Voiceovers?!

[Frankieola]

Have thought about doing voiceover work for commercials and stuff on the radio, Just wondered how I would get into it and what qualifications (if any!) I would need.

the only adverts I have ever seen seem to involve premium rate numbers or texts and I dont think they are for real.

Anyone got any idea or can point me in the right direction?

thanks!

[andy-hughes]

It's a massively oversubscribed job market Frankieola, and very difficult to break into - sorry to be a harbinger of doom, but i don;t want to get your hopes up too high.

If you think you have a suitable voice, there are recognised coaching organisations - get yourself a copy of The Stage the actors' newspaper and check out their small ads. Any reputable company will offer you training a 'show reel' (a tape of your voice to send out to companies) at the end.

This work is far harder than it looks, and as with most acting jobs - and that's what voiceing is - the top 10% cream off 90% of the work, and the hundreds of thousands of others fight for the rest.

However, if you think you have what it takes - and it is far far more than just having a 'nice' or even a 'sexy' voice, then give it a go, but prepare for a lot of rejection in the early stages.

Good luck.

[xrayspecs]

It is a very competative market but give yourself an edge. If you can master a veriety of regional accents, you'll stand a better chance. Approach a couple of agents to see how the land lies (don't pay up font fees though, a good agent will recoup any costs involved in taking you on through the commission they charge you when they get you work).

[stanleyman]

They are actors and need to be union members to work.