I apologize in advance for the length of this blog.  As you all know, I am ecstatic over my win of the 6 month premium subscription to Voice123.  I chose to post on my wall an explanation for those who still didn’t understand what my prize was, or why I was needing “likes.”  Here’s what I wrote:

For those who didn’t know or understand what the contest I was going for was: I use a very well respected voice over job site called Voice123. It’s subscription based and my subscription ends the day after Christmas. I was struggling to find a way to pay to renew as they only do it by year. So you all helped me put off that bill for six months while continuing to audition for voice over jobs through their site. Thank you again soooooo much!

Underneath, I received this post:

Thankfully it didn’t burst my bubble.  I had already read this piece.  Digress for one moment.  The blog where I explained my initial decision to not move to Los Angeles but rather pursue a voiceover career from where I am via the Internet, can be found in my blog, “Hello?  Echo!  Echo!!”   Next, my decision and research on why subscribe to a service like Voice123, can be found in my blog, “To subscribe or not to subscribe… that certainly is a question.”  Notice the word “research” in that sentence.  I go into nothing blind.  I in fact read Mike Vaughn’s blog as part of that research.  I put his negative comments in the negative pile and other blogs’ positives in the positive pile. 

To extremely nutshell what those two blogs will tell you is that the world of voiceover is changing.  Being in this business these days is less about being in LA and more about being online.  And based on the pros and cons of everyone’s experiences being fairly equal on the scale, I chose to try it for myself and not base my future on other people’s experiences.  I would do one service for one year, especially if I could get a free trial of the premium subscription first.  Voice123 was the first to offer me that, so they are the one I am spending the year with.  For further reading on where I believe both the negative and positive comments on Voice123 come from, please read my blog, “It works if you work it.”

Now, Mike Vaughn is able to leave a comment on my post based on the fact that he is my friend on Facebook.  I have not met him in person.  He popped up in the “people you might know” window on FB right after my reading his blog.  I wondered why and we had two friends, a couple, in common.  I had read a couple other entries from his blog and sent him a message saying that I was enjoying his blog and we had friends in common.  I told him to add me as a friend if he would like to commiserate on acting or LA life.

He will probably unfriend me at this point, but I chose to write this blog in response to his blog for one simple reason.  The only thing he’s ever said to me since becoming my “friend” in October, well, actually is still nothing.  He simply posted a link to his opinion on a site that I said I currently use and am happy to subscribe to.  From that link, the very beginning of his blog entry stated,

“So, if you’re a voice talent who loves these sites and you’re kicking ass, then hats off to you. It’s just not my thing…”

If it’s hats off to me, then why are you pushing your opinion on me?  So as someone who has been with Voice123 for two months now, does not work for the company, and is not related to the site in any way other than job seeker, here are my unsolicited opinions on his “no holds barred opinions” on the service.

His blog itself is titled, “How NOT to make it: notes from a working actor.”  I looked him up on IMDB and yes he has agents and yes, he’s worked as an actor both live and voice.  The blog entry was titled, “Trust me, Voice123, you really don’t want my opinion.”  This blog began from a simple follow up letter asking for feedback based on the fact that he had remained a Standard Member (free) rather than upgrading to Premium.

The following is information I would like to share in favor of the service based on the negative feedback from a person who voluntarily signed up for the site yet doesn’t remember having a membership, and doesn’t “use, pay, or book with.”  He responded in four points to that original letter from Voice123.

 ”Your service isn’t all that helpful for voice talent with agents and managers. We get plenty of auditions, all of which we can trust are legit and will pay when booked.”

That may be true.  But he is one of the lucky actors to have an agent.  And on top of that, I’m not sure but from his own bio he said that he is ”a former copywriter and producer who got into this whole voiceover thing by accident.”  I may be wrong, but since that’s the only bio I could find between his blog, website, and IMDb, I’m going to assume that he was a working actor first and that’s how he stumbled into voice?  I’m not sure if this is true, but the few voiceover actors I know that are actors as well had that luck.

In any case, as just a voice actor, it’s not as easy to find an agent.  For some of us, we are on our own looking for work.  I don’t have the “plenty of auditions” coming my way as there are barriers for those without an agent.  And quite simply, from lots of research, I believe that the postings are legitimate and have only heard one payment horror story so far, and that person continues to use the service.

“Your service is WAY overpriced.”

Well, yes, I was excited to win a free six months so that I would have time to save up for the year membership.  But that isn’t because I feel it is overpriced.  About half of the auditions I’ve submitted have had payouts that would pay for a year with one small job.   That being said, I know going in that breaking even justifies trying it for a year for me.  Notice I did say it justifies it for me.  I don’t believe anyone should sign up for Voice123 without trying the Premium for free for a month.  And yes!  They have that available.  You just need to be referred by someone who is a member.  Happily if you’ve stumbled across this blog, I can refer you.  After that, my suggestion from my previous blogs still holds true.  I say try it for a year.  In that time, you will accurately judge whether or not the service is working for you.  There’s no reason to suggest people don’t try something that may ultimately work for them.  There are plenty of people the site works for.  I will find out this year if I am one of them.

“the numerous active entry-level talent with very limited abilities listed within Voice123, combined with clients posting little-to-no pay jobs, including paying jobs that are consistently well below fair market rates, associating my name on your site actually devalues my accomplishments as an actor”

This one is hard to argue as it hardly makes sense.  Yes they have clients with limited experience as well as agent represented working all the time clients, union and non, but they do have a screening process.  I believe they are pretty good at weeding people out as they don’t want to be associated with mediocre talent either.  We, the talent, represent the service, Voice123. 

I’m not sure that the rates are below market, but I also am non-union and have been self employed in real world jobs (as in not Hollywood style) for about 15 years now.  For me, if I feel like the money is fair for what I’m doing, I’m okay with it.  Yes, a handful of jobs are like $25-50 dollars because they are student projects or non-profits.  I don’t know what you have on your resume, but all of the work I’ve done as an actor in student projects or voiceover for non-profits, I’ve been paid zip.  So if they want to throw a few bones at me, I’m going to take it.  That being said, the average job I audtition for is $150-300.   For the amount of script they’re asking me to read (meaning very little), that doesn’t seem like below market.  But again, I’m non-union so this is me just basing my thoughts on what I feel my time to be worth.  Not to mention, if you don’t want to do a $25 job, just don’t audition for it.  It’s frankly that simple.

But to say that a person is somehow soiling their name by associating with either those voiceover artists or the employers that hire them, is just ridiculous.  If you don’t have a profile there, you are not associated with the talent or seekers.  Simple.  Side bar, when exploring the “see friendship” option in FB, I noticed Mike and I both “like” Voice123.com.  Hmmm.  I’ll leave it at hmmm.

Finally he ends with this:

“I’m hearing more and more stories of clients trying out Voice123, not digging the results, and heading back to trusted agents and managers. I could only imagine the headache of filtering thru hundreds of mediocre auditions as a broadcast producer versus the option of calling a few trusted talent agents and getting them filtered a bit more thoroughly.”

See point one.  No really.  It’s not that easy to just go out and “head back to trusted agents and managers.”  I don’t have one.  I haven’t met one.  And I enjoy going through the auditions to find the ones I feel suit me out of the ones the automated system feels suits me.  It’s being my own boss.  Taking my career into my own hands.  Cutting out the middle man.  And doing it all through a service I trust.

After two months, no I have not booked a gig yet.  And I’m fully aware that in one year, I may decide the service didn’t work for me.  But it won’t be because I didn’t give it the effort.  And if I don’t continue with them, it doesn’t mean others shouldn’t try.  Every voice actor is unique…. like a snowflake.  We all have our own reason for doing it.  Every one of us got our start somewhere different.  And everything works for everyone differently.   Some people are going to find an agent easily and work constantly in a major metropolitan city, and others are going to make a decent living, happy to be using their voice, finding their own work and living somewhere random.  There is no right method.  There is only try, fail, and then try something else.  And no closed door means the end.  There’s always another to open.

I stand by my blog and my decisions.  And I would hope that anyone who would challenge me on them would have the decency to at least read about the journey from my earlier blog posts.  Mike Vaughn, if you read this, the bottom line is just that your opinion is your opinion.  And this is just my opinion but I’m just pointing out that my facts are based on my own trial and error.  You haven’t tried the service, so I don’t think you should advise people based on hearsay that you have from friends in the business.  I’m off the soapbox now.  And happily, off to audition for six more months.