Talent agent – NY Voiceover Artist

Nice Feedback and New Agents

So my current Agent who I was freelancing with is not sending me out on auditions anymore. I’m at a point where I’m getting 1-2 jobs/week on my own. So I haven’t been hounding him to send me out OR to sign me.

I went to lunch with an old improv friend today and he mentioned how much he loves his agent. He then offered to connect me if I was interested. I of course agreed.

I left lunch and headed to an audition I was called in for…through Voices123 (weird it was in a production house right!?) and by the time I read the part of “Woman” I had this email forward from my friend’s agent waiting for me:

As they say, you know within the first minute and I do.
Please have her get in touch…she’s got a great sound.

It’s always so nice to get nice feedback.

To hear my reel go to: www.emilylepore.com

(Constructive criticism welcome, constructive compliments too!)

April 25, 2013 by Emily Lepore Categories: UncategorizedTags: Talent agent, voiceover audition, voiceover industry Leave a comment

SAG or not to SAG?

Is union talent actually more talented than those who have not been invited to join?
The truth is not always.
It’s a catch-22 for voice-actors to get into the union. The general rule is the artist has to get a union job before he can join yet he needs to be union before he can audition. Now of course there are loop holes in joining the union or there would never be any new talent for us to hire. But finding those loopholes is not as easy to do without an agent or the right networking circle.

If you have the time for paperwork and the budget it’s great to use union talent. The actor has already been screened and hired by someone else and deemed as a talented professional suitable for use in a union production. But what is talent? What makes an actor great? Are you willing to let someone else decide such subjective questions for you? It really comes down to who’s perfect for the exact role you’re casting. This person may not have ever had the opportunity to join SAG-AFTRA or rejected Screen Actors Guild jobs to keep her non-union clientele.
With the industry today it’s hard to say if union is better. Hundreds of jobs are posted daily on voices123.com, voices.com and many other pay-to-play websites. Using these sites for auditions can be a little bit of extra effort up front while sifting through the non-union for a reason talent. But will save upfront costs, residual money and union paperwork in the end.

I’d bet if we held an audition open to only union VO talent and then another with the same copy for non-union talent we’d find very usable talent in both groups. On average I’d imagine Union would have a more steady flow of hire-able talent and non-union would have some rough patches. But you only need one diamond in the rough…so it could be worth your time to sift through the hidden gems.

August 25, 2012October 19, 2012 by Emily Lepore Categories: UncategorizedTags: American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Arts, auditions, casting director, hiring agents, Los Angeles, new york, Nonunion, sag-aftra, Screen Actors Guild, Talent agent, talent agents, Union, VO, Voice acting, Voice Over, voice talent, Voiceover Leave a comment

Voiceover Voice-over or Voice Over?

OK, so we’re the people reading the copy not the people writing it. But isn’t there a way we can unite on how to spell what it is we do!? I know we use the spelling “Voice-Over”, “Voice Over” and “Voiceover” interchangeably. We understand the idea behind the spelling, which is what really matters, and you never hear, “it’s not what you say it’s how you spell it”. But I find it interesting how interchangeably people are using these spellings, even within one document!

I’m certainly no English major or accomplished playwright but I’d like to know when I’m not using proper grammar and spelling (common mistakes I make-which is why I’ll continue to READ and not WRITE for mass publications) but really now…what’s the proper spelling for “VO” work?

My agent’s website refers to it as Voiceover.

CESD one of the biggest talent agencies here in NY lists the tab on its website: “Commercial Voice-Over”. The header of that page says: “Commercial Voice Over” with a visual design in the background displaying “Voice-over”.

SAG-AFTRA refers to us a Voice Over Performers.

In a link on the SAG-AFTRA website there was a workshop announcement with “Voiceover” in the title, stating this was a class for ‘Voice-over talent” taught by a “Voice actor“.

The Mirriam-Webster online Dictionary made me laugh. When I looked up “Voiceover.” I was directed to the word “Voice-over” with a hyphen. Then a Google generated ad for “Voice Overs” popped up between the Word and its definition. Aahh!

I suppose I’ll never know the answer to this age old debate – are we Voiceover Talents? Voice-over Performers? Voice Over Actors? Or maybe just VO Worker Bees?

In the end it really is not what you say it’s how you say it. I guess that’s why we’re the ones saying it and not determining the standard English-American way of spelling it! Good thing we are because if were weren’t good at our craft we might have been dubbed as Voice-Unders.

August 22, 2012 by Emily Lepore Categories: UncategorizedTags: Animation, Arts, Dictionary, Google, sag, sag-aftra, Talent agent, Voice acting, Voice Over, voice talent, Voiceover 5 Comments