13260: We Face Daunting Numbers

Raw transcript:

I don’t want to scare anybody, but it’s
worth knowing the numbers. In fact, it’s
imperative, it’s essential that you
understand the numbers when it comes to
what casting directors and producers are
dealing with
when they go to cast something. Let’s
talk about that in this episode of the
VO Heroes podcast.
The numbers vary, but for
just your average not tentpole, not you
know anchor series or or film, the
numbers can be staggering on the on
camera side. On the voiceover side,
they’re even bigger. So, let’s just deal
with that. On the writer side, who
knows? It depends on the project. But I
just want you to know the pool you’re
waiting into as you look at the numbers.
And the numbers have gotten bigger since
the pandemic, not smaller. So understand
that anywhere between
200 to 8,000
actors, voice talent, etc. might be in
the mix
at the very beginning of a project and
that’s just for one role. Uh a uh agents
and managers are submitting people once
the breakdown comes out, once the call
for actors and voice talent uh comes
out. Uh they’re submitting without
waiting for a casting director to ask
them to submit. And so those numbers can
be easily in the four figure range. Now
often they’re between 500 and a
thousand, but many times they’re much
much larger. From there, there may be a
pre-eread round. Uh and there you’re
looking at maybe a 100 to 500 actors.
Remember, you’re one of those. Um
there there would be a a second round of
culling even before call backs because
they review the pre-ereads. Call backs
could be anywhere between
5 10 20 all the way up to 200. Uh, and
then you get to the
what I call the second level of call
back rounds where they’re going to give
what are called selects
to the brain trust, the director, the
producers, the writers that will make
the final decision as to who gets the
job. Very, very rarely does a a a group
like that a brain trust, the writers,
the producers, the directors say to the
casting director, “Yeah, I don’t care.
whoever you want. That that’s fine with
me. They don’t do that. Uh maybe for
little teeny tiny non-speaking roles
like hot dog vendor number two, they’re
like, “Hey, if you have somebody that
you want to throw that to, great. We
don’t care.” But that isn’t usually the
case. So, as you look at these numbers,
it’s even more daunting to be in this
business than the muggles in your
friends and family group even could
imagine. They think in some cases you
decide what shows you’re going to sign
up for, right? They don’t know these
numbers. And sometimes even people that
work in the business don’t understand
these numbers.
It’s amazing that anybody actually gets
hired out of all those hundreds,
thousands, dozens when it gets called
down, the few. It’s amazing. anybody
gets hired and even when they’re hired,
it’s not always permanent. Sometimes
people get fired, sometimes they get
sick, sometimes they decide they want to
back out of a project. So, just knowing
these numbers and if if you’re not an
actor or voice talent and you’re somehow
watching this or listening to this
podcast episode,
this may be surprising and shocking to
you that that’s what we’re up against
every single time we do uh the the this
this process of putting ourselves out
there, putting putting ourselves up for
something that we want to participate in
or having our representatives do that
for
It is a daunting gauntlet. Say daunting
gauntlet seven times fast and see what
happens. I just want these numbers to be
something that you bear in mind when you
start telling yourself a fairy tale
about how unfair the business is.
Maybe maybe it’s a given that it’s
unfair because of the number of people
who would like to participate. But just
knowing the numbers should also give you
some comfort that it’s it’s a it’s an
attrition process to get to the very
end. And you have to be good and you
have to be right for the part uh or for
the role and you have to sound right and
you have to look right and you can’t
resemble the director’s ex. I mean there
it just actually you could resemble the
director’s ex but not usually.
I’m just saying there are obvious things
that you have to overcome and there are
not so obvious things that you have to
overcome. And one of the very obvious
things is how many people will go after
one particular role. The numbers
involved. Is this a surprise to you? Is
this because the voiceover numbers can
be even higher?
Yeah, they can be.
It’s crazy. It’s crazy that we want to
be in this business despite those
numbers, isn’t it? Tell me what your
thoughts are about this as you as you
realize that the the the level of the
hill that you’re up against when you go
after uh a part or a role. Um I I I just
wanted you to be aware of those. Let me
know in the comments below on
vioheres.com. That’s where the
conversation takes place in a sane and
respectful manner. Hit the like button
if you like what you’re seeing. You can
subscribe to the channel. you can be
notified when a new episode comes out.
Pass this along to an actor or voice
talent who may not be familiar with the
numbers or even a family member who is
totally clueless about what you’re up
against. You might want to do that. I’m
David H. Lawrence the 17th. I’m going to
go count some more numbers. Uh I thank
you so much for watching and for
listening and I will see you in the next
episode of the VO Heroes podcast.

(from YouTube)