The Promo world is fast and furious and often hungry for a new sound. Here’s some tips for your new or long term television voiceover talent that may make your day a lot smoother:

Interpret This! - Ask your producers for very specific descriptions of how they want you to voice their copy (hard news serious, conversational, real person, wry, Voice of God, dramatic power whisper, make me want to call my parents after this session weeper, etc.) Be familiar with all of them and then realize that everyone uses different descriptions for the same sounds and you’ll figure it out as you develop a relationship with each person. And you will develop many relationships because the turnover in promo is extremely high. Keep track of those folks and you may have the good fortune to work with them at another promo house or station.

Reading on the Run - A lot of television writers are finishing the copy just before the session and/or don’t think to email it till the last minute. Ask to have it sent as soon as possible anyway. This gives you more time to figure out your interpretation and to foresee any problems that they may have to check with other departments (like legal) to resolve.

And the Bites are? - Ask to have the bites timed out and written on the copy and for all pronunciations to be spelled out phonetically so you know exactly what they need of you.

Emphasize What? - Ask your writers to underline what they want emphasized while they’re writing it. It’s easy to forget until after you’ve sent the file back to them and you have to redo it.

Grammar Grab - Keep an eye out for grammatical errors i.e. tenses, possessives, etc. Yes, Virginia, writers of television voice over promo copy do appreciate that kind of correction.

Recording Respect - Ask your voiceover producers who don’t have set times with you to give you as much advance notice as possible. Sometimes that’s none but most will do everything they can to respect your busy schedule.

Check, Check & Recheck – Some television voiceover talent sessions are still done ISDN and it’s worth it to ask if the take is actually there. Most sessions are mp3 and it’s a good idea to ask your producers to hit Reply when they receive your email to confirm to you that they actually received it. When they want the mp3 to be sent to multiple producers, ask their names to be cc'd so you can just hit Reply All (simple enough but you'd be amazed how often folks forget).

MP3 Mambo - If you have clients who don’t have set session times and they have copy that has a deadline, beg them to also call you whenever they email. It’s too easy to be away from your desk (or at another session hopefully) and miss the copy and they miss out. Keeping your voice over producers happy campers is part of your job. And speaking of…

Be Nice to the Animals - Grumpy television voice over talents aren’t artists; they’re jerks. As one producer told me: “We have tough, stressful jobs with constant deadlines and never enough money - our own or the companys’. We like working with people who are nice to us.” This is not hard to do as promo people, for all the pressure they’re under, are some of the best people in the business to work with – so treat ‘em right!

Lora Cain is a voiceover actor on Jimmy Kimmel Live/ABC, actor, journalist, author, communications expert, media personality and stand up comedian. To hear her many demos, you can click here or email her at: lora@loracain.com.