AFTRA

Workshop #4

"CONNIE ZIMET'S 'VOICE OVER TOOLBOX'"

By Charles Ferrara

In July, 2004, Connie Zimet, nationally renowned Voice-Over talent and teacher, gave a Voice-over workshop at Tulane University.

Ms. Zimet began her long successful career in New York, as a jingle singer, many of which we have all heard over the years, and has evolved to the point where she is one of the most sought after voice-over performers in the country.

Ms. Zimet is currently the president of AFTRA Miami Local.

The workshop was jointly sponsored by AFTRA New Orleans and the Arts Council of New Orleans and was limited to 60 attendees, all of whom were treated to an outstanding presentation by Ms. Zimet.

We hope to prevail upon Ms. Zimet to return at some time in the future as many applicants were turned away because of the limited space.

AFTRA-New Orleans expresses its appreciation to Ms. Zimet as her cooperation and dedication to AFTRA enabled all AFTRA and ACNO members to attend free of charge.

Not only was her presentation informative but extremely entertaining. Ms. Zimet reiterated the need for performers to band and work together in order to ensure the high professional standards needed in the industry.

And, again, AFTRA New Orleans thanks President Zimet and we hope to see you at her next workshop, as soon as our New Orleans cooking can bring her back.

We agree. AFTRA and the Arts Council have now successfully partnered in several workshops and hope to continue to do so in the future. We urge you to join the Arts Council as the workshops they offer are varied and go beyond those pertaining only to performers.

Please continue to check AFTRA New Orleans' website for information regarding future workshops.

"GETTING MY VOICE BACK"
More about Connie Zimet’s Workshop

by Robert Pavlovich

It was late June and I needed a cold slap in the face. My voice-over career had taken a dive. I wondered, “What’s wrong with the market? Why have the jobs dried up and blown away? The jobs that were mine have all slipped away—to other markets and other workers.”

Then I looked at me. What have I done to create work? How have I pursued the jobs? I dusted off all the old tried and true marketing methods—demo cassettes, mailers, postcards, the mailing list and postage. And when I looked at all of those methods, I saw them for what they were—old, not true anymore and that “tried” was rearranged into “tired.”

As luck would have it, Connie Zimet was giving a day-long voice over seminar in New Orleans for those who were interested in getting into the business. At first I balked. But it was time for this old dog to learn a few new tricks.

Connie has the cred—she’s been a working actor since the age of 8 and was also a successful New York studio/jingle singer. She’s been a copywriter, producer, casting director and voice acting coach. Plus you’ve heard and can hear her voice on any number of commercials, industrials and presentations around the world—all through AFTRA.

The cold slap in the face I mentioned at the top came quickly. Connie smiled and told us point blank: "Unless you are in New York or Los Angeles pursuing voice-over work, the world is your market. If you are NOT in those cities and expect to compete for business, you have to be:

*Hooked into the Internet via DSL or other high speed connection
*On the web with your own Website
*Working out of your own Home Studio

She went on: “If you live outside of NYC and LA and you do not have the three things mentioned above, you are not ready to compete in the World Market of voice-overs that exists today. You cannot compete. You are losing business all the time.”

Wow! But it all made sense. Casting directors, ad agency creative directors, clients, anyone can type in “voice-over talent” into a search engine and find hundreds of men and women, with websites and MP3’s at the ready, itching to get a job, and ready to do so in the “Internet Age.”  Oh, well, there goes all those cassettes and mailers.

Connie went on, taking aim at lame demos: “Remember, it is MOOD and ATTITUDE, not voice that gets you work. So, start your demo with your absolute BEST take, no matter what it is. Find your signature sound–the one that fits you like a glove–and start the tape with it. Have a second version of the same thing about 1/2 way through to reinforce your signature sound.”

“How long should the demo be?" someone asked. Connie replied, “The Short version is no more than :60 seconds. In fact, show them you know the business and make it 59.5. The Long Version is no more than 1:45. AND your Demo should MOVE. It is a Montage.”

I was getting an ear full. I saw how much the marketplace had passed me by. And I was writing furiously and learning even more. Connie went on: “Show you can create moods. Give them a variety of sounds like “cosmetic*, slice of life, authoritative and PSA sounds. All are needed.”

And she proved to me that she was a woman after my own heart when she added, “Try to end your tape with something funny. If they get that far, there should be a payoff.”

Connie told us about the 3 keys to any audition and the means to making you sound the way you’re supposed to sound—CHARACTER, ATTITUDE, and CONDITION. And she reminded us all; doing voice-overs is not about “doing the right voice.”  You’re an actor when you’re doing a voice-over. So, find your Character, your Attitude, answer what your Condition is, and the voice will come out the way it should be heard. Focus on intention.

Connie went on with an example. We’ve all been in those studio situations when the client or producer says, “Give me 3 in a row of that sentence/phrase.”   She said you don’t just vary word emphasis.   Find 3 Attitudes and do it.”   And she reminded us all that when auditioning, be sure to mark down what our Character, Attitude and Conditions were in our calendars or notebooks so when we’re called back we can nail it again.

She touched on how to set up a modest Home Studio for well under $3,000, calling it “necessary” if you are serious about being in the voice over business. Connie said that the 3 Grand would get you a new computer, the software to record and edit your work, a nice microphone, windscreen, cables, mic-stand, basic mixer, and a few other little things. She said all that, along with a Demo that works in New York and Los Angeles and a high-speed Internet connection will get you work. I swallowed hard. Three Grand! But I can tell you now, she was high-balling it. Just do a little investigation of your own on the Internet and you’ll see what I mean.

Connie went on to tell us about The 3 Types of Inflections, Revving In, the trend to “throw-away” the clients’ name, Attitude, keeping the pace up in a two person spot by using “Gabbers” (words like Um, Uh, Oh yeah), Clumping those unusually long first sentences copy writers tend to write, and more.

One attendee asked, “How do you get better at cold copy reads?” Connie replied, “Practice reading aloud by actually doing it. Read everything aloud—magazines, newspapers, recipes.” Yeah, it may bug your significant other or your pets, but they’ll get used to it—especially if it means you’ll be bringing extra bucks into the house.

That Connie Zimet is quite a teacher. I’ll be visiting her to learn more. And I’ll report back to you what I learn. For now, I’ll leave you with something Connie said near the end of our workshop that has ramifications for all of our lives: “Remember, even when they ask you for “Reality,” they want “Quasi-Reality.”

(*)“Cosmetic” sound is the tourism, sophisticated nee’ sexy sound.