8/8/2019 Acting is My Day Job Coach - Actor Career Coaching http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/acting-is-my-day-job-coach-actor-career-coaching 1/13 ng Is My Day Job Coach - Actor Career Coaching //C|/...20day%20job%20coach/Acting%20Is%20My%20Day%20Job%20Coach%20-%20Actor%20Career%20Coaching.htm[8/28/2010 9:31:0 About Acting Is My Day Job Coach- Kim Howard SEARCH Voice Over Actor Karen Murray Interview Pt. 2 August 27, 2010 – 9:12 am Karen currently has national television campaigns running for Kaplan University and Soft Scrub Scrubby Pads , along with national and regional radio spots for Medicare , Verizon , Avis and Supervalu Super Markets . She recently recorded an audio book for Bitch is the New Black , written by hot new author Helena Andrews, as well as The Girl Who Fell from the Sky , winner of the Barbara Kingsolver Bellwether Prize for Fiction. Find out more about Karen at http://www.thevoiceisyoursnyc.com. CONTINUED… AIMDJC : For someone who wants to start a voice over career but doesn’t know how, what would you say are some steps? Murray : First of all get training. If you have friends who are already in the business, find out from them who is teaching. There are casting directors who teach. Also, many voice actors teach. I say study with someone like that. There are people who teach but are not really doing it. Maybe, they were in the business years ago. They might be disconnected from what the trends are today. Casting directors, agents or someone who is doing it now are the best teachers. They know what is being looked for currently. So, number one is training. Number two is that they must have a demo. A demo consists of one to fewer than two minutes of commercials. The demo is produced so that there’s music behind it. It sounds like something that could already be on the radio or TV, but it showcases you. The demo should show that you have a range: A Dove spot with a soft approach, then maybe something high energy like McDonald’s and maybe something serious like a pharmaceutical spot. So, you get the idea. There is the Callsheet that lists all the agents and casting directors. Look to see who does voice over when deciding who to send your demo to. AIMDJC : How easy is it to get to the point where voice over is your full time, income producing job? Murray : I will be honest with you, Kim, and tell you it’s not necessarily that easy. You have to be committed to studying. As a voice over coach, many people come to me and tell me “For years, people have been telling me that I have a really great voice.” There’s so much more to it than that. There’s a skill and technique that is unique to voice over that has to be developed and practiced. Just like a singer has to develop their voice. A dancer has to develop their body in order to be able to dance ballet or on Broadway. It’s the same way with being a voice over artist. When you go to an audition and you have proper training, you’ll know quickly exactly how to follow the “roadmap” as I like to call it. You’ll know how to map Acting Is My Day Job Coach Actor Career Coaching Archives Select Month follow me on facebook! Kim Actingismydayjobcoach Howard Create Your Badge RSS Link s All posts All comments Select Month
13
Embed
Acting is My Day Job Coach - Actor Career Coaching
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
8/8/2019 Acting is My Day Job Coach - Actor Career Coaching
out the copy quickly in terms of delivery, attitude, vocal transitions, etc.
I have agents and casting directors come to my class to speak to my students. I
hear from them at least a year of study and then maybe you’ll be ready to
record a demo. Then shopping it around may take you three to six months or
more before you hear back from anyone. It’s something you have to be patient
with. Keep your day job and watch it develop as you develop your voice and
technique.
AIMDJC : What bout this idea of sustaining oneself financially while building a
voice over career?
Murray : I would say develop other talents that are even outside of acting to fall
back on. Have some type of skill that can sustain you financially when times are
slow. Because, you and I both know, it can get very slow in this industry. If you
are coming from a computer background, for example, maybe have a side
business as a consultant. For me it’s teaching. My teaching business is 4
pronged. I have classes, I do one on one private coaching, I produce demos,
and I have an on-going workshop for students who’ve already taken my class.
AIMDJC : What do you wish you knew then that you know now about a career
in acting?
Murray : One thing that I wish I had figured out sooner is to focus on one thing.
I sing. I wanted to have a sewing business because I also sew. I had all thesethings going. I finally said let me take ONE thing, and that one thing was voice
over, and focus all my energy on that. Now, that is my foundation. That is
solace for me now. From here I can relax a little bit. I still have my singing. But
I’ve got voice over to keep me afloat while I go and pursue singing. So, I say
pick one thing first.
AIMDJC : Thank you Karen. Where can people find you?
Murray : My website is http://www.thevoiceisyoursnyc.com and I can be
reached by phone at 646-763-1243 . I have a new 6-week radio and
television commercial technique class beginning September 15th.
For more free tips, advice and coaching please visit-
Murray : It was actually by accident. I wanted to be a singer when I was
younger but I was too shy. Years went by. I went to college, pre-med with
dreams of being a veterinarian. The sciences kicked my butt. I chose Sociology
as my new major. I had a very heavy reading course load so I wanted to take
something that had no reading.
I took an actor’s tutorial. At the end of the year performance I surprised myself
and everyone else by how uninhibited I was on stage, because I was actually
very shy. After that I thought: wow, I like this. I went on to audition for and get
the lead in campus wide productions for the next 2 years. After graduation, I
moved to New York to seek fame and fortune like everyone else. It didn’t quite
happen with the Theatre, Film and TV.
AIMDJC : What were the early days of building an acting career in NY like for
you? What was a typical day or week?
Murray : Initially, like everyone else, it was a lot of extra work. I worked at a
regional theatre in Poughkeepsie, local theatre and a few festivals in NYC. I did
a lot of fun low to non paying theatre work.
A day would consist of firstly, looking at Backstage for auditions. I didn’t have an
agent. I was auditioning for anything and everything that came down the pike in
Backstage. I was waiting tables at night and pursuing my dreams during the
day.
I had just gotten to the point where I realized that I didn’t want this as much as
everyone else around me. I didn’t feel that passion. But a regular customer at
my restaurant said to me, and this is ironic, “You have a really great voice.” It’s
funny, everyone who wants to do voiceover says to me: “Everyone tells me I
have a really great voice.” This customer told me that she has a friend who
produces voice over that I should talk to. His name is Paul Rubin. Today, he is
one of the biggest audio book directors. We had a meeting in his kitchen. He
recorded me reading some copy onto a cassette tape recorder. He said he’d
call me if anything came up. I walked out of there thinking, “Yeah, sure,
whatever… (laughs)”.
I didn’t even know what voice over was before I met with him. He called me
about two weeks later and kept calling me for about ten years after that on a
very regular basis. He started recommending me to other people. It was all non-union work: children’s books, English language materials, industrials, local radio
spots. I started to build up a reputation.
Then one day I thought, “I need to be making the big money!” I got some
training, which is key in this area. You have to get proper training. After training,
I did a demo, sent it out and got representation from Cunningham, CESD. I
started out wanting to do stage, film and all that but now I specialize in voice
acting and I love it.
Come back on Friday and read Karen’s advice on what steps an actor should
take to get started in voice over work and how easy is it really? She also shares
and her husband and partner Craig Williams run Red
Wall Productions. They write, direct & produce films.
Rosalyn is also a highly sought after coach and is
also one of the actors behind the popular Everything
Acting Podcast
(http://www.everythingactingpodcast.com/ ). To see amini biography on Rosalyn check out her internet
movie data base page
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0171206/).
AIMDJC : People often say, “I wanna be an actor”, when I tell them that I’m an
actor. I usually tell them to run for their lives but they still want to act. So, OK,
it’s crazy, it’s possible, people do it. You are someone who does it whom I really
admire. So I wanted to interview you about it.
Wil l iams : Thanks, Kim.
AIMDJC : Why acting of all the things you could do in the world?
Wil l iams : I’m one of those saps who feels like acting chose me. You get bittenand then it becomes an addiction. If you have any talent for it or get any outside
affirmation for it then you get to a place where you can’t put it down. It’s like a
narcotic. Or you could say it’s like a boyfriend or someone that you really, really
love.
For me originally, when I got bitten I saw a couple of things. I saw a movie
called ‘Fame’. You have to be very careful what your children see around the
ages of 9, 10, and 11 because that’s when we make these decisions. I saw a
musical called ‘Working’ by Studs Terkel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Oyl1BvHo9LM).
It had a song in it that went “If I coulda been, what I coulda been, I woulda been
3)Mandate Sel f Care. In Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way , she has
participants take part in something called the artist date. This is time that is for
artist’s to spend time with themselves doing something enjoyable. Something so
simple is so priceless. Imagine looking up and realizing the 5 years or more of
your life has passed and no time outs had happened? Dentist appointments
have been ignored. Nurture your mind, body and spirit. Take care of you.
Remember, you are also your work instrument.
4)Get Organized. It may seem like a daunting, time sucking task to organize.
However, that is time spent wisely. Once there are systems in place for keeping
everything from paper work to living space organized, peace is the outcome.
Knowing the facts induces a sense of calm. If the check book is always
balanced we can be clear if we need to earn more money or can afford to do
that low or no paying job for fun. Money is saved from not having to pay late
fees. The benefits of creating this habit are positive and numerous. Try it!
For more tips, advice and coaching please visit
http://www.actingismydayjobcoach.com/blog There is new content weekly. I’d
love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment! Ask a question!
See if you qualify for my coaching program. Fill out a questionnaire at:
http://www.actingismydayjobcoach.com/sq
By Kim | Posted in Acting Career , acting , how do you become an actor, how do you become an actress | Tagged acting as a career , acting career information ,
acting tips for beginners , Julia Cameron , The Artist's Way | Comments (0)
Act ing Career , 3 T ips t o Fo l low ing UpJune 21, 2010 – 10:04 am
I’ve always wanted to be a professional actor.
I met this casting director/agent/manager but I didn’t
call them.
I’ve had this business card for weeks but I haven’tcalled yet.
It is amazing how few people follow up and follow
through for their acting career. These same people
will then wonder why things aren’t happening for
them acting wise. If one makes a contact, it is a potential person that can get
one a step closer to acting goals.
1) Cal l the Next Day. Call while you are still fresh in the person’s mind.
There are many people working on building an acting career. Those with a
disciplined work ethic get the worm. Waiting to make a follow up call speaks to
the work ethic (or lack there of) of an actor. Calls for audition appointments and
bookings require quick follow up calls from talent to agent/manager.
Agent/manager then has to call back the client to confirm talent. There are many
cogs that have to be put into place to organize a shoot. Keep the cogs in the
machine turning.
2) Keep Comm i tment s . Do what you say you will do. This builds trust.
There are reliable actors and there are unreliable actors. Guess which actors get
called? Life happens so be sure to call as soon as there are any changes. Make
keeping your word a hard and fast habit. This kind of habit is noted and paid
attention to. So are the bad habits. Everyone has a choice. What types of work
habits are made?
3) Ignore Fear of Succ ess/Fai lure. Calling a person in this industry can be