Last week I got a call from a woman who is thinking of attending this year’s Summit.
I’ll change the name of her market to “San Diego.” (You wouldn’t be able to identify her even if I named the actual city, but I don’t want to embarrass her.)
She said, “There are no well-known female voices in San Diego, so I think there’s a big opportunity for me here.”
I told her I know a couple of very successful female VO artists in San Diego. In fact, one of them is a Repeat Offender and already has registered for this year’s Summit.
“Oh,” she said. “Then maybe I shouldn’t come.”
I told her the obvious:
• There’s enough work in San Diego for more than one (or two or three) good VO artists.
• With the Internet, her competition is not San Diego VO talent but VO talent from around the world.
Then I tried to explain something that might not be so obvious to someone who hasn’t yet “made it” in voiceovers:
She should attend not only to learn from the Big Shot guest speakers but, more importantly, to learn from her fellow attendees.
Including the female VO people.
Including the other San Diego female VO attendee.
Successful voiceover people tend to be exceptionally generous in sharing their knowledge with others — even when the “others” are their direct competitors.
SIDEBAR: I’m talking about the ones who have real talent and truly are successful. I’ve heard consistently dreadful stories about one L.A. VO performer who is slightly well-known because she got one high-profile gig — a straight announcing job that requires no real performance skills.
But despite the one high-profile gig, she’s not very good. She can’t win auditions. She doesn’t get a lot of work.
And….
When budding voice actors (mistakenly thinking this woman has “made it”) approach her for advice, she treats them with haughty disdain.
Okay, back to the truly successful VO people….
During one Summit panel session of superstar voice actors, one of them talked about the time he was auditioning for a part that required a particular accent — which he didn’t know how to do.
The guy sitting next to him, waiting to audition “against” him, said, “Oh, it’s easy. Let me show you a quick trick….” And he taught the panelist — his competitor for that job — how to do the accent!
For years I couldn’t understand this phenomenon. The voiceover biz is extremely competitive. Why are so many of its star performers so friendly with people who are trying to land “their” jobs?
I live in L.A., and I can tell you that actors certainly aren’t known for such generosity. (But I can tell you some great stories about actors deliberately screwing up their competitors’ auditions.)
Finally, a few years ago at another Summit session, Steve Morris explained it.
(Among numerous stellar credits, Steve voices many of April Winchell’s brilliant commercials, including the “Snow Summit” and “Ortho” commercials you might have heard me play at one of my seminars.)
I’m paraphrasing from memory, but Steve said something very much like this:
“It’s like if you go to the 7-11 to buy a lottery ticket, and you see some other guy buying a lottery ticket, too. You don’t turn to him and say, ‘You bastard!’ For any given audition, the odds are neither of you is going to get it.”
That’s what I tried to explain to the woman from San Diego.
Talent Is Not A Zero Sum Game.
When you’re good and you know it, you’re not paranoid about sharing your “secrets” (as if there are any) with others. You’re too busy trying to learn new things that other people already have discovered, so you can continue to improve your craft.
I learned this a long time ago:
If you have a dollar and I have a dollar, and we trade dollars…We each end up with one dollar.
But if you have an idea and I have an idea, and we trade ideas…We each end up with two ideas.
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This story also illustrates Dan himself. Here is a guy who for far more years than he might want to think anyone is counting has given of himself. Seems the more he gives, the more successful he has become. Strange that when you give away that which you pay for, it doesn’t lose value but gain it. This story – and Dan’s example – should give us all an idea of how to become better. Share! Goodness, it’s almost biblical. Thank you Dan for all you have done to improve radio.
chris w.:
I had to ask a veteran blogger friend what to do here.
I wanted to thank you for the very kind words (except the part that suggests I must be incredibly old).
But I didn’t want to turn this into a self-aggrandizing blog.
But not responding seemed ungracious.
My veteran blogger friend said, “Go ahead and thank the person. Meanwhile, your friends know what a jerk you really are.”
So…Thanks for the kind words.
I’ve also found that the most talented and successful voice actors and radio gurus are the ones who are the most generous and humble toward us newbies.
I started out learning under some regional people who taught me good exercises and techniques, but their egos had some pretty sharp edges.
Learning more recently from people like you, Dan and from others like Candi Milo, Chuck Blore and Pat Fraley, I can really see the difference working with people who love the medium and their craft, are secure in their level of success and want to help emerging talent avoid mistakes and the hazards of the business so we too can create excellent audio.
And how lucky a duck am I? I get to workshop with Pat Fraley in Hartford this weekend. 🙂
Here, Here!! I couldn’t agree more. In a different context, print and cable and radio often compete against one another for the same client. I have always believed–although I have yet to find a print or cable person brave enough to put it into practice–that if you approached a client with a comprehensive media plan that included all of the above, and was coordinated to work together to achieve the best results for a client.
I’ve written spots for clients to use on stations other than my own. Am I crazy–the jury is still deliberating that one.
Nancy:
I get to workshop with Pat Fraley in Hartford this weekend.
Which just happens to be my hometown.
Eerie, huh? (Please, save yourself the effort of saying, “No,that’s a town in Pennsylvania.”)
Dan,
Your closing illustration is such an excellent summation of your larger point. Excellent thoughts. Thank you.
Be well,
Bob