are approaching 60 and just getting started.

WOW – They were FAST

If I even THOUGHT the word slope, my skis were headed downhill FAST and with a mind of their own!  I won’t bore you with details of each hill, just know that I spent more time trying to stand up on a steep angle and get my skis back on than I did actually skiing.  Karen and her friend, sadly, spent more time standing at the bottom of the hill laughing at me.  Even on the fall where I apparently broke a rib.  Skiing can be dangerous for an old brittle guy like me.

Exhaustion…but

By the time the girls were ready to quit, I was beat up, sore and exhausted.  I could barely stand.  Remember how I mentioned you need a map and could easily get lost?  Yeah, well we were about 3000 miles and several slopes/lifts away from the car.  Maybe not 3000 miles, maybe more like 3…but it FELT like 3000.  I was done, but I had to ski for another HOUR to leave.  I had no choice but to keep going or die on the side of the mountain.

What does that have to do with Voice Over?

I’m glad you asked!  The story of my first ski trip to Utah seems unrelated, but it reflects my (and I suppose many of your) journeys in Voice Over.

In the Beginning….

No, not Charleston Heston, but when we first start out in voice over, or any new endeavor really, it’s like that first day for me at Wisp on the bunny slope.  We take some lessons, get some coaching…and then one day it seems like we “get it”.  We can turn, stop, get on and off the lift without wiping out. It’s a great feeling, we MIGHT even book a small job and feel good about ourselves!

But one day…

But then, as we gain confidence, we “head to Utah” where we can begin trying out the big slopes.  Those higher paying Voice Over jobs.  Suddenly, we are competing with pros, people who have been doing this for years.  And then we spend a lot of time falling down and trying to get back up.  Thankfully, those seasoned pros aren’t standing at the bottom of the hill laughing at us, well, except on Facebook when we ask dumb questions that have been answered a million times.  Anyway, it feels like they are sometimes.

And then you may feel “done”

Or maybe not, but likely so.  Your legs will be shaking, your chest on fire from a broken rib…you may feel like you can’t continue, and you never want to do this again.  OK, not literally, but you get the point.  You may come to a point where you just want to throw in the towel and find something else to do.

DON’T

That’s right don’t do it!  Keep on going!  I know it’s not like you are stuck on the side of the mountain with no choice but to “keep skiing” but keep skiing anyway.  Make it back to the relative safety of the car.  Drive home, put your feet up, have an “adult beverage” or six (if you’re into that), and then gear up the next day and try again.  Maybe not the next day, maybe, like me, you need a week or so to let the fractured rib heal…take the time you need to get re-centered and then head out again.  Get some coaching, get a practice partner, find a mentor…and keep chugging along.

It gets better…

It really does.  Like with any other thing you try to do, at first you are pretty terrible at it, then you get good enough to be encouraging, then you hit a slump and THEN you start to be GOOD at it.  Giving up means you never get to the GOOD stage.  Personally, I look forward to the day I consider myself good at Voice Over…well, and skiing…AND golf…but again, that’s another story altogether.

 

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

 

Contracts

General, Getting Started, Legal, Voice Over

Welcome Back!

Thanks for reading, and if you are a new subscriber; Welcome and thanks for joining us!

Ugh, I know, contracts…BORING, right?  Well, maybe, but a very important topic for freelance VO artists so this week let’s talk about something near and dear to everyone’s heart: Contracts.

What IS a contract anyway?

Simply put, a contract is just an agreement between two (or more) parties, whether they be companies or individuals, that defines their relationship.  Miriam-Webster  has a fancier way of saying it: “a binding agreement between two or more persons or parties”.  Of course, there are other official definitions within Websters, but this is the one we will focus on today.  The agreement between (specifically) the VO artist and their client.

We’ve all been parties to a contract.

Well, unless you are under 18 years old (in the USA) which is the age of consent here.  To be fair, it IS possible in the US for a minor to enter into a contract, however, they are protected legally because of their age and are able to void the contract.  There are exceptions, of course, but that’s a rabbit hole we don’t want to go down.  So, for the purposes of this discussion we will concentrate only on contracts made between persons or entities who have “reached the age of consent”.  In other words, we are going to stay away from grey areas and only talk about legally enforceable contracts between adults.

Why do we need contracts anyway?

People.  People are why we need contracts.  Well, and communication (as in different ways people communicate).  A contract lays out what is expected from each party so that when things go awry there is no confusion.  A GOOD contract will be unambiguous (I really just wanted to be able to use that word in s sentence today) so that there is no confusion about what is expected, and how to proceed when one party or another fails to hold up their end of the bargain.  Many times what one person sends (in communicating) the other receives completely differently than was intended.  The contract states things specifically, so (ostensibly) both the sender and receiver have the same understanding.

This reminds me of a couple jokes.

A husband is sent to the store by his wife. His wife says, “Get a gallon of milk, and if they have eggs, get a dozen.” The man returns home with 12 gallons of milk. When his wife asks WHY he bought 12 gallons of milk, he replies: “They had eggs.”

The newspaper reported an incident where they found a woman starved to death in her shower. In her hand was a bottle of shampoo.  She died following the directions: Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Obviously, these are extreme and meant to be humorous, but they each underscore why a contract is needed.

What is in a contract?

It is generally agreed that a valid contract contains six elements: There is an offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations, legality and capacity, certainty.  Of course, that last bit was written by a lawyer.  So, you have a contract if an offer was made, you have accepted that offer (or negotiated until you do accept it), there is consideration for the terms (payment), all parties INTEND to have a contractual relationship, what you are contracting for is legal and you have the capacity to provide it and all parties are certain they understand (whether they actually DO or not is possibly another matter).  Simple, right?

Does a contract need to be in writing?

The short answer is: NO.  Verbal contracts are just as legal as written contracts, although MUCH more difficult to enforce.  Here is an illustration of a verbal contract that you may not think is actually a contract.  You wife calls to tell you her plane will be arriving today at 3PM.  You agree to meet her at the airport at 3:30 to pick her up and bring her home. She thanks you and agrees to cook dinner as soon as you get home.  You have a contract.  Offer: I’ll pick you up.  Acceptance: She thanks you. Consideration: She’ll fix dinner (there are other considerations of course, she’s your wife, but this is a family blog).  You both INTEND to honor this agreement, it is legal, and you have a driver’s license.  You agree and are certain you both understand.  BAM – contract.  Things get a lot more complex in business arrangements.

But contracts are so COMPLEX!

They certainly CAN be, but they don’t have to be.  In the world of VO, your contract may be as simple as an email exchange between you and the client.  Many times, VO is fast paced, and there just isn’t a lot of time to hash out contract language with a client.  Remember the 6 elements of a contract above, make sure that the thread of the email exchange contains all six elements, and you are good to go.  For a continuing relationship though, for instance if you are to become the “voice of” some product or service, a well written contract will be more important.

I’m not a lawyer, and I can’t afford one, so how do I get a “well written” contract?

First, I definitely suggest investing in a lawyer who can review all your contracts to make sure your interests are protected.  Yes, I KNOW they can be expensive, but so is signing a bad contract.  Working with a lawyer to draft your “boiler plate” contract can be invaluable; it will save you a lot of time googling around to figure out what contract language should be included and makes sure your interests are protected.  Make sure you choose an attorney with experience in the entertainment industry, because a VO or other entertainment contract is not the same as other types of contracts. However, if you really can’t afford a lawyer yet, I suggest reading “Voice Over Legal” by Robert J. Sciglimpaglia Jr.  He talks about VO specifically (as he is also a VO artist) and what items are important to pay attention to for VO contracts.

My client sent me the contract

This is pretty common as well.  If your client has sent you a contract, first make sure it contains all six elements listed above, then make sure to READ the entire contract to look for things you disagree with.   Nothing nefarious here, but just as you are going to draft a contract that protects your interests, so too will they.  And while they are probably not trying to rip you off, they definitely aren’t focused on YOUR interests.  This is another time when having a lawyer look over the contract for you is helpful as they are reading it with an eye toward YOUR interests and not the client’s.

My lawyer (or I) doesn’t like some of the contract language.

Now what? You are selected for a job, you are excited to get started and get paid, but your lawyer suggests that some parts of the contract are not great for you.  What do you do?  NEGOTIATE!

How the HECK do I negotiate?

Honestly, it is pretty simple, and happens a lot more often than it seems.  Negotiation is simply a discussion.  You may need clarity about some of the language, or perhaps you don’t like the consideration offered or length of the term.  There are MANY reasons you may not want to sign a given contract as written.  The way to negotiate is simple, communicate!  Simply state to the client the parts of the contract you are unclear about (and ask for clarification) or the parts you’d like to modify (and state the suggested modification) and see what they say.  There is no reason to feel intimidated by a negotiation.  It is simply a discussion of terms between you and the client, to make sure everyone is satisfied and understands exactly what is expected of them.  There will likely be compromise (if only congress could figure out that word!) or you may not be able to reach an agreement.  But it is just a discussion.  And remember, once you sign you have to live with the terms like them or not.

But if I push back they’ll hire someone else!

In truth, that may happen.  But it is usually better to walk away from a bad contract than it is to accept it.  Anyone who is not willing to negotiate terms with you is not likely going to be an easy client to work with, which will just make honoring the contract that much more difficult.  The key thing to remember when negotiating is to stay cordial and professional, and point out where you have issues and what your suggested remedy is.  No hard feelings, nobody gets angry.  Either you can come to an agreement, or you decide not to work together.  Never burn a bridge and be obstinate or unprofessional during a negotiation.

Whew…

Yeah, this one was a bit dry and boring; I know. But a very important topic.  Key take-aways here are making sure your contracts are enforceable by including all six elements, remembering that verbal and email contracts are valid and not being afraid to negotiate for the terms you can live with.  Once you sign, it is too late to negotiate!

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Persistence

Encouragement, General, Getting Started, P2P Sites, Voice Over

Welcome back! 

Thanks for reading!  If you are a new subscriber, thanks for joining us!

It’s pretty easy to get discouraged sometimes, right!?  This week I’d like to talk a little about persistence.

This is a tough business.

I mean, it’s easy enough to get involved, pretty much anyone can get a microphone and some editing software and go for it (OK, maybe not very WELL, but going for it anyway).  And it is BECAUSE it’s pretty easy to get involved, it is also very competitive.  Don’t get me wrong, it is not cutthroat win at all costs competitive…it’s just there are so MANY people all competing for the same work.  Honestly, I am sure there are some, but NONE of the people I know are unhappy when you book a gig.  Maybe it would be better to say “It’s crowded” instead of competitive.

A hungry school of fish.

Have you ever been to a lake where they sell loaves of bread to feed the fish with?  You know how the fish crowd around a single piece of bread, climbing all over one another to get at it?  Yeah, that’s what I think of when I say competitive.  It’s like a hungry school of (non-shark) fish all trying to get to that one piece of bread.

Online casting.

If you spend any amount of time on any of the online casting sites, you’ll know what I mean.  Just this morning I saw a job that was posted yesterday, which was open for the next 8 hours, who wanted to receive 50 auditions.  When I saw it early this morning, it had over 150 responses.  THREE TIMES what the client asked for.  In all honesty, if you don’t get your audition in within the first 25-30 submissions, odds of you getting the gig are miniscule even if just because they will never even GET to your audio.  On top of that, if they DO get to yours, by the time they do audio exhaustion will have set in, and your fine nuanced performance may as well be a jackass braying into the microphone.    Go ahead, try listening to 150 audio clips of the SAME TEXT and see how you feel after 30 of them.  Not good.

They’re not ALL bad.

I’ve talked about online casting sites (P2P) in an earlier post, so I won’t belabor it here, but suffice to say that using a P2P site is not an inherently bad idea; you just need to use it to draw clients away from the P2P and to you as a return client.  Your goal with the P2P sites should be to make satisfied clients who reach out to you when they need your services.

I’ve also previously mentioned that a voice over artist, especially when just getting started, should expect to book ON AVERAGE about 2 out of every hundred auditions.  On average…this means that sometimes you book 5 out of 100 and sometimes you book 1 out of 300.  It’s just the way averages work, sorry.

But it can be so discouraging!

Yep, it CAN. Trust me, I KNOW. But here is the rub: You book exactly ZERO of the jobs you don’t go for. It is important to KEEP TRYING!

Here’s the thing: Every audition you do teaches you something and makes you better at this craft.  It’s true, auditioning should never be the tool you use to practice, but the act of auditioning DOES give you practice and teaches you valuable things. Just make sure you are reasonably proficient at recording and editing your audio before you start auditioning and never stop getting training and coaching.  While auditioning does give you experience, and valuable lessons, it is definitely NOT a substitute for training.  Besides, remember earlier when I discussed casting directors getting WAY more auditions than they asked for?  What they DON’T need is to have to listen to someone’s (or many someone’s’s (I made that up just now) practice auditions).

If you just want to practice…

Then a good way to do that is record several takes using the script for the audition, edit it, master it and then LISTEN back to it.  If you wait a day between recording and listening, you are bound to hear the flaws in the audio.  Better yet, find a partner that has some experience and ask THEM to listen and give feedback.  Feedback from someone who knows what they are talking about is invaluable, and something you never get from an audition.  Well, never…except when they book you, I suppose that’s a form of feedback.

Another reason not to use auditions as practice.

Many of the clients posting jobs on casting sites do it over and over again. See, the casting sites got the memo about return customers.  If you are submitting substandard auditions in order to “practice”, before long when these return clients see your name, they skip right past your audio…after all they have 149 more to listen to.  Using auditions to practice is like shooting yourself in the foot to enter a marathon.

Anyway, back to persistence…

I suppose this goes for just about anything in life, but just because you “fail” (don’t get the job) doesn’t mean you don’t have what it takes to do this work.  For me this applies not only to voice over, but screen acting as well…maybe for you too. I know when I was a kid my mom always used to tell me: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”.  I modified that in my teen and early 20’s years to say: “If at first you don’t succeed, try once more then give up.  No sense embarrassing yourself”.  Clearly, as I have started this third career at sixty years old, that advice didn’t work out so well for me.  I highly recommend you follow that FIRST piece of advice from my mom and not listen to young, flippant, ignorant me.

The Dip.

I read a good book recently called The Dip.  Full disclosure, the book ALSO talks about quitting things as well as persevering.  You have to choose which things you pursue, but once you decide, you have to work through the dip.  That period of time after initial success that gets discouraging.  You see, it happens with nearly everything.  You jump in, have some minor success, get excited, then everything slows down and you get discouraged.  That discouraged part?  That’s the dip.  If you work hard through the dip, you come out the other side successful.  I’m paraphrasing, you really should read this book.

Did you know?

Think about all the cool gadgets we have for our convenience these days.  We carry more computing power in our pocket now than was available on the NASA rocket that sent men to the moon and back.  Have you ever thought about what it took to get these things into your hands? Things we take for granted today didn’t exist, and in some cases weren’t even being considered 150 years ago.  Here are some examples of when persistence paid off.

Airplanes!

Today, we think nothing of buying a ticket, heading to the airport and jumping on a huge airplane to head, well, just about anywhere we want to.  But the airplane is a relatively new invention in the overall scope of things. The Wright brothers are well known for their invention of powered, manned flying machines, but their first successful flight lasted only 20 seconds and traveled a meager 120 feet. Did you know that the successful flight in 1903 came after working on this idea for more than 7 years?  They started by modifying kites into unmanned gliders to learn about aerodynamics, and from 1896 to 1899 when they started working on a manned version, they encountered failure after failure.  Imagine what the world might look like today if they had given up after the first few? Best case, someone else would have figured it out, but no one would now know the names of Wilbur and Orville Wright.  Persistence pays.

Light bulbs.

Everyone knows the name Thomas A. Edison, because without him, we would still be reading by candlelight.  I’ve read accounts that Edison failed more than ONE THOUSAND TIMES before successfully developing a light bulb that worked.  Edison is famously quoted as saying: “I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.”  What if he had stopped at 1000?  It was the 1001st try that has us lighting up our house like a Christmas Tree (AND lighting the Christmas Tree!).  Persistence pays.

Telephone.

Ever heard of a guy named Alexander Graham Bell?  Yeah, me too.  Think he just set out one day in 1876 and after a week or so, there was the phone?  Guess again.  Bell first envisioned the telephone in 1874, and two years and 31 failed attempts later he finally muttered those fateful words “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you”.  And HE was already researching speech and sound waves, so he was YEARS ahead of the game when he started.  Had he given up on the 30th attempt, we might still be sending telegrams.  Persistence pays.

It takes years…

I’ve said it before, and I still don’t know who to attribute it to, but it takes years (and a lot of hard work) to become an overnight success.  You don’t hear much about all the failed attempts leading up to success, you only hear about the success.  While voice actors are hardly household names, think about actors who are household names.  Do you think Robert De Niro started OFF as an academy award winning actor?  Nope.  You can google him if you’d like details, but De Niro’s first role was in 1963, and he didn’t really get “noticed” till 1973 in Mean Streets.  It took him 10 years to become an overnight success!

And you, too!

It will take time for you to become successful as a voice over artist or if you choose screen or stage actor.  There will be flops and failures along the way, as there is for everyone.  If you get discouraged and give up, what happens if you give up JUST before the perfect role for you; just before you get noticed?  Persistence paid for the airplane, light bulb, telephone and De Niro’s acting career.  It’ll pay off for you too!

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A late start….

Encouragement, General, Getting Started, Uncategorized

Welcome back! 

Thanks for reading!  If you are a new subscriber, thanks for joining us!

This week I’d like to talk a bit about getting A Late Start in the performing arts.  Well, I suppose this applies to nearly any profession, except maybe professional sports.

It’s never too late to start over…

It’s been said that you are never too old to learn something new, and while that’s true I would add “and to start a new career”.  That’s definitely true for me, who has started a new career at the tender age of 60 years old.  It’s been an experience, for sure, but it has also been a really great experience.  Let me tell you why starting a new career at 60 has worked for me.

Experience…

My dad used to say “Experience is something you get just AFTER you need it” …and for the most part he’s not wrong.  When you start to get a little older, one thing you definitely have going for you is experience.  Now, you may not have any experience in the new field you are trying to pursue, and that has definitely been true for me.  However, I am finding I have a LOT of relevant experience in general that has helped a lot.

Work/Study ethic…

While I have little actual experience in voice over and acting, my 60 years on this earth definitely taught me the value of establishing and maintaining good work and study habits.  In some ways, being an independent small business owner makes these things more difficult in that I only have myself to motivate me.  No boss making demands on my time is great, but that then means the task of motivation and drive fall squarely on my shoulders.  Thankfully, my 40+ years of service to the US Navy, both as an active-duty member and later a government civilian, gave me a lot of experience in self motivating behavior and a drive to succeed.  Starting later in life has given me an appreciation for training (that I also now have to pay for myself, which is ALSO a motivator) and for setting goals/deadlines and driving toward them.

Finances!

OK, I get not everyone is at the same place in life as I am , and I also get that I have been fortunate enough to have great jobs with good pay and have saved for retirement – so this is going to work out differently for each person, but I am talking about me and my own personal circumstance.  Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV).

For me, I am fortunate to be in a position where my VO and acting income is in addition to what I need to live on.  I’m blessed with two retirements (and eventually, if it is still solvent, I’ll add Social Security to that) along with savings and some other residual income from previous jobs.  Frankly, I COULD just play golf all day every day.  But I don’t want golf to get old and I am incapable of just sitting around all day.   So here we are!

But my suspicion is that most, not all but most, people my age who have retired, are in a similar position.  To be clear: The position I am talking about is not being wealthy, on the contrary I am suggesting there are many (most?) retirees who have sufficient income to live on while they pursue a second or third career.

Patience…

OK, I confess I am not really all THAT great in this category.  I actually used to have a sign in my office, and a tagline on all my emails, that said “BE IMPATIENT”.  Yeah, I want things to happen right away, or at least as fast as possible.

That’s the key.  AS POSSIBLE.

I believe that being a little advanced in age has given me the experience to know that successful careers don’t happen overnight.  That you have to work at it.  Work HARD.  And over time success comes. Under the heading of patience, I’ll say that, while I still want things to happen instantly, I recognize that they don’t.  And that knowledge means I don’t stress out over booking every job I audition for.  I recognize that “good things come to those who wait”, and that it is the work I PUT into this that will reap the rewards.  I think those rewards are worth waiting for.  Twenty-year-old me would have disagreed. Hell, FORTY-year-old me would have!

Thick Skin…

Again, I recognize this may not be true for everyone, but it is my firm belief that most people my age have developed somewhat of a thick skin.  At least, thicker than when they were in their 20’s.

There was a time in my life when any negative comment or critique would just pierce my SOUL and I would obsess about them for weeks or sometimes months.  These days, it just rolls off my back.  So maybe not totally…I mean, there are some people whose opinion of me I worry about…but not “people”.  As a natural extension of this, rejection, which is a common every day occurrence in this business, doesn’t affect me the way it once did.  Sure, rejection stings, I’d be lying if I suggested otherwise.  But it has become MUCH easier to shrug it off and move on.  It’s actually kind of freeing.

It’s not really rejection!

Besides, I view casting as a process of SELECTION vice REJECTION.  They are not rejecting you; they are selecting someone else.  The only ones who know why someone else was selected are the people who actually make the casting decisions.  In some cases, they may not have even listened to your audition.  Maybe they didn’t like the sound of your voice, or it just wasn’t what they heard in their head when they were setting out to book someone.  Maybe they loved you audition but can’t find it in the 100’s they received. Maybe they have an arch nemesis whose name also happens to be Gary Mason.  Who knows?  It doesn’t matter, and you’ll never find out anyway.

Competition…

Ask yourself THIS question: How many 60-ish year old people are starting an acting career?  I can answer for you – Not many.  But there ARE quite a few characters in the 50–70-year-old age range.  Certainly, not as many parts as there are for the 20-40 crowd, but far fewer people competing for the 50-70 range.  What that amounts to is fewer people competing for each role, which means it is easier to get noticed.  This is a distinct advantage to starting out a little later in life, but it IS a double-edged sword.  SOME of the people competing for those roles have been doing this work for 20, 30 even 40 years and have a lot more experience, but honestly, they are not going for the same projects I am as a relatively new VO/Actor, so competition is much less fierce.

Freedom…

Hey, It’s America we all have freedom!  Well, some would argue that, and may have a point, but in truth there are many things in life that limit your freedoms, and the biggest one (from my view) is a J O B.  Yeah, this is a job too…but it is NOT one that is controlled by a supervisor or an organization.  I’m retired from my “day job” so I have the freedom to schedule gigs and meetings whenever I want without checking to see if it interferes with my work schedule.  Which means I can work during “working hours”.  Or not, as I desire!  Freedom.

I am also fortunate enough to have a woman who doesn’t attempt to restrict me from doing what I need to do, even though it sometimes means being out of town, or working late in the evening.  Thanks babe!  Again, YMMV.

At the end of the day…

It may seem to some that starting a voice over or acting career at nearly 60 years old is a waste of time.  I suggest otherwise and have found that being my age and starting a new career is actually easier than it would have been when I was much younger.  Sure, I would have had more time to perfect the craft, build a reputation…but I also would have been a lot more stressed trying to raise four kids like this and probably would have needed a “day job” to make ends meet, at least early on.  I think that stress would have negatively impacted my career all by itself.

What have you got to lose?

Would like to start a voice over or acting career, or any other career for that matter, but are hesitating because you feel like you are “too old”?  YOU ARE NOT TOO OLD (I mean, unless you want to be the Starting QB for the  Washington Football Team, you ARE too old for THAT).  As long as you are on the sky side of the grass…DO IT!  It’s not too late to start anew!

 

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

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