This little guy won’t forget who they’ve met. How will you remember all your contacts and auditions?
When I started going out on voice-over auditions back in the early aughts, they were a whirl. From one audition to the next, it was hard to keep track of what I was reading for and for whom. The issue became even more acute as my career began picking up steam and the opportunities increased. When a call came in to go to a casting office, recording studio or production company, I would sometimes forget if I’d been to a specific place before, or met a particular casting director there. There was also the issue of what I may have read for and how I did in the audition. Part of this was a case of ‘out of sight out of mind.’ When booking ratios even for working actors are so low, you learn to take each audition as it comes, and then quickly put it behind you and move on to the next one. However, I learned that there were some methods to employ that would help me keep better track of and learn from my auditions, which made me better at them, and ultimately a more successful voice actor. In earlier blog posts, I have detailed best strategies and tactics for audition prep and performance, and in this one I’ll detail how I learned to keep it all straight and organized, with an audition log.
An audition log is a simple thing that can pay great dividends. I have been keeping one for many years, and have found it to be the ideal way to keep track of auditions. Below is what I fill out after each one:
Date:
Casting Office/Production House/Recording Studio:
Casting Director:
Client/Job:
Performance:
Call-back/Booking:
Simple, straightforward and very helpful. Because, when my agent calls to send me out to a casting office, months or even years may have passed since I was last there, so a quick search through my log will tell me if/when I was there, for what, reading for whom and how my performance was. Sometimes I’ll need to jog my memory, so that if there was a particular casting director that loved (or hated me) I am prepared. It also helps me keep track of where I may be able to make outreach/marketing efforts. By referring back to it over time, I can see trends in the industry and in my own calls. Are the things I’m going out for changing? Am I getting more or less successful in certain areas and for particular casting directors? These are essential questions to ask, and audition logs can help provide the answer.
I started keeping an audition log during a different time in the industry, when most auditioning was done in-person. In certain markets like NYC, where I am there is still a lot of it, but the same technology that has fueled the growth of inexpensive professional home studios, and easy file transferring has also greatly reduced the need to audition in front of someone. Now, a different kind of log will likely be most appropriate for most talent breaking in these days, but these can be equally as effective. Applying a similar log framework to Voices.com auditions, for example, could be very beneficial. On Voices, all the auditions submitted are catalogued for the talent, from which a more specific log can be created:
Job Type:
Job Specs:
Rate Performance:
Got a Thumbs-up:
Got Favorited:
Call-back/Booking:
Something like these audition logs can help make sense over time of what kinds of jobs, genres, etc. you are best suited for, to help focus on them going forward. After all, a significant factor of success is not the quantity of auditions, but the quantity of the right kinds of auditions. Over time, keeping a log can help make your auditioning better, more efficient and ultimately, more effective.
Alan Schwartz is a nationally recognized voice over talent who has served as the voice for Sprite, Verizon, Smirnoff Ice, and “Alex” from the Mac Operating System, among others. You can find more of his work at ajsvoiceover.com.
