VO Pro: The Business of Voice Over and Voice Acting

Several times a week people reach out with the question, “People say I have a nice voice. Should I get into voice over?” And my answer used to be “Sure! It’s a great business! It’s the best job I’ve ever had and second isn’t even close!” And while that’s still true as much as it ever was, my answer has changed. Voice over and voice acting isn’t for everyone. Some don’t have the talent. Some don’t...

Two weeks ago I said that Voices was getting desperate and ten days later they ousted their CEO, David Ciccarelli. I hate to say I told you so, but… Earlier this week, Voices made the following announcement: Dear Valued Customers and Friends, Today, we share some bittersweet news as we bid farewell to a cherished member of our team, David, who has been at the helm of Voices.com, Inc. as its chief...

As I touched on in my last video, 2023 has been a slow year for voiceover. In fact, this might be the first year in the 21st century that we can honestly say that voiceover work has not… available work… has not grown year over year. There's no hard data that I know of in the voiceover industry that shows the exact amount of available work. But I talked to a lot of people in this business and...

I talk to a lot of people in the voice over industry regularly – voice actors, casting directors, producers, agents. And everyone acknowledges whether their business is up or down that the industry has been slow for the last several months. One of the facets of the business that is seeing the most change is the online casting platforms, and this has become evident most recently in two ways, specif...

I recently posted on social media a great guide from the website of a well-known coach in this business. And today I call bullsh*t. I'm going to break down exactly why I think this entire rate guide is a crap sandwich and be specific about the damage it does to voice actors and the industry as a whole. You may want to put on coveralls. This is going to get messy. I want to make it clear that...

Actors, in general, are notoriously bad business people. And statistically, we’re bad a booking work. Even elite voice actors will book 5-10 jobs out of every 100 they audition for. Chances are you’re booking way less than that and today I’m going to teach you why. First, there are some overarching truths about voice actors: 1. We are historically, willfully passive.  According to the State of VO...

Let's face it. There's a lot of B.S. and myths out there about becoming a voice over actor, a professional video actor, and about the voiceover industry in general. And sadly, a lot of this bullshit is put out by snake oil salesman, so-called coaches in this business who will fleece you from your money or pick your pocket. And I'm not being disingenuous. So today we're going to...

Today, a fascinating discussion with the CEO of UK-based Voquent, one of the major voice over service providers globally about their recent stand against AI. It's an especially strong stand in the context of the ones that the other voice over providers have taken in recent months, and we talked to Miles Chicoine today about that stance. Miles has got some amazing insights, some really interes...

Here, today, right now, those developing generative AI are threatening to put a lot of us out of work. In October of 2020, the World Economic Forum said that while AI would likely take away 85 million jobs globally by 2025 (and we’re more than halfway there, by the way), it would also generate 97 million new jobs in fields ranging from big data and machine learning to information security and digi...

Maybe you’re building your voice over website for the first time. Or maybe you’re redesigning your VO website. How do you design your voiceover website to not just look good, but to actually help grow your business? Specifically, what are the website features you must have? How do you make it easy for customers to do business with you through your website? My voiceover website, PaulSchmidtVoice.co...

This clip is from our VO Freedom Master Plan Coaching Calls and was recorded on August 3, 2023. These testimonials were spontaneous, unsolicited, and unscripted. I had no idea that these students were going to speak up like they did. Our coaching calls are private events and both students gave me their permission to use this clip.  I am super grateful to them and all our VO Freedom Master Plan stu...

When you think about it, the gym and the VO booth have more similarities than you might think, and I think the gym is a great metaphor for the booth. Both are dedicated spaces where you’re focusing on self-improvement, on learning new skills, on getting uncomfortable and stretching and literally growing. In both you have tools for feedback – in the gym it’s a mirror, in the booth, it’s your headph...

SAG-AFTRA is on strike, and it can be very confusing to non-union actors and voice actors, and those who aren’t actors.  Today I’m gonna break down the major issues around the strike, why this is a watershed moment in the history of acting (and no, I’m not overblowing it), and why non-union actors should not only pay attention, but should absolutely support the strike and advocate for us all. ____...

Loneliness. Doubt. Knowledge gaps. Distraction. Overwhelm. Rejection. Voice actors battle these struggles every day and oftentimes they lead to unfocused action, wasted resources, poor decision-making, and feelings of overwhelm (or VO-verwhelm). Without the right support and resources, it's no wonder why so many voice actors and audiobook narrators burn out before achieving their dreams. VO-v...

One of the biggest objections I hear from voice actors is I don’t want to be spammy in my email marketing. And I get what people are saying here, and they’re right. They don’t want to be perceived as sending irrelevant, salesy, sleazy messages to poorly targeted, or not targeted at all, people. In other words, if they reach out to prospects, they want that to be a quality engagement and I 110% sup...

There’s ONE thing, one hack, one great secret to growing your VO business. And this one thing is so powerful, it works for not only growing your VO business, but it works for improving your physical fitness, your mental fitness, your emotional intelligence, your relationships. It’s the difference between setting goals and achieving them, between a dream and reality. And it’s so simple to understan...

Today, we're talking about the importance of using contracts for voice actors and outline the benefits and protections they offer. This episode emphasizes the need for clear expectations, protection of rights, payment security, scope management, liability limitations, professionalism, and dispute resolution.  While formal contracts are generally recommended, I also mention situations where em...

Even the most talented freelance creatives…. voice actors, video producers, writers, graphic designers, developers, social media strategists, etc… run into common customer objections that can get in the way of or even completely derail closing deals and booking gigs.  Today, I’m going to help you do just that. We’ll will explore some common customer objections and provide some valuable strategies...

Tim Friedlander, president of NAVA, the National Association of Voice Actors, discusses the recent victory in which Voices dot com amended their terms of service to address the use of voice actors in AI voices. Tim credits community efforts and demonstrates the power of collective action.  The fAIr Voices Campaign, focused on ethical AI use, consent, compensation, and control, has been launched. T...

Over the next five years, one in four jobs is expected to undergo significant changes due to AI, digitization, green energy, and supply chain modifications. While AI may not pose an immediate threat, slow economic growth, supply shortages, and inflation are currently more concerning for job stability.  The future of earning income is uncertain, with a shift towards freelancing and self-employment,...

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David Ciccerelli and Voices have finally launched their AI product called unshockingly, Voices dot ai. It’s here kids. It’s like the lump of coal you’ve been waiting to get in your stocking for years now. Except Santa-relli has been telling you all along what a good little girl you are. And somehow the whole time you knew the coal car was gonna be backing up with a big black nugget with your name...

ChatGPT. AI. Text-To-Speech. Speech-To-Speech. Are the digital boogeymen here to decimate our business and take our lunch money? Today, we’ll look specifically at ChatGPT and AI in the larger sense… apps like Revoicer, Respeecher, and Speechelo… and make some sense out of all the hype and fear in the voice acting community. With the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, a lot of us...

The GVAA Rate Guide creator, David Toback tells the crazy story of how the guide that our industry depends on was an accident, how he founded it with Cristina Milizia, what it is, WHY it's so crucial for talent to use it when quoting professional voice over rates, and what some of the exciting future plans for the guide are. GVAA Rate Guide: http://vorateguide.com ____________________________...

Do I deserve fair and reasonable, professional rates for my work? You’re either feeling deserving of fair rates or you’re not. Today we’re going to talk about why you’re not getting the rates you deserve, what to do about it, and how to identify and mitigate your own limiting beliefs. To sum up this video, I’ve created a Rates Worthiness Flowchart. If you’d like to download it, click on the link b...