Some years ago I was called into a production company for a voice over audition.
When I asked for the script they said it wasn’t ready yet. They were just looking for the voice of a Mom and were auditioning for voice quality.
The producer looked around, pulled a book at random from the shelf and handed it to me. “Here,” he said, “Read a little bit of this.”
The book he gave me was In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
If you don’t know it, the book reconstructs the brutal 1959 murder of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. Hardly Mom material.
I mustered up my sweetest voice and started reading…
“The scrape of the scuttling tumbleweed, the racing receding wail of locomotive whistles. At the time not a soul in sleeping Holcomb heard them-four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives.”
I stopped and looked up.
The producer seemed oblivious to the discrepancy between the gruesome text and the nurturing voice type he was looking for.
It was plenty weird alright, but not as weird as the voice over job I’ll tell you about in this week’s Inside Voice Over training video.
Watch It Here Now
After you watch the video, I want to know your thoughts. Was this helpful? Write to me in the comments box. I want to learn what’s on your mind so I can support you and share your best practices.
To your voice over success,
Susan Berkley,
Founder, The Great Voice Company
PS
Need some help with your career? Every once in awhile I offer “speed coaching” sessions where I’ll dive into your voice over business (even if you’re just starting out) and help answer ALL your questions at a BIG discount. I’ve just opened up a few available times.
Go here now: https://greatvoice.clickfunnels.com/consultation-offer or call 800-333-8108.
Hi Susan.
Interesting. This made me think of something. If you have a job, and you do the job, but the client keeps changing copy, do you charge them each time they change the copy or is it just a one fee scenario? I understand redoing if they don’t like the way you read something, but what if ‘they’ keep changing copy?
Cheryl, You should make it clear up front and in writing on your rate sheet that every time they change the copy its a new session and they should pay for it. Usually a change fee is less than the original, depending on how much text is redone. For example, many people charge a minimum of $75-$150 for pick ups and redos that are the result of a copy change. Of course, as you stated, if we goof there is no charge. BTW, for good clients, if the redos are small, every now and then I throw in a freebie for good will. Good luck with it! Susan
Susan, that was hilarious! I would probably be cracking up through the whole thing. I guess you and I have the same Los Angeles agent, 90210. Anyway, that was a great post!
Thanks Tina. It still cracks me up today to tell that story 🙂
Very Funny, I have a few so far in the early stages of my VO career, and actually look forward to them. The weirder the better!
Thanks for sharing!
Tom Backer