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Using a Placeholder VO Demo

Hey, there!

I had the opportunity to be on a phone conference with Gabby Nistico. She’s a former radio air personality, current radio imaging queen, bitchy voice talent (her words), VO casting director and HBIC over at vocareer.com. She’s come up with an awfully clever thing to do with that lack of demos in your Voice123 and Voices portfolio.

I mean, really clever. Read on.

Time, opportunity, preparation, and sometimes money are the main reason we don’t all have a complete 27-demo set of VO demos lining the right hand column of our Voice123 profiles (and the similar areas on the other casting sites).

But instead of simply hanging our heads in shame and living with a lack of demos, Gabby had a great suggestion.

Until you can do an actual demo for each category, consider putting up promos LABELED with those categories. All of them.

For example, instead of not having anything labeled Documentary Narration demo, how about this:

Click here for my Documentary Narration Demo

Yep.

Labeled as such, but really a promo for your other demos in disguise, this humorous approach will still help you attract clients, but lessen some of the pressure to get everything done right now.

These promos also give your potential clients to listen to your other demos while you attend to the thousands of other details to be handled for your VO career. Most importantly, it will add all of those categories to the list of keywords found in your profile. That means more auditions headed your way.

But do NOT use this as an excuse to put off filling out your demo portfolio with real, awesome, best-of-breed professional demos in these categories – you’re leaving money on the table, friend.

Hope this helps.

David

5 Responses to Using a Placeholder VO Demo

  1. Mark Kamish March 1, 2016 at 7:03 am #

    I just felt my my whole body relax, my breathing slowed and my blood pressure dropped. Who’d have thought reading an article about VO demos could do that. Thank you, Dr. David!

  2. Briggan O'Bryan December 15, 2018 at 10:27 am #

    WooHoo!

    David, thanks so much for posting this! I was watching your webinar with Dan O’Day the other day, and asked that question about how to hustle for work while I’m saving up for demos. Your answer was great, but this post really went the extra mile! Thank you, thank you!

  3. Dustin Parkhurst December 16, 2018 at 10:14 am #

    Wouldn’t you feel angry and like your time was wasted because of the deception? Am I being naive?

    • David H. Lawrence XVII December 16, 2018 at 10:34 am #

      I wouldn’t, no…I’d be informed that the talent’s demo portfolio was under construction and that they were on top of things, and was doing so with a bit of humor. I take it you’d feel somehow duped?

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