The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast

Let me ask you something.

When an audition lands in your inbox, what is your first reaction? Is it excitement? Or is it, oh no. Not another self-tape.

If it is the second one, we need to talk about that. Because that reaction means your nervous system has started associating auditions with danger instead of play. With burden instead of opportunity. And any time we get the chance to act, it should feel like a yes moment. If it does not, it might be time to pause and look at what is actually happening.

It Is Not Just Tiredness

So many actors feel ashamed admitting how exhausting self-tapes are. And I get it. But here is what I want you to hear. It is okay that you find them exhausting. What it means is that we need to take really good emotional care of ourselves so they do not feel so depleting every single time.

My mom used to say, you cannot give from a dry well. I have no idea if that is a Dutch expression or just a her thing, but she was right. And I have watched actors cry a...

I'm going to say something a little unpopular.

Most SMART goals don't work. Not because the framework is bad. Not because I don't believe in it. I make SMART goals every quarter for myself. But what I actually see with the voice actors I coach is that they use them to create the appearance of a plan, not an actual plan. They check all the boxes, put it in a document, and never look at it again. And then at the end of the year they feel like they failed.

And that is awful.

What Goes Wrong

Here is a real example, completely anonymized. A student submitted this goal to me. By the end of September I will post once a week on LinkedIn, send five follow-up emails daily, and reach out to one voiceover buyer weekly. My goal is to book at least two new clients and generate $5,000 in new revenue within 12 months.

On paper that looks great. There is a date, there are numbers, there is a revenue target. But here is what is actually happening.

The timeline is a mess. The activity goal says ...

The Career Stages Every Actor Goes Through

There is a coaching phrase I keep coming back to.

It gets better, it gets worse, it gets different, it gets real. And then it starts again. Better, worse, different, real. Over and over, sometimes all at once, sometimes so fast you can barely tell which one you are in.

That is an acting career. And honestly, that is most creative careers.

So today I want to talk about the stages, because here is what I find is true for so many actors I work with. They are not failing. They are just in a different stage than they think they are in, and that changes everything.

Everyone Else Is Moving Forward and I Am Stuck

This is the quiet belief that a lot of actors carry around. And whenever we compare ourselves to other people what we are really doing is telling the universe we are in the wrong place. But you are not in the wrong place. John over there is just in a different phase. That is it.

Compare and despair. It is one of my favorite little s...

"Make Your Own Content" Is Incomplete Advice. Here Is What It Actually Means.

I was scrolling TikTok, as one does, and I came across an actor who was fired up. She said the advice to make your own content is terrible. Her take was basically, I'm an actor, not a writer, not a producer, not a director. I don't have a crew or a budget. So what are you actually asking me to do here? Pull a short film out of thin air between my day job and my auditions?

And I watched that video and thought, you know what, there's a point there that's fair. But I also think the advice is incomplete. Not wrong. Incomplete. And incomplete advice is dangerous because it sounds reasonable enough that people try it, fail, and then blame themselves.

So today I want to unpack what make your own content actually means, who it's for, and how it means something completely different if you're a voice actor.

The Advice Is Missing a Map

As it's typically delivered, in workshops, masterclasses, panels, the advice ...

Let me walk you through a scenario.

A voice actor gets an offer. Major food delivery brand. Session fee is $500. Buyout is $10,000. Usage is worldwide, all media, in perpetuity. Broadcast TV, streaming, social media, paid and organic, radio, in stores, stadium, cinema, email marketing, every platform, every country, forever.

Is that a good deal?

Not even close.

Today I'm going to give you the math, the framework, and the language you need to have the buyout conversation without feeling like you're making up numbers or asking too much or too little.

Session Fee vs Usage Fee

These two things are important to distinguish because a lot of voice actors, especially newer ones, bundle them incorrectly.

The session fee is what you get paid for your time in the booth. It compensates you for the recording session itself, your preparation, your studio, your performance. For a typical commercial session, session fees range from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand depending on t...

I want to reframe something for you.

Because if auditioning feels heavy, like a test, like a judgment, like a moment that could determine your entire future, I get it. I have been there. I remember walking into audition rooms feeling like I was literally going to my death, like I should smoke a cigarette first. That is how loaded it felt.

But here is the thing. That is not actually how the industry works.

Auditions Are an Interview Process

The job is being hired to work on the set, the stage, or in the studio. Auditions are how you get there. They are an interview process, not a verdict.

And so many things that determine whether you book are completely outside your control. Chemistry with other actors. Network preferences. An age range that shifted overnight without anyone updating the breakdown. I once had a scene with Warren Beatty in a major feature film and the night before I was supposed to shoot, they rewrote me out of the script entirely. That scene was just gone. And th...

Quick question: What's the voice you hear describing what's happening on screen during a movie or a TV show for blind and low vision viewers?

That's audio description. And somebody has to record it for every show, every movie, every piece of streaming content, every educational video on every major platform. Every single one.

That is an enormous amount of work. And most voice actors have no idea how to get it.

What Audio Description Actually Is

AD is narration inserted into the natural pauses in a piece of video content, like dialogue, music, and sound effects, that describes what's happening visually. Character movements, facial expressions, scene changes, text on screen, important visual information that a viewer would otherwise miss if they can't see the picture.

The narration is written in the present tense. It's delivered neutrally. The AD narrator describes. They don't editorialize. They are giving information logically but not characterizing it. And it has to fit precise...

What Casting Directors Notice in the First 10 Seconds

Most actors believe the audition starts when they begin the scene.

It doesn't.

The audition starts the moment casting sees you. And casting directors often know within the first 10 seconds whether someone feels like they belong in the room or belong in the self-tape. Whether they feel they deserve to be there and are really showing up to drop off the gift of their talent.

Presence Before Performance

It's not that casting directors are judging your soul. It's the energy. Are you giving off the energy of clarity, of worthiness, of confidence that you believe you deserve to be there?

I work on this with so many actors. The thoughts that creep in. I hope they like me. I'm probably not right for this. Everyone else is probably better than me. Before COVID I would always ask, are you the actor who goes into the audition waiting room and gives away the role to someone else sitting there? You want to be giving the role to you.

And...