VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

johnnyheller · Joined: 20 Jun 2013 Posts: 18 Location: New York City

I'm curious to see if this happens to everyone. My friends call it the "johnny heller treatment"

You go to a VO audition and you absolutely nail it. I mean, you just know you gave your best and your best was really really good. And you feel great and the casting agent feels great and then he or she says: "that was exactly what we wanted. Just perfect."

And you know that you will never get the gig. Someone else will get it....someone who can't be perfect because you were.

Happens a lot (altho not on the 3 auditions I've garnered so far with my new agent). I'm hoping that I can just hover at "that was ok," so I can actually book a spot!

does this happen to you?

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:27 am Post subject:

All the time. This is why we coin the term "send it and forget it." They can talk you blue in the face about how awesome you are. But until you book the gig, it's meaningless.
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johnnyheller · Joined: 20 Jun 2013 Posts: 18 Location: New York City

Kafer! that answer was just perfect!

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 979

The casting director rarely, if ever, has the final say. They pass the reads on to the buyer. As far as the casting director is concerned, you did nail it. Don't own that!!!!! The buyer might prefer someone older, younger, a celebrity, their son in law, etc. This is not a reflection of you.

The only thing you need to get out of the audition is the pure joy of being in front of the mic. If you book it, you should be so emotionally removed from the original audition you need to look up the specs just to remind you what you did. Don't listen to em when they say they love you, and don't listen to them when they hate you. The only person you need to please at the audition is you.

melissa eX · Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 7:29 pm Post subject:

What Bob said.

heyguido · Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:10 pm Post subject:

Bob is on the money. Nobody can validate your performance but you.

I feel it sells... Great. If it doesn't, move on.

If you allow others to question your talent, you'll never develop the confidence to find your own voice.

If you continue to beat your head against the same wall, then you should perhaps begin to question your perspective.

Till then, work until you're happy with your performance. Then do it again.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:54 pm Post subject:

You can control how well you do an audition but you can't control how well anybody else does. And once you've done it, it's out of your hands.

Any time I don't get a job I've auditioned for, especially one for which I have received positive or even glowing feedback, I just rhetorically ask myself, "What the hell do they know?"

If I do get the gig, I tell myself, "These people are freakin' geniuses. The world needs more of them." cool

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Ed Fisher · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:01 am Post subject:

I recently got several "you're the best"...."number one"...."four stars"....and then....NOTHING.

I mean....WTF?

It's not over until...the Fat Lady sends you a check. Laugh

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Yonie · CM Joined: 31 Aug 2011 Posts: 906

Don't like those things. Those words forming "You're perfect." One day, I might start believing it, which is deadly.

Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

yeah anytime I've gone to an audition and they were glowing in their praise it usually ended up being the kiss of death. Especially if their praise is a bit over the top.

Bruce · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:23 am Post subject:

Back in my on-camera days I had plenty of auditions I knew I had nailed and never got.

I also had a couple where I was sure I had blown it and ended up with the gig. In one of those the director himself was running the audition and we ended up arguing over how the character would handle the scene. I left feeling terrible. The next day I'm shooting a national spot with the guy.

A bit further OT: I think I increased my odds for on-camera work by dressing a bit like (or a lot like) the character... certainly never against type. One time they were searching for an actor to play a missing local bad guy for an Unsolved Mysteries episode. This was before the Internet so I went to the library's newspaper section and looked up a story with a picture of the guy. I put on a mustache and glasses that looked just like the suspect's and I darkened and slicked my hair over just like his. I walked into the audition and watched several jaws drop. I basically booked the gig at the end of the audition.

Be prepared, that's the Boy Scout's marching song....

B
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todd ellis · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:28 am Post subject:

i auditioned for a job thursday - i told myself i SHOULDN'T audition because i was in a poor mood, tired and generally pissed off. but they needed the audition "now" - so i did it anyway.* apparently without asking for it - they were looking for "bored & slightly miffed". job booked this morning.

whodathunkit.

*i do not recommend this as a standard auditioning practice.
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Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

ccpetersen · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:10 am Post subject:

I just got a nice email from an ACX audition saying, essentially, "we didn't book you for this one, but we liked the sound of your voice."

That was nice of them and I appreciated the feedback but didn't expect it.

Now on to the next audition.
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 2:45 pm Post subject:

The last on-camera audition I got was one that I KNEW I nailed. The irony of this is that it wasn't billed as an on-camera audition - "it is mostly of the computer screen, your face will be in shadow" - so my voiceover brain took over and I didn't think about the on-camera part of it which is probably why I was relaxed enough to book it.

Then when we shot the spot and there was a LOT of on-camera stuff, mostly during those parts of the spot where we couldn't show the competition, but I had to show in my face how I felt about the competition. People ALWAYS look better when they are smiling, so most of my on-camera time was scowling.
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