Season 2 Episode 3 - Rollercoaster

To be a Voice Actor it takes: 10% talent 30% business and marketing 60% steely mindset

Ok, so we’ve made these figures up to illustrate our point, but this is what it can feel like sometimes.

From the extreme highs of awards and winning coveted jobs, to the lows of just missing out on your dream role or a worryingly quiet couple of months. Then all of the smaller undulations in between; picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, driving yourself forward and trying not to vomit along the way.

For this weeks’ episode we were extremely honoured to be joined by illustrious Voice Actors Annie Warburton and Anthony Hewson as we discuss the rollercoaster that is voice acting.

We also go pretty off topic and Ant talks about his bottom for a while.

Definitely not an episode to be missed.

Check out the episode wherever you like to listen to your podcast OR watch the mayhem on our YouTube channel! If you’re enjoying the show please like and subscribe and share with all your VO mates x

Transcript

ladies and gentlemen welcome to another episode of the off a voiceover podcast uh it gives me enormous pleasure

to say that we have two fantastic voiceovers uh colleagues friends there I

say now we’ve you know we’ve known each other for a long time H Annie and Anthony thank you so much for coming on today pleasure than having us we’ve uh

i’ as those of you listening will know I’ve said many many times I have had an ambition to try and get you know a couple of different voiceovers on at the

same time and I’m so thrilled that we’ve managed to do it today new format new screen I was so excited I am going to

say though like if it goes wrong we are going to blame them so this is it might be the last time we are friends I want

full credit for your ratings dropping um and we’ll give it you that’s right

that’s good please please divert all complaints this way I could do with some incoming email

Jesus just as well so just to um clarify so yeah again change situ well change

environment so I’m back in the UK and um where I’m staying the cottage has no

internet there’s no Wi-fi so I’ve been using 4G to power my laptop like you

know Hotpot in it and it’s absolutely obliterated Meda plan [ __ ] so one so

then what I did was then I went on you know BT Wi-Fi do those like Hots spot plans you can get like a day pass or whatever cuz it’s Countryside so I

wasn’t expecting much I bought a day pass checked it and the the internet

speed was like 9 megabytes I was like this is does not can’t work so

thankfully my aunt she’s only up the road she’s got highed internet I was like

okay so yeah no Studio but Max they have a great uh microphone thing so uh this

has got to be how I’m doing my episode today so apologies it’s not studio quality but hopefully it’s it’s it’s

salvageable let let’s just say that yeah I’m sure it’ be fine yeah oh it’s really exciting so on this

episode so I’m bit nervous about this episode because um it was something that I thought about doing and I feel a bit

vulnerable talking about it but and also like I might come across like a massive knob um which is a concern I’m sure you

so the Box Awards came out this week and I was massively honored to be nominated

for female voiceover performance of the year which is [ __ ] amazing and I’m

thrilled but I also feel a bit numb and a bit um in shock disbelief all those

things and I’ve talked a bit about this with Mikey before and and I’ve talked about loads of EOS and how so often we

have these feelings and I I know people say like oh you being modest but I know

I know I’m not going to win and that’s okay I’m just really grateful to be nominated but I know that if by some

miracle I did win I would absolutely feel like I don’t deserve it and I’d be stood there being

like Oh I shouldn’t be here and like when I was skiing through the list of names and I saw my name on that I was

like what what is happening but I know that I’m not alone in this feeling and I

wanted to talk about it with you guys to see to talk about it and maybe you don’t share those feelings but I suspect that

you might share those feelings because you think we’re [ __ ] as

well and I was it was going to be too serious this episode and knew the right guy to get

on Jo it’s funny you said that because me and Anthony joke sometimes well like in the same category oh forget it not

chance yeah yeah I think isn’t it I think getting that high when you find

out you’re nominated and then all the Imposter syndrome creeping in is just such a normal thing and I think you kind

of just not going to overthink it and feel bad if you feel a bit numb or like

you say a bit worried about you know if you do win how you feel what would you say you know all that kind of stuff I

think I think overthinking is the killer well probably but like yeah I

mean well that’s very true but we Mikey and I were saying it’s it’s amazing how many voiceover artists announced their

nomination by saying they’re in disbelief or whatever and obviously there could be the side where they’re no

one’s going to say oh yeah completely expected this you have to listen let’s let’s call it for it you have to play The Humble game you’re not going to go

I’m so [ __ ] rights DN right I got nominated I’d love

to see a bit more of that like you know like I work really hard I deserve this but I I haven’t seen that yet are you

like disappointed with how you feel like the come down from getting the nomination is that what I think I’m

still in shock maybe it just doesn’t feel real and there’s so many amazing people on on that list and you just you

don’t feel worthy it’s just this I don’t know like I hoped this was an aspiration of mine 100% And I wanted to work

towards it I’m just surprised I’m just genuinely surprised that it’s happened and so soon and it’s a bit like what I

don’t know maybe it’s just shock I don’t know all I would say I mean you’ve been nominated before Jen haven’t you yeah I

have yeah so uh did is your level of disbelief and shock this time around

similar to last time or more um I mean I’ve always been a bit shocked but probably more now I would say um I

didn’t I so with the one voice Awards last this year I put myself forward and wasn’t nominated for anything and um

again wasn’t expecting to be but still was disappointed and I think that Mikey and I were saying as well that you you

can’t help it but after the awards nominations come out social media is

just rif with all the so if you haven’t been nominated then it’s it’s a toxic

place to be isn’t it yeah you need 48 hours away from social media Tim I’d give it a good half a week yeah

yeah yeah and you definitely have that oh I’m so place for you oh I really wish that I had that yeah but here’s the

thing right obviously there is there is always um a huge amount of humility

because and just kind of just stress as well this isn’t an episode to talk all about Award nominations it’s largely about the and we have dabbled in the

mental health side of things a little bit but we want to go into it a bit more because there is so much that goes into

the the Peaks and the troughs whether that is an award nomination booking a job not booking a job Etc and it’s

fascinating to hear other people’s you know sort of interpretations that but what I was going to say

was I’ve lost my thought what was I going to say I shouldn’t do that this is why I don’t this is why I shouldn’t side

quest because I have a point I do a quick side quest and I forgot where the main road is so you going to talk like

more generally like in voice over just have that self belief don’t to pick

ourselves yeah I think what I was going to say was like we we kind of we work towards bettering ourselves and we we

try to you know if we’ve got a passion for doing this job we try and improve ourselves so if we do get a nomination

what sometimes think where does that self-sabotage come from because we strive to be better we strive to do a

great piece of work so when somebody goes we actually really liked it it’s like really it’s a weird phenomenon like

you know me like if you’re if you’re I don’t know a track runner and you’re trying to get your best time and then

you get it and someone goes oh well done you go really it’s like it’s there in black and white you hard work is I don’t

know if they would do that I mean the whole stereotype about actors is like you know we’re needed load of [ __ ]

and that we always need that external validation but there’s no other industry that seem to have that reputation that

that’s you know that we crave that it might be true in other in other areas like artist you know artists true

cretive yeah but I think generally creative is right um yeah music as well

um but I think there’s there’s perhaps with the exception of art nothing else that’s quite as subjective potentially

you know when you’re asked to oh yeah true when you’re asked to put something into these award categories and particularly now over the last couple of

years they only allow one entry per genre yeah so you couldn’t go well I’ve

done three blinding commercials uh I’m going to enter all three of them yeah you got to choose them you I think

that’s a good idea actually I think that’s that it’s a good idea but you do sit there going well how the [ __ ] am I

supposed to tell which of these this is this one is more interesting this is less me so therefore is it more

surprising you know see you’re you’re left with this dilemma yeah you guessing what they might like with with any

audition aren’t you you’re guessing what they want sometimes yeah EXA like auditions so we have that dilemma all

the time give us your first take oh that’s not what we had in mind at all you useless piece of [ __ ] um also with I

think also with Vox like their thing of the like the last year and this year is

like human performances so I think that kind of guided me as to what I was going to

send um yeah I think that’s quite helpful actually cuz you kind of know roughly what kind of performance there

after but um yeah is a I found I found that a lot of work these days I said I

was having a a conversation with someone on LinkedIn a couple of days ago and um they were saying about how a lot of

performances now and I I could relate to it that they they are leaning on a human emotive performance like you still have

your run-of-the-mill generic stuff that needs to have a certain sound but the need for more natural human speak that

people can relate to I found has gone up so then obviously now you’ve got award categories that lean into that as well

um you know I think it’s I think it’s I like the way they’ve changed it I think it’s a good shift that they’ve done and

I think it is it makes it just feel a bit different from one voice as well unless I mean unless they change change one voice but it just feel like there’s

a different uh slight different slant on the awards yeah in my opinion anyway

yeah so okay so we we obviously we talk now we’ve moved over here so just to uh

we’ve had to move over just a clarification had to move over to zoom because there’s a couple of connection issues so we’re going again from here so

one thing I didn’t say at the very beginning to the both of you how how has your summer been how’s the last few weeks been how you we God we are bad at

this we’re bad hosts have a drink settle in how have you been oh we’re very well it’s nice of

you to ask um

yeah wanna go first and say how your Summer’s been yeah absolutely it was it was glorious it was like Perfection it

was like swimming in money um no it was it was wank

um as in the summer itself didn’t start till mid what July so I spent yeah so I

spent June and early July just angry um because it was still still [ __ ] winter um and then and then um

sort of incoming work fell off the cliff a bit so yeah same here so a couple of

months of sitting there going uh me maybe it’s not just Me

Maybe May hopefully oh my God what am I going to do yeah you know it’s a weird

phenomena because I went through exactly the same thing and although it doesn’t fix or change anything there is a

tremendous relief when you see other people say they’re experiencing the quiet patch as well it’s like yes okay

I’ve not done something wrong I’m not alienated all my clients it’s just it’s just a seasonal thing that comes and

goes all the time but yeah yeah I felt a bit of Solace from finding out that I wasn’t the only one for sure is it can I

ask then someone who’s not as experienced as you guys is it like this every summer or was it this summer particularly bad I had a similar summer

last year so I Was preparing myself for it I had a really good June and I was like wow if it carries on like this it’s

going to be amazing what if Summer’s like that this year and I just yeah I was like hang on a minute last year it was really rubbish around this time and

it was again so yeah I didn’t I didn’t notice quite the same shift but I think

that um it was perhaps it was masked because I had a couple of quite well

paid gigs okay in that kind of early summer a couple doesn’t it you’re not

having to think about in the same way as you know I mean I I I track what’s coming in I look at it in that you know

I’ve been freelance same time same amount of time as you Mikey I’ve been freelanc since 2008 yeah oh wow yeah

that’s a long time you know I’m used to instability fear and self-loathing

um I’m only just getting used to it oh it’s it’s a lovely place to welcome

welcome yeah it’s a lovely place to be yeah but yeah so I think it masked it I

don’t think but I also don’t think you know because I’ve I’ve only been full-time voicing for two and a half

years um I sort of did it concurrently with copyrighting before so again I

didn’t have a true yeah an idea of what yeah that yeah yeah same I think for me

uh um I don’t quite remember last summer being quiet but this

this backto back two months June and July specifically was like significantly

quieter um and then August out of nowhere mid August I’d say

it just just it just started to just come alive you know what I mean it’s there’s no Rhyme or Reason to it it’s

just yeah holidays and stuff I guess yeah I think a lot of people are away

especially over like the second half of July first half of August you know school holidays and stuff yeah projects

just aren’t happening as much but then that’s this absolutely is what I was saying before is like how do people stay

motivated and I think it’s fantastic people talk seem to be talking about it more but like how do you not does the

self-d Dow and whatever creep in like immediately or do you like think oh it’s a bit quiet it never leaves Jen it’s

always there it’s consistent it’s a consistent the

constant like for me personally the self with when it comes to self-doubt

okay I I consider myself um I am a confident person I’m just hypocritical

yeah and I think through the back of that the self-doubt can be I feel like I’ve done well but like I said earlier

on like I can listen to a piece of work I’ve done I can be proud of it but rather than just like take a deep breath

go I’m proud of that it’s like I’ll listen to it over and over I wish I could change that inflection wish could change that Nuance just can’t let it go

I have to consistently look for ways to improve something that can’t be changed so the self-doubt comes from then when I

go into my next project I’m I’m trying to stop that from happening I want to try and get it right as perfect as

possible first time around if I’m not happy with it then it’s there can be a you know a conversation of like I don’t

think I’m good enough or anything like that but it’s I’ll look at other people I’ll listen to other people’s work and I think God that’s good and I think how

far off it am I actually you know what I mean you’re not no no no no that’s because the and I can only say this you

know that I would probably suffer the same thoughts as you but you can say it objectively from the outside can’t you

that what you’ve heard you might think is perfection and the client probably thought was Perfection and perhaps it is

perfection but were you the one who recorded it and this being true of the artist who’s recorded it they might be

sitting there going I wish I’d inflected that word differently I wish I’d plac slowed down a bit there is that a bit

absolutely was ited was it Fair they directed me the feedback was a you know

there’s so many variables so you take yeah yeah you take one script that you thought you know I I could have done

that differently you’ve overanalyzed it to death and then you try and think about that in the next session on a completely different client different

style blah you can’t it doesn’t work that way everything is so individual you always be your harshest

critic you know that’s what they say and I think it’s so true I find that in live sessions because I’m more in the flow

and you’re just you’re just hearing what the client wants and when they’re happy you stop I find that so much more

freeing actually because you just you’re feeling it aren’t you you’re not you’re back and you just like you’re in the

moment and you’re feeling it and you go with how that emotion takes you love it and if it’s just me recording I will

record so many more takes I try not to now because it’s a waste of time but I will self edit self edit it’s just yeah

it’s very diff this morning and I must have done it about 17 times I’m like no one gives a [ __ ] no one just just

couldn’t quite get it how I wanted it and like they’re just doing the shopping [ __ ] move on you don’t have time for

this but it’s just yeah getsy doesn’t it yeah you want to you want to do the best

you can do yeah um but I think you’ve got to balance that with yeah you know the ones I you know the

one of the ones I say struggle with but I always can never settle on it’s like those those probably more commerciales

ones where it opens with a question like are you a homeowner are you a homeowner

are you a homeowner [ __ ] home that’s because it’s really un natural I think I think

like many times that you that’s the thing but they’ll say it needs to be just natural and conversational

but natural conversation like are you a homeowner right you know are you a homeowner are you a homeowner nothing

natural about it he loses all sense of meaning doesn’t it when you say it over and over again yeah it just becomes

noise like that yeah t when you’re like trying to get this tiny just right oh

yeah Nightmare and I think that’s the thing I I I’ll do something like that over and over and over and over again to the point where it does become a noise

and I’m sending off I’m like send going to listen to it like who we

books but I think it’s it’s it’s just it’s just a I think with this kind of

work it’s creatively obviously we all want to try and do the best piece of work we

ever possibly can so there’s always like a I imagine like a bit of a self perfectionism you know I mean you don’t

want to put out something substandard you want it to be great you want to be something that resonates with me my goal

I will say is I want to I want to get a crier I know it sounds really weird but if you can do a piece of work that makes

someone actually cry yeah I think that for me is like the emotional you want to play a crier no no no not not like in

some sadistic narcissistic being like just I just mean something that’s so

resonating make feel something yeah you do absolutely right yeah so I think it’s I think just it’s just one of those

battles internal emotions where you sort of for me anyway I can overanalyze things and then to the point where like

have you had it where you probably had it right at the beginning but you’ve overanalyzed it so much that takes is the best isn’t it

often not always sometimes always flat [ __ ] back go [ __ ] and you’re

like what was I thinking yeah how have you got like a system with

the auditions like so if you’ve got um like a cut off like three and that’s it otherwise I’m overdoing it no but I

need to have that system for sure do you mean three different versions and therefore no no

no or just I’m going through it three times and that’s your [ __ ] lot and then I need yeah cuz I found that I was

like I’d audition and I’d over complicate it by like I know what I need to do I’m I’m in the ballpark so do a

little bit of a warmup right three three versions of it and the third one really should be where it it is out and then

just otherwise I’m like I’m on version 25 and version 3 or four was good enough

you know what I mean like comes point it’s like it’s getting ridiculous now just send the [ __ ] thing and then you

listen back and then you’re like oh I’ve gone up there I should have gone down and like the client is not going to be thinking that are they they’re going to

be like oh that made me feel X they’re not going to be like oh I wouldn’t have made that choice I don’t know if they’ve

listened to it at all yeah that’s true

yeah yeah I find that’s that’s I find that an interesting thing actually because like who somebody said to me

recently were they were um they were pressured to get an audition back as F oh that was yeah they sent a file fire

we transfer and you know you get like a notification when it’s been downloaded and they were press like we need this audition as fast as possible can you let

us know yeah yeah six days later still hav downloaded it what is that about no you I mean so sometimes they

don’t even they just don’t listen like they just change the mind or whatever to it just very briefly the weird thing

about we transfer is it it will only tell you if they click a certain link that’s come through but if they copy and

paste it I think or anything like that it it doesn’t always tell you so yeah oh

it could be that it may be that they just have yeah could well I think sometimes

if somebody’s I only imagine if somebody’s doing things at the last minute in the rushing they’ll have gone to various different people so you’re

maybe one of like four or five if they found what they’re looking for they probably won’t listen to the rest of them I

suppose it’s true it’s true but but but yeah but I

suppose but yeah I think like you said before Jen about the uh the self-doubt stuff I think it’s I think it’s just something that’s in us a little bit but

when when you’ve been self-employed though Anthony might be able to relate to this I think you just I don’t know

the uh you build a bit of a resilience to it don’t you I suppose like yeah um I

mean so this might sound ridiculous I don’t or

or I I my overriding feeling when I send work off

and this was true When It Was Written work rather than um audio uh would be oh

please [ __ ] like it um there’s essentially that there’s I

don’t believe apart from those clients where you’ve done repeated things that

that are supposed to be very similar like in a in a in a sequence in a in a in a a program of of of some sort

um I don’t feel like I

necessarily um I’m going to get you know approved first you know right out the gate um and I don’t necessarily mean

they might have a pickup or two I mean part of me is thinking what if they think that’s [ __ ]

awful what if they think that and I and and that that is is true of almost

everything I send to everyone yeah um and that’s NE that’s you know that was

from you know i’ written so many thousands of annoying words for people to have to read um and and you know and

it it didn’t change that feeling every time I sent something off was like just just you know please please let me be

good enough that I mean I find this the human psyche so interesting like this is just

and maybe some people just people different aren’t they different cuz I like Mikey what you saying before about

the building resilience I think I’m resilient as [ __ ] like I’ve been acting on and off for a long time and you’re

constantly dealing with knockbacks and picking yourself up and carrying on and yeah I always have that feeling of like

not being quite good enough I don’t think that ever goes away though I think maybe not there’s only one person and I

won’t name them that I’ve spoken to about this in voice over who said they don’t get that they don’t feel imposter

syndrome they have full confidence in they do wow um but I think that’s like

very rare it is that is rare has that person won a mass of awards are they are

they like hugely well known or they are very well known I’m sure they have won some awards um I can’t think of them off

the top of my head but they yeah they have yeah um but yeah so I think I think

so it is possible yeah I know I won’t ever get there yeah

same I was going to say like I think because of actually childhood stuff which I won’t go into now I don’t think

that will I’ll ever lose that anxiety um

and I’ve worked on it a lot like you were asking um Jen just like when we were messaging like about do you get

therapy and stuff like that well actually I have had therapy and not specifically about this but other things

in life that I think has has helped me um have more confidence or resilience

and that kind of thing so yeah I think that’s worth looking at if it’s something that’s really getting

in the way of someone because it was for me yeah I think I think I like the fact

in this day and age now things like that are spoken about so much more openly and and confident because it’s you know it’s

talking is one of the best things you can do just to get it off your chest when you hold on to all these thought

and this is part of the reasons why we had decided to start this podcast in the first place cuz we’re very sort of I

don’t really hide much I’m very open and honest about stuff so and I think it’s and it’s it’s quite good just to because

you know I’m a human being I I I I have good days I have bad days and so does

everybody else there’s no shame in admitting that’s just that’s the makeup of who we are like it’s there’s nobody out there that’s walking around totally

and utterly perfect you know what I mean so I don’t know why there’s a fear about admitting that you know some think they

are I know I was laughing yeah I you know and it’s like like anony

said before like yeah I had a [ __ ] so that’s okay to say that we don’t need to live in this make believe world where

it’s like I’m busy every single day it’s like no some weeks are terrible well that’s just the ups and downs of it like

there’s no shame that’s why I’m all for I think things like therapy are great um I think they’re really great if

especially if it’s yeah if it can help you overcome sort like different hurdles of any kind um yeah absolutely I think

as well I was only going to say that you you’ve already got to have a positive mindset

in some ways Annie in order to to take that step and be open to it so true because so much of therapy is about you

readdressing the way you think and feel about things and if You’ got a cynical mind that’s harder to do yeah and I

think you’ve definitely got to be very sort of self-reflective for it to work well um which I think is

something I’ve I’ve I’ve always been like that but sometimes over analytical and like you know like we said it can it

really got in my head and I’m sure it’s held me back like career-wise and stuff especially when I was younger absolutely

I know that now especially since having therapy but like yeah I think there’s a

freedom with being able to um use therapy to help you in all sorts of

parts of life yeah I think I can see the knock on effect and how it’s helped it’s with confidence and I think actually

also experience has helped as well the more experience I’ve had the more going

into a session yeah but just even with voice over sessions like I used to get

so nervous before live sessions in my booth like really nervous like not in a good way and like I would go in and like

they wouldn’t notice it but I would feel it and I could sometimes hear it my voice but just with the more and more

sessions I’ve done over the years like that’s just gone and it’s it’s it’s nice but I needed to work through that I

think do you ever get it sorry like a again no no no no no go I’m going to keep sto

much that’s not true um did you ever have the thing where where where nerves

appear where you didn’t have them cuz I had that in this session this morning

really unexpectedly um where it was fine then sorry that’s um it was all fine you know

I think I’d done the first read maybe I was halfway through the second and all all of a sudden I stand for my reads and

I have heard um a very very good point about the potential for sitting CU while

your body might be um a bit more slouchy you might need to be more aware of it you are actually

more relaxed interes you can relax into a where when you’re standing you’re automatically tense um and I I

felt my butttock starting to quiver I was just standing there oh oh hang on I

could feel my legs and like just this slight J like why why I was fine a minute ago what’s going on and having to

suddenly cancel that out of my head yeah Trigg do you know what the trigger was no and it was literally it was mid

sentence as well so maybe it was one of those things where it was lots of long annoying overwritten sentences as well

so where you breathe I was probably aware having given one read right that bit’s coming up maybe it was just that

and it just suddenly triggered a little well you know what you need jiggly

buttocks this make you feel more yeah yeah this I think we found the name of this episode digly

but I I I think I’m painting my ass in a bad light here it’s obviously but

nonetheless I I I love live sessions I love them but absolutely make no mistake

I remember many times in the past and it’s it can still happen in the future the

more experience you get the more comfortable you get so you go in there with like not not an arrogance Just A Renewed confidence that I’ve got the

scripts I know how they want it I’ve done this before I’m more than happy with all these people on session fine

and then you go into the session with what you believe is what they want and

it’s not and I’m like oh I’ve nowhere else to go I don’t know what else to do

and in my head everything else is like my brain is just frantically searching

for what they might want but I was so convinced based on the the the the information I was given what they’re

asking for and what they’d heard of my work before since or something like that so I go down that path and then they

don’t want it I just my I just hit an absolute wall and I can’t creatively think like where do I go from here how

do I change it and because it’s part of that is it’s not that I don’t know what to do it’s the Panic you because you

think you think you know what you’re GNA do something unexpected isn’t it like anything unexpected in a session like

especially when you’re doing like video games and stuff like oh do you want to try this do this character and in this

accent that you haven’t bur in for a while or whatever like um you know

that’s the time when even though it’s like quite thrilling that’s when the one I might

possibly start to kind of Quake a bit inside be crazy at that point

yeah I think the more you get used to just kind of being pulled in different directions and trying things out in a

session I think I think you get more used to it but yeah and it can be so fun as long as you’re able to embrace that

yeah yeah if you’re having fun yeah you’re not have a panic yeah that’s

what I guess a video game or an animation is just it is fun doing

whereas we can’t pretend with the best will in the world that every corporate narration is fun today’s I enjoyed the

result of today’s work because the people were happy um I am getting paid some money um that’s all good the

talking about it bit while I enjoy what I do I can’t pretend that itself was a

thrilling bit of text to bring to life yeah yeah and like you said especially if it’s like really

complicated long sentences or like something medical um yeah I think you

know comeing that’s scary I I don’t know if I I did um an audition for like an a

kind of an agency once and they purposely had a really complex medical

text and I did stumble a bit and like quite a bit at first and but I kept

going and like kept my call and I they did say to me at the end you know that wasn’t actually to see if you could say

it perfectly it was to see how you responded to that situation so that was really interesting

um but I think I’m sure it’s something that producers are aware of is that kind of thing like how you keep your call or

not yeah yeah absolutely I think that um yeah I think

I do like it having those sessions where you’re thrust into a situation you wer

quite expecting and then you deliver on it the my God the renew confidence that you get off the back of that yeah that’s

a good feeling that but one thing I saw there’s a post from somebody on LinkedIn the other day um she was referring to why is

name I forgot what it was she was talking about some common mistake she sees newbies uh struggle with and they

throw in the towel a bit too soon and that is dealing with rejection and it’s like this there’s there’s almost like a

you know I’ve spent time doing an audition for you why have you not emailed me back and Jen you kind of

mentioned this didn’t you recently you said about if I spent time doing an audition for somebody and then they

don’t message me back you were like you’re offended by it and I was like well maybe just let it go I think you’re

paraphrasing massively there but the interest of time yeah yeah so no

so if but I I sort of I I take back a little bit of what I said because when I listened back to the episode what you

were saying was if I’ve spent time on it there’s been a back and forth it was more personally asked me to

audition like pay to play and I was like then you could just least say no we’ve gone with someone else yeah and I think

Mar sponsor was more of a generalization uh but this post at this girl po she was saying that some people

they have a real difficulty handling the rejection side of it but I think I

suppose that’s just part of the C isn’t it like you have to I think you once You’ sort of normalized that rejection

is nothing personal you know you out the right for it you’re not you know I mean it’s it’s something like I have this

idea of just send and forget you know what I mean but there are jobs have you had a job that you’ve gone for that you thought you absolutely nailed on and

then you’ve not got it somebody else has got it it does sting a little bit little

when you’re but it also shows you uh so so I had there was a job um

I I I auditioned for was contacted about this a few years ago while I was on holiday I was I was on roads I think uh

in the middle of [ __ ] nowhere it was glorious um and I got contacted about

this thing and I said well I only give you a a phone you know audition because I literally had taken nothing

deliberately and uh they said that’s that’s great end client loved it all booked in and this was for a TV campaign

so we’re always pleased about that for obvious re um yes I audition yeah um and then

and then it was put on hold and then nothing happened and then I think literally six seven months later

whoow I heard it on TV not not me but with and they’d gone in a totally

different room still male but a totally totally different voice but also to the degree that you’re like what the

[ __ ] you know you like so I don’t say that I didn’t say that personally I was

annoyed obviously cuz I like H money Fame Fortune no not that but you know um

but it was yeah just money um but but it was genuinely it was one of those voices and they we you do hear them

occasionally and and they weren’t real nexo voice but what they found is actually real next door voice doesn’t

cut doesn’t cut through anything the delivery was like it made like that throwaway feel too enthusiastic

it maybe it was one of the production crew last guy Let’s uh yeah I I am very

expensive well you know there is a rise in that that user generated content they are

especially with social media yeah they using a lot more now they’re not professional Vos or anything like that

it is just a a person in a whatever needs to be to do that so I’ve had

things for like Tik Tok and stuff where they’ve said like we want you to sound like an influencer or you know like just

a person talking on Tik Tok and you’re like okay Do my research on Tik Tok but

I think hearing that a lot more I I I’m very comfortable but my favorite style of work is doing something that

really is like trying to be human and emotive Etc but if somebody came to me and said we wanted to just be like you

know like you said like an influencer who’s got no V voice experience I don’t think I could fully switch off the

voiceover brain there’s going to be an element of a performance challenge it’s definitely a challenge because they also

don’t just want that it’s a really difficult balance and you have to think listen to it a lot to kind of get

it I was just going to say yeah I get asked to do like testimonial stuff um

well it’s like clearly done by a voice over but yeah they want it to sound like

90% real but obviously 10% you are performing and they can actually hear it

and you’re not mumbling off mic and all that stuff so it is hard to get the right balance but I I love doing that

stuff that is some of my favorite very natural yeah I really love it no one’s ever asked me No One Believes that I’ve

ever bought anything I’m not real I’m not yeah basically I’m not a real the man well

let’s maybe not man or myth but you know for

Legend all Legend none of it basically the unheard of um yeah I don’t

get that I don’t get that at request but maybe that’s my own fault for not being in the right places to get the request

let’s call it that okay sure I think it’s just one of those things I’m I’m conscious that we are

going to have to wrap up um yeah no and we also have gone massively off me which was the topic of this no I’m joking it’s

been really fun talking to you I that’s what we’ve done we’ve just kind of just we just naturally let it take its own

Evolution into the conversations before we finish though we do need to do our brand new segment we do oh of course

yeah jeez and I’m going to introduce it now cuz Michael’s made me voice over of the

week he how I do yeah okay I’m going to start getting that work now the work in progress

so if you guys aren’t aware if every week Michael and I take it in turns to

choose a piece of work that has been shared on from people from our profile we go through it and see and then we

choose something that has resonated with us and we share it to try and give them an extra bit of a boost um and just yeah

bring people together so I’m going to share it with you guys now this is going to be so clunky just bear with me while I try and share my screen um so for the

purposes of the podcast this is done by Gabriella Ashcraft well

done gabs it’s it’s amazing piece at McMillan we know the visible

effects of cancer treatment can have a real impact on your confidence so our number seven boots McMillan Beauty

advisers are here to help you face the world again we do whatever it takes for

people living with cancer find out how you can support us on our websites nice well done gabs yeah it’s

pretty nice about it as well I mean it’s just a lovely piece but it’s not overly schaly

and like yeah not too much like I don’t know sympathy involved in that I just I just thought it’s a really nicely

pitched yeah you’re right it’s got a quite good balance to it the warmth is there but it’s still like yeah story

type things there’s a realness to it yeah there’s a realness to it yeah well done this has been so much fun let’s do

it again sometime thanks for having us a bit slightly chaotic my God I mean we’re

normally chaotic but this is like next level chaos yeah yeah I’m very sorry about my silly worth it a you are worth

getting you on that is good acting nomination there’s a reason

you’re nominated yourself doubt that is the voiceover performance of the year

yeah very much I’ll be accepting that but yeah yeah we’ve yeah and I like

I said at the beginning it’s you know trying to have a fewers on at the same time and just inevitably Go in different

directions it was just fun just to let the conversation just take its own form you know there’s just not enough time in

the day we think we could keep going and going and going there so many other areas that I want to sort of touch on you know that uh to sort of get your

thoughts and opinions on but maybe hopefully we’ll get that another time so yeah Anthony you think you might be

going to Vox Annie you’re not sure still or you’re on the fence H I’m on the fence lots of factors yeah

I’ve kind of got to decide tonight really to get the uh discount if anybody’s listening to this and is going

let us know because we’d love to say hello to you in person yeah a lot of people I had a few

people come up to me at One Voice who enjoy the Pod so can’t name all but you know who you are so thank you very much

for that it was really appreciative glad you enjoy it and we’ll see you next week all right well that’s it folks thanks

very much for your time I sincerely appreciate it and uh I guess we’ll see you next week thanks foring us see you

later guys guys

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