Summer Voiceover Workshops!

All courses are on Zoom.

(and we still promise to make it fun and nothing like your other Zoom fiasco experiences. Besides, advanced VO is taught on Zoom all over the world... get used to it!!)

• Political VO - and now is time to get ready for  election season. 3-hour workshop, June 25th 

• Beginning Voiceover - 8 weeks to learn what it really takes to work in this field. Classes starting first week of July and third week of July.

• Video Game - 4 weeks, starting 1st week of July

• Commercial - 4 weeks, starting 1st week of July

• Advanced Animation Bootcamp - July 11-14th 6:30-8:30PM. Immerse yourself!

• Audiobook Narration - starts 3rd week of July.

Oh-- make sure to scroll down for an article about changes to Pay-to-Play sites and... a confession...  

How to Find VO Work Update…

and a confession.

At the Seattle Voice Academy we pride ourselves in hiring teachers who are working voiceover talent. We know what it’s like to work, today, in this is crazy, ever-changing field. Some faculty work on audiobooks, some on commercial work, some eLearning, and some do a little bit of everything each week. Where do we find the work? Sometimes it’s a direct hire. Networking is a great way to find work. Some faculty have clients we have worked with for years and they keep bringing us back. Sometimes it’s a gig our agent sends, we audition, and we book it! And frequently, for some, it’s the Pay-to-Play sites: Voice123.com, Voices.com, Voquent, Bodalgo, VO Planet. There are more, but these are the ones I know. Yea, yea, Fiverr… I just… can’t, okay?

So… that confession? I have been going off (strongly and vehemently) against Voices.com for as long as any of you have known me. And 8 years ago, I was not alone in leaving that platform, yelling loud and clear that they were the bane of the VO world. 

The reason? We knew that they were triple dipping—charging the media company, charging the VO talent, and then charging another fee to make sure the VO was paid (escrow fee, they called it). THEN, we found out (at least it was wildly speculated) that occasionally a $3K commercial our agent would send would end up on Voices.com for $300. THAT’S why we all left. Or some of us. 

Recently David Ciccarelli (of Voices.com) has been on Clubhouse and I was starting to hear better things about Voices.com. Including newly improved transparency – they now show you that they will take only 20%. That’s the same percentage my regional agents take. So… I went ahead and paid my $399 to re-join, 8 years later. And I am finding a tremendous number of legit media companies who are now hiring me regularly through the site (private invites). So yup, I am working on Voices.com.

This is still something most of us won’t talk about in mixed VO company. Agents HATE the site. But I want to be transparent with all of you. Yup. There is work there. And it’s legit. I do NOT audition for anything under $250 (mostly $375-$1500) and I am super careful about usage for any broadcast work. Conflicts are real. Don’t get yourself stuck in an in-perpetuity conflict. That means you cannot do work in that commercial area (say banks or tech companies) for anyone who wants exclusivity. This is a big deal. Be careful.

My goal was two hours of auditioning per day (8 minutes an audition, roughly, unless it’s character work, then more like an hour) and I am averaging about 8-15 auditions per day. And, it’s a numbers game. I currently find work on Voices.com, Voice123, direct hire, and two of three of my agents. With two hours of auditioning daily and the jobs that come in, it’s tough to keep up with SVA admin since I have full-time VO work coming in. And if you audition this much, please use a CRM (customer relationship management tool) like Voiceoverview.com to track your auditions, invoices, deliverables, pickups etc…

Okay. Confession made. Now – another warning – please keep your skills honed. There are very talented people on these sites. You’ll want to be at the top of your game to compete. Keep learning. Keep practicing. And keep in touch.

- Shana Pennington-Baird, Head Coach/Director, Seattle Voice Academy