"They don't love me" (sniffle...sniffle) Handling rejection in the VO world.

 So I was going through my book collection and pulled out one I bought several years ago. It's called, "Secrets of Voice Over Success" by Joan Baker. And while there are many voice over books on the market, I particularly like this one, as it features some of the top voice over artists in the industry talking about their path from unknown to the A list. Each chapter features a different voice, and the first one, fittingly, is the late movie trailer superstar, Don LaFontaine. (famous for his big, bold "In a world"...)

As anyone in this business knows, auditioning is the norm for landing jobs. I was taken by Don's observation about not only auditioning, but apparent rejection. Here's the direct passage...

"No matter how good you may be, you're not going to book every job for which you audition. Sometimes the answer is going to be no. I never let it bother me. I keep in mind that this is a very subjective business. I am certainly not right for every job. As an actor, rejection is the first thing with which you learn to deal. It's not so much rejection as it is a process of elimination. You do it all the time. If you select Burger King over McDonalds, you're not rejecting McDonalds; you simply prefer Burger King. That's the way it is in this business. Don't dwell on it. Move on. Believe me; your career is not over."

This coming from one of the most successful voice actors of all time. Powerful stuff indeed.

Cool thing is the updated version of the book comes with a CD with demos on it. This is not a book that teaches voice over technique. It's a book with lots of real world advice from the best in the business about how to elevate your career.

The book is a great read.  You can find it on Amazon.

"Come on over baby there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on"

 It's hard to believe, I've been back here in the San Francisco Bay Area for roughly 19 years after leaving my radio career behind back in Charlotte, North Carolina. Despite the ungodly expensive cost of living here, it has much to offer. For one, if you're a sports fan, the activities are off the hook. I know there are LOTS of Bay Area haters around the country. That's what happens when you have winning teams like the SF Giants and NBA Warriors with superstar Steph Curry. Teams here are used to being trashed by hostile, out-of-market fans and media talking heads around the country. As they say, "it goes with the territory." (Not Taylor Swift level haterism but...)

So I was sitting here in my recording studio the other evening when a pretty harsh earthquake hit. By far, it was the strongest jolt I've felt since moving back. It didn't last long, a few seconds, but I had no mistake it was an earthquake. The neighborhood dogs started barking. Within seconds, the local TV news had their "crawlers" on screen that a 3.9 had hit the Bay Area. There was no major damage of any size. It got me to thinking. Since I moved back here, it was one of only a few that I've felt. Another one was during an episode of "American Idol" I was watching. I was laying in bed all comfy, when I heard a very pronounced snapping sound for a few seconds around my room. It was eerie.

Before I moved back to the Bay Area, I informed a client of mine I would be moving from Charlotte to back here to continue recording voice overs from my home studio. My friends thought I was crazy. To be honest, I had some doubts. It was a very long trek across country via U-Haul (much thanks to a friend Ron who jumped in to co-pilot with me) and there were no guarantees that my business would continue to flourish. Upon telling my lovely, longtime client, Kathy, of my pending move, she said with some despair in her voice, "Oh John! I can't believe you're moving to California where they have all those earthquakes!" I chuckled as she lived in tornado prone Texas! Dorothy, Toto and Kansas immediately came to mind. I can't remember what Kathy said when I challenged her on her living in tornado friendly Texas. They say everything's bigger in Texas. I'll bet; including the tornados.  

My radio broadcast career put me in earthquake zones, hurricane states, and tornado active places. I figure, no matter where you live, you have some kind of bad weather possibility. I grew up in Ohio where daily tornado warnings were the norm in the summer. The awful 1974 F-5 tornado in Xenia, Ohio took 39 lives and caused unheard of damage. Thousands were injured. I lived 13 years on-air in the West Palm Beach South Florida area, and all those years, I had no major hurricane event roll through. Tropical storms yes, but no huge, destructive hurricane. (I'll chalk some of that up to good luck). Now,  I live right on the Hayward Fault Line here in the Bay Area where the next really "Big One" is expected to hit. The little jolt I felt a few nights ago was a gentle reminder of where I live. I guess, wherever you go, there you are. You're bound to be in some kind of destructive weather path at some point. Life goes on.  

Hey! It's the Motel 6 voice over dude. He'll leave the light on for ya (and how he got sober)

 What an amazing voice over career Tom Bodett has had. CBS Sunday morning did a really cool profile of him.  There's no way you haven't heard his folksy vocal delivery. For a while, his voice was everywhere. Besides the bucket loads of money he made for his "We'll Leave the Light on for Ya" radio and TV commercials for Motel 6, turns out he's an accomplished author and wood worker. He says his love of woodworking helped him to get sober. He can't woodwork and be drinking at the same time.He never sells any of his woodwork; doesn't want to get caught up with selling. His home recording studio looks killer. (OK. As a fellow voice actor, I'm a bit jealous). All these years I've heard him on the Motel 6 spots but never knew what he looked like. At 69 years of age, he seems happy doing his woodworking and writing. Loving sobriety. Good for him.

Here's a link to the very entertaining interview on CBS. It's short and well worth your time. He's an inspiration to me. Now that the interview has aired, I hope he's an inspiration to many. We need more Tom Bodettes in the world. Nice guy. Modest. Down to earth and helpful! Hey, he'll leave the light on for you. Thank you Tom.

When renowned voice over coach Marice Tobias speaks...people listen (or should)

 I first became familiar with voice over coach Marice Tobias many years ago. I heard she has an amazing background, not just in voice over, but many other things as well. She has a reputation for being a no nonsense coach, and from what I hear, is very selective about who she'll coach. For one... no beginners. She doesn't candy coat when teaching a talent. Some in the VO world call her "The Voice Whisperer." I would agree, although I've never had the good fortune of having her coach me or meeting her in person.

Quite a few blog posts back, I recommended, when possible, taking your headphones off when you're voicing copy. Voice actors who come from an on-air, radio background, will most likely scoff at the idea as they're so use to hearing their "wonderful, melodious voices" in their headphones with the volume jacked way up. I once followed a radio deejay when I was on-air in Charlotte who had the volume in his headphones so loud it was ear splitting, as I found out one afternoon, when he was leaving his airshift and I was plugging in my headphones coming on to do my show. I had no idea how he could work like that, but he did. By the way, how are you "Bob B.?" Any hearing loss?

In my humble opinion, taking your headphones off is one of the best things you can do for a natural read. And "natural and "believable" is always in demand for voice over jobs.

The other day on You Tube (where else?), I found some videos of Marice being interviewed in studio. She gladly offered her top 3 tips to voice over folks. Here's that very short clip that I think you'll find beneficial when you're in the booth recording. You can thank me later. Scroll down after clicking in to see her 3 VO tips.

"Duck! Here comes another piece of wedding cake!"

 I'm reposting this because it happens to be the most popular (#1) on this blog... by a mile. (I'm able to log in and see how many views it has.) Seems that folks like a good wedding fight! Just like the WWE!

 I once co-owned a mobile deejay business with a partner when I was on radio in South Florida.  It was called "Hot Summer Nights" ... a fitting name for a Florida entertainment company we thought. We would book company Christmas parties, birthdays, weddings, poolside fun...you name it.  Pretty much any occasion where music was needed to light up the crowd for a good time. Coming from my radio background, mobile deejaying was extra fun, as I could actually see my "audience"...unlike radio.  

Weddings were a challenge as the guests in attendance at the reception were everyone from the bride and groom to little children, teens, and in most cases, Mom and Dad and Grandpa and Grandma. So you were playing music to a wide age range. You had to have  something for everyone and keep them all happy. And by all means, DON'T play any unfamiliar music that folks didn't know. That would make the dance floor empty quickly. And you might get a dissatisfied look from the bride or groom. For the most part, I played the hits and kept the good vibe going. The two most requested old school songs at wedding receptions were Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" and the very naughty Clarence Carter song "Strokin". Nothing could fill the dance floor faster than these two songs.

Before the wedding, I would always meet with the bride and groom (and sometimes their parents) to discuss exactly what song selections they wanted played... or didn't want played. Which brings me to what this post is all about. 

By far, a particular Italian wedding was one of, if not thee most, bizarre weddings I ever deejayed. I met beforehand with the bride and her Mom. Right off the bat, I knew this event was going to have its "unique challenges." The mother said, "My creepy ex-husband is going to be at the reception. If he comes up to make a request, DON'T play it!" Alrighty then. "Also," she went on to say, "An uncle and nephew have very bad blood and they'll be at the reception . Hopefully, there won't be any problems." After Mom gave me a 50%  cash deposit to deejay the event, I left our meeting driving home with all kinds of weird scenes playing out in my head; most of them not good. 

Fast forward to the wedding reception. It was your typical hot summer, South Florida day. The couple had rented out a large party room at a West Palm Beach golf course on a Saturday. My assistant for the day helped me set up my deejay equipment. Soon, guests started filing in. It was a very large and lively crowd. I fired up some music and things got rolling. The dance floor was filling up nicely. That was always good to see. Just trying to keep everyone happy. Drinks were flowing freely as the crowd loosened up. Midway through the reception, the bride's Mom came up to me and handed me the balance due in cash and walked away. I told my helper to play the music as I wanted to step into the men's room and count the cash to make sure all was paid. Upon exiting, I saw fists flying from all corners and utter mayhem breaking loose, as the nephew and uncle I had been warned about had gotten into a push and shove match, with others stepping in to take a few swipes at the nephew, who apparently had a history of run-ins with the law and stirring up issues with the family. A chef came out of the kitchen and tried to get things under control. But the free for all fight kept rolling. I honestly thought someone might pull a knife or gun. I think I even saw Grandma  trying to get in a punch or two at the nephew, people yelling  and taking sides.  And at one point, I feared for my deejay equipment as a tidal wave of people was moving in my direction with little regard for my set-up. Things got so out of hand, someone called the police. The first cop that showed up looked like Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith TV show. He looked like he weighed just shy of 130 pounds! I thought, "There's no way this guy is going to be able to get this angry crowd under control." Soon, more officers arrived in the parking lot before running into the reception area. I stepped out to the lot to see a middle aged man punching one of the guests who fell to the pavement. It was all very surreal, like out of a movie, or the phony WWE with all their staged wrestling fights on TV. And sadly, the bride had taken a seat in the limo with an open door and was sobbing hysterically, saying, "They've ruined my day!"  I felt badly for her. Eventually, things settled down and my assistant and I broke down our deejay equipment and left the "festivities." I was relieved to be on the road. Time to get home for a cold beer. Or maybe a couple.

Later that evening, my business partner called and asked me how the wedding went. I told him he would be deejaying the next wedding we booked. I needed a short "vacation."

                                                                                   

About that side hustle

 Ask any voice actor about odd jobs they held before landing steady VO work, and you might be surprised to see a very long list. Hugh Jackman used to work at 7-11. He was fired from that job because his boss said he talked too much to the customers. J.K. Rowling was fired because her boss said she was writing stories on her computer all day long. I worked at a convenience store while I was attending broadcast school at 18 years of age. I was bagging/cleaning heads of lettuce in the store's back room when the announcer came on the radio and sadly reported "The King," Elvis, was found dead at Graceland. His last words--"I'm going to the bathroom to read." One of those moments I'll always remember. And where I was when the space shuttle exploded; on the air just south of the launch pad up the Florida coastline. Listeners called me shortly after liftoff saying something didn't look right. I opened the station backdoor, looked afar, and saw strange plumes of smoke moving in all directions. Not good.

As things go with voice acting (and many other professions), you'll probably be doing a bunch of different "survival" jobs to put a little jingle in your pocket. Cash flow will generally always be a nag as you wait for your next voice gig or check to come in.  (Unless you have rich and generous parents bailing you out.) And there will be times when things seem to be going well, when all of a sudden, the bottom drops out and it's "Hello. Is anybody out there?" All the more reason to have a second  job to put groceries on the table and pay the rent.

Here are some of the side jobs I held before I started making decent money deejaying on the radio, and eventually, my love,..voice over.

Loading UPS 18 wheeler trucks with tons of packages in extreme summertime heat.

Lawn mowing at an old school apartment complex. 

A cashier at our friendly, local, mom and pop convenience store. It had a small meat counter in the back and I use to make some off the charts sandwiches near closing time. It was one of the few fringe benefits of working there. "Mmmmm good!"

Deejaying at a teen's dance club. This was a living nightmare! Tons of kids coming at me in the booth ALL AT ONCE shouting their requests. Frantic/panic comes to mind. "Hey! I didn't sign up for this!"

 Digging drainage ditches on a new golf course with water issues, my miserable boss shouting at me from a loud ditch digger; me muddied up with a shovel in hand.

Working behind a deli counter at a Jewish restaurant. I held this job for 1 day! The pace was maddening. Wasn't for me. I quit. But I still LOVE pastrami on rye!

Janitorial, part time job buffing floors at a senior living community activity center..

Working for a florist delivering flower arrangements from my overheated, smoke belching, crappy car. This was a real challenge as I was living in steamy, hot South Florida. "Help! My customer flowers are wilting." I was amazed when customers tipped me.

Selling a savings plan. (I stunk at this).

These are just some jobs I worked to get by. I'm probably mentally blocking out a few disasters.I'm sure you have your own list of odd/side hustle jobs. Be thankful for the job. Things will change;often for the better.

As the great voice over master, Harlan Hogan, has said for years now. 'You don't really want a voice over career. Careers have a definite start and a finish. A business can go on and on. Aim for that.' Pay attention to best business practices.

The legendary narrator Peter Thomas ("Forensic Files") was still in demand up until his death at 91!