I was playing substitute teacher last week for one of my voiceover friends who teachers a regular class for voiceover beginners.

We talked about a lot of different ideas that are involved in voiceover performance but one that seemed to resonate the most with them was marking up your voiceover script.

Because I have been doing voiceover for nearly 40 years, knowing that you can and should markup your voiceover script is second nature to me. But working with this class, it reminded me that it is NOT second nature for everyone.

So for any poor soul (who is not a bot – do bots have souls? I think not) who has fallen down the Google rabbit hole of voiceover searches and come upon this lowly blog, I share with you now some of my voiceover script marking up pointers.

1. YES mark up your script. You can and should do it It’s a pro move and more importantly it is a smart move

These Peter K. O’Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent pencils can be found in recording studios across the country.

2. Use pencil not pen – the reason I have Peter K. O’Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent logoed PENCILS is for marking up voiceover scripts….it’s also a nice leave behind in recording studios so that remember that they worked with me. 🙂

3. Whether it’s in a studio or remote from your studio, write somewhere on the script the names of everyone on the session (client, engineers, etc)…people find it both professional and satisfying when they are called by their name — which leads to my next point

4. Almost always, note the first time in the script the client’s name is mentioned….hit that vocally with whatever emphasis the script allows; clients love to hear their name/brand in scripts; also the first time it’s listed, it also establishes the brand within the script

5. Hopefully you have a little time before the session – with that time, read the script out loud; that’s one of the ways I find the script’s “voice” and then MY voice for the script – the client may send me in another direction in the session (and I will that direction without fail as that’s my job) but give yourself a starting place

6. Are there specific markings I should use (like proofreader markings)? Use whatever works to you, your thought process, your creative process that lets you understand whatever shorthand you noted to be able to convey that in the read – you will not get to re-type this stuff so make it clear for yourself…try not to rush your notes

7. Especially when you are at an outside recording studio – don’t take the script with you; scripts often contain promotional or operational details companies do not want shared before publication or even externally…leave the scripts behind or destroy them after you’re done with them

8. BONUS TIP (no extra charge): Besides an underline on key words or points, my favorite voiceover script mark is the upside down “T” that I use to tell me where to take a proper breath when periods are nowhere to be found. It also helps me pause and slow down…unless I actually write “pause” or “slow down” on the script.

Happy marking up!

Tags: voice over workshop, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I think most Moms are the same…they all mean and do well for their children.

So I’m guessing your Mom, like my Mom, said something to you like “The little things matter.”

It was only later in life people tell you “not to sweat the little stuff.”

But the little things DO matter, especially when it come to kindness. And small business ownership.

Like when you write a hand written note to your prospects or clients. So I’m going to chat a little bit about that.

Tags: video, voice over workshop, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Too simple “they” will say, (you know, those THEY people).

Doesn’t apply to me, “they” will also say.

“They” say finally that this doesn’t even count as advice.

Except it does.

We all have work clothes. We all have lazy clothes.

I contend (as do others) that if one tries to do work in their lazy clothes…they won’t be nearly as effectual.

We have to be physically and psychologically prepared to work every day (although it’s not THAT dramatic as that sounds)

Well, anyway, watch the video and consider the advice. You are the ultimate decider…for you.

Hope it helps.

Tags: video, voice over workshop, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Sometimes the simplest tricks are the ones that get ignored.

Nonetheless, I will to and share with you one really great voiceover business idea.

This video is called One New Lead.

For your business….you need to find one new voiceover lead per day.

The leads are everywhere, it’s like fishing in a freshly stocked pond.

Think about it… 5 new leads a week times 52 weeks…that’s 260 new voiceover leads.

It’s up to you.

Hope it helps.

Tags: commentary, video, voice over workshop by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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There are somethings on the internet so perfect that you think they are written just for you.

Were that I was so special but I am not. Many voice-over talents endure my similar predicament of receiving phone calls and emails every week from people who have no voice-over experience wanting to get into the industry.

Their sole qualification: their friends or family members say they have a nice voice and they should look into getting started in voice-over.

An artist’s equivalent to that logic would be if someone walked into a freshly painted, single color room and said to the painter “You paint nicely. You should paint something on canvas and sell it to an international renown art gallery.”

When we are together, we chuckle because these callers and emailers don’t understand that a nice voice will not help you launch a career in voice-over. It’s a business…a difficult business that requires a great deal of work. Much of that work doesn’t even involve a microphone.

To be fair of course, one doesn’t know what one doesn’t know…we all experience that throughout our lives when we begin new tasks of all kinds. But the concept of just having a nice voice as the ticket to begin a career in something many of us have spend decades working at and studying for is a bit frustrating for those in the trenches.

It’s one of the reasons I wrote “The Voice-Over Entrance Exam”. It’s a little bit more direct and honest than many voice-over books out there that encourage people to chance the dream of voice-over. My opinion has been and remains that it’s OK to chance the dream but you’d better have a solid business foundation as your ship’s anchor or you will be forever lost at sea.

So the Batman graphic, used so often in memes across the internet, struck me as so perfect that I added it to my web page for the The Voice-Over Workshop. 

To the creator of this meme, I salute you.

Tags: voice over entrance exam, voice over workshop by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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During one of my Voice-Over Workshops for a voice talent last week, we reviewed some of her marketing challenges and internal struggles. She is a talented voice talent and a generally gracious human being — all wonderful traits that I aspire to.

But her marketing kryptonite is tooting her own horn – marketing herself (which is her brand) out to the marketplace. She finds it awkward, braggadocios and lacking humility (my words not hers). Like I said, she’s a gracious person.

Let me repeat a secret I have shared here before…horn tooting or self-marketing IS awkward, braggadocios and lacking humility – no matter how subtle you try to be (be warned, a subtlety overdone can completely water down a marketing message).

I have grown a bit more accustomed to it now, but when I started out in my voice-over business, I felt REALLY weird about marketing my brand: me! Using “I” in sentences, talking about MY work, me writing a press release about me. Yuck.

How self-absorbed, how egotistical, how arrogant! Just who the hell do I think I am?!!!

I feel your awkward pain frightened horn tooters but now I’ll share with you the epiphany that allows me to toot my horn with less (not none) awkwardness.

Who the hell do I think I am?

I am a small business owner who has kids to feed and a mortgage to pay…and that money does NOT come in unless I am out there telling people what I do and how I do it and how what I do will help their business. And I AM the company. Whatever the tag line, no matter the iconography, at the end of the day I, as the professional voice-over talent, am the brand. I am selling myself – just not on a street corner…yet.

So I toot (and if you’re 5 years old, you are now giggling uncontrollably at my unintended fart joke—that’s cool, fart jokes ARE funny).

But since I am doing the promotional work (writing, choosing media outlets, targeting the messaging etc), I can control the message that gets put out there, I control the tools and images I use to promote myself. Some people feel more comfortable using a 3rd party to do this…hey, whatever gets the job done for you.

It is a necessary evil in a free-lancers life – this self-promotion.

So here’s is my little imaginary trick for dealing with this unsettling process of self-promotion you must do: pretend as you going through your marketing tasks that you are marketing for another company. Not another person, another company. In your head replace your name with Acme Voice-Over Company. This psychological game with yourself might give you the distance and perspective to get the horn-tooting starting and keep it going.

Listen, you are not egotistical, you are not self-absorbed.

You ARE a freelancer. You ARE small business owner or now what people are calling a Micro Business (soooo teeny tiny like me).

And you have my personal blessing to grab your horn and toot. It’s not only OK…it’s a requirement!

P.S. I did ANOTHER Voice-Over Workshop on Saturday and wouldn’t you know…another frightened horn tooter. It looks like we may have to hold a telethon! But again, now all’s well for him too. So all you frightened horn tooters…you are not alone.

Tags: advertising, marketing, voice over workshop, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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