VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Steve O'Sullivan · Joined: 03 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: SF Bay Area, Ca.

Howdy all,

I have a reality check question that I would like to ask all of you willing to engage me on this. Is there anyone on this board that has made a steady (even if modest) income from Vo WITHOUT having come fro a broadcast career background? I am gauging the waters, and want to proceed with a pt business first in the next year or two. We shall see.... Wink

TIA for any and all comments!

Regards,

Steve O'Sullivan
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Kristin Lennox · Flight Attendant Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 858

Ooo -- I can answer this one! Laugh

I have no broadcast experience -- I have a theatre background. I signed with an agency when I graduated from college (uh... many moons ago), and did various on-camera and voiceover jobs while I was pursuing theatre. Along the way, the voiceover jobs became more and more plentiful, until I was able to quit my "real job" and use VO as my "real job" while I pursued theater... Wink

When the economy tanked in the mid 2000s, I figured out I needed to get with the Technological Times, and I invested in a home studio. I had to teach myself audio engineering from scratch, which is where a broadcast background would have come in handy... but I'm a perfectionist and a quick study, and though it's not always a great combination, it worked out this time.

Nowadays, I just consider myself an actor. I do VO full-time and theatre when people will cast me.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 12:28 am Post subject:

Some people consider a broadcasting background a handicap in pursuing a VO career. So those of us who came up through those ranks could be doing so in spite of our work history rather than as a result of it.
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Philip Banks · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 12:50 am Post subject:

On 28th February 1990 I did my first paid radio commercial voice session.

No broadcasting experience.
No coaching, training or acting experience.
No recording, sound engineer experience or formal qualifications in that area.

Between June 2011 and May 2012 one client paid me around $160,000. Probably have around two dozen regular clients. VO work has been my only source of income for around 20 years.

Previous job - Investment management for part of a Swiss Merchant Bank.

Re-read above for evidence that being clueless appears to give a VO an edge.

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 3:31 am Post subject:

Bish · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 5:58 am Post subject:

I'll echo Philip.... and I hope to be on the same path! I started a few years ago with no radio background... nor any background in the entertainment industry. I was a corporate critter with some experience in education & presentation. This is now what I do full-time and I'm managing to pay the mortgage and the other essentials. It's not an impressive amount compared to my previous (very healthy) corporate six figures... but at least it's honest work Smile

I have my Ramen moments Wink

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Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 980

Never done any broadcasting. But I did study VO for 4 years, acting for 2, and improv for 3. Today's VO buyers demand a more conversational delivery, which is often the antithesis of the broadcaster delivery. This is why many agents and buyers are scared off from those with a broadcasting background.

But there are many very successful vo actors out there who came from broadcasting. From Beau Weaver to Randy Thomas. These successful voice actors are able to deliver the copy with today's standards despite their broadcasting background. They are just good actors. I know that they, as well as a good percentage of the top vo actors working still get coaching from time to time. As do most on camera actors, Broadway musical theater performers, dancers, etc. All artists need to stay up on their craft and be challenged beyond their comfort zone.

I know very few successful voice actors who are completely untrained. I'm not saying it's impossible. But it's a rarity. I'm also of the school that you are born an actor. Just like you are born a sculptor, writer, etc. Talent comes from within. But classes and workshops teach technique, allowing the performer to have the tools to present their skills at will.

The difference between a trained actor and a non trained actor is this:
A trained actor makes a choice
A non trained actor makes a guess.

With your choices well defined and clear you can recreate the same performance over and over, while at the same time be bendable to take direction if need be. If you are just guessing how to do it, you have no skills to do it again and won't be as available to take direction.

B

Philip Banks · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 9:02 am Post subject:

All extremely valuable points. The key is to know what you are doing, how you get to know what you are doing is either the proven path or what I did ..... HINT ....Don't do what I did as there is a low price but a potentially HIGH COST.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 9:43 am Post subject:

Lynne · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 10:00 am Post subject: Background

.....what Kristin said....
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ccpetersen · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 10:30 am Post subject:

I began doing VO about five or six years ago, based on experience in the studio directing other actors in productions that we do. I have a whole other background in education and astronomy that feeds my production work, so I won't go into that here, except to say that several years of public presentation at a science center taught me to use a mic and speak clearly and distinctly (most of the time) and I have an ongoing gig as a ship's "edutainment" astronomer for Smithsonian Institution which requires good speaking and presentation skills.

My DH spent many years as an audio engineer and video producer, and we owned our own studio for a time, so I soaked up quite a bit of that world by virtue of being there at times and working in the studio, etc. Under his tutelage I've learned some production skills (mostly audio editing, but also some video editing).

Some years ago, an actor who we directed was telling us about acting classes, and next thing I knew, I'd signed up for some. I studied acting for two years in Boston, and worked with my coach for about three years before we moved back out here to Colorado. I also had the privilege of taking a weekend voice boot camp with our own Bob Bergen, which remains a treasured experience. Right now I'm looking for some classes, and am considering approaching Nancy Wolfson to see if she'd take me on for further advancement.

So, no, I didn't start in broadcast; but in production. As with all things, I constantly try to improve both technique and delivery. Classes help that, and also, it's just good fun to get out and play with others.

I don't make a fulltime living at VO yet.
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Steve O'Sullivan · Joined: 03 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: SF Bay Area, Ca.

Gang, thanks so much for the replies! These are helping me set goals (and stoking my fires!)

Best regards to all!

SteveO
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Steve "SteveO" O'Sullivan
stevieo@me.com
http://steveosullivanvo.com
http://voice123.com/steveosullivan1

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 11:28 am Post subject:

another here. No broadcasting experience, full-time VO.
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Michael Schoen · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 10:21 pm Post subject:

Just an add to the overall conversation...
My background is news broadcasting I was never a DJ but I always aimed to sound as natural as I could.
I was part of the generation that changed news writing from formal to conversational, which eventually became the norm.
Advantages for VO -- I was good at reading copy and had a natural delivery.
That's not enough to be a successful VO -- but it is a good start.
But it is important to note that some of the most successful VO of the day came from radio.
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melissa eX · Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 11:47 pm Post subject:

Michael's being modest. Whereas broadcasting can be a huge disadvantage if you're locked into that cliched delivery requiring you to PROJECT your voice for commercial radio (mostly common with DJ's) , Michael does the opposite. He doesn't just write naturally. He takes his VO read into the broadcast studio. He has none of the BROADCAST tendencies when he's anchoring at all. Just sounds natural. Listen to him at wcbs880.com . He works most weekends.

I did things reversed. I went from motion picture distribution and production to TV production and post-production to VO and THEN to radio (and now full circle again to my film roots - bizarre) I kept building the VO side by side with the radio - which I think kept me from the really bad radio habits but I have to say, since I went full-time VO 'bout 4 years ago losing the daily radio has upped my VO game considerably. Now when I do occasionally fill-in on-air anchoring business reports or doing a news interview show I often co-host, I don't sound like radio. I just sound like me.

One advantage to radio is you learn to enunciate well, so if you then stop ENUNCIATING you'll actually speak clearly without sounding as though you're trying to do so. One of those things you kind of have to learn to do so you can unlearn it and have just the important hint of it remain. Or read with a cork in your mouth. And cold reads become second nature. You get used to having copy put into your hands 3 seconds before you have to go on-air with it.