Enhancing Your Career with On-Camera Skills

VO BOSS

00:03 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey bosses, ever feel overwhelmed by marketing? I get it. Let's tackle it together with a VO Boss Blast. We're all about making marketing as enjoyable as voice acting itself. Dive in with me and let's blast off together and let's turn those marketing challenges into victories. Sign up today at VOBoss.com.

00:27 - Tolu Kolade (Ad) Hi Anne. My name is Tolu Kolade. I am a Nigerian and I love your podcast. I listen every week. I discovered it last year and I must say it has been an incredible eye-opener for me, helping me to get better in my craft, even as an Nigerian and an African. There are many tips that are so useful for me and, guess what? You inspired me to also create my own podcast, which is also based on voiceovers. So I love what you do and keep doing what you do, thank you.

01:02 - Intro (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a vo boss.

01:20 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) ! hey everyone, welcome to the VO BOSS podcast and the boss superpower series. I'm your host Anne Ganguzza and I'm here with the very lovely Lau Lapides today. Hey, annie, so happy to be here. As always, law, you look lovely.

01:37 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) Thank you gorgeous today. You do too. We're getting ready for summer that's right.

01:42 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That's right. You know it's funny because I just celebrated my eighth year for VO Boss. Woohoo, woohoo, yeah, eighth year and things have changed. I'll tell you what in podcasting and, of course, in our own industry, but I used to only do this audio. But the way technology has evolved I mean, everything is video content and on camera and it just has changed. So we have to be prepared not just for doing the voice, but I had to do my hair this morning and do the color coordination and the outfit, so wait are you trying to tell me that you may have to be on camera?

02:16 yes, we may have to be on camera as voice actors, and that's like remember everybody in the beginning I got into voiceover so that I didn't have to show my face. But guess what, guys? There's an entire world of opportunities that law firsthand can talk about in terms of casting right and on-camera work.

02:36 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) Yes, and you can talk about it too, because you're always webcasting. This is true Podcasting and on-camera social media.

02:43 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Content Casting with.

02:44 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) Zoom, I mean it's endless. On-camera social media on-casting with Zoom, I mean it's endless. We are on, on, on camera and we were just talking about this before and I think it's really important for voiceover talent at all levels to be thinking about potentially nabbing some on-camera work. Yeah, Really, the opportunities are there, they're vast. Yes, it gets slow and there's ebbs and flows, just like there are in voiceover.

03:04 But if you are going to reach out, say, for instance, to an agency, and you say, well, I want to get some more reps or I need a rep.

03:10 I don't even have a rep, how do I do it? One of your checkboxes, if you can, is the fact that you are able, capable and willing and wanting to do on-camera work, because a lot of the agencies, especially the boutique agencies, will sign you what they call across the board, meaning they're interested in you as a voiceover talent, but they also want to know you can do on-camera commercial work or print work or anything that has to do with, maybe, a non-broadcast industrial. So I would say I mean one of the things I always say to our coaching clients is think about it. If you absolutely do not want to be doing it, be honest and don't do it, because there's a huge line behind you of actors that want to do it. Yeah, absolutely. And we convert many voiceover talent to also do on camera and have that combo on their resume and they love it. And oftentimes they say, oh, I had no idea how fun this was, I thought I had a face for radio. And I say you have to retire that old, stupid phrase.

04:13 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, it is old and stupid.

04:15 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) You're absolutely right, and let me tell you the stranger, you look the odder, you look the more real, you look the more work you get. You're going to get more work than a supermodel.

04:26 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, the more desirable you are. Absolutely Flaws and everything, guys. I mean I actually love that the camera is embracing these things now, because real people, right, real people.

04:38 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) Real people. There's an agency in New York, Annie, that's pretty hip. It's called Funny Faces and they represent only real people. Now, those are actors still. They're trained actors. But they're actors that specifically do not look like model types, which is most actors and they're getting most of the work because they want just like in voiceover today they want real people. They want real people who look like real people and who sound like real people.

05:04 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, absolutely, absolutely. I love that. So I would have my students say to me oh gosh, I thought I was just training for voiceover. I just spent all this money training for voiceover. What do I have to do for on-camera?

05:21 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) law. One thing I would say is and I hear this a lot, I've heard this for years and years is oh, that's an interesting idea, I wouldn't mind doing that. I mean, if they asked me, I'd say I wouldn't mind it. I'd say listen, don't ever come into it that way, Because I wouldn't mind. It is like saying yeah is like saying you know, yeah, would you clean up the table? I don't mind cleaning up the table. No, you have to have some passion for it. You have to have some real wanting to do it Because, just like in voiceover, you're up against trained actors. You're up against people who really are dying for jobs and want the job.

05:55 So you really want to have. Find that in you. Test it, train Coach number one, just like in everything we say. Coach for acting for on camera. Take some improv classes. Make sure you're in a few acting classes, that you're having fun. You must have fun. If it's against your grain, if it's like taking medicine when you're sick, don't do it. You really have to do it. If you're saying, oh, this is kind of enjoyable, it's kind of sassy, I'm having a good time with that, or all right, you have to come into it with the right spirit and the right positive mindset, otherwise it's like don't do us any favors because you're not doing us any favors. We can find and work with trained actors very, very easily. So come in with a good attitude, coach, and take your classes. Start thinking right away about getting involved with films, student films, independent films. It's not about money at that point.

06:50 It's about building an actor real and building your resume and getting some experience in front of the camera.

06:56 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Certainly, theater if you're interested in theater, great, but that's a different path and how simple is it now, with social media and our iPhones, that we can get comfortable in front of the camera. And it is a thing, guys, because I know when I first started getting out there, okay, you've got to look at the camera, like right now I'm looking at the camera and I want to look at law on the screen in front of me, but no, I have to look at my camera because that's where my eyes go and so, like little things like that, and then just being able to be yourself, being able to go off script, being able to be on script and sound natural, and to just have that again, that authentic, you come out, gosh. We have all the time in the world and all the resources at our fingertips to start to see if maybe that's something we're comfortable with.

07:41 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) So true and one of the things that people don't realize is 90% of your casting for on camera is the way you look. Maybe 95% is the way you look. It doesn't mean you don't have to have talent you do. It just means they're going to cast you first on your physical type and then they're going to see what you're bringing to the table. So working on memorization is a big deal. That's really part of your job. To memorize scripts, learning how to use a teleprompter on their laptop, which is a wonderful skill to learn. If anything, it focuses your brain and keeps you very calm. There's just some interesting skills that are going to help you in your voiceover, your character building, your analysis of a script of a character.

08:26 You're thinking fast on your feet in improv. How do I create off other people and really acutely listen to what they're saying to me and really be able to create? I'll tell you, I know firsthand that when you're in a film, set or TV— Listen without interrupting.

08:42 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Written on my shirt Listen, Listen to my breast without interrupting. I know, and I just interrupted you while I said that. So See how I took my own advice yeah, there we go, that's great, that's great.

08:57 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) But I mean, I'll tell you, especially with the younger generation coming up, annie, the directors are different nowadays, like they are really wanting actors to come in and be prepared and give them ideas, give them characters, give them stuff that they can have fun with, steal and run away with and enjoy with you. Hasn't that always been?

09:17 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) the way I feel like that's always been.

09:19 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) I feel like in voiceover.

09:21 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) People are always like well, why do they write the script like that when they want us to be real? Well, because I think they want to hear your interpretation of it, and so I think half the time those scripts are written with an intensive purpose yes, to make you get creative and really figure out how you're going to tell that story, even though you have no idea what those words mean. That's really what it is, and a lot of those directors.

09:42 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) No commentary on them, in particular, on that generation in particular. They're not trained to train you. They're trained to cast you and to have you get as close to the role as possible. Where they're tweaking you. They're trained to cast you and to have you get as close to the role as possible. Where they're tweaking you, they're doing adjustments with you. They don't want to give you the character, they don't want to build you from the ground up. They don't want to give you an acting class. They want you to make yeah, it is like voiceover. They want you to make life easy for them, fast. For them, time is money. They're renting equipment from houses. They don't want to have that extra day of shooting and oftentimes you won't even meet the actors until the day of the shoot.

10:19 That's your husband, that's your child, that's your—so you have to learn. That's why we always say take improv, take improv. Because you have to learn to say oh, annie is now your therapist. Oh, anne's now your sister. Oh, anne's now your lover, now your therapist. Oh, anne's now your sister. Oh, anne's now your lover. Whatever, you have to learn to buy into it very quick and say yes and yes and yes and and for the voiceover on a script. I think it's invaluable because it really allows you to walk into the world of the copy very fast.

10:47 Oh, absolutely, and not second guess it quite as much as we would, as us but to say, okay, well, you know, mcdonald's could be in a fairy tale land. Sure, why not, you know?

10:58 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I talk to people all the time and my voiceover students all the time about the script and I'm like how many times do you run into your studio and you simply recite the words in a melody that you hear in your head without understanding the story behind it? And when there are words that come up and you're like I have no idea what that means, you just say them, and when you say them with no point of view, you haven't been able to tell a story, you haven't shown that you've done the work. And that's why, when you audition and you can come in with that story and that point of view and you've got that improv, that subtextual understanding, that character backstory, you've got that all figured out, even for an e-learning module I'm just saying Even for corporate then they know that you're an actor and they know that they can cast you and direct you to just about anything and that is the work that we actors must do and if we do that work in voiceover, it's absolutely plausible and possible for you to do it on camera, no question.

11:55 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) And there is that spirit that actors talk about, that takes them over, where it goes from words on a page I'm comprehending it, I'm analyzing it, I'm trying to understand it and profile it to oh, this interpretation that comes over you, that starts to personalize from your reservoir, your emotional reservoir. Well, we're always asking for that in voiceover too. Like, how do I personalize the script, how do I get to my reservoir of tone and emotion so that I don't get sing-songy and I don't fall into cadence and rhythm? It's what a lot of our agents in casting say after they audition talent. That person is not connected.

12:37 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Oh, absolutely, you need to be connected. You need to be connected. I kind of keep bringing this back to voiceover, sorry, because there's so many parallels where so many people will complain the way the script is written. I'm like that's not your job to complain about how the script is written. I mean, it's your job as an actor to interpret that script and to interpret that script in a way that makes it authentic and believable.

12:57 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) Yeah, and the reality is, if you really don't like it and you have a right to disagree with it, not like it or just not want to do it then don't do it, rather than coming into the job and saying, well, why is it written this way and why?

13:10 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) is it?

13:10 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) this way. Well then, already I'm not open to the job, I'm really not open to the job. So we always say when you're coming into a role, don't judge it, don't adjudicate it, don't make commentary on it, as you, as the actor, just try to engage, try to communicate with it, try to personalize it in every way you can, as quickly as possible.

13:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, yes, yes, and that takes practice and we had another podcast that we talked about the amount of work that it takes. Right, that takes practice to do that, to understand that, to do the analysis, to get the acting to understand the subtext and to really do the preparation needed to execute voiceover or on camera, that acting, so that it is something successful for you.

13:56 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) Yeah, I hear voiceover talent all the time say things like well, this is hard. I would never, say this.

14:02 I would never say this. I said because this isn't you saying this, this is someone else saying this. You're embodying the spirit of someone else. You really are. I mean, we're not asking you to say this or feel this in your kitchen. We're asking you to do this as part of your job. So if you say, well, as part of my job, I'm capable of doing this and this could possibly happen, Well then you open the door Psychologically. You open the door to really authentically, authentically playing it. You open the door to really authentically, authentically playing it. Yeah, absolutely, Because you've already bought into the idea that this could happen. This way.

14:39 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, yes, you have to buy into the idea. I love that.

14:41 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) You have to buy into it.

14:42 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) You have to buy into the idea.

14:44 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) That's why acting is so fun. Even if you never do anything on camera related or theater related, still do acting class, do improv, do everything you can because it shifts your mindset into a more playful fun place.

15:03 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, I love that. And so what advice would you give people that are in voiceover that want to expand into on-camera? First and foremost, what do they need to do? Who do they need to contact? What classes would they take right? Do they need a reel? What are the essentials?

15:17 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) Right, well, our studio does these. I mean, many studios do classes. Now we do our online, of course. I would say one thing, though if you can take an in-studio class in your city, in your town, in your state, definitely do it, because it's a different experience when you're physically in a room with people as an actor versus online. And I would say, do both, because being online is great too. We get to see you on camera, you get to see what it's like just dealing with all the technical elements on camera, but I would also say, be in a room with people as well, see how you like it.

15:50 You have to feel it out, and I would also coach in it as well, so that you can understand audition material. You can see what your type is Similar to voiceover, right, like what is a realistic type for me to go after? What are the different genres I might be interested in? And then, what is an actor reel? How do I build an actor reel? That's all video-based. How do I put that together? What does actors access and casting networks have to do with it? This is before you seek representation. Do not seek representation until you get your trade down, like voiceover. You really have to have the background of understanding an actor's vocabulary. Once you get that actor's vocabulary and you know that, oh, if I go after a commercial, they're going to expect me to memorize the script, I know that. So this is the vocabulary that we speak of. And then you've got to have practice time, practice rehearsal, coaching, classwork. Now.

16:46 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) La, let's distinguish. I want to hear from you. I know how to distinguish. In my words, how do you distinguish on camera from, let's say, on stage, oh, it's a totally different world in the sense that they're both highly technical worlds.

17:14 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) But it's a different kind of commitment when you do theater, because theater oftentimes is longer, it takes a longer time to rehearse, oftentimes, the performance runs are longer and you have to physically be somewhere in person for a length of time. That can be difficult for theater. That's what they do. They're artists oftentimes, so you should experience that too. Like again go take a stand-up class, go take an improv class, go take something that's short-term, where you're live and you get to be on a stage or you get to be in a studio.

17:32 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) So if you are a theater actor, is it easy to transition to on camera? That's a question I would get from my students, because I have a lot of theater students that come into voiceover.

17:41 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) I would get from my students, because I have a lot of theater students that come into voiceover. You know what? I don't know. I don't overthink that. I think that there's too much chat about that when really excellent actors, like all the Hollywood actors we know and love, all started out in theater. Almost all of them started out in theater and they found ways, as they worked, as they auditioned, to transition, to internalize emotion, to not allow as many physical gyration and physical largeness to happen, but I wouldn't overanalyze it because I think it's a very interesting craft.

18:11 It's a craft and it's one that you learn as you do it. You have to do it to really learn how to do it. You have to work with different directors, different crews, different folks to see how do they see you Similar to voiceover how do they hear you, how do they see you and really start buying into the archetypes that they're seeing you as Like. If I get called out for a role, I'm almost always being called out for some sort of mother role yeah, almost always. So I'm seen as that archetype of that, whatever that is, and then there's all sorts of variations on that theme.

18:49 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) So really have fun with that you know, it's so interesting because a lot of my theater actor students will come to me and then they'll find it somewhat difficult to transition because now that they're behind a microphone they don't have another physical presence to play off of, but they have to bring that imaginary physical presence into the booth with them.

19:06 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) That's exactly right. That's exactly right and that's the thing. I think that's hard for theater actors Some transition well and some do not transition well because they're used to ensemble style rehearsal, so they're used to showing up. There are other people there. You've got a director and they've got energy back and forth.

19:25 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, absolutely, that's something you've got to create in the booth, and same thing with on camera. Even on camera, I mean, there's energy of people maybe behind the camera or maybe energy of people within the scene that you're working with, but a lot of times if you're just being a a one person on camera talent, you've got to play to that camera. So you do and you have to show up prepared.

19:46 - Lau Lapides (Co-host) So when you go in, you have to assume OK, they have X amount of time, they're renting equipment, they're renting location, they're doing all these things so that they can help me shine. I have to know my lines, I have to know what playing a mother is, and then I meet the other actors. So I have to do all that work before I even get on the set, and that's very different than theater, whereas theater is much more organic. You come in and you do your table, read, you discuss it, you grow the characters together. It's a very different kind of process and that's why people love theater and they get addicted to theater.

20:20 Sure, absolutely, because they want that energy back and forth, that energy give and take.

20:24 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) It's so interesting because in all of the voiceover theater on camera there are all the similarities in the acting. It's just physically and mentally what you need to do slightly different to get to a place in either one. It's all incredible. All being said, you got to be an actor. So what a great, interesting conversation today, law. Thank you so much for your input and your wisdom on that.

20:47 I love it. Bosses, think about this as a way to maybe expand in your business, and, of course, it's always great to expand your actor skills. It will all help you in the booth in the end. So, absolutely so. Big shout out to our sponsor, ipdtl. You too can network and communicate like pros like Law and myself. Find out more at IPDTLcom. You guys have an amazing week and we'll see you next week. Bye, see you next week. Love you guys.

21:16 - Intro (Announcement) Join us next week for another edition of VO Boss with your host, Ann Ganguza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at vobosscom and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via IPDTL coast connectivity via ipdtl.

21:48 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey bosses, I'm so excited to announce our third audition demolition coming up live september 27th, and our uh diet. Ugh, oh shit, all right, damn it. Good morning, kiss me off. That was good too, I know, fucking shit. Audition deadline the 20th Okay, september 27th. All right, that's my problem. I have it written here, but I just don't have it in front of my face, so That'll end up in bloopers next time, ugh.