Auditioning How Do You Know if You Should Audition or Not?
Time is finite.
It has been said that time is one of life’s great equalizers. We all, without exception, are granted 24 hours each day.
Even so, professional voice actors find themselves invited to more auditions than they can possibly do (or do well) on a daily basis.
How do you determine what you should audition for versus which auditions you should pass on?
We’ve created a handy dandy audition flow chart to help you decide which auditions to pursue and why in today’s VOX Daily. Click through for the downloadable PDF!
To Audition or Not to Audition? That is the Question!
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to submit for casting calls from every which direction, or to take arms against a sea of auditions, and using flow charts, vet them?
While I would love to sit and wax poetic and write this entire post in Iambic Pentameter, I must abstain. Doing so would be using my time less effectively, I’d get this post out late and might miss out on things requiring my attention.
Knowing how to prioritize auditions has always been a challenge for voice talent who see copy, read sides and think, “Yeah, I could do that!” Part of being a creative soul is that you see opportunity in almost everything, even if the results don’t amount to much other than self-gratification as an artist. Just one more song, just five more minutes going over the part…
As mentioned earlier, time is limited but can “be on our side” so to speak when used effectively.
Getting Time On Your Side
Does anyone here not want to be more productive? Audition less yet enjoy greater results?
Necessity is the mother of Invention. That being the case, our team has developed a tool for voice talent to help them decide, on an audition-by-audition basis, which roles, projects, or castings are ideal to submit for versus which ones can (and likely should) be left alone.
I’m going to break it down for you here on the blog and also supply a link to where you can download the flow chart for personal use. Savvy?
VoiceMatch
Your VoiceMatch score factors in when you audition. Clients receive auditions in order of highest VoiceMatch score to lowest VoiceMatch score. Wisdom on this side of the glass suggests that you should audition only for jobs where you have a 90% VoiceMatch score or higher. We’ve found that over 80% of the talent hired through the site are in such company, that is to say, they have had a score of 90% or better.
If you have a VoiceMatch score of say 85%, you’re close but are not quite hitting the plateau. That isn’t to say that talent with VoiceMatch scores less than 90% should discard opportunities entirely but the odds of a client making their way deeper into the list of submissions decreases given that the auditions listed higher in their results are matched more closely to their requirements.
Responses
There’s a myth I’d like to dispel concerning the timing of auditions in relation to being considered. Some talent believe, and this may be the case with other services, that if you’re not one of the first 30-50 people to audition there’s no hope of being heard.
The number of people auditioning at Voices and even the speed they are auditioning at has little bearing in terms of the order in which auditions appear. Put another way, VoiceMatch is your friend and helps to quickly determine if auditioning is worth your time. The higher your score, the higher you will appear on the list of submitted auditions. The score is determined by the information in your Voices profile in relation to the requirements of a client’s job posting.
All this said, if there are over 100 people who have auditioned, you might want to think twice before submitting, even if you have a higher score.
Although VoiceMatch score does help a great deal, it is first-come first-served within the confines of an individual VoiceMatch score. What I mean by that is if you have a 100% VoiceMatch score but others who also have a 100% VoiceMatch score submit their auditions before you, your audition will appear after theirs in the order of auditions received from the grouping of talent who have a 100% VoiceMatch score.
Job Requirements
Are you able to fulfill the client’s artistic and technical requirements? VoiceMatch scores aside, some of the criteria a client has may be more specific and go beyond what our systems can match for.
At this stage, you’ve got to think like an agent and evaluate opportunities at this level objectively. To do this, you have to know your voice and its capabilities. Be honest with yourself both in terms of your artistry and technical skill. You will also need to balance this information with your own personal interests and desire to pursue the opportunity should you meet the project’s artistic and technical requirements.
This area may very well be one of the hardest for talent to master because everything looks so good! Every role, script, and project presents fresh opportunities, copy, and inspiration to tackle. Let’s not forget though that time is finite. With this truth in mind, you may need to pass on opportunities that look like fun but may not at this juncture be income-generating.
Job Budget
Like any good businessperson, you’ll need to consider whether or not the actual doing of the work within the client’s budget is in line with the fees you would charge for the job. In other words, would you be able to cover your own costs doing the job at the rate a client has stated or within their budget range?
Although it may seem like this would be a pretty cut-and-dry consideration, even seasoned voice over professionals may be interested in a job that might have a budget lower than what they would typically work for and struggle with whether or not they should submit. Sometimes a piece of work strikes a chord with you and the budget plays second fiddle to your personal interest and desire. Ultimately, it’s your call.
Time
Lastly, do you have the time to devote to the work? Are you able to send in a read for consideration? Check your calendar! Time is one of those limited resources. If a client needs the work to be done by a certain date, you need to have an opening in your schedule that accommodates that need. This is of particular importance for jobs where a client participates in the creative process.
If you can’t complete the recording or have it delivered by the time a client requires it, this is one of those situations where it is better to err on the side of caution and pass on the audition. Not all jobs require that you are working at a certain time of day but some do, especially if it is an ISDN session or one where you need to be directed.
Download Voices’s Audition Flow Chart Now
To get your own, full-size copy of Voices’s Audition Flow Chart, click on the link below. Feel free to print it out and keep it close to your computer for quick reference:
Audition Flow Chart
Let me know if you’ve found this helpful!
With warm regards,
David
Comments
Excellent. Thanks.
Thanks. This was very helpful information.
Very helpful Stepanie! Thank you.
A question comes to mind:
If the match is 100%, there is artistic connection to the script, yet + 100 have responded; is it worth it to submit near the end of the deadline? Is it possible to be just what they have been listening for, but have yet to find?
(All other points being agreeable; budget, timing, etc.)
Thank you. I am new and have over 175 auditions completed. I think this flow chart will help with time management. The earliest auditions, and all of them, are good practice when one is building skills!
Also, while I am at it, those feedback notes and thumbs up really do help critical evaluation and self-improvement.
Thanks very much.
Kathy
Hi Kathy,
Thank you for your comment and question!
If you have a 100% VoiceMatch score and over 100 people have already auditioned, you could submit. That said, you’ll be toward the end of the talent who have scores in that bracket and you don’t quite know how many people also matched 100%. At this juncture, I would say it’s up to you. If I were in your shoes, I think I would submit. You never know how many auditions someone might be willing to listen to before casting.
Take care,
Stephanie