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VOICE-OVER AGENTS - PART 2 How To Vet A Voice-Over Agent: Here's What To Know About How They Operate ... September 5, 2018  By Tom DheereVoice Actor and Coach As
voice talents, we all want great agents representing us. I think the
challenge is in reconciling the 20th century attitudes that been thrust
upon us about what agents are, and our relationship to them, with the
21st century need to effectively vet an agent and nurture a healthy,
equal relationship. The agency In both Ears, which is a staunch member of the VO Agent Alliance
and vocal advocate for the integrity of the voice-over industry, has
some specific requirements for talent to be considered for
representation. You can read it in its entirety here, but for the purposes of this conversation I want to focus on one bit:
In
the U.S. I have one manager and six regional/national agents that
regularly send me on auditions. I'm signed with one agent exclusive to
one market and I freelance with the rest. I get a few duplicate casting
calls each month, but I think it's hard to avoid. It seems like a pretty
good balance where I'm currently at in my career.
SO, HOW TO VET AN AGENT? With all that in mind, here are some questions you should ask when you vet an agent: 1. Are they franchised? FYI: The term "franchised
agent" means a talent agent that is licensed by the state in which they
operate and has been officially approved by SAG-AFTRA. 2. How many voice talents are on their roster? Too many may mean too little or no personal attention. 3. Which markets do they cover? NY, LA, etc. 4. Do you have to sign with them? Some require it, some don't. 5. Do you have to be exclusive with them? Some require it, some don't. 6. Where do they get their auditions from? If they get them from certain P2P sites, that may be an ethical issue. 7. Are the auditions union, non-union, or both? 8. Are the auditions online, in-person, or both? 9. Do they require a commission from just the gigs they book you, or for all of the gigs you book everywhere? Some
do, some don't. Unless they are truly managing your career and you're
booking gobs of great gigs with them, I wouldn't go with the "all gigs everywhere" agent. 10. Do they require you take classes with certain coaches before they will represent you? 11. RED FLAG: Do you have to pay any "listing fees" to be represented? Remember: you don't work for your agents. You work with
your agents. It's an equal B2B relationship and it's both your and your
agent's responsibility to ensure that both of you are well-represented. ------------------ ABOUT TOM Over two decades, Tom Dheere has narrated thousands of projects for clients in over a dozen countries and voiced more than 60 audiobooks. He is also a voice-over business consultant known as the VO Strategist, was the marketing consultant for the Voice Over Virtual online conference, and is writer/producer of the sci-fi action comic book Agent 1.22. Web: www.vostrategist.com Agent 1.22 |
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