Introduce Yourself : Working on Voice Overs & Music Projects by Theresa Mignonne Daniels

Hi Theresa, Glad you came out to say hi. Since you've been around for a while, I'm pretty sure you've read all the blogs here: https://www.stage32.com/blog/tag/voice-acting And possibly attended these webinars: https://www.stage32.com/webinars/tag/voice-acting So what's next on your list? Any fun upcoming projects?

-Hello-Noelle! -Hello Tomasz Mieczkowski! - I wasn't expecting such quick interaction from Stage 32 Members when I posted my Introduction. I paused for a cat nap and lo and behold I glanced at my laptop and saw that both of you had written to me! Yay! -Yes, I have participated in Webinar's and Podcasts by Dan Lenard, in the past. Most recently it was in conjunction with AudibleScripts. They produce movie scripts similar to Audio Books compensating the Voice Actors via Royalty Share. -My Professional Voice Over Coach who spent 30 years in Radio before moving his career to Hollywood happens to be the incredible David H. Lawrence XVII. He is by far the most generous, informative, practical, real-world, hands on, relates to the struggling artist, been there done that, and still making money at it today Voice Over Industry Instructor that I have ever come across! I was delighted when I saw his name join your list! - I find Voice Over work solely via online casting and networking with friends and University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts, School of Film, and School of Music Alumni. Freelancing and Submitting my Demo's and/or Custom recorded Audition mp3's from home has allowed me to work in multiple genres of Voice Over work and various styles of singing. -I am a classically trained soprano: coloratura to be precise. I was hired to write lyrics for, and sing retro 70's Disco, but my client revised the genre to jazzy, dirty-funk, soul. I was like wt... of course my response was sure! I can do that. And I threw myself into research mode, listening the top artists I found online with that description and I got to work at revising my style to fit what he wanted. Ultimately I learned that I needed to rent an hour in an outside studio to use a mic with a more powerful stand alone processor. It was Great Fun! -The week prior, I recorded a Non-Broadcast Industrial Script for Online Education. -While I am located in Southern California, I've found that most of my clients are International so the time difference can be challenging. I hope to find new clients and maybe even SAG-AFTRA Franchised Voice Over Agents here, on Stage 32!

Hi again. Yes indeed. David is the greatest. I met him for coffee about 2 months after moving to L.A. Ha! That's funny about people changing their mind on what they want. I know it all too well, as my girlfriend is a composer. She actually works at a music studio as well so I know that renting the studio's not the cheapest (even the indie rate is pretty steep). Are there any specific sites where you are getting all your gigs from, or is it more of a word-of-mouth kinda thing for you?

I've always admired voice over talent. It's amazing how you can emerge yourself in a character that you can't see until it's been drawn. The only voice I can do is Yogi Bear and Bug sBunny and badly at that.

-Tomasz, I would venture to say that Voice123.com still has the bulk of the Voice Over Work, next to Voices.com, but there are many that post work for us along with non-show biz related jobs, such as Elance.com and oDesk.com which merged and are becoming Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, etc. There are new places to find Voice Over work online every time that I take the time to look. So your best bet is to do an online search for voice over casting sites and start building your free profiles. I was a paid member for about 6 years, and since I'm a SAG-AFTRA Member, minimum scale rates pay for the membership once you book 1 decent gig, but I realized that the majority of my work was coming from producers directly requesting me to audition and I have a book of repeat clients, so I am experimenting with basic memberships. I've been doing it long enough now that my name is Searchable and I haven't noticed any lost work because of that choice. Instead, I am using those funds to invest in upgrading my rudimentary home studio and as I mentioned, rent time in recording studios with the Neumann Mic for singing projects. Gigs that come from Networking and from being hired to work on the projects of my friends are icing on the cake! Everyone is more apt to hire you after they see proof that you can book legitimate paid work on your own. There is still much more work for male voices than female, and I recommend that whether or not you are in SAG-AFTRA, you go for SAG-AFTRA Scale Rates when possible. Even SAG-AFTRA hasIndie and low budget rates and waivers, but don't start yourself off there. It only helps to drive the wages of working actors who were once thriving, toward the opposite end of the spectrum, struggling to make ends meet and it keeps actors stuck in survival jobs longer than they should be.

Hi Thomas J. Herring! Thanks for the compliment. - Oddly enough, I've never done any pre-existing character voices, except maybe The Wicked Witch from the original movie, The Wizard of Oz. Instead, my Character Voices are original voices. The only imitations I can do are in my singing. Hmmm. You've given me something to think about. -Actually the bulk of my VO work is with everyday, lady next-door, tourism narrator, testimonial type, or corporate style speech. Not Animated Character driven. But more low key. But I was a ballet dancer first, then a classical singer, a musical theater actress, stage actress, disco/punk rock & roll singer, stage actress then a voice over performer, where I find much fulfillment! -I say, we're on a never ending journey in the arts. And it's not over until it's over! - So, Thomas, why not expand your story board drawing skills to do a short original animation project, creating some original character voices for your original characters? Put your animated video on youtube and market it to go viral. With enough viewers, you'll attract advertisers and another stream of income will open up to you. Why not?

That's something I'll look into. I never did the voice over as a professional. It was mostly goofing off with my buddies and things. I'm more into screenwriting and storyboard. Doing animation would be something to try.