Re: Voiceover work

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Dan wrote--
>So my questions are: Is there any point in spending the money on a tape? If
>so, is there some way to make the tape appealing enough to the agencies that
>they will listen? If not, is there any way David could get some commercial
>voiceover experience that would be meaningful to the agencies? He'd be quite
>willing to work for nothing to get such experience if doing so would give
>him a reasonable shot at having an agency or two actually consider him for
>work on commercials.

The woods are full of hundreds of out of work disc jockeys trying to get
voice-over work.  But Shel is right-- agents claiming that for a price they
can get you a tape and a job are lying to you.  ($800??? That's insane.
Studio time at a college or public station costs less than that... it's free
to those who are volunteers or employees)  Most voice-over work in Boston
goes through AFTRA anyway.  If David is not an AFTRA member, he will have a
harder time.  Perhaps he should talk to the folks at the Boston chapter of
AFTRA (they are usually very nice... they're on Beacon Street somewhere, and
I assume their number is in the phone book).  The competition for voice-over
work is very intense.  I doubt that somebody with no experience is going to
suddenly get called, no matter how good his or her voice is.   I'm not
trying to be pessimistic, but he should be prepared to do some volunteer
work at a public station and get some experience first; he will stand a
better chance with that experience.  But spending big bucks for a tape?
RIP-OFF ALERT!!!

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