Hey guys!
You know when people get annoyed if you say "Happy New Year" to them past say... January 10th? Well... It's March 28th...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Having spent 2023 making my first forays into voice acting and picking up some great clients, I used most of December to tidy up my first set of reels (now available to listen on this very website!), one for video games and one for commercials. When January came it was time to send them out to as many voice acting agencies as I could – aaaaaaaand...
They all rejected me! All of them! However, I did gain some valuable insights:
Voice agencies are heavily, heavily oversubscribed to the point where many actors on their books may not actually be getting work.
My natural voice (British, RP) is not in fashion at the moment, and to get on the books of an agency I need to think outside the box to stand out (or focus much more on chameleon-like mimicking and character voices).
The way forward for an actor in my position, with some good work under their belt, is to focus on direct marketing and then preparing a second batch of reels based on the feedback I received this time.
With that in mind, I decided to reach out to a vocal coach by the name of Yvonne Morley, recommended to me by speech therapist (Dr Ruth Epstein, who helped me recover from my vocal fold paresis) to help me figure out what my voice is best at and which areas I need to work on. She has been incredible thus far and I would encourage you to check out her website here.
Around the same time, I had another run-in with acid reflux (brought on primarily by the return of an extremely naughty habit involving the burning and inhaling of certain vegetable matter). This put me back on an extremely strict diet and I waved goodbye to smoking forever.
Then at the end of January I got a message from the team representing an upcoming “Souls” like video game, and was thrilled to accept my first major role! I am currently finishing off the work and am as yet not allowed to announce further details, but stay tuned... All I can say is my character is a really nasty, sweary, violent human being – and I love every minute of playing him!
Other than that, the last few months have been relatively uneventful. I'm considering upgrading from my AKG C214 microphone to the beautiful OC18 by Austrian Audio (whose staff include the original AKG staff and equipment before they were bought out by Samsung), and was really excited to work with LinkedIn back in February. Other than that, March has been rather quiet.
I suppose this is an important reality for every self-employed artist or creative to consider. There will be quiet patches. Just because you had a brilliant September doesn't mean you will have a brilliant October, particularly if you are relying on over subscribed “pay to play” sites. That's why I am using my spare time to focus on building a client list and approaching potential clients and casting directors myself. It feels good to take your destiny into your o
wn hands!
Finally, I got my first set of professional headshots done with the incredible Ben of Benkin Photography. Ben was hilarious and made me feel very comfortable. I cant wait to share the headshots with you guys and can thoroughly recommend him to voice actors and actors alike.
OK! I'll do my best to write another blog post before the sun expands and consumes the solar system, I promise.
Love,George :)
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