The accidental voice-over guy

“D.C.” Douglas didn’t set out to be a voice-over guy. He just didn’t read the fine print when he signed up for his first acting class – and it turned out to be for voice acting. “One of the first things the teacher, Barbara Gill, said to me was: ‘You’ve got a beautiful voice; you should do voiceovers.’”

Another way to describe D.C.’s voice might be ‘infectiously friendly’, because after only a minute of talking with him, you begin to feel like he’s someone you know – a friend, even. Flattered by his teacher’s words, D.C. continued with the voice classes, but focused most of his attention on what he’d really moved to Los Angeles for: film and TV. It only took six or seven years for him to nail down the essential difference between regular acting and voice acting:

“You can wait around for months, auditioning and waiting to land parts for TV or film. But you can get paid for dozens of voice-over jobs while you’re waiting for those parts.”

D.C. does get lots of work in film and TV. Over the years he’s turned up in such hit shows as Las Vegas, Boston Common, JAG, Diagnosis Murder, NYPD Blue, Charmed, and Beverly Hills 90210. But voice-over is his bread and butter, and has been since 1993.

Today, D.C. bills himself as “My Voiceover Guy” (www.myvoiceoverguy.com) and runs a thriving voice-over business from his own fully equipped studio. His work covers everything from radio commercials and TV documentaries, to corporate videos and infomercials. And his client list is impressive, including such companies and products as Honda, eBay, EarthLink and BMW, as well as numerous political ads and promos for TV series and specials on NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and others.

Over the years, he’s gained a thorough understanding of how to succeed in the voice-over business. Here’s his advice if you’re trying to get started:

“If you don’t live in a major area, such as LA, New York, or Chicago, then you really need to build your business around a web site. You have to do everything you can to contact people and drive them to your web site: send postcards to businesses, send targeted emails, talk to people, learn about keywords and make sure your site is optimized for search.”

He notes that, although there is less work in smaller centers, it’s easier for an independent voice actor to negotiate good prices for their work. In large centers there’s a lot of work, but also a lot of competition and jobs tend to go for a take-it-or-leave-it flat fee.

“The hardest part of running your own voice over business,” says D.C., “is learning to be your own director. There’s nobody to tell you to do another take, so you need to know when you’ve done a good job and when you could do it better. You also need to understand your abilities and how they fit into the voice market. If you’re best at accents and character voices, then you should aim at working in cartoons, or commercials that need character voices.”

And one last thing: “Take classes. In acting and in voice over.”

MY VOICE OVER GUY: D.C. Douglas

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MY VOICE OVER GUY: talent
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MY VOICE OVER GUY: www.dcdouglas.com
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MY VOICE OVER GUY: website
Commercials, Corporate Training Videos, Powerpoint Narration, Infomercials, Automotive & Political, cartoon characters, event announcer, hard & soft sell -- you name it. L.A. Voiceover pro D.C. Douglas can voice it for you. Fast and within your budget. Free auditions.

D.C. Douglas migrated his old website http://www.dcdouglas.com to http://www.myvoiceoverguy.com in order to better brand his voiceover services. You have found My Voice Over Guy . com. Welcome!

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