I must admit there are times when I am just as inpatient as my students when it comes to getting them trained and out into the marketplace. Though I have to stop and remember how long it took me when someone taught me this craft over a decade ago. 20 weeks would have been like a walk in the park.
Here’s the scene: A new talent, fresh in the studio, looking at me from the students’ chair as I recline a bit in the coaches’ chair. I can see it in their eyes. They wear it on their face. They are hungry for it. What “it” is they don’t quite know, but they want “it” and they want it fast. During their evaluation session I try to ruin the illusion that “it” is going to come to them quickly. I try, but sometimes fail somehow to drive the idea home, that once they take a seat in that chair they have taken a step toward learning the craft, but have many more footfalls to go before they reach the top of the hill. Where is the top? I don’t know if you ever find it.
Life experience is one of the great helpers on the journey of learning voice over. I attended private 1 on 1 coaching sessions for close to 2 years. Yes, that’s right, 2 years. None of this 20 week boo-ha-ha.. 2 years of weekly sessions on 4 to 8 week commitments. Even after all that training, I wasn’t complete as a talent. I don’t think I will ever be “complete” in the sense of learning new tricks and styles and tweaks to the craft. What time has given me is more exposure to the world through the faintly tinted goggles of a voice over guy. I looked at the world differently after all of my voice over training. I saw things in a “commercial and narrative” way rather than just glancing at them, whatever “them” was, in a passing sort of manner.
The ability to interpret and quickly dissect the things I read in magazines, heard on the radio or saw on billboards and passing metro busses improved over time. Had it not been for my extensive training, I wouldn’t have bothered to pay attention to ad copy when I encountered it. The training fine tuned my receptors and gave me the ability to hear it or read it in a way I hadn’t before, though I was only able to process that information more effectively and efficiently with the added element of time.
When embarking on this little journey of voice over, one thing I suggest you keep in mind is that the older more experienced talent get the better jobs because they have a more deeply defined ability to grasp what the producer is saying and what the writer is writing. That ability only improves with time and tenure. No amount of coaching is going to plug the experience, gained through the application of the craft, into your head.
The term I often use to better describe this to some of my students is “The application of the science” further defined by the following example: A friend of mine (people sometimes start an embarrassing story about themselves this way, but this is actually about another person) was trying to get through college and earn their bachelors degree. They had to take and pass some computer science classes in order to advance. Rather than get into the technical side of what makes computers or servers tick, they decided to take what appeared at the time to be the easy way out and took entry-level web design.
After the semester was over and summer break came, they took off to the beach and never once attempted to write code or utilize an FTP client. When school started up again, the next class they took for web design required all of the elements they had been taught in the first course, but didn’t reference any of the “how to” content of the first course in the textbook. The book was written assuming the student had taken the first course and put what they learned into practice. Because my friend had never “applied the science” of web design by actually sitting down and doing some work, they had absolutely no idea what they were doing when they got to the next level and the information was complex and completely surpassed their skill set. Who do you think they called to dig them out?
This is the exact set of circumstances facing young voice talent trying to get into this business with limited instruction and minimal “application of the craft”. I have gotten pretty good in the evaluation sessions, at spotting the people who want me to “do it for them” and refusing to coach them any further. By saying “do it for them”, I am referring to the people who after two or three lessons show the all to obvious signs of not practicing, and after I catch them not practicing, continue to show up at their lessons without practicing. It is the same thing as learning a musical instrument. If you don’t practice it will be obvious to all, but the one person you certainly won’t fool is your coach.
I briefly had a guitar instructor several years ago. I had that coach briefly because after 3 lessons he told me quite bluntly, “I can tell you’re not practicing, and if you’re not going to practice, I am not going to teach you.” He tossed me out on my butt because I wouldn’t do the things he asked. I have never been this abrupt with any of my students, but there have been a few that have heard the “guitar teacher” story. If you are in my studio and you start to hear the “guitar teacher” story, it means the end is near. If I stop halfway through the story it means there might still be some hope. But if I get to the end of the story, it means it’s pretty much over for you. I wont entertain the idea of trying to push you any further along in the business. I have had a few people get up and quit after hearing the story, which once it is told is pretty much the desired result. I hate to see people fail, but if it has gotten to this point, I have exhausted every other option. I can’t go to a person’s house and make them practice.
Life is always going to happen and there are going to be times where people can’t find the time to sit down and go through their copy. I understand this and even encourage breaks here and there to keep the learning process from becoming a chore. I have long felt this craft has to fit into your life. It has to become a comfortable part of it, much like our favorite jeans. It has to be something you want to slide into, wear around and not want to take off. If the craft or the process of learning the craft becomes more like that itchy wool sweater you don’t like but must wear in order to please a loved one, you will ultimately fail unless you find a way to lose the sweater. Putting an undershirt on beneath it might make it more tolerable, but you are still going to quietly hate the sweater, and it will show. Much like contempt for this craft or the process of learning it will show in your voice. If you hate an element of this business or part of the process of learning how to do it, it will show in you voice.
Producers always ask for more “smile” in reads, why? Because it is one of the harder things to do and a lot of people who have jumped the educational turnstile by bypassing quality training and instruction, are incapable of doing it. At least they are incapable of doing it on command, a skill that comes as a byproduct of exposure to professional direction and understanding what it means.
Many of the people who have jumped the turnstile, jumped it because they have contempt for the rules of the game. They want to phone it in. They want warm brownies but refuse to turn on the oven to bake them. They have contempt for the process of learning the craft and frequently introduce themselves to the market place unprepared. It shows in there voice. It shows in their demos and sometimes makes them near impossible to coach.
Some of my most problematic and challenging students have been writers or English majors. If they were capable swallowing their pride for a while and keeping their opinions to themselves throughout the lesson, they would usually overcome the obstacle and could learn without much trouble. But if they refused to get out of there own way and continued to fight the process it was like talking to them while their ears were full of modeling clay.
Their constant struggle with the perennially poor structure of ad copy would upset or confuse them and they would be incapable to an extent, of delivering copy the way the writer had intended. They always wanted to fix things, or edit them, or rewrite them. They would get mad at the copy or the faceless entity responsible for writing it. When they reached this level of frustration they would completely lose the message of the copy and the intended tone the talent was supposed to read it with. It permeated their voice to the point that even if they were following the direction as far as pace and inflection, the tone of the spot was always lost.
In order to smile while reading copy you must smile, and if not be happy, have the ability to pretend you are happy. I don’t want to get into a whole conversation about how to smile while reading copy. What I hope an interested reader is able to take away from this article is that you must not have a head full of other junk when you go to audition or perform in this business.
When I very first started out, I had a small dose of contempt for the business. It wasn’t at all with the process of learning the craft. It was a contempt for the faceless people that hired or in this case didn’t hire me right away when I first hit the streets with my demo tape, and was a contempt that slowly grew to an all out bitterness in a short period of time. The contempt was real, but foolish and may have never grown to that point if I had better applied the science. But I didn’t. When I very first hit the streets I assumed that because I had a demo tape and years of training and instruction I was prepared and ready for the business. I thought that doors would simply open for me. I couldn’t have been any more wrong.
The passkey I was lacking to open those doors more easily was qualified application of the science. I hadn’t gone out and cut my teeth on the tough underbelly of the business before I decided my foot belonged wedged in the doors of some of the largest major market consumers of the product I was offering. A product that at that time wasn’t near polished enough to be appealing to them, and I was brash enough to try to force it upon them. There were some tactics I used to get my demo in front of people that I wont even share here because I don’t want to give anyone any ideas.
Suffice it to say that I had some pretty big, brass avocados when I first embarked on getting noticed in this business and all my methods served to do was make me look even more novice than I already was.
I was a skilled, educated talent suffering the consequences of never practicing or applying the craft outside the confines of the instructors’ studio. A sailor who had never manned the helm. A scuba diver that had never donned an air tank. A voice talent, not unlike many that make up the population of talent today. Here is the one key difference. I was able to recognize the faults of my approach and reverse the way I viewed the business. Rather than blaming everyone else for not recognizing me, I was able to turn the camera inward and examine what it was I was doing to not get recognized.
I began to practice my copy again. I began to listen to my old auditions and lesson tapes again. I refocused my effort on interpretation of copy, breathing, pace, inflection and tone – the essential basics of the craft. Most importantly, I found a little humility and left my attitude behind. It was only when I took that most important step, that the world began to get a little clearer for me and I no longer needed a passkey to enter the doors of some of the finer institutions. I still don’t have all the answers and have yet to discover the way to make every company who hires voice talent think of me when they cast for a project, but I have discovered there are many voice jobs out there that I am not right for, and I am now, very ok with that.
I understand that I can only fit in when I am the right person for the job, and I very seldom get calls from companies I wouldn’t want to talk to. Most who call me, know what they are getting when they dial the number. That is why I take the time to write these articles, so people who are thinking of getting into this business will know what they are getting when they themselves decide to dial.
So 20 weeks you say… What’s the purpose if after 20 weeks I’m not ready?
I think the number is somewhat arbitrary given the fact that some people seem to pick up on the ideas a lot faster than others. I just know that some of my most skilled students (those who have the greatest chance of securing quality work) are students that spent 20 or more weeks training in the studio. Some students had already been practicing for years when they came to the studio and used the training to refine their approach to copy and learn the absolute no-no’s of the business. Yet they still stayed for a long time. Some students came for 10 weeks and decided it was time for a demo. I usually try to talk people out of it, but if they want one and they demonstrate a basic ability and understanding of the fundamentals I will produce one for them.
I have yet to see any of the students who only attended 10 weeks of training continue into the market place and rise to a substantial status with any kind of quickness. Some get out there, get turned down a few times and throw in the towel. They weren’t very well equipped for the rejection that comes along with the business. That is something I don’t know if anyone even tries to teach VO students. It is a part of the human psyche that you either have or don’t.
One thing that can make you a little more immune to the rejection is having some very thick skin matched with a really powerful drive and determination to succeed. Even the best can have their egos kicked around the schoolyard every now and then. Your willingness to get up and get back in the bully’s face is what is going to separate you from the people who figure they’ll just stay down on the ground, pull the grass from their teeth and wait for the bully to leave.
20 weeks of voice over training in the studio isn’t enough to completely harden you, hell, 2 years wasn’t enough for me. What 20 weeks will do for you is set you up to spend less time in the school yard when you know the bully is on the prowl. You’ll already be back inside at the library trying to learn more and get better at your skill so that next year you can attend the magnate school instead. There will still be bullies at that school, but they will be fewer in number and have more to lose.
It is my hope that people would continue to train with me through out their career. But reality dictates that most of us, much like I did after 2 years, will leave the confines of the studio and set upon the path on our own. I think it is just human nature. Most of us learn much more from our mistakes. I just think that with a base minimum of 20 weeks training, you will make far less of the simple, yet egregious ones that keep you from getting noticed in the first place.
20 weeks is a baseline. Here at the studio we break it up into smaller 10-week sessions, but hope that at a minimum, talent will return for two or three of those 10-week sessions.
This is kind of an odd comparison but one I find fitting nonetheless:
After 20 weeks, a woman with child is in the middle of her second trimester. The fetus at this point is recognizable as a human form but if born, would not have a viable chance of living. Though it has the makings of all the tools required to survive in the real world, those tools are still incomplete and have yet to be tempered. After 40 weeks, the child is born. If all is well, the child will be born with all the right tools, but will have no idea at the time how to use them.
The child will have to be taught over the course of several years, how to talk, how to walk, how to read, how to function and behave. The child will have to be taught all of these things in order to do them correctly and efficiently. If that child were left to it’s own devices it would grow to only posses grossly underdeveloped skills that would be rudimentary at best. It is only the child who is taught what is correct and proper from the very beginning that will possess the appropriate skills to function in a community of their peers.
Even with constant teaching, the child will still need years to learn how to effectively administer the skills it has learned. Coordination, speed and agility are hard wired into the child, but need several years of practice and application before all of those instincts align with one another and begin to function as one. Once those instincts do align correctly, and the child can process the information it has been taught throughout the formative years of its life quickly and effectively, the child is ready to confront some of life’s more challenging demands. But chances are, even with all of those learned skills and proficiency, it will still be a long time before the child is anywhere near prepared to face life’s more challenging demands on their own, and with no supervision.
Kind of makes 20 weeks look like… Well… A walk n the park…
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