When I started my voiceover journey, I didn’t just test the waters. I dove in head first. I knew that if I was going to take a massive leap into an entirely new industry, I needed to take it seriously and get educated FAST. So I found a great VO school that offered a Fast Track program. It was a 3-week intensive program...10am-5pm everyday!)that covered almost everything a beginner would need to start out their VO career.
This program gave me the chance to quickly discover what voiceover genres I connected with. I truly loved it all, but there were a few I found to be more fun or just made sense for my background and my voice. Honestly, I felt pretty confident after completing the program that I could do this thing. I could make a career in VO work for me. But, then I had a pause.
I’d checked the initial boxes for launching my VO career. I’d taken classes. I have my demo. I built out my home booth. But.....now what?
I was told that auditioning is the job. I can deal with that. but where was i supposed to find these auditions?
Places to find auditions
P2P sites:- Paying a yearly fee for access to auditions. Be careful with these as folks will try to low-ball you on the rates. Make sure you know what the acceptable project rates are.
Talent Agent:- Ah, the double-edged sword. A Talent Agent will provide representation and access to auditions, but you need a resume with paid gigs in order to get a Talent Agent. It’s always better to wait until you have a decent VO resume before pursuing representation.
Social Media - The genre of VO you’re pursuing will determine which social media platforms will be best for you. Like videogames? Try Twitter. Corporate Narration? LinkedIn would be the way to go.
Production Houses - Some production houses will actually have their own roster of VO actors that they pull from. But beware… production houses don’t specialize in voiceover. They are ALL the parts of project creation, and voiceover is only one piece of their puzzle.
Personal Hustle:- Straight-up cold email reach outs to companies you know may need voiceover services. E-learning and Telephony are 2 genres that really rely on your personal marketing skills.
Basically, auditions are EVERYWHERE. There are so many great opportunities out there! But, you have to be ready to do the work to find them - auditions will not find you. To be completely candid, marketing ourselves in this “wild west” of an industry is difficult. Every last one of us will experience rejection -(or no response at all. Don’t allow yourself to get discouraged by this. Just keep plugging along and you’ll get there.
here's to finding more auditions,
Christy