Practical, Paying, Part-Time Voice-Over

By Kelly Libatique

Practical, Paying, Part-Time Voice-Over is a guide for both beginners as well as those with some experience who want to explore the exiting world of voice-over.

There's a lot of confusion out there. Is it really as easy as some claim to get into this profession? Or, is it actually as difficult, not to mention costly? This guide cuts to the chase and explains what's really involved and what you can do right now with today's digital technology and changing economy to become a voice-actor.

 

Start living your dreams today.

 

• What it takes to break into the industry
• Home studios and what the real costs are
• Voice demos
• Marketing
• Acquiring talent agents
• Practicing and tips on auditioning
• Getting work, all over the world
• Unions and whether or not to join
• Pay-to-play audition sites
• Audiobooks
• Handing rejection
• Recording at commercial studios
• How much money there is to be made
• How to just have fun doing voice-over!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kelly Libatique
• Release date: Nov 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393109365

Kelly Libatique

Kelly Libatique began his career in the high-tech and telecom industries in the early ‘90s as a technical writer and trainer. Since then, he has done training, speaking, marketing, and representing around the country for some of the biggest players in the corporate world, including Sony Electronics, Cisco Systems, and Verizon Wireless. Most of his free time is devoted to family, but he his also an avid ornamental fish keeper, enjoys juggl-ing (knives and torches included), and is a regular actor, musician, and singer in various church ministries. Occasionally, his acting and voiceovers can be seen and heard on television and the radio. Kelly is also the author of A Toast to the Holy Ghost? He has a BA in psy-chology and an MS in education, and resides in the San Francisco East Bay area with his wife and two children. www.Libatique.com

Book preview

Practical, Paying, Part-Time

Voice-Over

Kelly Libatique

Copyright © 2020 by Kelly Libatique

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission, in writing, from the publisher.

www.KLVoice.com

It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through. - Zig Ziglar

Image002_KL_VoiceOver

Contents

Another Book About Becoming a Voice-Actor?

Who Am I?

Unions

Photo: Home studios are essential today

The Restaurant Analogy

Voice Demos

Agents

Marketing and Getting Work

Image: knowing how to use social media for marketing is essential today

Practicing and Auditioning

Rejection

Pay to Play Sites

Audiobooks

Home Studios

Photo: A pop-filter and a large diaphragm condenser microphone

The Commercial Studio

Photo: Me in a commercial recording studio in San Francisco

Money

Thank You

Another Book About Becoming a Voice-Actor?

If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it. - John Irving

The title of this first chapter is a question I asked myself before setting out on this venture. I’ve read a dozen books on voice-acting, full of great advice from people who’ve achieved much in the industry. I’ve also read some very interesting books by people who started their careers long before the digital age we’re in now and when being a voice-over professional was the best kept secret around.

But I wanted to do something different here. You see, this isn’t really about aspiring to become some big, famous, nationally-syndicated voice, although the steps outlined in this book could very well get you started in that direction. This is more about the simple joys of doing voice work at a sane and easy to manage level, at your own pace. It’s also about how to go about getting there now, with today’s technology, opportunities and shifting economy.

I also wanted to encourage those with the dream and who have the bug that just keeps biting. Because in this digital age of Internet advertising, more sophisticated phone systems, podcasts, video games, smartphone apps and a dozen other media conduits, there’s more demand for voices now than ever before. If you’ve got the talent, drive and persistence, there are markets all over the globe that can use your unique voice and personality.

It’s been confusing out there for those wanting to try voice-over. On one hand, you’ve got established talent telling newbies and wannabes, You need years of training, experience, $3,000 microphones and all the right connections to do professional voice work. On the other hand, you’ve got individuals and companies telling you to just fork over some of your money and they’ll show you a quick and easy path to hearing your voice on TV and the radio tomorrow. Some of all that is true, some of it is not. I’d like to help you sort it out.

Also, every book out there on voice-acting, that I’ve read so far anyway, comes at a person with the presumption that the reader wants to make voice work a full-time career. But maybe you’re one of those who are on the fence and not sure if doing something like this full-time is right for you. And not every reader wants to quit their career. Maybe you’d like to just try it first, or just do it on the side. The world of commercial entertainment and advertising is, after all, a high pressure one.

On that note though, a lot of guys in particular would happily trade their day jobs to get in on the movie trailer business. If I had an open invitation to that elite little world, it’d be hard not to pass up the opportunity. I’d do everything I could to work it out with family and career.

Now, I’m a very practical kind of person, not a pipe-dream chaser. When I was younger, I took a lot more chances, including skydiving! But that’s another story for another time. As I got older, established a career and started a family, the idea of chasing dreams became less sensible. And yet, after finding out what’s possible, I went for voice-over anyway and have found amazing success with consistent, paying gigs.

Here’s where I’m coming from. I’m having the time of my life being a part-time, professional voice-over actor. The professional part means it’s more than just a hobby – I’m getting paid real money. I do this at my own leisure on top of a career I also enjoy. So really, I’ve got the best of both worlds and it’s only getting better. I’m not only doing something that’s both fun and exciting, I’m living out dreams that all actors have.

I’m also a bit cynical on the whole move-to-the-big-city thing, which, by the way, you don’t need to do with voice-over, if you go about it the way I am. But if you’ve got those stars in your eyes and want to become the next Don LaFontaine or Nancy Cartwright, here’s what you need to do . . .

Specifically, for those living in the US, you first need to pick yourself up from wherever you are and whatever you’re doing and physically move to one of the three major markets – Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York. If you want to get into voicing for the big-screen, animated movies, looping, or movie trailers, you’ll need to go to LA. There’s little choice in this matter. 99% of the time, they don’t let you do that stuff remotely. Some established talent who can utilize ISDN (integrated services digital network) or Source-Connect get away with it, but as a newbie, you will not. This means that if we’re in a pandemic or lockdown situation, it’s even tougher for the inexperienced. You might get away with a Skype interview. But they’ll need to meet you and you’ll need to prove yourself which means getting into the studios with a team of producers and directors. So get your moving boxes, blankets and tape gun together.

But how does one get into those studios in the first place? Well, once you’re in LA, you’ll need to try to get into one of the big talent agencies for representation. And when I say big, I mean one of the top, well-established agencies like Abrams Artists or Coast to Coast, for example. There’s a handful of top agencies in each city, and a boatload of little guys, and many of them represent talent around the country.

Hundreds of wannabe actors a week vie for the attention of these agencies, harassing them relentlessly with their pleas of, "I’ll do anything to get represented by you!" And many of these people will, in fact, do anything – some of the stories you hear are quite demoralizing. Whatever creative sales pitch you think you got, trust me, they’ve heard it a thousand times. So get in line and the best of luck to you.

Why does one have to join one of the big agencies? Simple – if you’re a big television network, film producer, or some giant conglomerate, you’ve got big marketing money. As such, when it’s time to get a voice to represent your product, you’re going to go to the major agencies that have the know-how and reputation and say to them, "Give me your crème de la crème of talent." The agencies will then hand pick from their roster of the finest and most experienced and established talent, people they’ve worked with and have a proven track record. Wouldn’t you want what you thought was the best talent if you were investing millions in a movie or some product or service?

Needless to say, these jobs don’t show up on the pay-to-play voice-over sites (like Voices.com or Voice123.com) and they certainly will never get posted on mainstream public listings like Craigslist. They go through reputable agents they trust and have worked with. The agents then go to the talent they know and trust – union talent, by the way. The rest of us never even hear about these opportunities.

I’ll go more into the pay-to-play sites later.

But, it gets worse . . . Most big agencies won’t even look at a non-union talent with no track record, unless you do something to really impress them, or get endorsed by a celebrity or established bigwig in the biz.

I’ll go more into unions later, but here’s a quick blurb – there used to be two unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). SAG is what every major Hollywood movie star you’ve ever seen or heard of belongs to. But somewhere between 2008 and 2010, they merged into one big, happy union called SAG-AFTRA.

Performer’s unions have been around a long time (SAG was formed in 1933) and they ensure professional entertainers get paid good money and receive benefits and all that kind of stuff. So joining the union is a great thing, if that’s the path your career is going down.

But there’s a catch – isn’t there always? In order to qualify to join SAG-AFTRA, you must first be offered a principal role in a SAG-AFTRA production. A principal role is a lead role, or a part with lots of lines, depending. So as a non-union performer, you need to excite someone a lot to get that kind of offer. If you accept the role, you don’t need to join the union right away. However, if you continue doing principal roles, you will soon enough.

The cost to join SAG-AFTRA, if you qualify? As of this writing, $3,000 initially, give or take a little depending on the state you live in, and then $222 and some change annually after that. If you don’t have the cash, they’ll give you a loan which includes interest and a 24-month installment plan. And as far as work goes, you’re lucky to get gigs that last any longer than three to six months at a time, so there’s little stability.

According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, if you add up the average wages of union performers in a year, at the low end, it’s a little over $6 per hour and at the high end, about $30. These stats are for all union performers, not just those who do voice-over. But many actors combine voice and camera work, so it’d be hard to say what the average is for voice-artists. Still though, those numbers are kind of depressing, in my humble opinion.

But, if you’ve managed to join the union and you’ve shelled out the fees, now you can beg the big union-only agencies to represent you. Or, often works the other way around – you get an agency to let you in and land a principle role from an opportunity they got you. But note that having an agency or joining the union is no guarantee of a single thing. All an agent can do is get you auditions. The rest is up to your talent, hard work and some really good fortune.

And say it does all comes together: the representation, the union, the whole kit’n caboodle. Now you’re suddenly side by side with seasoned performers who’ve been around the block and know all the ins and outs of how the game is played. Additionally, you’re now competing for far fewer opportunities than if you were non-union. But hey, no pressure or anything.

So that’s the story in a very brief nutshell. It’s a crapshoot and the vast majority don’t make it. I’ve heard that most give up the dream after about seven years, the rest stick it out for ten to twelve years or so. By then, you’re not quite as youthful or ambitious as when you started, no matter what age you began.

Now, this is where I come in with this narrative, as it were. If you’re like me, you may want to approach all this voice-over business from a, shall we say, less uncertain and more practical way. Many proven ways, mind you, that can get you real, paying work. I’m not talking turn-key formulas here though, you still need talent, training, and you need to put a lot of effort into it.

You’ll also need to separate any talent you may have from the work and on-going learning. If you’ve got a great voice, then that’s a great start. But you’ve heard the old sayings about how owning a piano doesn’t make one a good pianist any more than having a baby makes one a great parent, right? It’s the same with voice-over. Don’t let anyone tell you this is easy money. It’s fun money for sure, but it’s also a lot of due diligence.

You need people to want your voice to represent their product or service enough to pay for it. Getting there takes persistence. And, of course, you have to not mind doing voice work part-time, at least in the beginning. Most don’t have a choice in that matter anyway. The nice thing is though, you can continue part-time at your own pace for as long as you like, or you can go for full-time if it comes to that. Your choice.

If you have the dream to break into the voice-over industry and continue reading and I hope you will, I’ll tell you my story and where I'm at today.

I'm going to talk about:

What I did and what it takes to get into the industry today

How I setup my home studio and what the real costs are

How I got my voice demos together

How I market myself

How I acquired my talent agents

How to practice and audition tips

How I get work, literally from around the world

Unions and why I choose to remain non-union, for now

What the scoop is on those pay-to-play audition sites

How I got into producing audiobooks

How I handle rejection

What to do and what to expect when you record at commercial studios

How and how much I get paid

How to just have fun doing voice-over!

Sound good? Then let’s do this.

Who Am I?

There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning. - Christopher Morley

So, who are you and what qualifies you to write this book?

Good question. There’s a possibility you’ve heard my voice here or there, but naturally, had no idea who it was. I’ve long