ADVICE FROM THE VOICE-OVER X-PERTS
Interested in voice-overs? Wondering how to enter the field? What classes to take? How to make a demo? What agents to approach? What life is like in front of a mike? We went to the experts--agents, casting directors, and performers who specialize in voice-overs--to find out. And we brought back answers to all those questions and more.
This issue also brings you insiders' views on non-union work in the field, and interviews with three of the dialect coaches who give Broadway shows their special accents.
Jeb Bernstein, Agent
Fast-Paced Business
Voice-over agent Jeb Bernstein had no idea when he began his first agency job at 23, that within three months he'd be asking his new boss to start a commercial department. "I began with a small legit agency in New York, where I booked two actors on a commercial. They made a lot of money and I said to my boss, 'We should do this.' He said, 'Go ahead,' and I was so naive that I did." After a brief stint at a second firm, Bernstein joined a larger agency--S.T.E.--where he created a voice-over department. That was 11 years ago; in 1993 the bicoastal S.T.E. merged with three other agencies to create Paradigm--where the still New York-based agent continues to "look for good actors."
It's obvious that Bernstein truly enjoys his job. When asked what attracted him to working with voice-over performers, he remembers fondly, "My experience had been in on-camera, but as I learned about voice-overs--it just took me. I fell in love with being able to work with great actors who wanted the opportunity to be creative." He laughingly adds, "Voice-overs are great funding for the arts. They are a great way to make a living, allowing legit performers to still be able to afford to do stage work." He sums up the appeal of heading a voice-over department by observing, "What I get out of it, is that I'm helping actors to fund their careers. I'm supporting theatre." He also points out, "Advertisers are patrons of the arts. Their jobs support many legitimate theatre careers."
For Bernstein, acting is the most important ingredient required in voice-overs. "Voice-overs take acting talent, not just a good voice," he explains. Having a great respect for both his clients and other VO performers he adds, "It takes true talent to act with only your voice. There is incredible competition out there."
For those who wonder if they have what it takes to work in voice-overs, Bernstein cautions, "It's a fast-paced business. From 10 am to 6 pm every day you need to be available--and more important, prepared to go out as soon as you get the call. Performers need to have night jobs or something very flexible." Unlike on-camera auditions, voice-over calls are often last-minute, perhaps an hour before the audition appointment. Even bookings can have little advance notice.
Because of the continual scheduling, a typical office day finds Bernstein constantly on the phone with clients, casting directors, etc. Unsolicited phone calls from performers doing mailing follow-ups or asking questions really interrupt a very important part of his work day--and aren't the best way to begin a relationship.
So, just what is the best way to introduce yourself to Bernstein? He accepts tapes and "listens to every one." If he's interested, he contacts the performer. Mailing postcards is a good follow-up instead of phoning; so is sending flyers, etc., about other areas of the business in which you're working. "Actors should be open to doing all avenues of performing. Voice-overs should be a part of your overall career. Theatre is always great training," he declares.
Bernstein only works with union performers and signed clients, feeling that having a performer exclusively is very important. Considering the question of training in the voice-over field, while he thinks it can be important to work with a voice-over/commercial coach, he admits, "I've got lots of people who are great naturally without training and can book three or four jobs in one day."
Bernstein's tips for what he listens to in a demo tape include "showing a good range," but he cautions, "Don't do something on your tape unless you do it well. Don't put on there what you'd like to be doing; put on there what you do. The best tape is always spots you've booked already. If you don't have that, then your demo should sound as real as possible."
The agent sees the current voice-over field as now being "wide open. It used to be closed, using the same small group, but now they want all types and don't want to always hear the same voices." He observes that younger talent has been breaking in, too.
--Amelia David
Albert S., Actor
There's Got to Be More
Five years ago, Albert S.'s first attempt to break into the music business in New York ended far from the way he hoped it would. The Philadelphia native was inches away from cutting a record deal when the project fell through.
"It left me with a bad taste in my mouth," S. says.
But these days, that mouth, and the voice that comes out of it, has a better taste--that of success. S. is one of the up-and-coming voice-over artists with a distinctly hip-hop sound. And at only 24, he has already landed spots for Avis, Sprite, Adidas, and 1-800-Collect.
S.'s story is one of good timing combined with talent. While he was working towards his first rap single, his producer suggested him to a friend who needed a rapper for a dance record she was producing. S. appeared at her recording studio, wrote a rap, and recorded it the same day. "It took me 15 minutes and she paid me $100. I thought, 'This is way too easy--there's got to be more,' " S. laughs.
There was. A month later she arranged for his audition for an Eggo Mini-Waffles jingle, and after four auditions, he got the job. Now his voice was coming out of the face of a 10-year-old, and his mother in Philadelphia was calling every time she saw the spot on television.
But even though S. had landed the kind of job some jingle singers spend a lifetime trying to get, he took the success in stride. The Eggo spot gave him the confidence and freedom to start his acting career. A self-described "crazy guy," S. says he got restless and started working as a stand-up comedian at venues like the Apollo Theatre and the Comedy Factory. He got a call from an agent after a show and signed with the Carson Adler agency, which sent him out on more auditions.
"I sucked," S. says, shaking his head with a laugh. "I was very nervous. I was green. I didn't think of Eggo as voice-over; I thought of it as rapping."
Through work with various theatre companies, S. landed a role in a Naked Angels production, where he was seen by an agent from Cunningham, Escott, DiPene & Associates. Since he signed with the agency, his phone hasn't stopped ringing.
"There was a point where I didn't embrace voice-overs because every actor wants to be seen," S. says. But that attitude has changed. His voice can currently be heard in eight radio and television spots and in two on-camera commercials, for products from Tommy Hilfiger to the Virginia Lotto.
S.'s routine allows him to audition for numerous voice jobs while still exploring other options for his acting and writing careers. Last month he went to Los Angeles for the debut of his first feature film. S. plays lead Miles Jenkins in Chriss Williams' "Asbury Park," which in September won the first Annual Gordon Parks Independent Film Award for Directing--a $10,000 prize. A little overwhelmed by the Hollywood atmosphere, S. zealously recounts his days in that city like a child in a candy store, describing his run-ins with executives and celebrities with unbridled enthusiasm. He'll return to L.A. in October for auditions for cartoons ("It's more relaxed, more creative, and less of a time restraint.") and has already pitched his own television show to Nickelodeon. Now S. spends his time running to four to five auditions a week while looking for a literary agent to help him work with some ideas for feature films.
But the voice-overs remain his staple. On the day he visited Back Stage, S. had just come from an audition for an AT&T spot.
"I just got back from playing a wallet," he laughs, launching directly into a cartoon-ish voice and ad-libbing comments a wallet might say. Ad-libbing is somewhat of a trademark, ever since an ad executive encouraged him to add his own material at an audition.
"He told me, 'Hey, forget about the copy. I want your personality. I've been here five hours and everyone's been doing it verbatim,' " S. remembers. "So even if I just say 'hey' or 'yo' at the beginning, the ad people are like, 'That's cool. We like that.' "
The profession seems to match perfectly with the personality of someone as energetic and on-the-go as S. To keep his voice in shape, he drinks plenty of water and doesn't smoke or drink, and says his only vice is an affinity for M&Ms. Best of all, the hours fit his busy schedule.
"The beauty of voice-overs is you're in there for an hour, tops. I've been in and out in 10 minutes. It's taken me longer to fill out the paper work than to do the spot."
--Stephanie Lash
Stacy Seidel, Casting Director
There's Always a Trend
"I try to listen to at least 10 seconds or so of every tape that comes in," states Stacy Seidel, casting director for voice-overs at New York-based Liz Lewis Casting Partners. "It's very important that a tape be recorded at professional-level technical quality. Those that aren't go right into the garbage. A tape should show variety. I like to hear tapes where actors give examples of different things they can do within each type of voice work. People usually have a commercial tape and a narrative tape. If they do character voices they'll have a character tape in addition. A fourth type is a foreign language tape if an actor speaks one or more foreign languages with the fluency of a native.
"Any demo tape should be about one minute long, tops," Seidel recommends, "and without a doubt the strongest material should be at the beginning. There's usually just no time to listen to more. It's hard to explain what the quality is that makes for a good announcer or voice-over person, but when someone's got 'it' you just know the second you hear it. I go to showcases and sometimes I'll hear an actor on stage who I can tell would be able to do voice work well and I will contact that person.
Anyone who wants to do this kind of work has to know how to use his or her voice. It's a very different kind of acting from on-camera film work or acting on stage. There are no visual cues. So training is important. Unfortunately, there are a fair number of bad schools out there that just take actors' money. It's better to save up to take a good class than to waste money on a useless one. Some places that come to my mind that I would recommend are the voice classes at the William Esper Studio, Three of Us Studios, Acting Management, and at Lee Strasberg Studios Theatre Institute. But there certainly are other excellent places as well. It is important to be very careful in making one's selection. Asking around among other actors who work in the field is the best way to research places to study or people to study with.
"It's also important to know what the trends are. There's always a trend. We're given prototypes--the name of a given actor--and told to look for that type. I am astonished at how many actors express interest in voice work and then say they never watch television or listen to the radio. You've got to spend hours listening as part of your preparation. Listen to commercials, to promos. Know who the popular actors are in the major series and in films because those are the prototypes we'll be asked for. Right now, we're getting a lot of requests for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck types [the writers and stars of the film "Good Will Hunting"], young men with voices like theirs, with their style and sound. The female prototype we're being asked for the most these days is Helen Hunt. But at the same time it's important to know who you are, to know what types of reading suit you best.
"Commercials, which make up the overwhelming proportion of voice work we audition for, are usually cast very quickly. For a television series, it could be a month or two before things are decided. There are always exceptions to any of these things though."
Seidel has been a casting director for eight years. Prior to joining the Liz Lewis firm three years ago, she was an in-house casting person for Are These My Shoes?, a production house. "I also work on independent films and radio," she notes. "Casting commercial voice-over work is not the only thing I do, but I do have a lot of experience in that area.
"One thing most casting directors will tell actors--and they mean it--is never to make a cold telephone call. Only call if we call you. I'll never call you again if I receive such a phone call. We just hear from too many people for that. If you want to stop by in person, just drop off your tape and resume at the front desk and go. We will listen. I know how difficult it is. There is a lot of competition. But that means we have to go through material from many people in addition to the long, hard hours we put in in casting sessions, listening to or seeing one person after another. Even so, believe it or not, we really do have our eyes open for new talent all the time. The most important thing you can do is to always be prepared and to always be professional."
--Esther Tolkoff
Allan Duncan, Agent
Taking the Action a Step Further
That agent Allan Duncan wound up specializing in voice-overs isn't surprising--as a language major, he probably had the closest thing there was to a degree in the voice-over field. Duncan, who has 18 years of experience as an agent, represented on-camera talent before switching to voice-overs in 1983. He worked at a variety of smaller agencies before coming to Schiffman, Ekman, Morrison and Marx, Inc. (SEM&M), one of New York's top agencies, where he is a vice president and senior agent.
"It's the most satisfying job," Duncan says. "We have access to incredible actors, especially stage actors, here in New York. In college, I was a Russian language major, so I spent hours with headphones on, listening to words. I also love show business and the theatre, so everything just came together."
Duncan says being able to hear a special quality in a voice is a skill that takes time to develop, and that having studied language helps him recognize the talent he's looking for. "On-camera, everybody can see what a person looks like," Duncan explains. "But not everyone can boil a person down to their voice. It's about knowing their skill and working with them. Eventually they say, 'Wow! On this intimate level, when use this technique, I get this particular result.' "
Duncan also believes that actors with musical backgrounds often "get it" faster than non-musical clients. "I have non-musical clients who are very successful, but there's an awareness in terms of time, tempo, and timbre, where music study gives voice-over talent an advantage." Duncan also makes comparisons to film when he describes how powerful the intimacy of voice-overs can be. "The voice is the strongest single element of the commercial. It's analogous to film, where close-up action becomes relatively extreme compared to the same action done on a stage. In commercials, the intimacy of the voice-over takes the action a step further and that intimacy becomes powerful. For this reason, talented voice-over actors are at a premium."
A voice-over agent must keep abreast of trends and try to stay ahead. "In the '60s and '70s, you had slick, authoritarian announcers, who told the audience what to do," Duncan says. "In the '80s, MTV became an influence, and there was a new sound, anti-social and raspy, with deep, hard-hitting voices. The message was, 'If you wanna be like me, do this.' It was an abrasive, hard-hitting style. That gave way to a wry, tongue-in-cheek sound that was very one-on-one, like, 'You and I are in on the joke.' It connected the audience to the announcer and the message.
"Now the market is both real and honest and we feel the shift to actors with a strong sense of language, who are also accessible. The trend is toward people who have things in their voices that make them sound real and interesting. It's still about the one-on-one connection.
"For most of our clients, these changes in the market are survivable if they are actors first, or if they have a strong sense of themselves so that they can make transitions without suffering due to changes in style and taste. A lot of that depends on being a good actor, and that's why New York is the voice-over capital--there's this incredible theatre base, this supply of actors."
Duncan also sees a real change in terms of who is actually making the commercials. "Commercials have become a training ground for the 'Future Filmmakers of America,' " he says. "Every copywriter wants to be a screenwriter, every commercial director wants to be a feature director, and major independent directors from Spike Lee (Spike DBD) to Quentin Tarantino (A Band Apart) have commercial ties and are using them to finance their film businesses. That influence has made commercials more creative."
Duncan says that the downside has also become very dynamic. "For every job," he adds, "many people are competing for the work. It's not like the old days when an artist might have one account for 20 years. There are new creative teams at agencies. If something works and the sales are up, great. If not, that team is out the door."
Franchised by the union, the SEM&M agency deals exclusively with union talent and is predominantly a "signed-only shop." Duncan says that, while they don't work with freelancers, there are certain exceptions, "like if we're working with somebody new and trying to see how we work together."
Duncan feels that new talent often makes a better impression in a classic acting situation than on a slick demo tape. "I'd much rather actors spend their time getting in a showcase," he explains. "I'm not a big tape listener--I'd much rather see a show and an actor who doesn't necessarily know voice-overs. Tapes become important when they're tapes of actual on-air campaigns that the actor has done. With a tape, you don't know if they've had 100 takes and an incredible engineer. Like most talent agencies, we compile a 'house CD' for producers and ad agencies and say, 'Listen to this spot.' Then the ad agency will pick what they like from our roster. Actors tend to book the spots they're perfect for--that's why on-air reels are so good. Many schools do tapes, too, and I'm not criticizing them, but a tape of real spots is going to do a much better service to the actor.
"My one piece of advice would be not to train in voice-overs, but to train as actors."
--Murdoch McBride
Barbara Rosenblat, Actress
I Always Loved to Read Aloud
"I'm a full-service artiste--theatre, film, but voice work is my love," declares actress Barbara Rosenblat. "I'm known for dialect work. For an industrial, I was recently called in to do a Japanese accent as a replacement for a Japanese actor whose English was too poor to deliver the copy's message. I do the British accented woman in the James Bond-themed Moviefone ad that's running in a lot of movie theatres, the British voice in the Victoria's Secret Angels 2,000 bra commercials, and have a Mercedes ad running in standard American English. I've done radio drama, film voice background work and, in England, lots of dubbing for films."
Rosenblat adds that the public knows her for her audio book work. "I started with the American Foundation for the Blind," she explains. "I've read commercial books for major publishing houses, including the biography of Barbra Streisand for Time Warner, and a huge number of unabridged books for Recorded Books. I'm fortunate to have fans who follow my books-on-tape work. I have a Web Page and do personal appearances around the country for Recorded Books.
"To do any voice work you must be quick. Whatever directions you're given, you have to be able to get into character instantly. Time is money. Sometimes, for commercial auditions, copy is faxed and you're given a voice-mail number to read to. I prefer not to prepare too much for commercial auditions, to keep the spontaneity. Your job is to make the copy clear to your listeners. That's true for even the driest pharmaceuticals industrial. It has to sound natural and make what you're reading understandable and interesting. You have to love the copy. You have to want to convey what you're reading.
"Even though I work a lot, I do far more auditions that don't pan out than do. You must put those behind you. They don't mean you're untalented. You don't know what the client wanted.
"On a demo tape, I'd tell people to give examples of about six different things they can do. Send the tape with a cover note, not a resume. And don't send a picture. If you do, you'll be typed by your appearance even though it's what you can do with your voice that should count. Your tape must be professional. Recently an acquaintance had a friend who was looking to break into this business send me a tape. The man did impressions of famous actors--Sylvester Stallone, Dustin Hoffman. Wrong. I told him to do quick commercial spots and promos, and, separately, narrations--that's the work out there--and to listen to commercials and promos, to hear how people read." Promos, she explains, are lines like "Tonight on Lifetime at 10 pm." She stresses, "A tape that shows you don't know how the business works rules you out immediately."
As for agents, Rosenblat chooses to freelance. It suits her because she doesn't want to be typed. "Different people send me out for different kinds of work," she explains, continuing, "I'm amazed at how narrow things can be. Some agencies have separate promo and commercial voice-over departments. How different are these things?"
Looking back, Rosenblat observes, "I think my love of voice work came from having been born in London to Central European parents who survived the Holocaust. I came here as a baby so I grew up speaking American English, but reading was central at home. I always loved to read aloud--to myself, to anyone who would listen. I had a radio show, "Front Row Center," for two years on the student station at City College [of New York]. I then went back to London for 14 years. There's a spoken-word culture there. BBC Radio has programs on which books and stories are read aloud and radio drama is regularly performed. We lost that here in the '50s. In London, I was doing theatre, filmwork, and cabaret. An agent suggested I make a tape for radio work. I did and worked on the radio there for years. That was the best training imaginable. In Britain, actors are expected to do varied kinds of reading.
"My first breakthrough in this country came through an ad in Back Stage. I'd just returned. The producer of a documentary, "Lodz Ghetto," needed a woman to do a Polish dialect in English, sounding natural, to convey reminiscing her experiences. I got the part. I got my first agent here through networking--an actor friend's referral. I started in audio books by calling the American Foundation for the Blind and asking to audition. It worked out. While commercial demos must be short and quick, for audio books, five minutes of reading is common.
"I appreciate casting people who know actors can do varied work. This is a rough field to break into, but it's worth the effort."
--ET
Billy Serow, Agent
Know Your Limitations
Voice-over agent Billy Serow began performing as a kid and was acting professionally by the time he was 17. He majored in theatre and studied with Sanford Meisner, but at the age of 28 he "made a conscious decision to go to the other side of the table." Although he began to work in an agency's commercial department, looking back now he feels he "didn't have the correct perspective at the time for being an agent." Friends in the business suggested casting instead, and so for 19 years he was an independent casting director in New York, casting through Godlove, Serow and Sindlinger.
While Serow enjoyed being in casting and still found it challenging, he came to a point where he felt he was "doing the same things and wasn't growing or learning anything new." Although he wasn't actively looking, when William Morris Agency offered him the chance for a change he took the opportunity and became the head of its voice-over department--his current position.
"As a casting director I had always gravitated towards voice-overs," he notes. "I appreciate their artistry," he adds respectfully: "Just one being in the job arena, judged solely on the quality of voice and talent. It's refreshing not to be looking at just the physical and [to be in] an area of the business where you can honestly say the best people for the jobs get them. It's a great group of people, too, and I've made many good friends."
One trend in voice-overs that Serow finds noticeable is "The days of clients wanting traditional announcer-style voices has diminished. Ad clients now want 'Everyman appeal,' or are looking for voices that are distinctive and unique. They are willing to consider younger voices."
While he works primarily with signed clients, he does have a small core of freelancers. This makes Serow and the performer free to test out their work relationship first. Because he believes that part of his job is to "look for and discover new talent," he will also work with a promising non-union actor, to try and help him/her book a job that will lead to joining the union, because the auditions he handles are all union calls.
What Serow listens for on a demo tape is "highly subjective, but it's something that hits your ear and is pleasing." He believes "training is a very competitive part of the business. You need to have the talent to back up a great voice. You can't get by without strong interpretive abilities," he cautions.
On the subject of demo tapes, Serow's advice is, "Show your strength right away. People make the mistake of thinking they are supposed to 'save the best for last,' but that isn't the case with a demo." He also suggests that your tape have a representation of your normal voice, even if you're doing characters. Another mistake he often finds with tapes is that performers try to do too many things: "Know your limitations and only include what you do really well. Anything less diminishes your entire tape."
Serow feels that the business has never been more open to new performers. "Don't think of it as a closed circle, that was twenty years ago. We're always looking for 'the next great voice'. We'd be bored without being able to search for something new, so think of it instead as an ever increasing circle, looking for new people."
--AD
J.K. Simmons, Actor
Trust in the Director
Voice-over performer J.K. Simmons, who is perhaps best known as the voice of the yellow M&M candy, knows first-hand how tough it can be to break into voice-overs. While people had for many years commented on his melodious, deep, rich voice and assumed he worked in voice-overs, agents wouldn't pitch him for those jobs--although they were willing to send him for on-camera auditions.
Simmons "didn't have much success on camera," and didn't enjoy the auditions, "You know--walking into a room full of 30 other guys in their bow ties." So when he would get on-camera commercial audition calls, he would say to agents, "No thanks, but could I talk to your voice-over department?" with no success.
Simmons had worked as an actor for many years, in shows including "A Few Good Men" and "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" on Broadway, regional roles, and musical tours including "Annie 2," "Doonesbury," and the Cathy Rigby tour of "Peter Pan"--as Captain Hook. He'd had the occasional film role--"small parts in big films or big parts in small films"--and TV guest shots, but was still an actor fulfilled creatively but just scraping by financially. At the age of 36, with a wife (actress Michelle Schumacher, who played Tiger Lily to his Hook), he wanted the stability of commercials, but still couldn't convince voice-over agents to work with him.
Enter the magic of being an actor featured in a hit Broadway musical revival. Playing Benny Southstreet in the revival of "Guys and Dolls," Simmons, like many others in the cast, found himself courted by commercial agents (another reason to keep up a well-rounded theatrical career). Only Jeb Bernstein at Paradigm, however, "took a chance" and granted Simmons' request to be considered for voice-overs. Without a demo or any training he was booking spots by his tenth audition.
One of the most important skills Simmons learned "on the job"--and one that took a while for him to understand--is, "Don't be too subtle when following directions given during an audition." He advises, "When a casting director or an agency client asks you to make an adjustment, don't just follow their direction; take it further than you would if you were working on camera." He also suggests, "Trust in the director or casting director and just do what they say."
Simmons was surprised to find that, while he originally thought of himself as a traditional announcer who would be good for sales-oriented copy, most of his work has been doing characters. This includes cowboy-style voice campaigns which use his Montana origins, like his work for Wendy's. He does get booked to do over-the-top announcer characters, too, and on-camera played the old-time radio announcer for one of American Movie Channel's television ad campaigns. "It takes a lot of radio ads to equal one TV booking," he confides.
A typical work day for Simmons can include seven to 10 auditions, or a mix of bookings and auditions. Voice jobs are much faster than on-camera work. He's glad, too, that they aren't as focused on looks, so he doesn't have to worry about dressing casually when he rides his bike to calls. He advocates "always being a professional who arrives on time and promptly returns phone calls."
While he tends to find himself at auditions with the same group of 20 to 25 similarly voiced actors, Simmons has noticed that advertisers are moving away from announcer-style voices and want "a regular guy--someone who is talking to you like a pal." The challenge with this type of instruction is that it is often given despite the fact that the copy is highly sales oriented.
Simmons has no advice on keeping good vocal health, seeing himself as "an animal who needs no particular care or feeding." He does know that his bike riding helps keep his stamina high and his energy consistent, and that you have to be willing to get enough sleep and take care of yourself. While some voice actors insist you have to make voice-overs your full-time job, he has always continued to do theatre or film/TV, and in the last few years his schedule has changed from doing musicals at night with voice spots by day, to appearing regularly in two television series, with different shooting schedules. He plays Vern Schillinger, the powerfully menacing head of the "Aryan Brotherhood," on HBO's prison series "Oz," and has a recurring role on NBC's "Law & Order," as Dr. Emil Skoda. "Working in New York, you find people in the business know and respect each other's work and are very understanding about trying to work around shooting schedules," he concludes.
--AD
Mary Ellen Lord, Agent
Believability Is Foremost
Mary Ellen Lord has been with the Los Angeles-based talent agency Sutton, Barth & Vennari for almost 14 years. "I evolved into the job," Lord says. "In school, I happened to room with Tress McNeal, who went on to become one of the top voice-over talents in the country. When Tress mentioned that someone wanted a driver at a commercial talent agency, I went in and got the job. Then I was a receptionist, and later became an assistant after a voice-over agent quit. I got to know the people involved in voice-overs and it seemed like a natural place for me."
Lord's personality and insights mirror qualities that audiences look for according to casting breakdowns: honesty, accessibility, and humor. She likes a fast pace and enjoys the creative challenge of being closely involved with a project and fitting the right voice into the slot.
"It's a matter of casting it," Lord observes. "There are outside voice casting directors, but voice-over agents really act as casting directors, more so than with on-camera.
Lord views the history of voice-overs in terms of major trends and characterizes stylistic changes in terms of the leading voice-over talent of a given period.
"In 1980, the voices in vogue were the big announcer-type voices like Ernie Anderson," Lord says. "You also had the storytellers, with the warmth of a Hal Gould or Charles Aidman. Back then, the big voice guys like Anderson and Brad Crandall were popular and it was a completely different read from today."
The "read," Lord explains, is "how the voice-over actor addresses the script. It's the way you go at it and how much you put into it," she says.
Lord recalls that, beginning in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, producers eventually went to lighter voices where the sound became almost conversational.
"In terms of the industry trend," Lord says, "the 'read' wasn't as hard and it became more of a one-on- one sound. You'd hear a commercial and it sounded like they were having a conversation with you. Now, it's going towards more of a conventional guy-next-door/announcer."
Lord points to the promo spots being done on the NBC Network as examples of the next big thing she sees happening. "NBC used to use Danny Dark, who was a warm, strong voice, and they've moved away from that in favor of a younger sound. What NBC did was new, although Fox did it first with Joe Cipriano's voice. In fact, when Fox brought in Cipriano, everybody was saying, 'What is this light voice? We're all used to Ernie Anderson.' " Today, NBC takes its new sound a step further and entertains you, which Lord believes is indicative of an overall trend.
While the sound may revert slightly to the announcer style, agencies and producers are generally expecting more from voice-over artists.
"When the voice-over talent comes along the agencies and producers are expecting more than one read," Lord says. "In the old days, when Ernie Anderson and Danny Dark did a job, they just did themselves, and they only did one take, at that. Today, producers expect different reads, voices, and attitudes.
"They're expecting the voice-over talent to be voice actors," Lord explains. "They've always expected that, and voice-over talent has always been that, but now they want a variety of reads. They look for a different kind of emotion. They want the talent to humanize it."
SB&V is a signed-only shop, which means no freelancers. Lord says the agency's policy is firm unless the talent in question happens to be an established celebrity. In those cases, exceptions are sometimes made. At the same time, Lord doesn't see being non-union as a problem for a promising voice actor. "If they have a professional tape that is believable, I'll work with them," she says. "If they're a new talent and ready to join the union, I don't see being non-union as an obstacle. We do not do non-union jobs because it jeopardizes our union franchise, but for new talent, if the casting director and producers will 'Taft-Hartley' them [waive union requirements for their first job], then they can be set up for joining the union with their next gig."
Lord believes that actors should train as much as possible, although she expresses the need for actors to exercise good judgment. "I think actors interested in voice-overs should take every kind of acting training they can get--improv, workshops, everything," she says. "I also think voice-over actors should go to a few workshops before making a tape. But I would caution actors about certain workshops, especially where they will give you a tape out of the deal." Her advice to new talent: Call up an agency and ask which classes they recommend in that field.
Lord says she listens to unsolicited tapes. "The thing that grabs me about a great tape is the believability. Believability is the foremost thing, followed by voice quality."
--MM
Lesley Freedman, Casting Director
Absolutely Natural
Lesley Freedman has been a casting director for two years, having worked previously as an agent-in-training at ICM (International Creative Management). McHale Barone, the New York casting firm for which she currently works, specializes in creative audio services for television and radio--including commercials. In that area the company is known, according to Freedman, as "a comedy house."
"We mostly do real people, characters, comedy spots,"
she says. She does accept demo reels, which should be about a minute and a half long "and show a range of what you do, or else stress your forte." While many casting directors ask for separate tapes for announcer, narrative, and character spots, she prefers a mix--"but it appears I'm unusual in that regard. All these separate tapes seem unnecessary to me."
Freedman doesn't look for a voice to be "interesting," but for "what an actor can do with his or her voice. The most important thing to me is that I not hear any signs of acting. It has to sound absolutely natural, even when it's comedic, as if the person is talking to a friend."
The most common mistake actors make in auditions, she finds, is "not taking direction. Clients often indicate just what they want. That may differ from the choice the actor made while reading the sides, before the audition. [The actor normally sees the script upon arriving and has a few minutes to look it over.] When someone comes in, I'll say what we want. The performer has to be able to do that right off the bat--so improv skills are important--no matter what they were thinking when they looked at it.
"A lot of times, once I hear them read, I'll realize more precisely what I want or see where or if I didn't quite communicate it. So often my second set of directions is much more focused. The actor has to immediately switch to follow those. But very often people do the same reading every take.
"If I know I can count on someone to be imaginative and funny I may ask them to do whatever it is they had in mind before, to see what they come up with," she says. "Sometimes a client will hear something they didn't think of and say, 'That's good. Let's use it.' "
Freedman does go out looking for new talent. Since comedy is the focus, she's most likely to go to a comedy club or an evening of sketch comedy, but she does go to theatre "about 20% of the time." The jokes themselves are not what she's looking for; it's the delivery. That gives her an idea of what the person might be able to do with his or her voice in the studio.
"I'd advise beginners to take both a voice-over class and an acting class. Improv is important. A voice-over class is too, because none of us see ourselves objectively. A coach can hear what you're best at and should start focusing on what areas need work."
Once a demo is sent, "I will listen eventually," she says. "I try to listen to it all." She advises sending a postcard or a very brief note once a month--"but no more"--as a follow-up. "We get so busy that we do forget. That reminder may come in just when we need that type, so it is a good thing to do."
Freedman notes that voice-overs are still a man's world. "The overwhelming number of calls are for men," she says. "And the calls for women are for women who in a sense are acting like men--very take-charge, very confident. I think the reason Helen Hunt is currently in as a type is that she has a tomboy quality. Comics Dennis Leary, Steven Wright, and John Corbett of 'Northern Exposure' were very in for awhile.
"It's important that actors remember too," she stresses, "that the client has the final decision. I narrow down the choices but the client has the say. Sometimes, of the few I've narrowed it down to, my last choice is the very one they pick. You never know what preconceived notion they have. So it's important for actors not to get discouraged, and to keep going to auditions."
She recommends listening to a great deal of television and radio to learn the styles of reading that are current.
"And," she says, "since comedy is what we're all about here, one of my main criteria when I hear a tape is whether or not it makes me laugh."
--ET
Don Leslie, Actor
Avoid Being Pigeonholed
"I've been doing commercial voice-overs, and other voice work as well, for the past eight years," reports Don Leslie. "I've been an actor for many more years, though--in the Broadway production of "The Dresser," in "Rose," with Glenda Jackson and Jessica Tandy, in the film "Prince of the City," and many other plays and films.
I had never even thought about voice work until a student of mine, actress Julia Ireland, told me I had the voice for this and should try it. Instead of giving me a payment in money at one point, she bought me a session with a leading voice coach. I went, continued to study, and made my first reel. I was too green to know what to do. It was all ersatz commercials and promos because I hadn't done anything yet, but most people start out by doing that.
Since I already knew people in the business, I was able to find a voice-over agent after looking around. It's good to have a separate agent for this area. And people recommended me for auditions. Once I started landing voice work, I added actual commercials and promos to my reel until eventually it was completely authentic. People change their reels as time goes on just to keep them as contemporary as possible.
"Things have changed in those few years since I started out," Leslie observes. "Attention spans are shorter. Reels were a few minutes long then. Now your reel should not be longer than a minute and a half. Put in maybe 10 seconds out of each spot you've done, with your strongest stuff at the beginning. It's not an easy business to break into. These days many stars do voice work and get work that used to go to less-famous working actors. And 'young' is in, even though so many buyers are older. I'd say the most important thing is to be a good actor. You have to be able to make the copy real, to read well, to have a sense of phrasing, of pauses.
Leslie recommends that beginners "be very careful" about whom they study with: "Make sure you have a good teacher. A lot of people who are out there offering classes just take your money, promise you a tape, but don't steer you right. Word-of-mouth is the best way to find the right coach for you. Your main goal at first is to get an agent. Make the best tape you can. Watch a lot of television. Listen to the people reading and announcing very closely. Practice what's best for you and pick a style to start out with.
"Later," he notes, "the problem is how to avoid being pigeonholed. If an agent sees that he or she can book you as a certain type--a good announcer, for instance--or if a casting director has seen you sent out for one type a few times, they don't picture you doing anything else. I do many character voices, for instance, in addition to being able to announce, to do promos, commercials, narrations--and you need different demo tapes for each area. Recently I've started to do audio books. I've done several CDs as Bat Man for Time Warner, working with producer Kevin Thomson. To break out of being typed, ask your agent to send you to other kinds of auditions. Chances are you'll have to ask several times. And casting directors may say, 'But you don't do this; you do that.' A lot of agents hold in-house auditions, working directly with the client commissioning the spot. If your own agent is holding an in-house audition, ask to be included doing the type of work you're aiming for so the agent can begin to see you in that light.
"One area I've done a fair amount of work in is 'looping' for films. That's when after a scene has been shot, a director decides that a background character--perhaps someone seen simply walking by or some people standing around in the background in a scene, should be given some lines that will be mixed in at a lower volume in the background to make the scene fuller, more real. It's kind of like being a voice extra. They're wild spots [lines that stand alone rather than part of a script] that you record for that purpose. Most animation work is in L.A., so you generally have to be there to do that. But enough films are made in New York that looping work is available. Most of my voice work, though, has been in the area of commercials."
--ET
Paula Sindlinger, Casting Director
Many Nuances, Not Much Time
Paula Sindlinger, of New York's Godlove and Sindlinger Casting, has been a casting director for about 15 years, an agent before that and an actress before that. "I recall that in college we used to study 'Oral Interpretation,' " she observes. "That's what voice work is. You have to be an actor. You have to be able to read something someone else wrote and make it sound like your own belief, like something you're just saying. Don't try to be anyone else. Be yourself and do it in your own way so that your reading is real. I don't like it when someone sounds too slick for that very reason: It doesn't sound real. I find that in recent years the agents are signing graduates of some of the nation's top college drama departments for voice work--because it helps to be a trained actor. Timing and pacing are very important in this business.
"Someone may do a good reading," she elaborates, "but if it times out to 40 seconds for a 30-second spot they have to be able to adjust without sounding rushed or artificial. That's technique. You have to be a technician as well as an actor. Most commercials these days are 30 seconds, or 15 seconds or even less. A message which may have many nuances has to be delivered in a very brief amount of time. You also have to bring a good deal of intelligence to this work--to understand the copy and what your reading should be getting across, the nuances, the pauses. Commercials make up about 90% of what we cast for, with the rest being mostly industrials or documentaries which call for narrative reading.
"I do not accept demo reels. I get house reels from agents, who put their own signed voice-over people onto a reel--usually one to two minutes per person. The world of regularly working voice-overs is a very small world. It's hard to break into but it does happen. Occasionally I'll accept a demo tape if someone has been recommended by somebody."
Sindlinger has several words of advice for beginners--or, for that matter, for any actor. "At auditions," she says, "always read the other people's lines, too. Many people only look at the lines of the part they're reading for in a commercial, let's say. It's amazing how often that happens. You need to read it all to get the context, to know what you're reacting to. Allow yourself enough time to prepare. Being prepared is essential.
"If you get a job reading medical copy, for instance, understand it and know the pronunciation of the words you'll be reading. I like to hear that an actor has a range of reading styles. Some people can only do one thing well, and that's fine for that thing--but if you can do more, do so. I'd recommend that people listen to themselves read so they get an idea of what they sound best at, and to practice and perfect those things. They should also listen to a great deal of television to hear what sponsors are looking for.
"I constantly get asked by producers for 'types' based on a given actor--a 'Helen Hunt type.' For years it was the 'James Garner and Mariette Hartley types,' because that series of [Kodak] commercials worked so well. Producers are very influenced by what they hear at the time. 'Friends' and 'Seinfeld' types have been requested a lot. So see what types you can sound like that are currently in vogue. A lot of producers and writers are young, so they gravitate towards what they hear as a 'young' sound. I'd suggest that actors list a range in terms of how they sound, just as people do in terms of ages they can play. 'Sounds from mid-20s through mid-40s,' for instance, or whatever the case may be.
"Having been a casting director, an agent, and having acted, I've seen various sides of the business. Good training, hard work, careful preparation, and persistence are traits I've always found in the people who succeed, and that's still the case."
--ET
ENDIT