The State of the Voiceover Business with Tom Lawless President of VOX Inc. Voiceover Agency

It's just like this giddy, giddy feeling. You know, I just love Voiceover so much. This episode was actually recorded prior to the pandemic prior to lockdown. So it's really, really juicy information and it's going to be a great, great show today. So thank you so much for being here. I'm so happy and I'm in gratitude and yeah, the thought of today is just gratitude. So what are you grateful for? I grew up running cross country. I'm all about the short term goals, medium term goals, longterm goals. I'm in it for the long haul, you know, loyalty to the bone.
I'm a Scorpio and yeah, right now, you know, it's September. So we're in the fourth quarter of 2020, and we have an opportunity to just go for it. We have the opportunity to take massive action. Okay. And make a great impact. So that's what I'm all about. I hope to inspire you. I hope to enrich your life. I hope to hear from you reach out to me. You can just go to chonacas.com. Send me a message any way you want to connect with me on social media, you know, you know how it works, just Google and make it happen. So yeah, with no further ado, let's get into yeah.
The episode with Tom Lawless. Woo. Hi Tom.
How are you? Thanks for having me. All
Right. Cool. So I wonder what's one of your favorite all-time books.
One of my favorite all-time books. That's an interesting question. Well, it's interesting. One of the, the books that really stood out to me over the years is one I read back in high school actually. And it's, it can probably tell about the things I watch on TV and things like that sense. And it's, it's called in cold blood by Truman Kubota. And just a fascinating story about fascinating, in one sense, and disturbing in many senses where a couple of guys went into Rob this small time, this family in the small time town in the Midwest and things went a little haywire and ended up killing the family, which, which obviously rocked this little small town. But then it also was a fascinating story just about, about the, the criminals themselves, because, you know, as many people know Truman, Kubota got to, to interview and know these people, particularly one of the characters very closely.
And so it was fascinating to kind of have perspectives on them as humans, as well as not, you know, not discounting the tragedy that happened and the effect that it had, obviously not on just the family, but the entire town and the entire region. And, and I guess, you know, growing up in a smaller town myself, it was easy to, easy to see how that would affect, you know, me, my family, my friends, and all that kind of stuff. And, and, and yeah, and it was just one of the, one of the best written books I'd ever read. And then I've really never really found it's equal in that sense. So, yeah, it's a, it's, it's one of a, it's one of my favorites and, and yeah, you know, now I'm not reading other books about, you know, serial killers and all that stuff, but it peaked an interest and it scares me how much it interests me, but it does.
It's a, it's fascinating stuff.
Very cool. So speaking of growing up in a small town, so I read a bio about you and you basically, you came from a small town and then you basically worked your way up into the company. And now you're part of such a diverse and eclectic team from people with different beliefs and backgrounds. And, and maybe you could talk a little bit about that because I think it's super cool. Yeah.
Yeah. Thanks. It's a, it has been kind of an interesting journey in that sense. And I, and I did a, you know, I grew up in a small town in the east coast, south of Boston and a town was called Duxbury. So it was basically in between, is on the south shore between the Cape and the city and in Boston. And, and it was, yeah, I mean, and I loved growing up there and I mean, I'll have some lifelong friends still and from there, and it was, it really was a magical childhood, but at the same time, it was pretty one dimensional in terms of, you know, the folks that we were interacting with and dealing with and, you know, and, and that at the time didn't really think much of it. And it was just what I knew and it was, you know, and again, mostly great folks and it was, it was fun.
But, you know, as I went to college and expanded on that a little bit, you know, it was one of those things where I realized I just, I wanted to see more and experience more. And when I graduated college, I wasn't sure whether I was going to, I wasn't sure what I was going to do really, but I knew I wanted to leave there travel abroad and see some things or travel across the country and see some things and, and ended up doing the ladder with a, with a buddy of mine from high school. Actually, we, we took a few weeks and drove out and it was, it was a blast. And one of the best decisions I ever made really, you know, cause you know, one of the things, the few things I did realize when I was young was that it was like, look, if I get locked into a job somewhere, I may not have this kind of freedom again, this kind of time to do it. So I was glad I did it when I did and, and came out here and was out here for a few months and was enjoying it and wasn't quite ready to go back, but I'm starting to run out of money.
So it was time to get a job. And so ended up, ended up at, you know, at, at the agency as an assistant. And it is, it's one of those things that, you know, as I was here for a while, and as I got to work with the company for awhile, really eye opening, in the sense of, you know, there was just a greater mix of, of individuals and ethnicities and backgrounds and beliefs. And it always, it just, it was one of those things that just continued to enrich, you know, and, and it was, you know, after a while you start to realize, like, I don't think I could live any other way than having all these perspectives around and things to bounce off and talk to it's. I don't think I could go back to that ideal life I had before without, you know, certainly it'd be a much different perspective.
So it's something that I've always really liked about the city. It's always something I've always really liked about the company, you know, between the, the folks that work here, the folks we hire our great clients. It's just a great mix of folks, a great mix of that. And it's provide scraped perspectives that, you know, to this day. I really appreciate it.
Cool. Now another quick question is, cause Voiceover for a lot of people is, is like a fun secret world that people don't often think of when you, when you came in to get that job, was it intentional for you or was it, oh, these people are hiring and like what, what was it that made you
Definitely the second part. It was, I actually, I was out here and, you know, talking to my sister and she's like, what do you want to do? And I'm like, you know, again, at the time out of college, I didn't know, you know, I was a finance major and I knew I didn't want to just jump to New York into that world, but I didn't really know Villanova I right outside of Philadelphia, two time national champs the last three years anyway, exactly go J right. But, but yeah, so, so when I was at her, she's like, what are you want to do? And I said, I don't know, maybe I'll try something and entertainment while I'm in LA sounds interesting. And she had a cousin or she had her best friend from college, actually had a cousin that worked out here in the business and she was like, maybe I could set up a dinner and you could pick his brain and stuff.
I'm like, that'd be great. So I did at the end of the dinner, he's like, okay, it was great to meet you. You clearly have no idea what you want to do. I'm like, correct. But he's like, we are looking for an assistant at our company, you know, and we do Voiceover and we did. And I'm like, what's that, you know, and whatever, and exactly like it was, it was an interview. It was an opportunity. So I said, great. And so I ended up, I ended up getting the job and taking it probably in part because that was probably the only one that would take it for the money being offered at the time. But, you know, I was young at a school and needed, needed the work and so, and got into it. And, and it was, it was, you know, it was one of those happy discoveries that many people make once they get into the world of Voiceover. And he realized like, wow, this is really pretty interesting and a fun form of, of acting and in a different form.
And, and in general, I also found in a granted I didn't have a ton to counteract it. And from what I had heard, you know, I really liked all the people that I was working with on a lot of the actors I was working with. And it was a different, you know, and I don't know if it's because you don't, you're not on camera and you're not thinking in that vein term all the time, but just the folks in general just tend to be, just tend to be great and very giving and very supportive. And, and there truly is when you see folks with the talent, for, and to be able to create different characters and be able different things. It's, it's astonishing when you, especially when you get to see the best of the best, which I've been fortunate enough to do so over the years,
We, I particularly love voiceovers because I mean, everyone's will out of the box and everyone's their own character and it's so cool because you can, they want you to go big. They rather have you go big, cause you can always go
Easier to breathe, easier to bring it down than it is to build you up. For sure. And, and, and the freedoms that it provides, where there are certain rules, no, all actors won't be able to play on camera because of the Look because of certain things. And there's a, there's a limit, you know, that, that gets, that, that gets thrown out the window with Voiceover. I mean, you can really, you know, we've had, you know, I've had men play Puerto Rican women and characters and things along those lines. So there's, you know, there's that kind of freedom that you just simply can't get, you know, on the other side. And it's, it's fun to watch those that can truly take advantage of that. And, and FMLA,
A couple of your favorite animation shows of all time.
That's a good, that's a good one too. You know, one of my favorites, I loved the Penguin of Madagascar, the show that was based obviously off of, of the film, but it, John Dimaggio was a client. Here is one of the, one of the client, one of the, one of the, one of the talented actors on the show. And I got to see a couple of the episodes recorded in person. And, and it was just one of the most clever one of the funniest, you know, and, you know, kids loved it, adults love it. I just, it's literally one of my favorites of all time. And, and like most people, you know, the Simpsons was pretty extraordinary and kind of its own unique. The, and that's one of those that, again, obviously I was watching it when I was a kid and, you know, even to this day, he'll turn up on sound like a Simpsons episode and you'll watch it.
You know, it's still great. It's still fun. So that's truly is, you know, and, you know, from, from someone who's worked in Voiceover and obviously it's seen thousands and thousands of animated shows stepped from start to end over the years, what they've done and what they continue to do is, is, is pretty extraordinary. And it's just the, you know, it's the, one-off, it it'll never happen again. It's, you know, it's kind of like one of those things, but it's, it's fun to be around while it's going on and you know, in the middle of it.
Yeah. And then what's one of your favorite animation movies of all time, or
I, I do think, I do think UP is probably my favorite. I love just an amazing and not just cause we, you know, we put Ed in it, you know, that was, that was great as well, but it really was. I mean, it, I mean, as most people say, like if you have those first 10, 15 minutes, you know, it was extraordinary. I'd never really seen it in an animated film the way it touched you like that. And, and just start to finish, it was just a, it's just a beautiful movie that, you know, I can watch anytime it's on, you know, this and that or somebody who's never seen it before, you're excited to show it to them and all this kind of stuff. It's just a, it's a beautiful story. And it was just so well done and it's just so much, so much fun and, and, and certainly being, you know, a little biased on the sense that we were able to see some of it as it was being developed as it go, and then to see the final product, it was just, it was extraordinary.
Super cool.
Super cool. I was wondering, so for educational purposes, what do you think people who want to get into voiceovers, certain steps they should know,
Like, for example, I didn't know about voiceovers, but I knew I could do all these different voices. She actually showed me the steps to take, and I took the steps and I connected with Alyssa. So it's, it's like, there's a lot of people that are like, Hey, I have a unique voice, you know, and for somebody who doesn't know, or maybe somebody who isn't a smaller town, what, what would be, what would be
Yeah. You know, it's interesting because there's because of the fact that the technology has really opened up the game to people all over the country because of the fact that like, you can go get a microphone, you can jump on a pay for Place site. Not that I endorse those, but it possible, you know, to kind of get the ball rolling and get started. That kind of thing wasn't possible when I started, like, it just, it was, it was actors in New York, Chicago, and LA that were represented and they would go in and to their agent's office and audition on a daily basis. And, and those were the only folks that were really getting in the mix nowadays because of the, because of the technology and the fact that there's, you know, not only can you audition all over the place, but there are more and more voiceover centric opportunities in more than just the major markets.
And so, you know, oftentimes you'll say to people, well, you should go, you know, take a class and, and do some of the, you know, to kind of get your feet wet into, to what the process is and how it works. And, and obviously that's certainly the case and, and, and something you can do in these markets, but you can do it in a lot of different cities these days. There's just, there's more and more opportunities out there because it's becoming a bigger thing and it's, you know, we used to call it the best, kept secret in the world, not anymore, you make that much money and you do that. It's like, okay, there's a little more to it, but yeah, that can be the final result. And it's exciting. So, but yeah, I mean, I do, you know, it's still the basics of, you know, finding that class and there's different things you can do if you're not in a major city where there's more and more online references that you can start to go to and online courses and things of that nature, where you can go and, and somebody who's just about just to get an idea of exactly what you're talking about.
Like how do, how does this even work? Like how do you even get started? How does this happen? And so there, there are more and more avenues that you can go to, to at least get that ball rolling. And then, you know, to your point, what you said before, a lot of it too, is one thing that people don't realize is just how important just networking is. And just getting to know people that do work in the industry and, and, and kind of what I talked about before with VO being so great in terms of talent, really helping other talent and doing other things, you know, people in general want to help, you know, and so sometimes that helps me out, says, you shouldn't be doing this, I've heard your demo. And then I believe that. But, but also it's like, you know, like if you know, someone that's in the, in the industry and even in it to a degree, you know, ask them a couple of questions, they're usually happy to help me, like, yeah, you should talk to so-and-so, you should do this and this and that.
And so it's just about gathering that information and starting to, as you gather that more and more, you start to realize the folks that are really serious and have done this for a while. And, you know, probably the folks that you should be talking to and other folks that, you know, thing that's dangerous about this whole thing expanding is that there are going to be folks out there trying to take advantage of folks that just want to get into it. And so, you know,
So what are some things like that are no, no, don't do so one isn't taken advantage of if they don't know,
You know, it's tough because you, you, you really, there, there's not usually a, you know, a giant red flag that you can notice right away in the sense of, unless there should be some sort of credentials, right. When you're looking at, you know, some sort of coach or things of that nature where you'd like, I've worked with so-and-so and I do work on this, and I do work on this, you know, try to research that as much to see that these people are working on real projects and they're have worked with real talent and, you know, things of that nature. So that you're not just jumping in with somebody who said, Hey, I did a couple of spots in Idaho for this. I know what I'm doing, you know? And you're like, no, you don't. You know, so, you know, it's trying to do as much due diligence on your side and research on your side to go. This person's in the game. This person's, I can't tell.
And if you can't tell there's others out there, keep looking
Of research. Can you list coaches you recommend or casting directors, so people can go to their websites. For example, bill Holmes is an amazing one. So maybe so when people are listening to this, they can then go on further in their research to look up maybe some websites or coaches that you admire have relationships throughout the years or someone
You're trying to get me in trouble. So the folks I don't mention will come after me, I get, and that's all,
Oh, well, we only have so much time. So,
But like you met like Bill's great bill, a compost productions, great at cause there are some folks that will do coaching some folks at good, at really good at producing demos. Sometimes they're separate skill sets. Sometimes they're like, Bill's good at both. And it's also good too, when you're doing this, sometimes you want to make it as worthwhile and possible. And so a lot of casting directors are also doing classes and are also producing demos these days. And you know, it can't hurt to get in front of a casting director, work with them. And then hopefully you get something out of that if you really impress them and do that, they're going to keep you in mind for stuff that they're working on as well. So you can kind of, it helps with that, you know, notion of, you know, doing networking while you're learning, you know, which is great.
So that, you know, Calvin Sinan Callison always does a great class. Elaine Craig, Carol Kimball, you know, really like those guys here in town. And like, there there's things of that, like I said, where you can kind of do a kill two birds with one stone a bit. Yeah.
Yeah. Plus, I mean with technology, I mean, you can always like Skype people and everything. It's funny talking about bill. So while we're on the way here, we popped into a coffee shop and the guy's like, here's your large mocha latte. And I'm like, oh my God, you need to do voiceover. And I'm like, you're going to be the guy because I, I get more anime. I really thrive on like animation. If there was like a music thing, the commercial ones I'm still honing in and, you know, and, and, and finding that golden voice, but I'm like, you're going to be the guy that's going to get it, you know? And he's like, thank you so much.
He's like, you're changing my life. As we speak, he was so grateful. And he wrote down bill Holmes, his information. And I pray, I send a lot of, I've sent so many over a hundred people to the homes because he introduced me to you and to VOX over two years ago. And I'm so grateful and I'm loyal to the bone. So I am so grateful cause it's like that.
No. And, and it's true. And, and, and the one nice thing you're not, not, not, not the one nice thing, bell there's many I'm sure, but there, you know, he's, he's good about like, he'll, he'll teach and he'll do stuff, but he's also not going to sell you a bill of goods when it's not there. You know, which again, can be tricky sometimes because coaches in general, they get paid because you pay them to T. And so some of them try to drag that out a little bit tragedy and you know, the, you know, Bill's great about going, you know, this is, you know, maybe we want to concentrate more on this or this or this and that, you know, like even sometimes when you're talking about specific markets, cause not everybody does cross over to whether it be animation, video games, commercials, promos, trailers, they're all their own thing. There are some clients that, that work in all of them and do it very well. And that's great.
And there's others that only kind of their strength is in one of them or maybe one or two of them. And that's okay too. So it's, it's about finding that and really trying to put your effort and your money oftentimes because the reads their own demos and those types of things. And so you want to start to make those decisions based on, you know, what you think your best trajectory is. He's right. About leading that, leading that charge for you.
Yeah, well you're very, very popular. Last week we went to the, It was, it was the expo happening for voiceovers downtown and gratefully through you. I booked some roles on Minecraft and then the team, you know, had this beautiful party. And I mean, Tom, like everyone kept coming up to Tom the whole time. He was the most popular guy in the whole place.
Got that 20 years in the business. It's interesting. Cause it's, you know, people all the time say like it's tough to break in. It's kind of, and it can be at times, but it's also an interesting thing in that it's, it's like a, a fairly decent sized high school. It's a small little community, you know, and, and, and over the years you just get to know people and, and, and, you know, the one thing that we try to do is always been, you know, not that it's unique to us certainly, but I mean, you know, you build relationships and you build relationships to last and not just try to squeeze over somebody on one particular deal to squeeze every last dollar out of it. It's more about building that relationship. So they want to keep coming back and you create stuff together and continue to build off that. And, you know, I think we've been able to do that over the years, which is great.
And, you know, we've got a great relationship with most of the folks that we work with because, you know, we do good work for our clients, but we're fair and we're responsive. And, and, you know, hopefully they appreciate that. And, and it is it's, you know, we don't probably do as many as those gatherings as there used to be in the VO world and stuff. So it's, I appreciated going to that with you. That was a lot of fun and it was going to see some folks and, you know, I hadn't seen it a bit, so, so
That was great. And there was a gathering tonight.
There is a gathering tonight, there was a gathering tonight of VOX clients itself. So that'll be a, that's always great. And it's, you know, it's one of those things that we try to do again, back in the day, clients would always come to the, to the office to audition. And so we'd see them on a daily basis. And that was, it was great. I mean, it was, you know, it was great to see him, you know, it's one of those things after a while you realize, like it does affect the Workday a little bit. If you're always talking to clients in the office, you're not talking about them on the phone, you know? And so, you know, having most of the clients, you know, pretty much all the clients read from home these days and it's, it's certainly efficient. It's certainly the way the business works, but at the same time, we don't get that face to face. So we try to have a couple of events throughout the year so that we can, you know, we don't talk business, just take time to see everyone and they can see us, you know, and it's, it's still a relationship business and that's still the best part of it.
The most fun to me. So I didn't want to lose that.
Definitely. And it's interesting, the first event that I went to a VOX event that I went to, I was surprised to see, it's surprising to see all the different it's like all young black, white left, right? Like there's, it's, it's so cool. I'm like, wow, there's so many different kinds and styles of people.
That's, what's interesting too. Cause sometimes people will ask like how many clients you have this and that. And some of your like, oh, probably in around 300 scale class, Emily, oh my God, that's a ton. It's like, actually it's not, you know, we keep our list pretty tight, but because of, you know, what you're describing, like there's, you know, voices from teens to, you know, in the seventies and eighties, different ethnicities, different languages, different, all this stuff. And so, you know, that's actually a fairly small number given everything that we, that we cover. And, but it is, it's a great mix and it's a great, that's why those events are so fun, just cause it's, it's such a great variety of folks. And, but all they're doing kind of with the same common thing
And on the talent side, I mean, when I, when I get an email it's so it's like, it's a kid in a candy store. There's so much fantasy. Cause you never know what you're gonna get. And it's just like seeing like your name and it's so cool. And it's like, it's like so professional, but it's so fun. And it's, it's all, it could be a for video game or it could be for animation, a movie, a TV show. And it's always different. I could be playing a little boy or like a little, a little girl ferry or like a woman in her thirties or forties kind of solitary. So it's like, you never know what you're going to get. And it's like, it's every day. And it's like, it's constant. I mean, it's like flooding in most of the time. Right? And it's like, it's a 12 hour turnaround and people are, people would probably think, oh my God, a 12 hour turnaround.
But the cool thing is, as an actor, you can read it right from your iPad. Cause you know, I, you have the mic and then in the, in the soundproof and everything, and then you have the, you can just read it. So we're not reading it. You you're making character choices and acting, you have to memorize. And so much pressure in this is the turnaround is so much quicker and then like, you're recording it. So if you want to do another take or like edit it or like just redo the line, you can just like, do you know, you're directing yourself,
You with that, that freedom to kind of be able to do that. And it was funny, cause that was actually when we, when we first made the move to, to kind of exclusively have clients recording from home, the biggest challenge was probably dealing with that freedom, you know? Cause you're used to going in and be like, no, no, no, no, no, that's it. Do you want to make this better? And you're done. And then all of a sudden you're sitting there going, I have hours to work on this. I can do whatever I want with it. You know, the, the biggest challenge was making sure that it, it didn't, that didn't trip up people, you know? And the fact like, cause you don't th the thing that usually works in VO is most of the time you take a look at it, you get an idea with it and you go with it. And that first take oftentimes is the best angle to it because it's fresh in your mind. It's what you're thinking. The one thing you don't want to do is kind of squeeze the organic quality out of the read because you're, over-analyzing what I should do with that word or this word, you know?
And those that can be tricky, especially in the beginning, like you said, when you're used to having it one way, and then all of a sudden you have that you have that freedom to play. But overall that freedom to play is a great thing, because it does allow you to kind of just say, all right, I take it back and you know, you can do a take and then two hours later go, oh my God, I thought of something else I'd really love to do with it. You can say, you can try one out and send it in. Usually like you don't, you know, you're not completely restricted to that, you know, to that moment when you're in the booth. So, you know, take advantage of the positives of that freedom and then limit the limit that negatives that can come from it. That's the best specifies.
Yeah. I remember actually one time I was with her and we're driving and then she gets a rush call for a Voiceover and it was for giggling. And so, and so she were in a parking lot. She had like a, a blanket or something in the back of her car and she pulls out her phone and she just started and there's a blanket over her head and I'm, I'm watching people pass by, right. Like get this visual. And she's just like giggling under this blanket, they used that actual Voiceover. They were like, that's good. And that's it.
We're good. Yeah.
So it's like technologically where we're at right now. It's so amazing. Cause I definitely do a lot. Cause a lot of times I'm moving around and, and you know, it's nice to be able to have the like there's apps. Now you can do all the editing on your phone and it's great quality, you know, but it's, it's definitely technologically, it's a great time to do things and it's, and it's nice to be able, like you're saying to really, you know, make it yours and to not, it's important. Like there's been times where I've booked things where I just did something that reminded me of my childhood and that was what got it. Because they laughed and were just like, we have to meet you. So it's
Exactly. And I do think that's, that's an important aspect to it where there's because there's so much competition and you know, you get scripts and you've get, you know, you get the specs on what they're looking for and this and that. Oftentimes, so many people try to overdo it and like, all right, would they want it like this? But they're saying this, but they're saying this, usually it's somebody that comes in and just kind of goes, use that as a guideline. I'm not saying you disregard it completely, but you give your own spin on it and you give you your own take. And when you're listening to hundreds and hundreds of auditions, which happens quite a bit, it's usually those ones that step, you know, like, oh, that's a little different. It catches their attention. And, and oftentimes can be the differentiating quality that, that lands the job.
The cool thing about the industry you were saying, everyone's doing it from home nowadays. It's where, like, let's say the, the client, the talent is in LA or New York. And they book a job. Then a lot of the clients are out of town. So they just find an engineer's studio and pop you into a studio. It could be in Kentucky or LA or wherever, and you just go in the studio and you just, it doesn't matter where in the world you are.
Most of the time, that's the case. You'll still have every once in a while a producer is like, I don't want to pay another studio fee. I don't want to. And you, you know, you're dancing around with that a little bit. Or sometimes if there's a partner read, they want them in the same room, but you're right. For the most part, it's, you know, you can book anybody anywhere, you know, and there's studios everywhere. And you know, we've got clients recording all over the world, not just all over the country. And you know, you'll find a studio at four in the morning in Australia that will open up and have you go in and record a couple of spots. It's just, it's, it is a global game. And, and, and Voiceover certainly at the forefront of that. Yeah. I mean, it is interesting because we will get some, it's still like, even to this day with all the sound effects that you can do on your computers and other things, they'll, they will still have auditions for things like that. Like talk like a,
And then they'll say in the audition, don't do any voice effects. They, we want to have it raw and we'll do it in post. And it's like, it's almost like you don't need to audition a lot of people. You could just have a couple people because you can just manipulate the voice
Exactly. You know, to each their own,
How many people like per project is a different, or like, is there, is there a, is there like a number of like her commercial or per project animation TV show that people will audition?
Sure. Numb, you know, for us, no. Like there, you know, every once in a while, certainly you'll get a specified max amount that they want to hear. Sometimes they'll just send us five, just send us 10. But unless they specify that it really just comes down to what the project is. And sometimes there'll be that specific in terms of whatever, how many auditions,
Which five or 10, you said you sent it to
How attractive you are. Exactly. Like, what we'll do in that case usually is say they want 10 or so. We'll probably audition, you know, we'll limit the number of people who send probably like 15 to 20 and then we'll take those reads and we'll pick the top 10 and send it out. It doesn't happen as much anymore. Most of the time it's still pretty open in terms of what they're looking for. And so at that point, it depends on depends on the project. It depends on the character. It depends on like, sometimes if it's, you know, if we're talking about a major TV campaign that's looking at, you know, sometimes they'll come in and like a, male's a 25 to 45. You're like, and they don't really have too much of it. It's like, you're going to get a lot of reads because we got a lot of guys in that mix. It's a big time campaign. We want to get as many people, you know, as possible. And then other times you'll have stuff where it's very specific about an age range or a specific vocal type that they want maybe for a local radio spot here and there.
No. Or we'll probably send you our top five to 10 because that's, that's about what it, what makes sense as far as, you know, what we have in the stable of, of what would work for this. So it, it does vary kind of completely on, on the project. And, and, and like I said, on, on the, on the characters that are like,
Yeah, well, the people who are getting a lot of auditions, then it's like big gratitude and super grateful of all the auditions that come through. Because I mean, you get to choose like, who has,
There's a, there's a casting process that goes on with every project. Like where it's, you kind of look at it and go, who I think would be right for this and who I want to hear. And every once in a while you'll go, you know what, I'm not sure about this, but I think kind of outside the box, I think this could be an interesting thought and you see how it goes. But, but yeah, I mean, each individual project is, is cast as though, like we're, you know, many casting directors in our own agency. I mean, that's kind of, you know, we pick the folks that we think, you know, have a shot at booking
Deal directly with the casting directors. And who else do you deal with? Mostly how's the protocol like what's the process
For casting directors, you know, on the commercial side, obviously like when agencies have reached out to them to really specify, you know, the number they limit the numbers on who they get. So they'll take, you know, folks from a handful of agencies around town. So we deal with them directly. Oftentimes we deal with the ad agency directly. We will, you know, deal with producers and copywriters and, and, and folks like that to, to audition their projects for them and send it to them directly animation gaming. Obviously we're dealing with producers and casting directors in that world that we oftentimes will audition here first. And then, you know, at the callback stage, they'll start to pick and choose who they like and then want to see in person.
But, you know, those are the major, you know, those are the folks that we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis. And, you know, basically they'll give us their projects, what they're looking for, and we'll give them a, you know, who he thinks right for it. And then we go from there
And I noticed on voice bank.net, I used to refer everyone there am. I used to hear my real on there. And so, but voice being done isn't around anymore. So where can people go to listen to other people's commercial and animation reels?
The voice casting hub actually has a great new service. That's, that's coming up and, and more and more producers are becoming aware of it and using it. And it's a really, it's a, it's going to be a really great kind of upgrade even from, from voice bank. Once, you know, once all their ducks are in a row, as far as what they're doing, but that's, that's, that's the next great a spot to go and, and to be able to listen to those demos and, and pick and choose off of that. And you can also go to our, you know, if you're looking at VOX talent, you can go to our website and we've got, we've got the demos up there for, and search engines that you can use depending on what you want and what you like,
And a photo of you. And Nick mentioned your bio
Very exciting. And they're very in-depth.
And then I was wondering, are there some favorite books or Talent can watch about voiceovers education?
There's a, there's a great documentary that our, to our client, John Dimaggio helped produce about five years ago. It's called, I know that voice. And, and it's, it's almost like a must-watch if you're, if you're into video, because it's, it's, it's got all the top talent in the business, which you can start to, you know, one of the fun things about it is, you know, some of your favorite characters you don't know are voiced by sounds that you're like, oh my God, they've voiced that person, that person, that, that character, like, it's, it's fascinating in that sense, but then it's also very educational because there's, you know, there's casting directors that speak to their process and how that works. And the actors themselves will tell you about how they got into the business and, you know, what, what it takes on a day-to-day basis to be a voiceover artist and whatnot.
So it's, it's, it's incredibly entertaining, but it also very invaluable to, to an artist who's looking to understand how the business works.
Very cool. And then you guys are in the Voiceover world, you're pretty well known. And you've been around for quite a while. Is there like a philosophy that you guys have, or, or an approach that you guys take? Why, why do you, what do you think it is about you that stands out and, and why have you had so much longevity? Do you,
Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. You know, and I think number one, it starts with talent. We've had great talent and we continue to, which is, you know, that step one, because, you know, if you're a nice person, you do all this stuff, it doesn't matter if the folks can't come to you and get quality in return. That's, that's what they're here for. So we've been very fortunate in that over the years that we've, we've been able to have great clients that, that we could present to the folks. And I do think, you know, and I think our philosophy is, you know, it's a, user-friendly philosophy both on the client side and on the producer side, or, you know, never upset talk to folks and, and get into things with them and, and, and try to be accessible. I think that's the, that's the toughest part these days is that with so much going on and with the speed at which everything is cooking, you know, to be able to still have that accessibility for both your buyer and client alike is very important.
And that's something we take very seriously here and, and hopefully the clients feel that way. And, and, and the buyers do, but that's a, that's a kind of a big part of what we do. And one of the reasons we're able to do that is kind of what I described before and having a smaller list, you know, and, and, and taking, you know, we're never going to be managers. That's what managers are for, but we take a little bit more of a managerial approach than maybe some other agencies do. And because of that, we're able to do some of the things that I just talked about, and it makes that, that makes that manageable. And that's just kind of the process that, that works for us and the way we want to go about doing this business. So we just try to be kind of true to ourselves and what our, you know, what we think work and, you know, so far so good. So we've been very fortunate.
Yeah. And, and I must say there's a lot of love here. I totally feel the love on all the levels. It's just, it's super healthy and there's a lot of love in that. That's awesome.
Yeah. I'd say, cause it is, it's, it's one of those things where, you know, these are, you know, these are folks you spend more time with than your family, you know, so you want to make sure that the environment is, you know, we'd say we do a business that is incredibly fast paced and there can be some stress involved certainly, but there's no reason to me to create extra stress out of nothing and then some interoffice politics or anything like that. So we've, we've been very fortunate about finding folks that, you know, agree with the way we do business and, and, and try to permeate that throughout the company. Yeah.
Yeah. And then I know you guys are always growing and expanding. Is there anything cool or interesting on the horizon for VOX? Yeah,
Sure. You know, I mean, there's, there's always, you know, there's always elements that you look at in terms of, you know, we always know that the, you know, this business is changing, you know, and, and it always is changing and that's, that's the way it should be. You try to do what you can to stay on top of things where, you know, obviously Voiceover is our bread and butter. It's what we do. So what we'll always do, but we've been able to expand into some other areas in terms of celebrity, on camera, endorsements, things, you know, social media and those types of deals. And the thing that's always been important to us is that whatever thing we start to move on to and expand to it only benefits our main core, which is the Voiceover. So there's the, it's never added an expense of that. It's only to help build relationships that can only come back and help that as well.
So those particular elements and avenues that we've, we've kind of expanded on over the last few years have been great, because it really has done nothing, but kind of, like I said, enhance those relationships in terms of Voiceover and just create more opportunities in that world. Yeah.
Yeah. And then maybe you could name a few movies or TV shows for people out there that are new or don't know a lot about the Voiceover world that they'd be able to.
Sure, sure. Well, I mean, you know, luckily most of America appears to have already recognized Incredibles two, which is, which is very, very excited about that. Our client Craig T Nelson, you know, is Mr. Incredible. So, yeah, exactly. And it's been, it's, it's, it's a great movie and it's just, it's a ton of fun. And, and obviously it was, you know, 14 years since the original and people were I think, excited and hungry for it. And, and it produced a great movie to, you know, to go with that is, has been incredibly helpful. So definitely go out and check that out. If you haven't already, that's a, that's one that we're all enjoying right now.
Cool, cool. Ironically, if someone were to hear this and they had the thought, and then they actually took the thought to another level and actually took the steps of the research and, and made proper demos and, you know, quality demos, would it be okay for them to find the VOX address and mail you a CD of their commercial and or animation reel or promo reel,
Y'all be to save everyone's money. It's, email's the best way to go about that these days you can go to our website and find the areas to go. And usually the VOX Facebook page is a great place to go and submit. If you don't know anyone that can, you know, refer you directly, you know, which is, you know, the best way to get it through to us, but we will take a listen to, you know, to demos as they come.
Okay. So maybe they could mention in the subject line, I heard you on a podcast or a TSP podcast or something, and then, and then send it to you that way that could give people an opportunity, no promises, but it can give people an opportunity
To connect with you more.
Absolutely. And then I would, I would just say, because again, again, for me, when I was brand new to this world, luckily I had, I had Kay to show me the steps. I would definitely say for people who know that they have a unique voice to really, really do the research. We live in an information age. There's so much information out there. There is free royalty, free music, you know, and, and thankfully I had somebody who was able to give me some, some music to really make it sound like a professional real, but do your research go onto YouTube, you know, and, and go onto different websites and listen to people's reels and take your time because it is a fun world. Like even when I get turned down for auditions, I never feel upset about it.
I laugh, I read these auditions and, and it's fun for me. And it is a fun world and it's a great community. And I, and I think at the key of it, that's why it's important for people to really, If you know, hi, I have unique boys. My mother tells me all the time that I should do something with it. You know, then, then take the steps, take your time, because it is a really, really, really great community,
Great point about the fact that it's all there. You know, it's all there for you and not just in the research that you can be done on online and finding out about the business itself, but, you know, watch commercials, pay more attention, you know, and watch animated movies, pay attention, you know, and get a feel for what what's working and what, what people are hiring. It's, it's, it's not a secret. It's all out there if you want to consume it. So
That's what I say too. It's like, listen to commercials. Would you be that mom, would you be like the teenager open back to school or, Hey
Mom, maybe you fit within the world, make
A list of commercials that would be good for you. And then separately animation type voices take some months to prepare the voices. And
Absolutely, absolutely. And if you're going to, the one thing I would also say too, is, you know, if you do, you know, you want to reach out to an agent or a casting director or something along those lines, and you want to present yourself, do the work first because you, again, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, like they say, so if you get, Hey, I did a couple of things online and I want to see what you think. It's probably not going to be taken very seriously, like get that demo, produce, get all that stuff taken care of so that it looks like you're serious about being in this game because it's not going to, because of the sheer volume of folks doing it these days, if you're not serious, it's not gonna have,
Yeah. I, that's a great point. I definitely, luckily going back to bill, I was able to take his group classes and I remember really not only how they helped me hone in and find my voice, but also there was a guy in one of the group sessions that I did where he went to a Voiceover class and he had studied and he had an amazing voice. And then bill goes, where did you study? And he tells me, he's like, yeah, don't ever go back there. You know? So just to go back to your original point is, is, you know, you want to, you really want to know that, you know, whoever you're working with this quality, but also really take your time because that presentation, when you reach out to people, you know, luckily I was able to connect with Alyssa. I was in Bill's studio.
She heard my voice, I took the steps and I followed up. Right. But I also didn't just say, okay, cool. I have a cool voice. And here's some music, here you go. Right. I took several months, I was taking classes and really wanted it and gratefully and thankfully I'm part of the team. So it's a very, very valid point.
Yeah. And it doesn't matter like how much money you spend. So, you know, like he said, it's the quality. Okay. So I think we're gonna wrap up here. I just two quick questions, where in the world, haven't you been yet that you really want to go?
I have not been to Ireland yet. And being an Irish lad. I, I look forward to that. It looks like I'm actually going to go in, in a, in a month or so. So I'm pretty excited. Yes. Thank you.
Okay. And then the last question is, I know you love pizza. What's one of your favorite pizza places in Los Angeles.
The other replaces is right down the street here. It's a, it's called Rocco's on a here on Wilsher. Yes, sir. Yeah. These guys, you know, new Yorkers who came over about, probably about, almost about the time I came here, they, they, the, the restaurant opened up about a year after I was at a company. It was called TGI, which has now VOX, obviously. And, and they, they literally make one of the best pizzas here in LA. It's a cause pizza can be difficult to find here at times. And I just moved, you know, down further down the south bay and I'm still searching. So it's, it's, it's tougher to find, but that's, that's one of the best places I've had here for sure.
Okay. Yama. Yeah. And then, I don't know. Have you, have you had a VOX party there,
Ox party? They're now probably not big enough, unfortunately, to, to fit, to fit everyone that would need to be in.
So yeah, I had my own dog
Spotty there about twice a week, but yeah.
Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us. See you next time. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Kyriaki, over and out.