GARY BUSEY DEMONSTRATES HOW NOT TO BOOK A VOICEOVER AUDITION

Audition critique by Harlan Hogan:

I think Gary’s sending in his Second Life avatar to audition for him — eons before Second Life had even been invented — was brilliant. God forbid the actual Mr. Busey deigned to enter a lowly foam filled cubicle and — gasp! — take direction.

I did, however, find the foreshadowing of the future hit, FOREST GUMP, intriguing. With his vitrolic, “This is stupid, man…” he proved long before the phrase became mainstream that — as mama always said —Stupid is as Stupid does. Well done, Gar’.

It is intriguing how actors used to have a pecking order — theatre or film at the top, followed by TV, radio and then lowest of the low: commercials. One day they all discovered the pyramid was reversed. That was the day the journeyman and women voice actors took it up the….Well, you get the point.

Audition critique by Nancy Wolfson:

If you are a celebrity, when a you get called in for an audition, there’s
probably something about your natural core brand voice that is why they called in YOU and not the celebrity alphabetically above or below you on their celebrity roster.

They’re not calling in Ian McKellen to do truck reads; they’re calling in YOU, because something about your brand is already right for the quality of genetic flavor (pitch/rasp) and there’s something about your general disposition/demeanor that your agent and the casting folks think is already close to the attitude necessary in the script.

Relax, dig in for the writer’s intent and ascertain a clear understanding of the story you and your words are telling. Consider, as the narrator, the technical elements you need to control given the context in which you are telling it (those factors govern your choices on volume and pacing)

Actually, it’s funny how NOT arrogant many celebrities are. It’s not always the case that they feel they’re too good to be doing commercials  but sometimes (and I can’t say for sure here) they feel a great respect for the various areas of performance that are out there and knowing they might not have proper training for this area of performance, they sometimes fall into the same insecurity traps that beginning VO talent succumb to when they are nervous. Different folks manifest nerves in different ways, that’s for sure.

You are enough.

Break down the copy, and trust your brand.