APRIL 2013: I’m delighted to announce that Voiceover Agency BigFish Media is now providing representation for me. The field of voiceover work is becoming increasingly competitive, so this is a particularly welcome development. BigFish represents many established VOs whose talents are associated with some of the most prestigious brands and broadcasters in the UK and beyond, so I’m honoured to be included in their artist portfolio.

I’ve been in the business since 1979, but have never had a personal agent or been on the books of a voice agency — not because none of them wanted me, I hasten to add! I just didn’t cross their radar — and I never contacted any of them until now. Coming from a background of working in commercial radio as both a presenter and commercial producer, I’ve been happily working in the field of local radio commercial VOs all my professional life and never felt the need for an agent to find me work. Along with many other commissions I’ve completed over the years for independent producers — such as corporate DVDs and promotions, web videos and a few regional TV commercials — I’ve had enough regular work to sustain me as a full-time professional voiceover artist for over 30 years.

However, times are changing; there are now many more people in the VO industry compared with when I first started — but there’s still only so much pie to go round, and with such a huge number of artists sitting at the table trying to grab their slice, the time is right to try and make sure I don’t start going hungry.

Being represented by BigFish, a voiceover agency well-respected throughout the media industry and with connections I could never hope to establish on my own, provides an opportunity to widen the scope of my work to cover areas I’ve always found difficult to crack. I’m hoping that with their help, 2013 might prove to be something of a breakthrough year!

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“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur” ~ Red Adair

I quoted 300 Euros for a narration on a prestigious corporate video for an overseas client the other week, who was making something for a client of his own. He’s used me before and he said no problem, he’d get prepayment from his client, pay me, and then I could get on with it.

After a week of hearing nothing further, I contacted him to see what was going on. He replied that his client had found another voice over person, telling him that he was “twice cheaper.”

Not sure whether this meant the other chap did it for 150 or maybe even 75 Euros, I was rather miffed at being heftily undercut. But I took some small comfort from his parting comment:

“I sliced half of the voice over as it was unusable.”

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