 And once again, it is Monday or whatever time you're watching this and time for voiceover body shop or VO Wow, whoa, I get a little claustrophobic in places like this. Hey tonight our guest is the one and only Eric Shepard. There is right down there. Yeah. There he is. Hey, Eric. Good to see you, man All right, we're gonna talk with him. He is an agent and we're gonna talk about the intense weird state of our business Intensely weird. Yes, and Eric of course will help us. And we could be a better guest. That is perfectly natural to have him on tonight And so and if you've got a question for him, throw it in our chat room Whether it's in Facebook or on our website and good opportunity if you want to ask an agent a question And don't ask him. Where do I send my demo? That was it will be that would be an unacceptable question for tonight. So stay tuned Eric Shepard's our guest will be right here right now two men Twin sons from different mothers with a passion for voiceover recording technology and the desire to make recording easy for voice actors everywhere together in one place George Wittem the home studio engineer to the stars a Virginia tech grad with an unmatched knowledge of all the latest gear and technology and voiceover today Dan Leonard the home studio master a voice actor with over 30 years experience in broadcasting and recording And a no holds barred myth-busting attitude for teaching you how easy it is together To bring you all the latest technology today's voiceover superstars And leading the discussion on how to make the most of your voiceover business This is voiceover body shop Voiceover body shop is brought to you by voiceover essentials dot com home of harlan hogan signature products Source elements remote connections made even easier Vio to go go dot com Everything you need to be a successful voiceover artist j michael collins demos award-winning demo production Voice actor websites dot com where your voice over website won't be a pain in the butt And voice over extra your daily resource for vio success And now live from their super secret multimedia studio in Sherman Oaks, california Here are george widdum and dan lennard Hey there, i'm dan lennard and i'm george widdum and this is voiceover body shop or vio b s Good to see you you too, man. We get to see each other like twice a month now Yep, half as much but twice the quality. That's right. We putting far more into it and uh, we've got a great guest tonight Eric shepherd will be joining us in just a second and uh Again, if you've got a question for anybody george me Eric especially especially eric throw it in the chat room whether you're in facebook or you are on our website Or wherever you're watching this we want to we want to broadcast everywhere Yeah, mike's mike's watching both chat rooms tonight. So wherever you're watching it. We'll get your questions That's right. So why don't we bring in our guests since he's the most important one here tonight? Uh with over 25 years of industry experience internationally recognized voiceover expert Eric shepherd is the owner and head agent of the shepherd agency formerly known as voice talent productions A premier talent agency representing an elite roster of union and non-union voice talent like me from around the globe Starting with this first voiceover gig at the age of 17 He's worked in the industry as a talent and coach and now oversees an agency booking thousands of high-profile projects per year He's also a founding member and president of the voiceover agent alliance An organization fighting for the fairness and ethics in the voiceover industry His career classes appearances and related projects have been profiled on the learning channel and countless industry blogs podcast publications and social media outlets And his youtube channel the outspoken Uh, so uh, if it's happening in the world of voiceover chances are Eric is involved. Let's welcome to voiceover body shop Eric shepherd more than muted applause Good to have you on the show. Thanks for joining us tonight. Turn on this mike then we can even hear it to be here looming behind you That's what's going on. Well, it's great to see you. I mean you creep me right out God All the things you don't want to see when you turn around That's not that bad. I've I've seen worse Aging agent Yeah, but it's been fun watching your pictures You know as your career is developed, you know as your hair gets grayer and your beard gets grayer and stuff like that I have a uh, I had a teenager and a toddler. So as this is this is the end result What happens and they are great markers of time as well So you you've been in the voiceover business as we were saying for over 25 years. Yeah forever, man Uh, that's not quite forever. Give it a few years. Right. Yeah, but but you've been doing all sorts of voiceover work And you've probably covered all sorts of genres Uh, how did you become an agent? Uh, I honestly I really I kind of fell ass backwards into that one. Um I've told this story before but basically I was a talent And then I knew a bunch of other talent because I was you know talking and hanging out with talent Because nobody else can handle us. Uh, you know wants to hang out with us and um So I'd have clients that were saying, you know, hey, we love you and whatever Uh, but we're looking for something different or do you know a female or uh, you know We want Spanish for this next thing. Can you hook us up or is it? Yeah, you know, of course You know, I know this talent and that talent and then more clients were asking me and then I'd get a contact and hey You know, you hooked up these guys and then we spoke with them and they said you're the one to talk to and Um, and then finally a buddy of mine was just like dude You're an agent like this is like you have to that's your thing man Like, you know, the universe is just kind of handing this to you. Um, so it was really just a matter of You know kind of out of nowhere. Uh, I had the clients and I had the talent and Uh, it was just a matter of putting, you know, one and one together and um, the rest is history Yeah, now you've you've got a large roster of clients. I think everybody I know is on your roster including me So it's kind of well, you know, it's there's no shortage of people looking for representation We only have a few hundred. I could have 5 000 tomorrow. Um, you know, our inbox is just blowing up constantly with people that are looking Uh for an agent But you know, I want to know the folks so, you know, and I want it to be small enough that I kind of have an idea what they can do and what they can't do and um You know, keep it somewhat, uh manageable. So, um, you know, there are agents out there and they do really well And they have like 25 folks. So that's not the way we do it. Um, but you know, there's agents out there that have thousands And I don't know how they handle it. That's you know, that's not for me I'm you know, again, I want to kind of know everybody and be able to say hi and that kind of thing So, um, we I think we found a kind of a happy medium. Plus. I just hate taking on new talent It's like a pain in the butt man. Yeah, I'm sure like, well, yeah, you know, you got to Like know them and make sure they're not crazy and um, you know, it's a project. So, um, yeah We're in the middle, I guess Yeah So how is your business model as an agency different from say some of the other agencies? I mean, you've you've got a lot of clients. You've got, uh, You know, clearly you have, you know, contacts in the business, you know, producers and people that you work with specifically But you're you're not like a big Hollywood agency that is like working. You're trying to get that kind of work too But as an independent agent, you're you do things just a little bit differently, right? Uh, yeah, probably, you know, we were, uh, we were in new york for quite a while. That's where we originated. So We were playing kind of with the big boys But we've never really been kind of tied to where we are, you know, now we're down in austin, texas. Um We just i've never really kind of Focused on the local stuff, uh that much so there is stuff, of course It is always new york only and there's stuff that you got to be in la So we make sure that we have our, you know, our rosters there, uh and our our clients there as well Um, you know on the coast, but otherwise it's you know, as far as where we're located is not really a concern for us We're not concerned with um, you know keeping talent Exclusive with us or any of that kind of stuff. Um, but hopefully what sets us apart From some agents now is that we do turn down a lot of stuff, uh, which is tough to do but, um You know, sadly, there's some agents that are kind of defining themselves as saying, you know, it won't take anything Um, and we don't you know, we'd like to uh Of course you have to make the client happy Um, but I I firmly believe that an agent's duty is also to protect their talent You know, they're they're trusting you to speak for them. Um So you got to say the right thing for them for crisis. So, uh, we do turn stuff down unfortunately and um You know, sometimes we have to do it, uh more than we'd like to But you know, hopefully the projects that do come through are quality projects For talent and for the clients Places falling apart. Jesus christ. Yeah, somebody just dropped their water bottle. We won't say who the audio guy. Yeah So I mean so when You're talking to potential clients. They contact you But you're also trying to seek work for you. You know, you're uh, you're talent as well How do you how does that process work for you? Well, yeah, you know, you can't just kind of hang around Um Yeah, the complacency is dangerous and that's happened before, you know, you get to a point. You go, I'm rich So screw it. Like, you know, everything's good Uh, but things change so quickly in this business, you know, and that's a really a great Uh lesson for talent as well because I know a lot of talent that have been that way It's everything's great. And uh, are my favorite, you know, a couple years ago I only work a couple hours a day and then I'm done and you don't bother me after noon because I go and I You know, I I party and whatever, you know, the bottom fell out and they're like, oh man, I wish I had You know more eggs more baskets. Um, so you can't be complacent, you know Of course do everything that you can to make the clients that you have now happy But don't I don't expect them to always be there, you know I could be a day where you're sick and you don't get back to them and that's it man You know, they call somebody else because they need something done that day and now they love that other talent So they you know, they work with them all the time Um So yeah, you know, we're always actively seeking and we're talking to uh other producers and other Ed agencies because you know, we have to um But being an agent in that respect is not really that different from being a talent You know, you're dealing with clients clients that you have uh trying to get other clients You're setting up projects. You're delivering audio You're doing auditions all day and sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't and if you don't get them You don't get paid so um, you know in a lot of ways it's very similar So it wasn't too strange Uh of a transition for you know for me to go from one to the other Relating to what you're saying about, you know folks that put all their eggs in one basket How many eggs and how many baskets so like let's say You know, should you if you have one client that provides more than 40 percent of your income Does that mean you need to start diversifying? Do you ever think of it any numbers like that like a numbers game like that or To me, it's always been uh, you know, I had I never really quantified it Um, but I've never been asked such a question before who do's um I've always kind of seen it as If you're you know, kind of looking at the books or whatever and you go, oh man if I lost those guys I'd be you know, I screwed. Yeah Yeah, well now you're in trouble, you know, we all have kind of big fish. Um But yeah, if you've got one or two or three, you know, you got to reach out man You need more because chances are they are going to disappear. You know, that's what the campaign ends You know people leave especially producers and uh, and folks they're jumping all over all the time You know, so you have this one and they love you and whatever But now they go somewhere else and somewhere else only uses this other agency because they have for Five years and now they're not, you know, they're not going to book you. Um, so yeah You know, you've got that one thing especially, I mean if it's not a person or a company, but it's it's a campaign You know, I've been voicing for so-and-so for 20 years. Well, dude, they it's amazing They didn't get rid of 10 years ago, you know, so um be prepared all the time not to Uh, you know be like the sky's falling, but yeah, there's there's no room for complacency Especially now because the newer clients that are coming in, you know, they don't want to pay. Um, quite often So it's difficult. You know, you're doing the same work. Maybe you were doing 10 years ago, but uh You have to do twice as much of it just to you know to to be where you were So you got to be vigilant all the time, right now as an agent as you were just saying that, you know, they don't want to pay Uh, you know rates have been declining and you've been coming commenting on this a lot on your on your uh, Your your own youtube channel and various other places. Um Why do you think that is and how are you as an agent trying to combat that aside from saying my guy's worth a lot more than that? Uh, you know as far as how it happened when it happened, there's a lot of factors. Um To to kind of encapsulated the major problem is there's just too many damn talent, you know There's too many folks, you know a million years ago. Uh, you know, when you told somebody you were in voiceover They were amazed. They were shocked that that was even a thing, you know And now it's everybody and their brother is uh, you know, somehow involved in voiceover. They tried it or It seems like the new hotness now is uh, uh, what are they? Realty, you know selling houses and stuff and it's like, hi everybody. Oh, I do it and I do it and that one doesn't And whatever. Um, so you had a lot of failed talent and then they all became coaches And then they sold the dream to everybody else And you can make a million dollars and look I have done it. Why are you coaching? Never mind Uh, you know, I make a million dollars every day and I'm gonna teach you how to do it too And everybody said, oh, I've got a nice voice, etc Uh, or they said well, your voice doesn't matter even better because my voice is terrible Um, but anyway, you know, it's just too many people doing it And then they were kind of fighting for each other and then you had to pay the plays which rewarded Uh, whoever was going to give the lowest bid And it just kind of, you know, there was no there's no barrier to entry and then you got a lot of folks that are just, um You know, they're hobbyist man, so they don't care if it pays 50 bucks. It's beer money You know, it's this is not going to make or break them that they're not paying their mortgage You're feeding their kids with this money So, uh, you know, things went down and once they start going down and it was like Christmas, man, you know for the buyers Is that are you kidding me? Like just two years ago. I was paying 10 grand and now I could do it for you know Get this for 500 bucks. Yeah. All right, great. Um People just started accepting it and then they were some folks were accepting it more at it They're like kind of panicked and said, well, I guess this is the new rate All of a sudden so I better take as many of these jobs that are, you know, paying terribly as I can and there was no pushback and You had some folks like me you scream and you know, the sky's falling and um You know, sadly, uh, not too many people or not enough people fought back and here we are Yeah, who's coming in next voice actor that markets themselves as My voice is awful, but I've got a great read. I'm working. I'm working on I sound like I just coughed up a hairball while I was drinking all night. Yeah It's it's definitely an interesting business and if you're if you're joining us live right now and you're wondering Who are we talking to? It's my agent and a lot of people's agent, but a great guy, Eric Shepard Uh, who is uh talking to us about my nose. What's that? You guys are picking my nose back then. It's one of our favorite things to do here when we do this So I'm at the ig screen direct screen grabs If you actually find something in there we really got a problem Uh, but anyway, uh, if you got a question for Eric about agents and what they do or about the state of the industry that we're Not covering we're gonna try Throw it in the chat room right now and uh mike is in the chat room tonight And he will relay those question to us in the next segment. So make sure Here's your chance. How often do we get an agent on now's a good chance to ask, but again, don't ask Where do I send my demo? Um, I mean unless you want them to No, oh god. No Good to know Yeah, uh, now you are one of the founders of the the voiceover agents association Is that what we call it the vo a alliance alliance alliance voiceover agent alliance tell us what brought that about and What it took to bring about and what it's about Uh, well, you know, I was just kind of a loud mouth about some of this stuff Yeah, we know that you saw what was you know, well it comes with the territory, you know Went to went to a voice actor. You just talked too much. Um, but I found some kindred spirits Uh, you know some other agents that felt the same way and you know, they saw the writing on the wall and said Uh, we got problems here, man. You know, we got to talk about this and we should Kind of you know band together here, which was really unheard of Uh agents notoriously play their cards real close Uh to their chests, you know, they don't really for the most part, you know Kind of work with other agents or hang out with other agents or uh, you know Share stories or secrets or that kind of thing. Um, so it was fairly unprecedented at least for me Uh, it was and you know, everybody else involved, uh, you know, kind of felt the same way so we got together and Uh, you know really just try to hone the message Because there's not a lot of other Uh Guard dogs on duty. Sadly, you know, there's nobody that's really looking out for the industry that's looking out for the talent That's looking out even for the other agents, you know, so Um, we are, you know, we're trying to be vocal and say, you know, listen, we're the ones that know what's going on We're the ones that see what's happening. We're in the trenches every day Um, and this is what needs to be done to combat the problems that we're faced with so that's um You know, that's that's why we're here. Yeah, how are you? What exactly are you doing? Uh as as an alliance, I mean like you're saying you sort of hold your cards close to the vest How is it that you're working together to to improve the situation out there? Uh, You know, it starts a lot of time. You have to pick your battles, you know Um, so it's really kind of making policy that we feel is the only sane policy Uh, and then sharing that we share that with other members. We uh, all members are are held to a kind of a higher standard Uh, then folks who are non-members, uh, and then there's a lot of outreach We're always trying to reach out to talent. We've been pretty successful that way On social media and then reaching out to other agents and saying, you know, hey, listen We spent a lot of time talking about this stuff and uh, we kind of know what the deal is and this is what's happening And this is the the type of cooperation we're looking for um You know to help us Make some change here before we're all out of our phony baloney jobs Uh, and then reaching the clients as well. Uh, you know, it's kind of a three prong approach and you know educating them and You know really, you know, sometimes laying down the law or explaining things to them and saying, uh, you know, these are uh This is the way things are going, you know, these are the issues that we're faced with Uh and trying to work with them so that everybody's happy, you know So that the clients the talent are working the clients are finding them the uh, the agents are able to do their thing um Just recently they're saying you got to kind of pick your battles Um The latest battle we just put out a a press release on friday It's probably not the right time to do it But folks were in atlanta and stuff. We said, uh, maybe everybody else start Sorry, I'm like, I got an itch. Uh, maybe people, you know, start chatting about it there if we uh, if we put it out We noticed uh, and it's been going on for a while now, but finally it's we just had enough Uh, there's clients that are putting in we were talking about this a little bit before This real innocuous ask, um Where they'll have you kind of traditional terms for the project that you're used to and then they'll say, uh includes edits Or unlimited lifts or all edits lifts and versions And this verbiage is that exact verbiage all lifts edits and versions or cuts and versions We're seeing more and more you're seeing it pop up on auditions Um, and I think now they're going to start pulling that from the audition But it's going to wind up that verbiage is going to wind up in the contract And for a lot of folks, they don't know what that means. Um, again, we're agents. We read contracts all day. Um So when you look at it, you say, wait a minute What exactly does this mean what it means is they want to take the audio From the session that you do and then they're able to make as many as many versions as they want out of that Or lifts uh or cuts, you know, again, it's all really kind of semantics, but it means the same thing That the audio they pay you, uh In the commercial world anyway, they they would pay you for a spot And then they could take the audio from that session and make as many spots as they wish So traditionally and for you know, since the microphone, uh talent are paid per spot. That's how it works That's how it works in the union world and that's how it's worked in the non-union world Um, but the rates have been lower and so they've been enjoying that And this all cuts versions thing Is too far. It's going too far. There's only one Real reason why they would ask for that and that is to again create multiple spots out of the audio from one spot So sometimes maybe they'll ask for an alt Or they'll say, oh, can we try it this way as well? Um, but again the end result is the same if that verbiage is in there and you could fight back and say, you know, I I don't agree to this clause and say, well, we're not going to use it Well, then take it out of the contract. Take it out of the contract. Yeah, you can't sign that contract talent will sign stuff Which is why we don't let our talent sign contracts You know that if a contract comes along and we've ever sent you in studio We always say don't sign a damn thing. You haven't you know, send it here because again, we read these things all day talent are um Nice, you know, they don't want to piss anybody. They don't want to say, well, I don't like this and I don't like that Lean on us, man. We'll be the heavy. That's our job. You know, and I'll say, well, I don't know about this It's boilerplate. Don't worry about it. Okay And you sign um So, you know, I've seen everything and any agent and most talent have seen some wacky things on contracts But this this all lifts cons versions thing Keep an eye out for it because if you see it it's trouble is again, there's really only one reason for it They want to pay you especially if it's a commercial They want to pay you for one and they want to make as many as they want out of that one So if we're experiencing uh lower rates as it is and now they're trying to make it a norm where We're not even paid per spot That's going to be too much for a lot of folks. Uh, there's talent that are already going out of business You know, there's talent that have been doing this for 30 years They weathered like the last huge thing when everything went conversational and that knocked out a whole hell of a lot of guys Uh, you know, it couldn't make the transition. That was a big tough one. Uh, and this is a whole lot more dangerous Um, again, you know, there's agencies that are going out of business. There's tons of talent that are going out of business besides the incredible amount of talent who are losing their, um Medical insurance, you know, they can't make their minimums for the union anymore And that's happening to a lot a lot of folks and this, um Just seeing this this ask spread Uh and seeing some other for we know kind of where it came from And then you would see other folks start aping that and mimicking that and using that verbiage It's too much. Um, you know talent are not going to be able to survive if that's the if that's the norm that we're going to cut the rate And pay you a tenth of what we used to and now also we can use the audio in as many spots as we want It's going to be more people. I mean just out of business. It's it's it's too much. Yeah, it's too much I mean there's gotta be I mean these producers are are they thinking that you know These people have to make a living or is it just simply bottom line and are they being deceptive in doing that? I think that ask specifically is deceptive Because again, there's really no other reason to ask for that Uh, but you know things are tough all over. It's it's tough in the uh, the producers and the ad agencies They're having some of the same problems that we are. Uh, you know, there's too many folks out there There's you know, some of these kitchen table Agencies are doing really well and they're not enjoying Uh You know kind of back in the day if you did a campaign and you did a good job Uh, there was some loyalty there and the folks would stick with you And now it's that's not happening as much the employees are jumping around a lot Uh, the creatives are jumping around a lot or the creators are working for a couple different folks Are they're outsourcing or they're doing the opposite and they're bringing everything in um But the end result is they're all kind of battling to see who can I mean, obviously, you know show the best creative, but the lowest numbers and Voice over talent have paid the price for that because they realize, you know Listen, we could bring this rate down and down and down and down Uh, and then, you know, we'll get the job. So it's you know as a vendor Um our rate has gone down and it's gone down to the point that we would accept it You know, obviously if they said, you know, well, we're going to go to to This magic number and then everybody said nope, uh, they would stop but sadly, uh talent even of you know of a high caliber and and Horrifyingly Uh agents themselves, you know, we just accept this and they would accept lower and they would accept lower and Um, you know myself and other alliance agents said hey guys, you have to stop at some point because the only You know, we're going to wind up at the basement or you do it for free. Um And then I've been on youtube before saying, you know, this is uh crazy and you get guys commenting I do it for free. No crap, man. That's what we were saying, you know Um, absolutely. Yeah, you know, it's a problem. It is Well, it's not a problem. I want to say, you know, all the producers are bad and the ad agencies are bad I mean, these are my clients. I love these guys Um, but you know, you just you got to be careful, man, because it's you know, everybody's you got to eat too You know, absolutely Well, if you're wondering we're talking with eric shepard here on voice over body shop Again, if you've got a question form Throw it in the chat room right now. Uh, we've got a few questions for him coming up in the next segment You're doing okay so far Yeah, no, I'm good. Okay. Good. Do we get you anything you need a drink some coffee? Yeah, yeah, okay facts are right over. That's right. All right. We're gonna take a little break. We'll be right back with eric shepard Right after these messages Yep, this is v obs proven anybody can have a show these days Well, hello there I bet you weren't expecting to hear some big voiced announcer guy on your new orientation training for snapchat This is virgin radio. Well, okay. We're not that innocent. There's genes for wearing and there's genes for working Dickies because I ain't here to look pretty. She's a champion of progressive values A leader for california and a voice for america. It's smart. It's a phone. It's a smart phone But it's so much more. It's a the files are ready. Don't forget to pick up the eggs What time is hockey practice? Check out this song. It's the end of the road for red Just you and me red when hope is lost the i8 from bmw Who said saving the planet couldn't be stylish? Hey, it's j michael collins. I bet you think i'm gonna try and sell you a demo now, huh? I think they speak for themselves, but I will give you my email. It's j michael at jmc voiceover dot com Now if dan will stop waxing this mustache for a minute. We'll get back to the show Hey, if the words accent and dialect make you nervous or not even want to audition for a job Listen to what david h. Lawrence has to say Right, so I've taught thousands of people how to be successful at voiceover And before I start teaching them, I always ask them. What is it about voiceover that makes you frightened or keeps you up at night Or stops you from doing it. What are your concerns about voiceover and more often than not what I hear is accents and dialects I'm not good at them. I don't know how to do them. I don't know how to build one from scratch I don't know whether what i'm doing is good enough for professional vo work. I get it. I absolutely get it And I don't teach accents and dialects Um, and I've never found a class that I could recommend to people that was really fantastic Until now when I saw jim johnson Teach a sample lesson from the accents class, which he and dano day have put together I was just blown away Amazing it's a it's creating a toolkit that lets you build any accent you want from scratch And they're great like I do pretty well with accents and dialects I'm gonna take this class. I'm not just gonna recommend it I'm gonna be in the class as a student right and I'm not getting it for free I got a pony up just like everybody else. You want to take the class with me I'd love to have you and I've arranged for a discount if you act fast So go to the url you see on the screen vo to go go dot com slash accents And register for the class do so before tuesday night You'll get the 300 discount if you mention my name in the comments box On step three. So when you get to step three, there's a comments box. Just say hey, I love david I want to take the class with david I want to sit next to david in the class whatever mentioned my name You get a 300 discount if you act before tuesday night And I'll be right there in the class with you. I can't wait to see you succeed At accents and dialects vo to go go dot com slash accents and I'll see you in class Once again, you can take the class with david for $300 off Go to vo to go go dot com forward slash accents and drop his name in the comments Are you a voice actor? Well, you should probably check out this tool from source elements called source connect That's right. If you don't have it yet You ought to go get it and you don't have to buy it right away You can just go get a demo you can go over to source dash elements dot com Get a 15 day free trial of this software and get familiar with what this thing does. What does it do? Connects your studio to other studios around the world for live direction live recording And this is the way a lot of the top tier Work in the voiceover business is being recorded. So one way you can show that you're a pro voice actor Whether you've got a couple years in 10 or more is to have source connect on your website Have working knowledge of how it works and better yet actually have it So you should definitely have it in in your toolbox You can go get that demo get it up and running. You don't have to have an iLok usb key Just have the account set up on iLok and get it rocking Go over to source dash elements dot com and sign up right now and tell them we save This is john bailey the epic voice and you're watching v obs dot tv Money nights at 6 p.m. Pacific 9 30 newfoundland. We're a complete package We try to make sure we try to make sure people are interested the entire show But having great guests like you helps a lot. We're with Eric shepherd from the shepherd agency. He is a voiceover agent and talent Do you do much work still or are you just really concentrating on being an agent? Nah, you know what it was man That the freaking agent thing was like that was that's what killed me Is it like we amazing like right in the beginning it's just like exploded We started doing great because I knew all these great talent, you know So and then it was like I didn't audition for that thing But in the back of my head, I was thinking oh, well, you know now There's like a real agency that'd be more auditions or I'll audition more and whatever But then like you like my guys are better than me So that I'd hear their stuff come in and I was like, I'll forget it like I'm not gonna do it now And then you just don't have time, you know I mean, I work like no joke man. I'll start 6 a.m. Usually And I mean I turn off the laptop when I go to bed, which is like sadly freaking really early, but I remember the kids I told you about And they knock you right out But yeah, you know, I'm pretty much all day and a little bit of Saturdays, you know all night Working so if it's like oh, can you hop in the booth? No, so I have some legacy clients um A lot of telephony stuff that I've been doing for whatever and they just freaking throw money at you when you've been doing it for like 20 years Because if they replace you like they you know, they're still using Stuff that they recorded, you know, like forget it, you know, like back in freaking Clinton administration or whatever Right. Um, so it's like, you know, they don't want to start from scratch. So they keep you around so Uh, you know, I go into the booth. Maybe, uh, you know twice a week or so, but otherwise it's Yeah, I got a company to run so yeah But you you do do you you at least are still on screen now You've got your your youtube series the outspoken and you got a new season to that coming up And what do you cover in that aside from just whatever is in your mind? Well, I stopped, you know, because I was doing it and like we were talking about like it sucked, man You'd have to you know, you make these videos. Like I said, I'll answer your questions for free I was trying to do like a good deed, you know for the uh community That was really the whole thing, you know, I said, I want to help people out And they don't have to pay like some coach a million bucks for them to tell them about Whatever like whatever's on their mind, you know, just ask me kind of like how you guys are doing, you know People have questions and you answer them. So, uh, I said, you know, this would be a thing But then you got to, you know, you record the video and you had edit and again, like I'm running a business You know, it's freaking it's crazy. You know, it takes a lot of time to put a lot of stuff together And then you put it out there and you just get like five jerks off coming back like huge suck, man Or whatever you're like really sounds like youtube Yeah, yeah, you know, it's like never read the comments, you know, they're like you say oh, I'm too much I'm like, oh, I'm up yours, man No, it's like, you know, like whatever So I was like, forget it. Like I'm taking a break for a while, you know, and uh, no This is like what other people are like, do you like lazy? Like, what do you want to refund? Get out of here, man Well, you know, they added this love button There's like a like thing where you as the producer of the youtube video can like Or love You know heart someone's comment. Yeah, when are they gonna put the next the other one next to it? That's like this. Yeah It's like you can't imagine man We are like not a ton of people would comment But every once in a while people would come in and just I mean viscerate me This is one guy was like you creepy old homo What that's the opener, man. Like and then just like this He got my attention with that. Yeah Yeah, he's like, well, I started voice over last year. You don't know what you're talking about But I like I've been doing this since you were in diapers, man. What? Yeah, I know it's like great So I was like screw you guys man. I'm not doing it anymore, you know And so I quit for a while But then I was like you like you guys are pretty you know, what's going on But you just do it live, you know So said that'll be fun and I'll just talk to like my friends, you know We'll just kind of chat Uh, like we're doing and blah blah blah And then like I don't have to do anything like I'm when I'm done I hit the button and like go eat, you know, like that's it. It's Miller time, you know So, uh, yeah, so that was a thing. So we just started. I just had I've only done one so far This like season two which is all nonsense But I was like I got to call it something because I was gone for like seven months like brooding and being like, I don't like you anymore Um, so we did I did a live thing with that dc. Douglas. He was my guinea pig Um, and I said, well, let's see if this goes well, and I'll do some more and it was good It was fun, man. You know, I like that we chatted for like an hour or so Um, so there's going to be a bunch more next is uh, Dave van oi I'll be up probably next week or something. You'll check it, but um Yeah, it's uh, you know Outspoken stuff, man. It's you know, no hold barred blah blah blah not unlike you could have us on Where I'm at? We got stuff to say. Yeah, we'd be happy to blab about yeah Yeah, this is your second at least the second time. I've done your thing So I got to return the third time Because if you guys have like an actual real show and then I'll return the favor and have you on like my podunk On sense. Yes, I don't even have a green screen, man. I can't put you in all kinds like cool We try George, I believe we have questions from our vast studio They're being racked up virtual studio. Yeah, we might have to do a lightning round to get through all these But let's see we'll start at the top tim kelly He's in the facebook chat and he's actually in double in ireland and he's a voice actor He's been in national radio and voiceover for 25 years and his question is because he's irish I don't get many paid to play gigs for uk scripts for obvious reasons wrong accent. I guess should I try us markets Or should I change my accent? Great show he says Man, no joke people have you know Um, we've got some folks that are you know Do american and people you know this actually happened was Not even two weeks ago. I wasn't sure if he meant change accents to get british bookings Or does he mean be an irish voice for the american market? Well, that's the thing that's i'm saying, you know, some folks will try to hide their accent But that's a lot of work, man. You know, very um and some people do it. It's amazing You know, they don't realize this guy is actually australian. I thought he was american. He sounds exactly, you know And then every american thinks they could do british 99 percent is awful like horrible. Yeah, like oh Dick fucking dick van dyke stuff Yeah, the worst Cockney accent of all time everybody thinks they could do southern too and then it just always comes out like hard like Whatever, uh, but that's work, man Americans are suckers for accents. I think um, oh, yeah, but it's got to be for the right project, you know um, I always tell the accented folks and they go well, they didn't ask specifically for, you know, british or whatever Uh, uh, you know, whatever it is that they try it man. They might like it, you know americans love british stuff and irish men. They love that, you know, they might hear a thing Hey, wait a second. I didn't think of it, but you know, this sounds great It's not like you're speaking another language. Right. Um, but it is going to be tougher, you know I mean a lot of times they want the guy next door and The guy next door isn't always from freaking doublin. So Uh, you know, you can't expect to be booking all the time The best thing I think you could do in the american market if you're a foreign Uh foreign accented talent, this would be freaking great, man, and you're the go-to, you know I mean like if you're looking for like a freaking dutch guy like where you're gonna go, you know Everyone's gonna go to freaking strict order because yeah, you had you had to say that. Yeah Well, because he's the man, you know, not that there's not other great ones, but you become like the go-to, you know He did his branding work. That's why he did Yeah, well, you know anybody's also great. So, I mean, yeah, of course everybody's got to be great But be you know, be that guy, you know, if you Be I am the Spanish female, you know and be the go-to Um is the best you could do absolutely question from raoul Well, this one's very vague and you don't need to spend a lot of time on this because we've got a lot more questions But he says I forgot about the lightning part. Can you talk about? Vo scams, please. So I I don't know what more specific than that. I don't know how to look out for them or How to not get scammed by a Predatory agent. I don't know what he's asking. Yeah. Well predatory agents are Probably gonna be tough. Uh, but you know, we have to vet clients all the time So, you know, even just a preliminary google search Is gonna help you, you know, don't just voice for people. I mean, they're not gonna pay you up front You know, if they're real sketchy or overseas overseas are kind of top too because if things go south, it's very difficult to To sue because you know, if they're in a freaking Mumbai or something But definitely check out the client, you know, um, if it seems, you know, this is kind of fishing I mean, you should check at every client anyway, but if something seems fishy Yeah, you know, don't do it or you know, ask for all the money up front if they run and Hey, it's better than getting scammed. You know, yeah, Steve Kingman. Uh, he has a question from kingmen Oh, Steve from kingman Maybe he used to be maybe his name should be king maybe maybe Steve phone kingman says In there give us a few tips as to warning signs or positive signs when contacting an agent or agency From a voice talent perspective to try and determine if you're dealing with a legit agent or agency I guess that dovetails off of what I just said But how do you find legit agents? I guess is what he's saying Uh, ask your friends. I don't know Yeah, you know, I mean, there's not like a million agencies out there So, you know, you do a little bit of research. Obviously if they're part of the alliance, they're gonna be Uh, you know, that's a good place to start, right? Yeah, you know, it used to be back in the day. We used to tell people go to Voice bank and if they were on voice bank, then, you know, you knew that they were the real deal Um, you know, I guess not the hub if they're listed there, they're gonna be You know, obviously a working agency um One maybe kind of red flag There are some smaller regional agencies Um that you could just by doing a little bit of research you could tell that 99 of what they do is like modeling And then they brought somebody on, you know, and oh, let's Try out this voiceover thing and they don't have somebody there full time or whatever Um, so that's definitely a red flag if they want all kinds of money up fries Oh, we're gonna put you on the website if it costs 300 bucks a year or whatever run um But otherwise, you know, just a little beep beep beep, you know googling you're gonna know if they're, you know The real deal or not Alrighty, I'm at home. Yeah, uh, lin has an interesting question. Uh How much of the jobs that you that you are working as an agent for are union versus non-union? Sadly man a lot less union than there used to be. Um You know, that's you know, another big part of the problem Uh, a lot of clients don't want to go union and then they started going non-union and some of the bigger projects started going non-union And then we saw this drop in rates and non-union and then that had more people You know is this kind of uh avalanche effect where you had folks saying well I don't know if we want to do this as a union project and that wait a sec We could be So we're telling what and they'll do it Um, and we know projects where the entire project would go non-union You know all the on-camera actors and everything just to take advantage of the bargain basement voiceover rates Um, so Sadly, it's a lot less union than it used to be. Yep, which is really a shame. Yeah Sonny james Now even though there are more people in this business What advice can you give to newbies who have received reputable training and are looking to be successful? Yeah, and I guess that that sort of dovetails to the question When do you try to find an agent and is that the way you find an agent? You know, it's like you start sending demos out or is it really more a matter of When you see somebody, you know is good. You're going to find them. I would imagine Uh, I've done that before Apparently, that's like not the way it's done because they were like, wait, what like what kind of brinky dick? Like he's just begging talent and I'd be like, no, I saw you last night on a show and I You sound a great man. We want to uh rep you. Um You know as far if the question is like when do you you know submit? Not when you're new. Um, you know, I'm never going to take anybody We haven't rep folks that are like have their own little stables of folks or their coaches or whatever and they always say Oh, you got to check out this guy and he's great and whatever and it's amazing. He's new like I'm not looking to stock the pond Excuse me. Bless you. It doesn't matter how great the talent is how great they sound if they're green I've got clients I've been working with for 20 years. I'm not going to send them somebody who doesn't know how to take direction Because they just got you. No, it's not necessarily their fault Um, but I I ain't got no time for that like I just I don't I don't have to you know I'm gonna send somebody in on a session. I don't have to worry that oh my god Are they gonna screw it up or they're gonna know what they're doing or they're gonna hear some term And they don't know what it is because they're green. Um So You know, I'm not taking on newbies. That's for sure some other agencies might again They might be stocking the pond sometimes you hear somebody and you go And they are freaking great and if I don't jump on them somebody else is gonna jump on them and get them but um You know, if you're just starting out now is not the time for an agent that's not going to help you It's you got to pound the pavement and get your own clients for a while and then once you start you have a great You say man, I've done abc through z then call me right and I'm making so much money Which is probably the most important part. You're you're not gonna want somebody You're not gonna make money with them. It sucks to bring somebody on. It's a lot of work You know, I got to make sure it's worth my while, you know, you got to make me a dime in this, you know um If you're not a proven earner then you know Why are we entering into a business relationship? True true JD K man of many children, uh He says after hearing Eric's opinions about the industry a lot of talent are going to be interested in having you represent them Great, uh, is there a possibility and he's very diplomatic here Uh, is there a possibility he'll be expanding his roster anytime soon? And how would he be preferred to be approached? From uh, no, uh Through not at all through Lindsay, uh, go if you go to a shepherd dot agency Her email address is there. I think it's just lindsa y at shepherd dot agency Uh and send her a link to your website Uh again, you know, we don't pick up all the time, but we're always listening Here's a little insider tip like agents are always listening and then when they go, we're not picking up now They probably aren't picking up maybe but then that also means like they're not picking you up Everyone's listening, but it you know, it depends on the time too. We did a big Geez go man. It's like coming up on a year now But fine, I was like we haven't picked up new people in a while He don't want to send, you know, kind of the same talent out forever So I say you're gonna pick up a bunch of folks. So I did we were Responding to emails that folks had sent us like three years previously Um, and we're like reply like are you still working? He's still alive. We might want to have a conversation So it takes a while, you know, don't expect like they're going to get back to you that Listen, if you submit to an agent and they get back to you like five minutes later, uh either You know, you're just amazing and they knew Of your work or like that's not An agency you want to be with because they're not busy, you know Um takes a while Kim Fuller Asks has there been any indication that the current trend for decreasing rates and unlimited lifts, etc in the commercial world Is being felt at all in the promo narration world Or to put it in a more succinct way. Is this affecting vio in all genres or mostly commercial? Uh commercial work has probably been hit hardest Um, but yeah, it's you know, it's pretty much across the board Uh real top to your promo stuff. I Is pretty much stuck Um, just because of the relationships that they've had, you know, there's not like there's a plethora of buyers that are buying that stuff Uh, there's also not a plethora of talent out there. You know, there's not like 400 million people that are all vying to do the next Hollywood trailer, you know, it's a smaller uh pool But you know, of course, it's you know, it's spreading It's spreading everywhere. So, um, you know once it's Once buyers get used to just paying nothing for talent It's a lot easier to go this way than it is to go back that way So even when you're trying to just say, you know We got to put on the brakes where we are Uh, that's very difficult. Yeah, because what you're asking people to do It doesn't seem difficult. It seems really easy and this is what the the alliance members were saying Even in the beginning was like, hey, man, this is crazy. We got to just Again put on the brakes for a second Um, because we got we got to stop this trend and you get almost vitriol back at agents and talent Like don't tell me to say no. No, don't tell me to turn down work. Um And so I've learned and you know from my standpoint, you're thinking like, well, you idiot There's not going to be any work left. You're not going to be able to make a living doing this Uh, if you continue to take this stuff but after doing, you know being This, uh, kind of capacity and you know trying to be a spokesperson as as one of the alliance members for so long We, you know, I think we all kind of learn, you know, it is tough There is going to be pushback because it is difficult to tell people to turn down work We're difficult even uh for folks to speak up a little bit and to say, you know, those I agree to this term but not to that term. It's very very difficult for some people to do Uh, which is, you know, they should rely on their agents to do that, but if they're not repped Um And then again, there's some folks that just don't care man. Again, this is beer money, you know, they're not Uh full-time professional talent. So, you know, 50 bucks is like found money and they have some fun and they do it And that's that now are these guys any good? No, but um You know, again, it's reinforcing that idea that um Your professional actors aren't worth being paid and that's that's not good if you're in the business of professional acting Yep, no question about it Well, Eric, as always it's a pleasure to speak with you. We got to talk more on the phone No, often haven't seen you in a long time, but uh, I know man. I've been in my kid You know, I had the baby a couple years ago. I was like, I'm not going anywhere, man And I was like, oh, I'll go back out in the world and I was like, oh, no, I'm tired and my It's like I'm gonna go for a walk. No, I think I'm gonna take a nap You know, my shirt is covered in snot. So I'm you know what? I'm staying in. Yeah, I know it well Well, that was before the baby, but And I won't see where I witnessed that but anyway Thanks for being with us. Uh, if people want to get a hold of you but not to send their demos, uh, where can they find you? Uh on the corner hustling No, you get fine. Uh, again shepherd dot agency. There's no dot com or any of that Uh, you can find this. I'm at Eric ERIK at shepherd dot agency Uh, and I'm on facebook all the time. I'm not tweeting Okay, I suck at tweeting, uh, but I'm on facebook all the time. You can reach me there. Uh, or uh on YouTube the outspoken check out the outspoken Uh, and you could submit questions there as well if you have other questions For, uh, me. All right. Well, thanks for being with us tonight and sharing your your bounds Unbounded amounts of knowledge in this particular field. Well, let's not get crazy. All right Eric shepherd everybody. All right, George and I'll be right back From voiceover essentials. Here's the quarter of the month Terry the sign is terrific Thanks so much for the quick response greatly appreciated It now adorns my home studio with pride Thanks to you and one of my heroes Harlan Hogan for being there and uh, again Thanks for so much for supporting v obs and they should have harlan on more often. Don't you think? Well, thanks Brian Hammond voiceover of chemist washington So let's talk about our multicolored led sign and the credit card size included remote It tells the world you're actually gainfully employed and lets people nearby know To speak softly while you do your big shtick Well, you can only get them over at voiceover essentials dot com voiceover essentials dot com Go over there the best way to get there is to just go to the bottom of our home page Click on the picture of harlan talking into his port-a-booth pro and go there Look for the sign the voiceover recording sign that will help you Record with no background noise From your family and other folks. Thanks again harlan voiceover extra the voiceover industry's online news education and resource center 24 700 Probably thousands of free how-to articles for voiceover success ranging from home studio to voice acting to business a free voiceover industry Directory calendar of industry events resource links a store and much more By monthly webinars on all topics of voiceover free subscriptions to newsletters reports announcements daily news and features at voiceover extra dot com Are you confused about how to set up and maintain a professional quality voiceover studio? No wonder the information out there is mostly mythology This is the best microphone to use. You'll have to have a preamp. You need a soundproof booth This software is the best your audio must be Broadcast quality Consult with someone who knows the truth someone who's been there in the trenches doing voiceover for over 30 years Someone with unparalleled experience with voiceover studios Who's worked with hundreds of voice actors and designed hundreds of personal studios? He knows how to teach and cares about your success In one of the harshest environments known to voiceover your home Dan Leonard the home studio master Separate myth from fact and get a handle on your personal voiceover studio Contact the home studio master at home voiceover studio dot com. Hi, this is bob bergen and The pokey pig and you're loving the Voice over body shot bucks All right. Well, what a fun show Yeah, it's this this is why we do this show. It's really important that We get the right people on here to talk to you and give you the information you need Yeah, I mean eric does not sugarcoat it I mean this he does not always We're not putting sugar on this, you know, this is This is business and we want you guys to know the realities of what it is And it may not always be the most positive things you want to hear We're not here to you know, you're gonna make it. We're just here to give you the straight information So eric's gonna give that to you. That's why he was a great guest. Absolutely Well, we'll run this all week and then next week tech talk number seven will be on So you can geek out with us next week, but this interview with eric will be on all week here at All the places where you get us who are our donors of the week donors of the week We got us plethora of them a lot of these names I've read before which is why you should subscribe because your name will be read here all the time Like don griffith martha con Shannon or shana Instructed is the way to say her name Pennington baird joseph valentinelli. Stephanie Sutherland patty gibbons amanda fellows and tom pinto The tom pinto. All right. Very cool. All right. Hey show us your booths Yeah, these now. This is not this is this is the hoax studio. Yeah, this is a obviously a very professional studio studio Yeah, something that you don't necessarily Hey No Is this not the kind of thing most voice actors need to aspire to but hey, you know if you got a 450 grand kicking around You can build something like this And you'll be happy to do it send in your pictures. Make sure their landscape and not portrait, you know make them sharp They shouldn't be instagram quality. They should be broadcast quality. Did I say that word? Broadcast quality. They should be nice and sharp and we'll we'll throw them up on the wall behind you shoot it with your iPhone It'll be fine. Yeah Just put her on tripod. Yes. Uh once again if you want to work with george you go to georgethetech.com And dan is over at home voiceover studio dot com. Happy to help you out there Uh, let's see you want to be in our studio? We're on live every other monday night. So we won't be on next week Maybe ain't sure just email us email us at the guys at v obs dot tv We'd like to have you here in the studio with us because it's fun to have a live audience It gives us a little bit more energy just even though, you know, the coffee works pretty well too tonight We had a substitute audience for coffee. Yes Well, it worked, uh All righty. Well, and if you want to be here just write to us again at the guys at v obs dot tv Slash audience or subject matter audience and subject that way. That's right. Don't miss all right Well, we need to thank our sponsors. We'll make this show absolutely possible like harlan hogan's voiceover essentials voiceover extra Uh Let's see here source elements. Yeah v o to go go Voice actor websites dot com and j michael collins demos. Alrighty. Well, we also need to thank the dan and marcy lennard foundation For the betterment of live webcasting Uh, good and do it without that fine fine foundation uh, also, uh Our producer catherine curtain for getting us great guests Uh, mike merlino in the chat room tonight. Thanks mike Boy, you got all those questions and that was fabulous. Yeah, thanks. Uh our technical director mike's mom su merlino Who does a great job making it happen like a real tv show? Wait, it is a real tv show It's just not an nbc. It's the future of tv. That's right. It and we're living it now And of course lee penny simply for being lee penny Well, that's gonna do it for us. Uh this week. We really appreciate you tuning in or clicking in or whatever it is You guys do out there, uh, this business is as george was saying, it's not easy There's there's a lot of hard things you need to learn Technically, we're here to help. That's why we're here every week And we want to show you the best of what goes on in the business and getting the best information out there So tune in every week here on voiceover body shop. And uh, like we always say if it sounds good It is good. All right. We got that right Have yourselves a great week everybody. We'll see you next time here on voiceover body shop. I'm dan lennard I'm george widow and this is voiceover body shop or vio bd