 Hey, it's time for voiceover body shop. How's everybody doing out there and Tonight, we've got a great guest somebody who knows the business really well. It's Lala Pete. It's how you doing lal I'm so awesome. I'm so super L.A. Awesome right now, Dan Really? Yeah, I thought you were on the east coast and you're here in LA I'm like, you know the via wears Waldo like where am I today? I couldn't pass it up. There are so many cool things going on on your coast. That's right. Okay. Well, I'm glad you're out here You know, we can almost yell to each other from here If you've got a question for low about anything that we talk about throw it in the chat room because Jeff Holman's in there and he is writing down everything that you guys are saying in the chat room or at least your questions And we'd love to hear from you and let's let us know that you're watching and enjoying the show So are we ready? George is actually over here So we're in the same studio Anyway, it's time for voiceover body shop. Are you everybody ready? Let's make it happen. Let's go It's time for voiceover body shop Brought to you by voiceover essentials.com the home of Harlan Hogan signature products source elements the makers of source connect Voiceover heroes become a hero to your clients with award-winning voiceover training voice actor websites.com where your voice actor website doesn't have to be a pain in the butt voiceover extra your daily resource for voiceover success and world voices the industry association of freelance voice talent and Now here's your hosts Dan and George Well greetings out there, I'm Dan Leonard and I'm George Whitton and this is voiceover body shop or VO B as Easier to sync when you're like within an ear. I know I was like automatically trying to say it off Sync so that we would be in sync and realizing wait a minute I don't have to do that because he's actually just over there and then makes makes it a little easier Anyway, it's nice to be here back back to the center cam here Well, we're into the holiday season now and everybody's like What do I get everybody and of course all of your spouses and significant others are a lot like you want to what? Holiday season means everybody in LA drives like Well badly orally Aggressively and angrily that's been like that for a couple of months. It's worse right around now Yeah, since I got mine somebody hit me from behind a while ago. Yeah, if you're gonna it's been going around hasn't it? Yeah, if you're gonna drive in LA drive a tank We're in a really old beater, right exactly. Yeah, I have a weekend car and trailer it Go drive it there. All right. Well tonight. Hey, we're gonna talk about voiceover because by the way That's what this show is about We've got a great guest tonight and again if you've got a question for la la pedis throw it in The chat room because Jeff Holman's there and he is taking down your questions And we want to hear from you because we know you're in there somewhere and you want it You want more information? Perhaps she will tell you everything that we need to know and I will try and coax everything out of her, but If you've got something perhaps that I forgot throw it in the chat room right now whether you're on Facebook whether you're on YouTube live it's right and Get you covered. That's right or just yell really loud and maybe he'll hear you Anyway, let's introduce our guest tonight La la pedis is founder and president of la la pedis company a boutique coaching training and production company for voice talent and Actors programs include hybrid online and in-person workshop seminars one-on-one personalized coaching and showcases in New York City LA and Online allows media broadcasting career coaches all work in television film radio and theater That's quite a widespread. Let's welcome for the first time to our show. La la pedis. La. How you doing? Awesome. I'm so excited to be here. Yeah. This is my inaugural Dan and George time. I'm excited. Thank you. All right. Have a meal. Yeah only took 11 years, but you know We'll get to you Anyway, and thanks for joining us during the holiday season right now Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into voiceover as or as somebody I know likes to say your journey Oh my journey it sounds ever so important. Well, I will I'll keep a kind of short and brief and say it's been a whole lifetime Journey, you know, we always joke at the studio like we're all in overnight success, right? Yeah We're we're a 40 year overnight success So I literally have been, you know in performance and entertainment my entire life. I've never not done it I've never had another career. So even as a child when I started out. I was primarily a dancer. Actually, I was a dancer I didn't speak. I didn't talk. I just danced and I did that for a long time. I danced with the Boston Ballet I danced with Bob Fosse troop I loved it and I found my rhythm and thank goodness I did that because in voiceover. We need that so much that Kinaesthetic rhythm so I found that as a very young kid and kept it in my muscles kept it in my body became an actor and Started working professionally when I was about 15. I was hired for my first Touring troop as an actor at 15 years old and I really never stopped working since then I did regional I did repertory. I did equity theater I have a very rich theatrical background and Long story short went went for my graduate degree and was selected to go to one of the top actor programs So I did my residency my graduate studies at UC Irvine in California And it only took me four years to get in but who's counting and it was it was well worth the wait I got to tell you I was I was so excited. I was 29 years old at the time I had performed everywhere. I had acted I had danced I had started voiceover Just started voiceover didn't really know what it was, but just started my journey on voiceover And then got into the MFA program and just said yes to it. So I moved 3,000 miles away from my Boston home to my new Orange County home in California And did three years full-time in a residency at UC Irvine Which really was like the the Turner for me It really just changed the whole trajectory of my life. It was a program of marriage I was married to it day and night. It was full-time residency. It was a full tuition scholarship I had a TA ship to teach both undergraduates and in the community and I just said yes to everything I was one of those performers that I just didn't think too much about work I was intellectual and analytical, but not when it came to work I just said yes and I took all the work that came my way because I really didn't know where it was going to lead me I just loved performing. I loved voicing things. I loved bringing scripts to life I love bringing copy to life. So whether it was improv whether it was Shakespeare I did a ton of Shakespeare Whether it was, you know, a voiceover ad copy. I just said yes to it I was like one of those yes people and And then when I got my my graduate degree, I fell into teaching. So teaching was really for me While I was performing the thing that helped me survive I had that really incredibly important piece of paper that MFA degree that allowed me to walk in and I just by happenstance ended up at some of the top business schools Which very very strange very strange turn of events because I had no business education I had no knowledge really about business per se And I I I said okay, let's go with this. So I started creating programs For some of the top business colleges around Boston And that was primarily for performance and speaking And MFA track students those were people that were you know about to Launch businesses people who were about to pitch their products their services now granted I'm gonna be honest with you in your audience. I knew nothing about this like I didn't go to business school I didn't have an MBA. I had an MFA I was like, you know, I was like selling I was all of a sudden I was thrust into an arena where they were saying teach us how to sell Teach us how to speak teach us how to deliver as if our whole life depended on it, which You know could be for an angel investor getting money for their business putting all their savings Into something so the stakes were very high just like actors who study stakes I think yeah, I think it's really important because we're always trying to emphasize to all the people that George and I talk to And and other people that that are mentoring they forget that freelance acting is a business And that you're the one responsible for getting the work and all that and too many people like no I'm gonna get to show business. I'm getting an agent and boom. I'm gonna be on, you know, it doesn't work that way. That's it That's right. And and and it really is true when you teach something Dan It it it shows you what you know and it shows you what you don't know So how you impart what you know To the different levels of students that are out there Taught me how to appeal in a client-centered way To a a business forum, right? I didn't know it yet. I didn't know I was going to open a business But I knew I love teaching. I was good at directing. I loved leading things I loved being at the head of organizations like that was Probably for 10 years Teaching at all of these schools, you know, baps in university and harvard and boston University and it all landed When I was 40 years old at opening a studio and that's when I opened my studio 14 years ago All right Well, you again, we're talking with lolapetus and we're going to be talking more about the voice of our business because that's what we talk about here And if you've got a question throw it in the chat room there's got to be something you want to know that perhaps George and I won't get to and perhaps you're curious about All you have to do is write it in the chat room, whether you're in facebook live Or on youtube live and you should be in the chat rooms and interacting with everybody else It's watching this show at this very moment right now So you've got these two companies. You've got lolapetus company, which is your studio and mcvo, which is An agency. How do you how do you balance those two things? Well, you know, it's an interesting question. I was thinking about this question myself like how do how do we balance? How do we balance what we do in our life, whether we're performers business owners? Both, you know parents a mother of two kids I mean, how do we balance all of that and I think you know primarily for me the baseline of everything is just the sheer love and enjoyment and passion for what I'm doing I would do it whether I got paid or not I want to get paid and I do get paid but It's the kind of thing where I can't not do it. I can't imagine not doing it I remember meryl streep was getting interviewed at one time and they asked her about her career and they said If you I think she was at the studio doing an interview and that and james lipped and said if you could do anything else What would you have done? She said I I can't imagine doing anything else. I guess I would have been a photographer Maybe but I can't imagine really making a different choice in my life and I sort of feel that way. So the balance Factor really comes from this ideology that I'm not giving myself a choice, right? Failure is not an option. It's just it's a life. It's what we call a lifestyle business It's not a business that we're creating creating for three or four years And we're going to sell it move on to another kind of business It just isn't that kind of thing for me It has to be integrated with my life And I'm so fortunate that my family my my network my group of really close family and friends Completely are a part of it. They support it. They work in it. They love it. They get it. And if they don't Um Then they're just like they're total supporters if they work in something else. They're total supporters I don't have anyone in my my tribe that says don't do that. I think you can't make a living at that I don't know why you're doing that because you have to have a really positive Mindset crew that surrounds you to keep you going during the tough times and during the tough days Because it is hard to balance it is there's no question about it. It's and and the longer you go and the more you do it The easier it gets to figure out how to balance it But the more intensive it gets because you know if we're adding on services if we're adding on products if we're Scaling now online, which we're now a hybrid. We started out as a very personal in-person business We're still very personalized, but we're hybrid like 90 of our people are now online So figuring out how to how to re-envision how to recraft how to recreate The thing that you have created from the beginning takes a lot of work It takes a lot of mind power. It takes a lot of you know as my dad would always say fire in the belly That's like what what makes you get up every morning and put the key in the door the proverbial door Is the thing that makes you successful, right? Absolutely now one of the things that I find fascinating is that George and I and you we we do you know live presentations and we were coaching and we're teaching and doing webinars and seminars and stuff and people ask lots of questions and Sometimes they don't know exactly Who it is they're asking of the question if they know the right answer It's like like what's the difference between an agent and a coach because you do both And what are some of the questions that perhaps people give you That are like well, that's not an aging question. That's a coach question or it's not a coach question It's really an aging question. What are some examples of that and what can people learn not to ask? Yeah, yeah, it's it's kind of it's kind of a weird oxymoron to say you need to ask the question before you Ask the question But it's really important that you have this close network of people that you can rely upon to go out to Ask the question and test it out before you ask the question of the actual party that you need to ask it Up and sometimes you get the answer so that you don't even need to ask the question of the person you were going to ask So a good example might be you know if I'm in front of say an agent A lot of voice over talent are going to go up in front of agents Whether they're submitting cold submitting on email or they're doing a live showcase or whatever the case may be They're going to go up in front of an agent to find representation, right? A common question and I just experienced it the last four days in my la bootcamp and I couldn't believe I heard this a common question is um to an agent What do you do? And and I think okay It's okay to ask a question like that because you want to learn what they do But it's not okay to ask that question to the agent because the agent would say hey listen go online Go check it out. Talk to your friends. Da-da-da. You can anything that you can answer easily by google Or by some of your friends don't ask that person because that's a direct giveaway That you're really green that you're really starting and that you don't know Or asking a question that's completely inappropriate. That would be for someone else. So for instance, I ask an agent um can you um Can you give me feedback on this and tell me what you think about these reads? And the agent thinks no I can't that's not my job. That's not what I do I market you if you're ready to market send me your stuff and then I'm going to move you like a house We're a commodity right in a good way, but we are a product. We're product based I always use a real estate broker as an example. It's like it's like inviting in a real estate Broker and saying hey, can you give me advice on this on this room? Like how should I decorate this and should I put the furniture there once in a while? They'll give you a couple ideas if they want to sell the house But much of the time they don't have time to do that. They come in they do a walk around they price it They say hey when you fixed it up when you flipped it when you're ready to sell it You call me and then I'm going to come out and I'm going to move that Very quickly for you. So it's in my mind is kind of similar to that I mean no one's going to get super angry or offended by it But they're but it's a tip-off that you're not yet a pro or you're not yet working because you don't know the roles Of the people involved with the team that you're putting together what they what their jobs are Um once again, we're talking with la la pedis and we're talking about the voiceover business and coaching and agents and all these things that sort of Sort of commingle into all the stuff that we do and again if you've got a question You can throw it into one of the chat rooms depending on where you're watching whether on youtube live or on facebook live Is there like a is there like a roadmap kind of a thing that? Like you know kind of lays out the structure of how These kinds of voiceover, you know businesses operate like you know like go to this place and you can see at a glance how this all Connects Yeah, well, uh, I mean it's all over the place. It's like the world, right? It's like the world Everyone has their own network. Everyone is developing their own little tribe Where we go and how we learn our information. I don't believe is streamlined in any way I think it's very large. The reservoir is very big Um, but I think over time in anything whether you're an actor. We're tradesmen. We're craftsmen We're putting together our tools, you know, we're getting our techniques in order We're figuring out what market we want to work in what the pricing is, you know, all that stuff So whatever market you're about to work in or you currently are working in You can start asking people who are working in that market oftentimes. They're very willing to talk to you Very willing to help you. Um, I always say try very hard not to make people your competitors Try to make them your colleagues because we all work together It's one big family in a very interesting way Like the world is getting smaller and smaller and smaller and so if I'm going to be super petty about other coaches or other Producers, right? We can't do that because we have to learn constantly learning best practices We're constantly learning like how to Find out what is the industry standard? That's what we're going for and I can't like I look I'll be honest with you. Can I be honest? All right. I'm gonna be honest. Can we talk? Sure Listen, can we talk? All right. Listen 54 I'm gonna be 55 years old. Okay. I can say that because I'm not an actress anymore. All right Here's the deal. I don't look good day over 30, but anyway, that's a conversation for another day My point is I'm constantly learning like every day in my own events. I'm sitting there I'm listening. I'm writing down notes. I'm talking to industry I'm finding out what the changes are what the upgrades are whatever We can't sit there Like we're a golden calf. I'm like, oh, I got it. I got a studio. I know everything No, no, no because every day it shifts and changes like in every industry. There's innovations There's pioneering of you guys your specialty new and updated technology upgrading your technology You know, if you said, I got a mic. I got a studio. I'm all set. We're never all set We're a work in progress. So if I can, you know, impart to the audience to just think of yourself It's not a finished product even when you have a demo, right? Or even when you cut your commercial And it's mixed and it's mastered and it's perfect and it's beautiful. Guess what? We're casting for the next one Which has changes it's not going to be the same as what you just did It'll have edits changes scripts will be thrown away. Everything is going to shift in upgrade All right, once again, we're talking with lolopetus and talking about the voiceover business We're going to get into some other things here For example, now you've you've got your your your companies. You've got an agency. You've got your studio One of the things that you're that you've done is you've created something called the talent Inner circle and tell us what TIC is and why people should think about joining that community Thanks, Dan. I'm really proud of it. I have to say I've been sitting on it for about two years Just analyzing it and then we all know analysis is paralysis after a while It was something that I actually didn't think of myself a lot of my my talent that work with us at the studio Started to plant the seed of saying hey, I'd like to see something online I'd like to see an online community in between coaching in between classes in between all the stuff That's economical that's something I can dig and something I can be a part of on a monthly if not weekly basis And I think you can create it online, right? And I said, oh, yeah, sure So we sat on it for a while and we said great. Let's do this. So we launched it this past august It's almost new brand new. It's only four months old. It's still a baby But I'm really happy to say we have almost a hundred members Encounting in it and it's really exciting stuff because of course. I'm a more is more kind of person So I loaded the boat. We've got a ton of programming that we do every month. We have Guests that come through that that are amazing people. We have a listers. We just had a workshop with Mike Mike Pollack who's the eggman from sonic hedgehog and just like really incredible producers and coaches and And and casting people we had an agent come in from the midwest and she came in and she swept up half of our Half of our crew that came into the workshop and signed them under contracts. I was like, what are you kidding me? It was like any time you're in front of someone Whether they just hear you or they see you or they meet you you're always auditioning always It could be a class could be a workshop could be just to chat just to meet they're always listening to you Always you have to think about that at all times even if you already have an agency Maybe you don't want a rep. Maybe you Don't need any of that. They're still listening to you with that kind of ear because that's how Producers are trained and casting directors live and agents make their bread and butter off listening to you and giving you that feedback So the talent in a circle is really for professional development for education for socialization and and and really just kind of level people up in saying hey, let's make a commitment to Learning more technique getting more tools in the tool belt having accountability people Let's have some buddies ready to go so that I can practice my reads. I can practice my auditions I can send an mp3 and say do have any Background noise you're hearing whatever whatever the case may be And it's been it's been going really well. I think Dan you're coming in to be a guest. I'm so excited Yeah, I was thinking, you know, you should have some tech people on there. I'm like, oh wait You already put me in there So Been kind of busy this month Anyway, once again, we're talking with lolapetus and we're talking about the stuff that she's offering is As a coach as an agent and now we're talking about her talent in her circle I always find it really really important, especially for people in the voiceover business Because we are We're all snowflakes. Everybody's different. We're not really competition. There's something for everybody But there are certain things that, you know, other people who have some experience can always impart And and and creating relationships and networking with other voiceover people is really really important So, uh, once again, if you got a question throw it in the chat room for a while right now, uh, how important is marketing for a voiceover career and we sort of touched on this at the top of the hour there, but Tell us what your thoughts are on marketing because everybody's got their own idea about Yeah, Dan, that's that's the question of the day, isn't it? I mean, I think that that big marketing word is is um Like what's the word? Uh, it's a dark cloud or a lot of what is marketing, you know What is marketing like does that have anything to do with buying food? You know supermarket? No, so marketing is the thing that You have to get good at and you have to embrace In order to run a business and I always look at voiceover talent as being entrepreneurs or or solo If they're starting it themselves, of course, we all started ourselves So how do we do it? We have to start thinking about creating community I have uh seven pillars that I created to to doing that and one is like community community How do we create that so that we can always call out to each other rely upon each other help each other Uh and get work for each other I I would say probably seven or eight times out of ten. I'm getting my work through referrals referrals are really huge in our industry as you as you age and As you stay and you have longevity um, you're going to get more and more referrals to build your client list But that doesn't come cold it comes Typically because you put down the the groundwork for your first five years or six years or however long you're working at it To say hey world, I'm here. This is who I am. This is what I love and this is my value Here's my value proposition. Let me just share that with you and one exercise I do as a coach is to say to discover your value proposition You know take 12 words or less no more than 12 words even that's a lot for us to remember almost like a tagline Like make it memorable to someone Describe what is your value as a voice over talent and repeat it over and over and over again So when you do pitch yourself or you email yourself or you do a cold marketing You always have that value proposition in there and reminding you that it changes again It doesn't stay the same it changes oftentimes based on the clients that you're Target marketing so it can't it can't just be this is what I am. This is who I am and that's it like stay static and kind of militant You got to be very Flexible you got to be like that You know, I always say you got to be like that really tall huge building in Chicago That's massive and goes up to the sky and it's the foundation has got to be very very cement strong Right by the higher up you go The more you're going to sway in the wind and the more you're going to flex because there's high winds up there And you're up there working on the 47th floor. You're going to shift with the winds That's what we do as voice over talent and as as actors Is we have to shift with the trends and the winds in marketing and not fight it But embrace it and say how does my value proposition? Have synergy with what the trends are doing right now Wait till I fit in that's like my job to figure that out So then I can articulate that and present that to to prospects Absolutely. Once again, we're talking with lolopetus and we're talking about the voice over business and marketing and She mentioned referrals and all that but we're going to take a quick break right now And we'll be right back with your questions right after these messages. So don't go away This is the latin lover narrator from jane the virgin anthony mendez and you're enjoying dan and george on the voice over body shop From voiceover essentials.com. It's the relationship savior the multicolor led vo recording sign Not just a stock on the air or recording sign. It's our exclusive voice over recording sign This brilliantly lit led 20 color beacon tells everybody at home, which is currently everybody. Hey, I'm auditioning recording podcasting narrating or broadcasting here and a few moments of relative quiet would be very much appreciated What's more the wafer thin remote control lets you choose a multitude of options from color to brightness Flashing to fade in and out you can even set up your own personal codes red means i'm recording blue playing back green It's a wrap plug in the seven foot long cord and hang it on a door knob or wall hook using the included chain Order yours now for just 69 95 from voice over essentials.com and for easy giving for the voice talent in your family Get a voice over essentials gift card too And speaking of great sponsors. How about source elements, huh? source elements the creators of source connect and so many other amazing tool sets that will really Integrate your studio and your production world into the rest of the world So you can have a really efficient productive workflow. I was just the other day looking at the netflix production FAQ section there's actually a whole section deep on their website For anybody that contributes any content to netflix Guess what product was listed on their website source connect It's it is definitely a tool that is now heavily heavily integrated Into so many of the workflows of the top level of the voice over business And that's probably why you want to be familiar with it. Are you ready for it today? You may not be but it's a perfect time to get familiar. So go over to source elements.com Get familiar get set up with at least a trial if not the subscription if you're feeling like you're getting closer to that level of work And become familiar if you have any trouble their support is absolutely second to none We want to thank them for their support. Thank you source elements And we'll be right back with the rest of the show after this Hey there, I'm david h. Lawrence the 17th and with my company vo heroes and my team of coaches and my community of voice over talent We guide voice over actors along their journey And you may be watching v obs here And not nearly as far along as many of the other people who are watching you may not even have started yet And we actually specialize in helping you do just that So if you're watching all the stuff going on here on v obs and going I have no idea what they're talking about I don't know, but I really want to do this I'd really like to help you Please go to vio heroes.com slash start That's vio heroes.com slash start and you can take our getting started in voiceover class Which tells you everything you need to get started as a voice talent And I'd love to hold your hand along the way and help you with that journey Again, vio heroes.com slash start That's vio heroes.com slash start This is bill radner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george widham v obs dot tv Alrighty and we're back here at voiceover body shop and we got a bunch of questions from our Massives audience that is out there Lots of people watching tonight and that's what we like to see. Yeah, and uh Let's see here. What why don't we start off with uh grace newton there george? You got it This one from grace. Uh, she says I've been advised to get a jingle demo done Is there a demand for jingles and does anyone come in mind who would who could record and produce it who comes to mind? Oh, that's an interesting question I very rarely get that question because on the east coast we just don't we don't hear a lot about that that Traditionally has been more of a midwest to west coast kind of thing to do. I'm not so sure it matters where you live now, but um Uh, that wasn't something that was in our realm and it's it's not honestly grace It's not something we really handle because our our market is much more Straight streamline commercial work. We don't really get into jingles at mcvo agency But I would suggest that before you do anything You know talk with some really great coaches who specialize in jingles They specialize as singers and they can help train you Uh and work with you as a singer as well as a voiceover talent because that's very specialized There's a lot of singing coaches out there, but they may have no idea About what a jingle is or what voiceover talent really does So I think you need that crossover of a great vo coach who also does jingles And if you can't find it then just get a really good jingle coach Someone who can help you with the singing and a voiceover coach that can partner together and work together Or take for a common end game which is going to be your demo that houses the best jingle delivery that you can do Yeah, and they have their own jingle jingle coach jingle coach jingle Um mike e h 66 on youtube has says uh and asks with all this economic doom surrounding us What do you see for the voiceover industry? Take out your crystal ball and and tell us what you see Hmm. I should give you a weird like accent with that right mike. I see Listen, here's what I see. Here's what I see Yes, okay We're in inflation. We get the recession. We see everything media hype. Okay. It's true I get it now. Let's move that aside for a second and let's think about your business Let's think about how you launch and how you grow your business We all have launched. I know when I launched my studio mike It was the first like biggest recession under the obama years that i've ever seen in the history of our country And if I thought oh, I shouldn't be doing this because there's a big recession and there's no chance for work and whatever I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today Right, so we have to be on one hand super research very smart about what's going on in our economy And what what the climate is in the environment economically speaking But then we also have to be paradoxically a clock-eyed optimist And think i'm not going to worry about that right now. I'm going to go to my business plan I'm going to go to my model that I created. I'm going to go to the five-year plan Because I'll tell you in five years things change things. Don't stay the same They change and you have good years and bad years at ebbs and flows ups and downs Um, so you have to know that things shift and change over time You have to stay the course you have to get super steady And you have to not worry too much about that Dark economy you have to say okay. I can float within it. I can live within it I can shift my rates along the way as I need to but I absolutely will survive I absolutely will work and i'm telling you I have a lot of colleagues right now Who've been in business for a long time mic who have raised their prices now Alrighty, uh, you get the question from glenn limner. You got it You still prefer live studio supposed to a zoom when doing a demo that's part one of his questions um I'm imagining you're talking about when producing a demo. Um slash coaching a demo. Um Yeah, because i'm old school Yeah, i'm old school. I always I always prefer doing a demo. I'm doing a I just finished up. I wrapped a big la showcase that I co-produced the last four days I could have done it online. It could have been virtual for sure. I wanted to get on a plane I wanted to come out to an la studio. I wanted to have the experience the vibe and be with people in a live space So if I have the choice, I'll always go to the live space and be with the folks But I love having the technology and being able to zip online Like i'm doing tonight and talk with my friends and not worry about having to get in a car So I feel like it's the best of both worlds I get it totally we agree. I mean It's revolutionized what I do of course working remotely is incredibly effective Um, how about new england voiceover work? What do you what would you recommend to attack that particular market? Do you have any experience in the boston area? Well, you know, it's so funny about that george the whole Reason I don't even know if I answered your question That you asked 20 minutes ago. All right, I'm gonna answer it now. So um, so the balance of the studio and then mcvo We launched I launched mcvo right at the height of covet So literally in the middle of covet we were in lockdown and I thought and I'm boston based I thought gee what do we need in the market because when we open a business we always think What is the problem to solve here? What's the need to fill and I'm not in the healthcare field and I'm not in other fields I'm in the entertainment. So in new england. I thought gee what's the opening? What's the need and it was voiceover. We had no voiceover division in any agency Uh umbrella in new england. I couldn't believe it, but we just don't we get some voiceover through But we don't have voiceover agents. So I said, okay, then I need to become one So I long story short. I I collabed with my dear friend and colleague tim erz. He's the owner Of model club ink based out of boston He represents actors on camera on camera actors and models For 20 years and I said we need this. What do you think he said, let's do it I don't know anything about it. You're gonna have to do it So I launched the division Under the umbrella of model club ink and that's where it lives on the lead agent I run the division. I stalk the roster I handle the auditions and then he'll come in and help with negotiation of contracts when we need that health And sometimes we do but here's the here's the amazing thing bottom line. It's not even new england anymore It's not even localized now. We're at national We represent some of the top talent from new york la everywhere in between And we have five countries of talent that we represent now. That's the beauty of voiceover So it starts in new england. It was launched out of new england, but it's definitely a baby of the universe now All righty, uh question from terry brisco Hi guys. Hi lau lau. I constantly get auditions where they want the Conversational read But when I see the commercials on tv, I very rarely hear what I would call a conversational read What should we actually be delivering in these auditions? Who has a part too Um, okay, uh, it's a loaded question and that our industry is incredibly subjective So if you start at the get-go by thinking This is what they're looking for stylistically. This is what they want. Well, why do they want this? All right, we can guess that oftentimes the millennial generation, which is now the largest population in the united states Oftentimes is appealing to the millennial generation For the products and services that are being put out in the commercial market um The generation is what we call digital natives. So meaning you're growing up on a computer You're literally growing up on a computer. So I think stylistically We organically wanted to have face-to-face communication Where it was going away. It was leaving us people were not having conversations They were online. They weren't seeing each other. They were texting emailing chatting all of that stuff So I think organically that's where it grew out of artificially What is natural stylistically and conversational may or may not reflect what we do in real life It may be a reasonable facsimile of it, but it may not be real life It's similar to an on-camera actor that stylistically Does a scene like a woody allen film who is the father of Height naturalism in film. He was the first one that did real looking stuff in film But the truth is it's not real. We've got cameras everywhere. We've got lights everywhere We got people with scripts everywhere. It just seems real. It looks real. So I think stylistically We're trying to go for something that's connected something that psychologically makes us feel like we're being listened to And something that is recognizable But it may or may not be something you do in your kitchen If that makes sense it does actually make sense Uh and terry goes on with his part two because he could now if you're all represent already represented and can't be signed by The agency can you still be on the roster of another agency? I think is what he's asking Yeah, so basically the way it works is this is that if you are signed Exclusively you would know that because there would be a clause in your paper contract. You have to have a paper contract a physical contract It would say exclusive. There would be exclusive wording in that contract and you would know That you're exclusive and you're exclusive to the particular geographical regions, which you have to know what those are Meaning I can't let's say I'm exclusive in the midwest I can't work with any other agencies say a hundred miles within the radius of this Midwest agency because I'm exclusive to them outside of that. I can So you have to get really clear. Are you exclusive as a talent? Is there something in writing and what is the geographical? Reference point for that if you're freelance It means you you're not beholden to anyone. You can work with anyone anywhere But oftentimes you will be asked to sign a freelance contract. It gets a little confusing. Like why am I signing a contract? You're signing a contract Because it's a psychological bond. They want to know that you take it seriously working with them Like mcbo is a freelance agency right now. Eventually we may go exclusive But we're freelance and we and we ask you to sign a contract that you've got a broadcast quality studio That you're going to behave yourself and act professionally that you're going to show up when you say you're going to show up And that you know, you're not you're not going to you know do something crazy So so it's a psychological bond that says i'm here to do this We all understand this and that's what we're going to do But the freelancer can do that with six other agencies or wherever they want to go. They can do that and they should do that I mean, that's that's how you start making your living as a talent Absolutely, and sort of on that line Davi Lee hawks asks, how would you recommend working with multiple coaches or would you recommend working with multiple coaches? These are such great questions. You guys have the best people ever They're really engaged. Yes All right, so of course obviously it's a subjective answer Everyone's going to give you a unique and different answer According to their own experience um I think that there are certain coaches and certain instructors and programs that do not want you to work with other Coaches and instructors because they have a particular methodology That they're imparting to you and they want you to stay focused on that and not get confused with conflicting Processes there's a lot especially like way if you go to graduate school places like that that are structured Through school and professional training programs. They only want you to commit to their program A lot of coaches May not care they honestly may not care you pay them by the hour or however they want to be paid And then they say here's your work. Here's your homework And then I'll you know do what do as I do with you if you return So I think it depends on the coach and it depends on the level of commitment you're making with the coach I I do think as a coach myself I do think there's a great benefit to working with a team of coaches. We have a team of coaches at our studio I'm not the only coach like I I've got eight coaches and on the ground level of boston And then we've got new york coaches and then we've got la coaches and because you need you need perspectives from different markets In different backgrounds. There's someone who's very particular to say audiobook and audiobook interpretation And all of that good versus commercial which is very very different So it can be helpful To have different coaches for different specialties and different genres You don't have to you don't need to but keep it open as an option You have to feel like you have to get married to one person Absolutely Once again, we're talking with la la pedis and we've got your questions here. Catherine campion on youtube asks I book most of my work off demos or auditioning against a handful of talent This is industry standard for most markets out of north america How much are you securing work for talent off demos? That's an excellent question That's such an awesome question. Sometimes I don't even know the answer to that because when we Invite a talent into the agency cat. We will list them and have them create profiles on our breakdown services so that Producers if they want to come in and listen they can listen to you if they're interested in hearing the demo So we can't we don't track that we can't track that We don't know who's listening to what who's coming in at any given time We only know with direct communication when they reach out to us. Oh, we're interested in cat We want to book cat Do we know if they've listened to your demo? I really don't know, but I'll take I'll take an educated guest and I'll say In what we do on our end More than more than not they are not listening to those demos if they're quick turnaround Auditions, they're getting to the read right away and they're focusing on the read If they have a longer more open turnaround time for you they'll say hey Send us the demos. We just want to hear the demos. We're not sending out a script yet. We don't want to hear reads yet We shouldn't I hear the demos So in our private client base like I have producers that come to us from all over the country and say I got three right now. I got one in miami and one in the texas market They'll want to hear demos. They'll say, yeah, they're pro they'll have a demo and just get the flavor of their voice before I send out a script So to answer your question cat, I'd say probably 75 percent is Your profile listed up there and then getting the audition and then submitting that and then probably the other 25 or 30 percent is going to be submitting your demos before you actually get the reads Interesting Alrighty, uh, you've got one from gerund maguire. I would jump to gerard. What percentage of jobs? Uh, uh, you send out or do that you send out Or union that's the first question Oh, I get I I get asked that question a lot actually and I love you. I'm pro union. I'm all over that We're a signatory, of course And we see more we say we're seeing more and more union jobs come through which is really great I don't actually know the percentage. I'll take an educated guess and I'll say probably I'll say probably 30 to 40 percent Is union coming through whether it be for casting networks or whether it's be through a private client or whatever I do find though that Our our client lists our private client lists. They don't know they don't care much They're very much about let's just find the talent, you know, I mean just find the talent just get us the talent Um, the unionized jobs are much more structured coming from places like actors access casting networks Places that have a healthy understanding and respect oftentimes of what that means When they're getting union talent submissions, but it's it's hopeful. It's really hopeful There's more and more coming through now than there was like a year a year or two ago Yeah In part two of that Yes part two, which is a great question also because everybody asks about this one Are there any P2p or play pay to play sites worth the money in your opinion Hey, listen, it's a hot topic. I know there's a lot of controversy over it and people feel various Um, you know, I honestly here's what I think I think like a business person. I think like an entrepreneur I think like a business person I hope you can see me now go and get work where you want to get work Whatever direction that work comes from sometimes it will come from a pay to play site Sometimes it won't it's like it's like developing a private client list If I go in this particular genre in this particular direction, you know, will I get work? I really don't know. I have to test it out. I have to test the market. I have to see Um, what you know, what what's my booking ratio? How I always say how what you invest in time and money is what you're going to get out of it Do you know what I'm saying? It's like what you're going to get out of it And that could be in any direction that could be in cold calls. That could be in marketing submissions to lists of agents that could be in pay to plays that could be in Maybe you're going to a lot of conferences this year a lot of great conferences out there Well, you know, there's a lot of work to be had at those conferences. So the time that you put in You know what you're spending Should be a an ROI. There should be a return on your investment Over a period of time. Can we measure that? I can't measure that because that has to do with your investment And the level of time that you're putting into it And then you'll be able to really track that over a year or two You'll be able to really see that but i'm a big fan of like try everything see what works for you Before we go Yeah, we have we need to know how you get how you get How do you get to work with? Wow, how do we work with you? Jeff wants to know how you work with us? Oh my goodness, it's so easy. All you have to do is email us. I mean you can dms on social media That's fine too. Awesome. But the most direct is just email us your demos. We take demo submissions all the time We're constantly growing the roster We have about 400 of the top talent still very looking for diversity talent. There's a lot of cool trends out there We need a language. We need buy and try lingual people. We need um ages different ages So don't you know, don't give up before you start, you know what I mean? Like make sure you mark it and make sure you submit if you have great professionally produced Demos, I want to hear them send them over to me lolapetus company. Boom and subject line at uh mcvo Submission and that way we know it's going to go into review for the agency if that's what you want to do Very good. Well, wow. Thanks so much for joining us tonight and uh and giving us some of your expertise And uh, we really appreciate what you do in the business And it's always a pleasure to see you whenever I get the chance, which is not a whole lot But now you're in the same town we should get together Alrighty, okay, we're gonna take a break. We're gonna finish things up here and We'll be right back. Thanks. Love. Great job Thanks guys. You're still watching v obs In these modern times every business needs a website when you need a website for your voice acting business There's only one place to go like the name says voice actor websites.com Their experience in this niche webmaster market gives them the ability to quickly and easily get you from concept to live online In a much shorter time when you contact voice actor websites.com Their team of experts and designers really get to know you and what your needs are They work with you to highlight what you do Then they create an easily navigable website for your potential clients to get the big picture of who you are And how your voice is the one for them plus voice actor websites.com has other great resources Like their practice script library and other resources to help your voiceover career flourish Don't try it yourself. Go with the pros voice actor websites.com where your via website shouldn't be a pain in the you know what Your dynamic voiceover career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead There's one place where you can explore everything the voiceover industry has to offer That place is voiceover extra.com Whether you're just exploring a voiceover career or a seasoned veteran ready to reach that next professional level Stay in touch with market trends coaching products and services while avoiding scams and other pitfalls Voiceover extra has hundreds of articles free resources and training that will save you time and help you succeed Learn from the most respected talents coaches and industry insiders when you join the online sessions Bringing you the most current information on topics like audio blows auditioning home studio setup and equipment Marketing performance techniques and much more. It's time to hit your one-stop daily resource for voiceover success Sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports. It's all here at voiceover extra.com. That's voiceover Xtra.com Yeah, hi, this is Carlos Ellis Rocky the voice of rocko and you're watching voiceover body shop And we're back and our thanks again to laulapetus for Enlightening us on the kind of stuff that she does which is fascinating. She likes to pack it in. That was a lot of information It was so yeah high value content. Yeah, fortunately you can always watch the replay and take even better notes That's right. One of the great things about the fact that we have that this will be on all week on facebook and on our website So all we can forever and and you can watch it Anytime you want by just going to our website because they're all there as well Well next week on this very show Unless you're watching live in which case you should hang out and stay because george and I go into Tech talk right after this and we'd love to get your home studio Tech questions. So stay tuned for that. Um You got any webinars coming up or anything? Nothing nothing is uh Solidified at the moment, but we should be having one come up the first week of january It's going to be about new tech tools new things to revolutionize your business But if you want to check it out see when we go live on that just go to v Actually my website george the dot tech Slash webinars and on any services you can get 10 off with the coupon code during checkout of v obs fan 10 Alrighty, thanks for asking. All right, and of course whirly gigs. Yeah By the time you guys see this show it's not it's still not too late. No, it's still not too late. Okay My dad might be like no, no, I don't want to sell anymore But if you want to email if you like whirly gigs Those cute things you put in your yard with propeller it makes little things move around little animations My dad loves making I mean he has a bunch for sale. Just email them fair weather whirly gigs at comcast.net and by the way that's spelled w h i r l i G i g s That's the proper spelling of whirly gigs. So All right, take a look. Okay Uh, let's see what else we got here. We have of course our donors of the week. We have a new one. Yay Like grace newton. Hey robert leadham steve chandler Casey clack jonathan grant thomas pinto greg thomas a doctor voice ant land productions. Hey uncle rye Martha con nine four nine designs Leave any that is christopher epperson sarah borges philips apyr brian page patty gibbons rob writer Shawna pennington bare don griffith Tray moseley diana birdsall. Hey diana Sondra man whaler. All right. Hey join our mailing list too That way you know exactly what's going to be coming on and I send that out right before the show maybe an hour or so You're like, oh, yeah, I was gonna go bowling. But no, I'd rather watch voiceover body shop live. So that's You know, does anybody still go bowling apparently? Okay. Yeah, there would never have been more expensive. I can tell you that Sure We need to thank our wonderful sponsors like harlan hogan's voiceover essentials voiceover extra source elements vio heroes.com voice actor websites.com and world voices Dot or voices dot world voices dot org the industry association of freelance voice talent Our thanks to jeff holman for a great chat room duty tonight and getting us all those great questions for laulapetus and uh, sumer lino for Surviving all that life has to give her and us So, uh, yeah, when she's our technical director and of course lee penny for Just being lee penny Anyway, we're gonna re-rack for a tech talk So stick around get us your tech questions get them in the chat room whether you're on facebook or On youtube live and george and I will be happy to address those And give you an honest answer about it as opposed to all the other garbage you'll find on the internet Um, you know, this is not an easy business. That's why we're here every week Bringing you the experts and the people that really know how to succeed in this business And of course the technological stuff because we've actually come to the conclusion that If it sounds good It is good i'm dan lennard and i'm george widdum and this is voiceover body shop or vo bs Stay tuned for tech talk. Have a great week everybody