The voice actor's daily success resource · since 2007
New voice actors often need to supplement their income. Some supporting jobs may be too demanding or distracting, but the right “side hustles” can even enrich your VO career as well as help pay the bills, notes VO pro/coach Kim Handysides. Here are her suggestions of 20 VO-related and freelance companion jobs – along with tips for avoiding burnout!
California AB 5 – the new law that appears to classify voice actors as company employees, rather than as independent contractors – has some folks in a jitter. Consider: What starts in CA often sweeps the US. But voice actor / CA attorney Peter J. Marx advises calm, detailing here the basics of the new law, and what he believes will happen …
Voice over freelancers are paid in a myriad of ways (or sometimes, not at all). VO pro Dave Courvoisier vents about four compensation scenarios that can drive us crazy …
Last Friday night, at the start of the holiday weekend, VO pro Rob Marley receives a job offer from one of the largest telecom companies in the world. A 2-minute voice-over. ASAP … for HOW MUCH?
Are you charging clients what you’re worth as a voice actor? A recent article by voice actor Lynne Darlington – in which a VO client pointed out a wage gap for female voice talent – generated lots of buzz online, including a perspective that male VO’s also short-change themselves on the value they bring to the microphone. In case you missed the comments posted directly on Lynne’s article, please read them below. They could be important to your own bottom line …
Worried about the VO male/female wage gap? After booking and voicing a VO job recently, voice-over and on-camera actor Lynne Darlington learned from the client that the majority of female voice talent had submitted far lower audition price quotes for the job than male talent. The client – a woman – considered this “insulting to our gender” and even ignored the lowball quote auditions. The wage gaps seems self-inflicted …
A VoiceOverXtra reader has three taxing questions – about the W9 and 1099 forms, how to estimate taxes, filing and more. So we turned to VO biz expert Tom Dheere for the answers you might need, too …
One of the most stressful, awkward and difficult things for most voice-over talent to deal with is negotiating rates. “We probably struggle with this one issue more than any other regarding our business,” says VO pro Dan Hurst. But no more. Follow Dan’s 6 tips on negotiating and you’ll even cement client relationships …
When you record voice-overs for an organization or a client at no charge – are you doing this “pro bono” or simply working for free? There’s a big difference between the two, explains VO pro/coach Tom Dheere. Treat “pro bono” as a business, he says. And as for working for free (get ready for “tough love”) …
One of the most important things you can do to ensure a smooth voice-over booking experience is to communicate your Change Request Policy to your client BEFORE you start recording, says VO pro/coach Tom Dheere. Here’s a glimpse of what Tom tells his clients …