How to Hire a Voice Over
Cast Your Voice
Once you have gathered a few quotes from your short list it is time to cast your voice. Casting is simply a fancy word for hiring. Compare each one against the voice profile you developed, your required services and your budget. You should now be able to make a decision. If not then you will need to start back with the auditioning process or even revise your budget if your expectations were unrealistic.
Once you select a voice actor it is important to define the terms of your contract. And it is a contract, whether verbal or written. A pro voice talent will appreciate knowing exactly what you require from them and when you require it. You will want to come to terms on issues like revisions, usage, delivery methods and deadlines. Some talent will require a portion or all of your payment up front if you have not established a credit history with their company so you need to set the payment schedule as part of the hiring process. Even if you are not using a formal contract it is still a good idea to set the terms on paper and make sure all involved parties have a copy so everyone knows what to expect.
If you are using a marketing firm, ad agency, or a talent agency they will handle much of this process for you and you should contact them for more information on the hiring process.
The online casting methods vary from site to site but the basic structure remains the same and each site walks you through the process.
Tags: actor, audition, Bob Souer, Brian Hart, Brian Mishkin, Caryn Clark, casting, DB Cooper, hire, professional, Stephanie Ciccarelli, talent, Todd Ellis, VO, voice, voiceover
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 2:20 pm and is filed under General, Voice Over. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:00 am
How to hire a professional voice | Voices Of Advertising says:[...] friend Brian Hart has prepared a superb article covering all the bases of hiring professional voice talent for your project. If you’d rather, you can download his article as a [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Brian, thank you for this terrific reference. It answers all the important questions and makes the process of finding us and hiring us very doable.
I am sure I will be quoting you and sending this forward.
Jane Ingalls
February 19th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Jane, thank you very much for taking the time to read it and to post a comment.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
uberVU - social comments says:Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by DavidHoustonVO: RT @HartVoiceOvers How To Hire a Voice Over article is live. A must read if you have never cast VO talent… http://bit.ly/bEcxWw...
March 10th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
This was a great read even for a beginner who is looking to get into the industry on how the atual working-recording, marketing, getting hired, getting paid-works. Thanks for taking the time to write this comprehensive piece Mr. Hart!
March 10th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
uh wordpress thinks i’m spam. i didn’t even figure the comments or this site was built on wp, but now that i look around i can see the anti spam WP protection. seems like they got their back end secured. anyways i came over from the vo-bb where this piece was linked and i read through all 7 pages and felt like i had learned a lot just by taking the time to focus and read through your words of advice. thanks! i will be following the site
March 10th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Lae, thank you very much for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you found the article helpful. Let me know if there’s every anything I can do for you.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
My Blog Title says:Another Title…
I wish more folks would use professional VOs….
February 9th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Hi Brian!
This should be mandatory reading for all those looking to hire a voice over talent.
Kudos for this awesome post!!!
February 11th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Morgan, thanks very much for taking the time to read it.
February 23rd, 2011 at 2:50 am
This is indeed the best article I’ve ever read on voice over hiring. It will save me lots of time and money. Thanks Brian!