Booking a freelance voiceover ain’t so hard!

Hello friends!

It’s been a cold, busy winter here in my neck of the woods. Keeping the ol’ voice warm with LOTS of green tea, plenty of hilarious mum jokes (really! just ask my kids!), and too many snacks.

So, you wanna know how, exactly, to book a freelance voice actor for your project?

The simple answer: email me. I’ll email you back. It’ll be the beginning of a beautiful thing.

Uh… not like that.

The longer answer:

You may, especially if you’re in Australia, be a little confused or wary about booking a voice artist directly. The industry here is only just beginning to change much from the standard industry procedure of the past, which is that most acting and voice acting work is booked through talent agents.

The same was true in most of the world, but about a decade ago there were big changes in Europe and the USA, with voiceover becoming more of a freelance, entrepeneur-based profession. This of course had a lot to do with the necessary equipment becoming more available and more affordable, as well as the capabilities of home studios and our favourite friend, the internet.

Progress has been a little slower Down Under. We haven’t had great internet, by world standards, and I guess people were just still happy doing things the old way. So it’s only been the last few years that many voice actors have joined our overseas colleagues with a primarily freelance-based work structure. We still have talent agents, for sure, and they are delicious people that we love to bits. They work hard for their talent and their clients. My Aotearoa (New Zealand) agent, Sarah at BigMouth Voices, is a delight. But, many of us mainly work through this fabulous thing called direct bookings.

So, like I said, email me. It’s definitely no more difficult than emailing a talent agent. You could even call me on the phone, and that has the added bonus of hearing my voice live while you decide how fabulous I really am. 🙂

All you need to do is answer these easy-peasy questions:

– What is the voiceover for? Is it for a TV commercial, an audiobook, a game or animation character, a training video, an eLearning course, a bananagram for your aunty’s 96th birthday… ? (No I don’t know what that is, either.)

Ask these guys.

– How long is it? 30 seconds, 15 minutes, 47000 words, 150 words? Length of time is more helpful for commercials and corporate video; word count is more helpful for eLearning or audiobooks.

– Where will it be used? Local TV, national radio, internal training for a company, youtube, the kiosk in your second-cousin’s flatmate’s aunty’s snack bar…

– And for how long? 3 months, a year, 2 years, or until the company gets tired of it?

et voila!

I love me some helpful info, and you’ll love you a tidy, efficient quote and timeframe.

And oh, honestly, I’m not just talking about me. I ain’t the only Australian voice actor out here. I have some wonderful Aussie VO colleagues and they would love to hear from you too.

So now you know how simple it is, don’t be wary! Be not afraid! Us freelancer voice artists are keen as beans to hear from you.