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CAREER
The Difference Between 'Urgent' & 'Important'
Makes A Difference In Your VO Career
February 14, 2018

By Hugh Klitzke
Casting Director and Coach

In the world of training, building skills and auditioning, I think we should talk about this.

Author and blogger Seth Godin writes:
"A six-year-old who throws a tantrum and refuses to go to school is escalating into the urgent. Going to school every day is important. Mollifying an angry customer is urgent, building systems and promises that keep customers from getting angry is important."
He goes further:
"If you take care of important things, the urgent things don't show up as often. The opposite is never true."
Let's take that to voice-over.
  • An audition is urgent AND important - but urgency gets in the way.  
  • Practicing to be comfortable using new equipment is important. Not urgent. But being comfortable with equipment and recording will make your auditions better by removing the pitfall of urgency.
See the difference?
  • Taking a class is important. Not urgent.
  • Internalizing feedback from an instructor, working to apply notes to your overall read, organizing your process for auditioning separate from auditioning itself… that is important. Not urgent.  
Feel the difference?

All of the important work will make the urgency of the audition process feel better, and allow you to make the audition feel important and doable rather than urgent and anxiety ridden.  

EMOTION CREEPS IN ...

But here's the rub. Urgent is charged with emotion.

That's what makes it attractive and exciting. Important is cooler and sometimes drudgery.

So, important can feel like it's taking something away from the excitement of urgency.  

And that is the real challenge: do you want to go from the anxiety of urgent moment to urgent moment? Many people do. And they don't last. Ever.

Or do you want to do the steady, specific and important work every day all the time? Audition by audition. Skill by transferable skill.  

Do you want your life's work to be a zero sum game or a game of one plus one plus one? It's up to you.
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ABOUT HUGH
Hugh P. Klitzke is studio manager and voice casting director for a leading bi-coastal talent agency, who in more than a decade has directed over 115,000 auditions for all voice over genres. Based in New York City, he is also a coach specializing in teaching voice over for actors, and blogs at voiceoverfortheactor.com, a twice-weekly blog with helpful voice acting tips.  

Web: www.hughpklitzke.com
Email: VO4TA@voiceoverfortheactor.com
Blog: www.voiceoverfortheactor.com

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Comments (1)
MIKE HARRIS
3/7/2018 at 7:19 PM
Excellent information. The real work is put in long before the audition.
As a new narrator, I appreciate you.

Thanks

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