Casting Trends

VO BOSS

Gain a fresh perspective on the evolving casting landscape. Whether you're a newbie or an industry veteran, this episode will equip you with knowledge on how to market yourself to a specific niche. The Bosses cover the importance of understanding the language and mindset of your clients. Don't miss this enlightening chat where Anne and Lau share the emerging trends in casting, especially the push for diversity and authenticity. They emphasize the importance of staying true to your individuality, advising actors to embrace their unique accents and regional characteristics, as more companies are seeking authentic representations.

Transcript:

Anne Ganguzza: Hey everyone, welcome to the VioBoss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with the lovely and most wonderful Lau Lapides. Hello, welcome to our Business Superpowers series.

Lau Lapides: Mmm, so excited

Anne Ganguzza: Woohoo.

Lau Lapides: to be here as always.

Anne Ganguzza: And you know, we always need to really up our business superpowers, don't we, Law?

Lau Lapides: We do,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: always, every day.

Anne Ganguzza: And I think probably one of the most common things, questions that I get asked as a coach, and also you must as well as an agent and casting directors, what are the current trends in casting? And so how can I better prepare myself to evolve my business to keep up with the trends in casting? So I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk, especially with you, who casts on a day-to-day basis. What are you seeing in terms of casting trends these days, Law?

Lau Lapides: Mm, trendy trendy, yes. Well, what's been going on for quite a while is diversity casting. Like

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm,

Lau Lapides: we're

Anne Ganguzza: mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: always in need of more diversity, more representatives, both accent-wise, language-wise,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: delivery-wise, culturally. ethnically, I mean, this is all in the mix right now and kind of at the front of the line,

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: which is exciting

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: to see such an international mix of Indigenous peoples that are really representing their country, their region, their, you know, their profile, so to speak. So we're always looking to certainly up our roster, up our game in our roster, finding authentic talent from all over the world, even just Spanish talent.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: I'm totally in need of authentic Spanish talent of many dialects. Accent-free is fantastic, but then if you're not accent-free, dialects are wonderful if we know specifically where you're placed, because we really have to go with the real deal.

Anne Ganguzza: Sure.

Lau Lapides: It can't be an actor who's just really great at sound or accents. It really has to be the real person representing.

Anne Ganguzza: Well, I'll tell you what I love about it is... not just diversity, but authenticity. I think authenticity all the way around, which has been a trend just coming through the years, and especially now, people are just looking for other people to be authentic. And

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: so when it comes to my students who originally used to be there, they're like, can you please take away my accent? Or I wanna be good at narration, so should I have this neutral accent? And I'm like, look, as long as I can understand you, number one, important. I mean you don't want to have necessarily you know maybe a speech impediment that would inhibit me from understanding what you're saying. However when it comes to accents I don't think it's as critical as it used to be. It used to be that thing that you had to have absolutely neutral accent whatever that might be these days. But I'm having people in you know embrace their authenticity and if their authenticity is regional right and they have an that would really, you know, work with that. And, you know, I think we've always tried to do that, but even more so now, I feel encouraged to tell my students, don't worry about that. We really just want you to be, I want you to bring you to the party first. That is the most important objective that I have as an educator and as a coach to get you to be authentic. And that really is what I think casting trends today are all about.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm. If you can be the best version of you and really

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: bring that to the table authentically, that's what we're looking for.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: If you can also neutralize it a bit, you know, round it out a bit,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm,

Lau Lapides: that's great too. It just gives

Anne Ganguzza: mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: you more options. But

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: I fear for clients that come in, or I should say talent that comes in, especially at a certain stage, you know, once you hit Like even 30 or 35 or 40, it's very, very difficult to authentically change your

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: dialect or shift your accent. It just is. It's not impossible, but it would take a lot of work with a dialectician to do something

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: like that. And I don't think it's necessary. I don't

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: think it should

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: be an objective for you. It really

Anne Ganguzza: Oh,

Lau Lapides: should

Anne Ganguzza: gosh,

Lau Lapides: be

Anne Ganguzza: it,

Lau Lapides: like your vocabulary.

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: What is it,

Anne Ganguzza: I mean,

Lau Lapides: right?

Anne Ganguzza: work with a dialect coach if you want to

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: maybe consider other dialects for characters, maybe.

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: But I don't think it's to remove your dialect these days unless, of course, you have a very heavy regional accent, in which case, if you would like to maybe try to lessen that a little bit, I don't think it's necessary to remove it at all, actually. So many companies embracing that authenticity. And now, of course, in the casting specs, they're looking for talent who are authentically from particular areas and regions. And now, if you kind of had that fake accent or that generic accent, that I don't think is needed as much anymore. Is there such a thing? What was it the other day I was on a panel? What is it with the authentic, Midlantic accent, I think.

Lau Lapides: Oh, right,

Anne Ganguzza: Is that even

Lau Lapides: right.

Anne Ganguzza: a thing anymore?

Lau Lapides: I don't know,

Anne Ganguzza: I think

Lau Lapides: I

Anne Ganguzza: really

Lau Lapides: mean.

Anne Ganguzza: it's just, they want to have some sort of a, maybe of a dialect where you can't really tell where you're from. I'm not sure. So

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: guys, embrace your authenticity. I think that's so important. And first of all, that's a tall order law

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: to embrace your authenticity.

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: That I think as actors is really one of the hardest things that we have to do many times I encounter talent who want to sound a particular way or they

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: feel it should sound a particular way and again bringing their authentic selves to the copy is so very difficult. They're either able to you know do that if the copy is written maybe in a dialogue format but when it's not it's very difficult to do that and also I find that a lot of character actors law like

Lau Lapides: Mmm.

Anne Ganguzza: their characters seem authentic, but yet when you ask them to bring themselves to the table, that becomes an immense challenge.

Lau Lapides: Huge, huge challenge.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: I would say too, in regards to the Superpower show that we're

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: working on right now, like one of your superpowers is being a really great business person.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: So a trend I've seen over the last few years is, how qualified are you as a business partner? in terms of your correspondence, in terms of your timing? Are you timely about your responses? We're casting something really big right now with a client and one of our talent, not her fault at all. But our records were just, they either weren't updated or whatever

Anne Ganguzza: Mm.

Lau Lapides: the case may be. The email never reached her in regards to availability. And so I called her on the phone, I reached her. She said, that's actually not even my email. That's person lets me know when they get my emails. There's something in the system

Anne Ganguzza: Mmm.

Lau Lapides: that defaults. So my point is, like, are you on top of your records, your

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: emails,

Anne Ganguzza: Oh.

Lau Lapides: your back? Are you flagging your people

Anne Ganguzza: I would be

Lau Lapides: that you're reaching out

Anne Ganguzza: kicking

Lau Lapides: to?

Anne Ganguzza: myself if that were the case. You know what I mean? If there's one thing that you can prevent, right? In terms of what can you do to help get yourself cast more.

Lau Lapides: Right.

Anne Ganguzza: It would be making sure your agents and all your, you know, rosters have the most current relevant information and demos as well.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, and demos as well.

Lau Lapides: And making sure it's easily accessible. You expedite really well and really quickly. And, like, being on top of those trends. Like, when we went to a recent conference, you and I, I found that less and less people were giving out actual physical business cards, even though I still

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: love them. I'm old school that way. I like to hold something in my hand. They were doing QR codes. They were

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: on their phone going, you know, take it right off my phone onto your phone, boom, it was fun, it was done, it was quick, I got it. My point is, do the physical business cards if that's what you love and do, but know what the trend is for the online business card

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: because that shows you've got your finger on the pulse of technology

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: and what's going on in our industry.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, and I think casting trends in terms of, yeah, making yourself available, understanding what your agent expects from you communication wise, I think, is very, very important. And also, I'm going to go back to the sound slash demographic. One thing that I want to make people aware of is a lot of times demographics and casting is based on, and trends in companies selling products to a specific demographic. So there are a lot of companies that may have an older audience, or there might be companies that cater to moms, or products that are catering towards young people. I think there's a lot, a lot of times we see the trend going back towards millennial young, because there's so many companies that are just trying to expand their market. So understand guys, I think sometimes we don't think about it. think about casting in terms of, oh, did I, was I making it sound correct, right? Was I the right sound for them? But sometimes you're not the right demographic, right, for the product. And so just remember that if, you know, the next time you get really disappointed that you didn't land that big gig and think that you didn't perform to your ability, a lot of times it's because it's a demographic, a sales demographic, right? It

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: wants to cater to a particular age group. And

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: that would be another thing, La I wanna talk to you about. In terms of casting age groups, I see a lot younger, but also middle-aged. What about older? What about the older demographic?

Lau Lapides: We're

Anne Ganguzza: That's

Lau Lapides: getting

Anne Ganguzza: always,

Lau Lapides: more. We're

Anne Ganguzza: okay,

Lau Lapides: getting more

Anne Ganguzza: okay.

Lau Lapides: and more of that. I mean, probably, Annie, now more than ever, we've had the more

Anne Ganguzza: Mmm.

Lau Lapides: mature demographics. So the senior in the industry is known as like 50 to like 65.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: 50 to 64 would be a young senior, and then a more mature senior would be the 65 and up.

Anne Ganguzza: Okay.

Lau Lapides: So we're seeing more of 50 and up for sure, whether

Anne Ganguzza: That's

Lau Lapides: it's

Anne Ganguzza: good. Do you

Lau Lapides: health

Anne Ganguzza: know what

Lau Lapides: or travel.

Anne Ganguzza: type, yeah, I was gonna say health,

Lau Lapides: Yeah, health,

Anne Ganguzza: travel.

Lau Lapides: travel,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: finance, you know, even software is seeing more and more of that coming through.

Anne Ganguzza: Okay.

Lau Lapides: So

Anne Ganguzza: That's actually

Lau Lapides: I think there's

Anne Ganguzza: really

Lau Lapides: a

Anne Ganguzza: good.

Lau Lapides: lot to look forward to.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, that's really good because I know for a while there, it's tough sometimes, you know, because what products do we have that cater towards, you know, that 55 and up age group? You really have to start thinking about it. And I would always encourage bosses, you know, I do a lot of work in corporate, I do a lot of coaching in corporate and just researching companies in general, researching what products are out there. for what

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: age groups and as a matter of fact, I'll always have my students, they fill out one of their very first forms and in the vocal branding form is, let's talk about brands you're familiar with for babies. What are brands you're familiar with for teenagers? What brands are you familiar with for middle aged, for seniors? And really try to come up with the brands that you hear being talked about today for these different groups. And understand, just understand that there is a sound in a demographic for each group, and it's all based on sales. So the next time you don't get that big gig, it could just be for the, and we discussed this during our audition demolition, multiple times, Law, that the person might've nailed the performance, but they just didn't have the right demographic.

Lau Lapides: Yes, yes,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm.

Lau Lapides: actually, that is so much of casting, whether

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: you're just, you know, you're a voiceover on camera or both. So much of it is based off of things that, you know, you just is out of your hands. It's out of

Anne Ganguzza: Mm hmm.

Lau Lapides: your hands. So

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: you

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: have to understand that the profile of who you are, your bio, your background, your is sometimes we can't do much about that. We are

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: who we are. And that's why accepting who you are. being the best version of that is

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: really, really important.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, yes.

Lau Lapides: You

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah

Lau Lapides: know, and finding

Anne Ganguzza: Amen.

Lau Lapides: what is your strongest

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: suit? Like, what

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah

Lau Lapides: is your strongest, most competitive value proposition? And really putting that at the forefront

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm,

Lau Lapides: so that

Anne Ganguzza: agreed.

Lau Lapides: you're spending a lot more of your energy in that direction than

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: in 10 different directions,

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: right? Niche it. Niche it down.

Anne Ganguzza: it's wonderful to have versatility. I'm all for versatility. However, you need to be able to market yourself, right?

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: Niche it down, right? To specific niches.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: And I found that myself as well, right, in terms of voiceover-wise, right? Where would my voice fit in? Where was I getting hired the most? And

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: I think that bosses out there, depending on how you're being cast, you're gonna be able to find that and also do work to develop that more and to really push that, go for auditions that speak to that strength.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: Now, I'm not saying that you should not audition for anything else. I truly believe that every once in a while you surprise yourself and you audition for something that maybe you don't feel is in your wheelhouse and all of a sudden you'll get cast because you never quite know where that company is headed, right? Maybe they want to switch directions and maybe their demographic is... maybe an older sound, and then maybe they've decided they wanna go more middle-aged, or maybe they wanna, I don't know, speak from a millennial point of view. And so you're never really gonna know. I mean, just like we try to cater to the people who will hire us the most, we can also, every once in a while, give ourselves that surprise. Audition for things that you feel maybe you're not. well suited for, but maybe the company will have a change of heart.

Lau Lapides: And also, too, Annie, to piggyback onto that point, is you can, when you're going after your own client base, your own prospects, right, outside of casting director, outside of an agency, outside of all of that, you can mold a little bit of what you do

Anne Ganguzza: Mmm.

Lau Lapides: and who you are in a couple different directions,

Anne Ganguzza: Sure.

Lau Lapides: but it has to be based on the target demographic. So for instance, if you're going after... as a talent, I'm going after the medical field, I want to do some medical reads, I'm excellent at that, I'm wonderful at technical language. I want to put that out there in my cover letter or at or in my website so that they can point right to that and

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: see, oh, there's my there's my technical reads, I can do medical

Anne Ganguzza: Sure,

Lau Lapides: reads,

Anne Ganguzza: sure.

Lau Lapides: I'm understanding healthcare, I get that.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: So speaking the language and understanding the lingo of a prospect client is going to go a long way. versus them sitting and listening to four

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: demos.

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely,

Lau Lapides: Oftentimes

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: they won't do it. They wanna

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm,

Lau Lapides: see where are you coming from? Where's your mindset

Anne Ganguzza: mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: and where's your language actually coming from? Does it match

Anne Ganguzza: Sure,

Lau Lapides: the

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: type of work that we do? So I would say go on the website, go on the YouTube channel, look at who they are and what they do before you approach them.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, absolutely. And then have a portion of your demo or have your demo catered to that. You know, I'm a big believer in, let's say, in a lot of corporate demos that I do or long format narration demos. I'm always looking at the different industries that hire voiceover and making a spot for each one of them. So therefore, if you want to cater to an automotive company and you're going to be maybe a narrator on a walkabout or a new sales video, can cater a spot on that demo that speaks the language of the people that you are going, you know, you are selling to.

Lau Lapides: That's

Anne Ganguzza: And just

Lau Lapides: right.

Anne Ganguzza: like they want to, you know, a company wants to sell to their demographic, you want to sell your voice that is specifically suited to a particular genre or a particular industry. Make sure that you have samples and you have demo. material that can be sent to these people so that they can hear it right away. And it doesn't, they don't have to listen to like, oh, I listened to your entire commercial demo or your entire corporate narration demo and it was the sixth spot. And I didn't know, you know, from the get go, if it was even in your demo. So

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: you have to really start catering. And I talk about target marketing a lot in my business. And I like to create target marketed demos because I think that helps you to get cash. easier. And now, Law, I'm going to talk to you specifically on the commercial aspect of things because you cast a lot of commercial work. How important is the demo in the commercial work or is it the audition that's most important?

Lau Lapides: It's

Anne Ganguzza: What

Lau Lapides: both.

Anne Ganguzza: do you think? Okay.

Lau Lapides: It's both. Of course, first it's going to be the demo because I may not have met you or

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: may not have heard you yet. Until you're in our roster, you

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: know, we don't know what you do. We don't know what you're capable

Anne Ganguzza: Right.

Lau Lapides: of doing. So the first thing that we're going to look at is the demo because chances are great we're not going to do a live audition. Like we never

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: do a live audition when we're listening to people to bring them in as talent to the

Anne Ganguzza: Right.

Lau Lapides: roster. It's always from a demo. It just

Anne Ganguzza: But your

Lau Lapides: is.

Anne Ganguzza: clients, however, are they going to want to hear a demo or an audition?

Lau Lapides: You know, it's a good question and there's some guesswork in that. It's

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: shifting. The trends are really shifting. I think less and less clients are listening to demos and

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: more and more just for time's sake. They want an audition

Anne Ganguzza: the audition.

Lau Lapides: with a copy from their specific job. Now, that's not to say that if they're considering five people, that they're

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: not going to quickly go and listen to the demos. And here, have you done that kind of work before? I'm sure that they

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: do. But I think upfront, time seems to be always of the issue and they just want to get people in. They want to get them reading and they want to get, so they're relying on us to

Anne Ganguzza: Sure.

Lau Lapides: have listened to the demo. We have the demo. We've vetted the demo. They're relying

Anne Ganguzza: Mm.

Lau Lapides: on us that we don't need they, that we don't need to listen to the demo.

Anne Ganguzza: because

Lau Lapides: The

Anne Ganguzza: you've

Lau Lapides: agency

Anne Ganguzza: already

Lau Lapides: already

Anne Ganguzza: done it.

Lau Lapides: listened

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm,

Lau Lapides: to it. Yes,

Anne Ganguzza: right.

Lau Lapides: yes.

Anne Ganguzza: Now, I asked you that question specifically because we were talking about commercial or things that typically

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: are broadcast, right? Now, let's talk about non-broadcast, which I like to think is one of my specialties, right?

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: Non-broadcast, yeah, your demo's gonna be an important part of it, as well as your audition, okay? So you may get those auditions from an agent, right? I get a certain percentage of corporate work from my agent, and I know that you cast as well. But probably the majority of what you do is commercial work. But for me, corporate work, I get cast either on my audition, but I also get cast quite a bit from my demo. And so it is very important that demo is strategically target marketed towards the market you want to sell to. And so it's good

Lau Lapides: always.

Anne Ganguzza: to have that demo, because I've been hired off my demo multiple times

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: in a non-broadcast.

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: market multiple times and my spots on my demo have been able to be split up if I needed to send an independent spot to You know to a particular client to showcase a particular talent They're also on my website kind of they are they are always split apart so that people can see the industry and they can also Listen to the spot and they can say oh, that's automotive and it is You know informational and Inspiring believe it or not. It could be inspiring to be automotive.

Lau Lapides: Absolutely, absolutely.

Anne Ganguzza: And so both are very, very important. So for me, I'm always a big proponent and a big fan. And I know I, yes, I'm a coach and I do produce demos, but I really believe because I have had personal experience and I know a lot of people in non-broadcast get hired off their demos quite a bit.

Lau Lapides: Mm hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: So

Lau Lapides: Yes. And

Anne Ganguzza: it's important.

Lau Lapides: I just want to impress upon your bosses, your listeners, that you could get hired in all different realms and for all different reasons.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: I've gotten hired so many times just during lunch, like

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: just having a lunch meeting with someone just talking to them as I talk to them. And and just recently, I don't know if you even know this, but we're where producers in an audio drama that we're recording in the fall with some big partners out

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: in New York and some amazing names coming into that. And I was producing a preliminary rehearsal table read before it was even cast.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: And I was reading one of the roles because we needed another voice for one of the roles. And the producers came to me and they said, Yala, we kind of want you to play the role. And I said, oh

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: wow, really?

Anne Ganguzza: Well, that's

Lau Lapides: And

Anne Ganguzza: that

Lau Lapides: they said,

Anne Ganguzza: personal.

Lau Lapides: yeah, we do. And that's

Anne Ganguzza: That's

Lau Lapides: the

Anne Ganguzza: that

Lau Lapides: personal

Anne Ganguzza: personal,

Lau Lapides: relationship.

Anne Ganguzza: the personal relationship, personal network, which

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: is really important, guys.

Lau Lapides: Really.

Anne Ganguzza: And casting trends, I think this has always been a trend in casting, is that relationship.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: And gosh, when I went to Amsterdam, you know, to teach at one of the retreats there for J. Michael, I met up with a studio in Amsterdam, who just because they saw me on my website, listened to my demos, and then I met them in person, a working relationship with them. And is it because, am I the absolute best female voice they've ever heard in their life? Of course so, but no. But really, do you know what I mean? Like,

Lau Lapides: It's... it's...

Anne Ganguzza: it's all about that relationship, right? That relationship. And I,

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: look, I am not proud, guys. I, my ego does not get in the way. If I get the job, I get the job. You know what I mean? And I'm like, look, this is a business to me. For me, my ego doesn't need to be the best, be labeled as the best and touted as the best female voiceover ever legend. Because gosh, it's all subjective. We know this over and over again. But because I worked on that relationship, I had things in place. And I was ready, willing, and eager to help. and lend my thoughts when they asked, hey, what's it like in the States in hiring for this type of work? And because I developed that relationship and I did that work, bam, I got the job.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: And that is absolutely a valid, successful way to get cast.

Lau Lapides: And sometimes it's not, it's very pure. Sometimes your

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: intention is literally not to get cast or get the

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah?

Lau Lapides: job.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: It's really to get the relationship. I always

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: like to say, I would rather get the relationship than the job because I'm building a career. I'm not working jobs, I'm building a career. And there are two different things. So if I'm gonna sort of lose the battle, but I'm gonna win the war, so to speak, I'd rather do that. In other words, I wanna make myself invaluable. So if I'm not the voice, as a voice talent, I'm going to find you great

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: people that are the voice. I'm going to recommend friends of mine.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, absolutely.

Lau Lapides: I'm going to recommend

Anne Ganguzza: Now,

Lau Lapides: other agencies.

Anne Ganguzza: law. way

Lau Lapides: Right?

Anne Ganguzza: back in the beginning, it's one of the reasons why I wanted to start the VO Peeps networking group. Because I started the VO Peeps because I wanted to have a collection of like-minded people, but then I said, what am I going to do for them? I want to provide an educational resource. So I started interviewing, right? I started interviewing all of my idols because I

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: wanted to develop that relationship.

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: Okay? And it wasn't coming at them in a hire

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: you know, a very different format where I just wanted to, I was interested in them and I wanted to share their resources with my community. And because of that, I became known. And once you become known, right, over the years, then you become top of mind for referrals.

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: And that absolutely is where that relationship work comes into play.

Lau Lapides: And there's no, or at least there shouldn't be any desperation surrounding that. I don't know if you'd call that a trend.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: I think that

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: was always the case.

Anne Ganguzza: Well, I like

Lau Lapides: But

Anne Ganguzza: to

Lau Lapides: now

Anne Ganguzza: say

Lau Lapides: so

Anne Ganguzza: casting

Lau Lapides: more than

Anne Ganguzza: trends,

Lau Lapides: ever

Anne Ganguzza: this

Lau Lapides: is

Anne Ganguzza: is just

Lau Lapides: like,

Anne Ganguzza: a casting like known,

Lau Lapides: yeah,

Anne Ganguzza: it's a

Lau Lapides: if

Anne Ganguzza: known

Lau Lapides: we're talking,

Anne Ganguzza: fact.

Lau Lapides: right, it's a fact.

Anne Ganguzza: Why

Lau Lapides: If

Anne Ganguzza: do

Lau Lapides: we're

Anne Ganguzza: you get

Lau Lapides: talking

Anne Ganguzza: cast?

Lau Lapides: to people like, like quiz yourself, if

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: I'm in an event or if I'm talking to someone on Zoom, am I thinking the whole time, oh, I want them to hire me. Oh, I want that

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: job. Or am I? really actively listening to what they're

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: saying to me and offering value to them in points that make the conversation invigorated and alive and then following up after that and doing

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: the due diligence to follow up after that. Am I doing all of that or am I just

Anne Ganguzza: Right.

Lau Lapides: thinking oh I want I would love them to get that get me that job and I really want

Anne Ganguzza: And

Lau Lapides: to

Anne Ganguzza: yeah, and a lot of times, you know what? You'll get the job because you have proven yourself to be reliable, to be focused and intent on serving that client's needs and or agents needs. I can't tell you how many agents I interviewed first and then they got to know me and guess who got put on the roster? Just saying, right? As long as everything is in place. Right, we have that. And again, I know we're talking casting trends, but I think we would be remiss if we did not mention the importance of, maybe it's not a trend, but the fact that the relationships account. And that's relationships between you and your agents, and relationships between you and your direct clients.

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: And of course, agents are all dependent on relationships with their clients to get you work, right?

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: It all just kind of feeds into the system.

Lau Lapides: Yeah, and I think the trend part comes in, Annie, where we say, okay, we all know this, we want real voices, casual, relatable voices, we want that. Well, how does that transcribe to the real world? Well, as I'm making the relationships, building the relationships, really talking, really conversing, really paying attention, I'm showcasing and demoing what I do for my real

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I love that. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lau Lapides: in like now the last couple years are gonna say, ooh, I'm listening to them. I like the way they sound. Ooh,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: they sound really cool. And they're going to assume, they're gonna run on the assumption

Anne Ganguzza: that

Lau Lapides: that

Anne Ganguzza: you

Lau Lapides: you

Anne Ganguzza: can

Lau Lapides: can

Anne Ganguzza: do

Lau Lapides: then

Anne Ganguzza: that.

Lau Lapides: bring that into the booth.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: Yeah,

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: so that's

Anne Ganguzza: That's

Lau Lapides: where

Anne Ganguzza: a

Lau Lapides: I think

Anne Ganguzza: huge,

Lau Lapides: the trend is.

Anne Ganguzza: that's a huge assumption guys. So bosses, I want you to be prepared for that. That means, right? The fact that you're gonna bring that authenticity, that connection to you in the booth. What does that mean? That means you need to be the actor. You need to be an actor. You can no longer, no longer is it. And maybe back, I don't know, in the 60s, it was okay to have that announcer-y voice and make it sound a particular way, but it is no longer the case where you can just go in and make it sound pretty. You just can't. You just can't. You've got to be able to bring that connection, and that requires acting. And if you do not have the acting chops, then you need to get the acting chops. And I'm a big believer that you can train. You can train to get this. You can train to... have that connection and that authenticity to the story. Because again, how important, how many times do we hear, we are storytellers. And you, you know, I don't know if I've heard that phrase over and over and over again, but sometimes it's like, yeah, okay, I know I'm a storyteller. But really, am I a storyteller when I'm doing an e-learning module? Yeah, you absolutely are. You've got to know how to

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: take those words and make them sound meaningful and make them come alive. And so that is being able to tell a story, being the actor. So casting

Lau Lapides: Yeah, and

Anne Ganguzza: trends,

Lau Lapides: it's-

Anne Ganguzza: be the actor and showcase that to whoever will listen. And that's what's going to get you cast.

Lau Lapides: And we

Anne Ganguzza: Right?

Lau Lapides: don't equate story with fiction. Story

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: is connection. It's really

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, yeah,

Lau Lapides: sharing,

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: sharing an experience, sharing a happening, sharing an event

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: with another or with a group for information, for persuasion, for entertainment, for whatever purposes. It doesn't necessarily mean it's false or fiction or fake. It

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: means it's very well could be real and fact-based. but it's in a story form, it's in a narrative

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: form. And understanding how to handle that in very real and authentic ways, exactly the trend of the industry today.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm. Wow. I know we just kind of, I feel like we went off, but I mean, honestly, the whole,

Lau Lapides: Ha ha!

Anne Ganguzza: what's important? Diversity,

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: authenticity. It's not so much about having that perfect sound. It's about the connection you have, and the connection you have not just to your material and the fact that you can actually vocalize that, but the connection you have with your agents, with your. your potential clients, because that is what's going to get you cast.

Lau Lapides: Absolutely.

Anne Ganguzza: And knowing yourself and knowing where you fit in this, knowing yourself enough to go for those areas that you excel in.

Lau Lapides: and staying bright and hopeful and positive and humorous.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm,

Lau Lapides: That

Anne Ganguzza: yes,

Lau Lapides: is a

Anne Ganguzza: yes.

Lau Lapides: trend of like, whether it's

Anne Ganguzza: Cause

Lau Lapides: we're

Anne Ganguzza: I

Lau Lapides: looking

Anne Ganguzza: wanna work

Lau Lapides: for,

Anne Ganguzza: with somebody like that,

Lau Lapides: yeah, whether

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: we're looking for a standup comedian or we're looking for a mom

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: sitcom type, or we're looking for, we want pops of humor and pops of humility in your work.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, love

Lau Lapides: And

Anne Ganguzza: that.

Lau Lapides: that's real for us, that's

Anne Ganguzza: Puffs

Lau Lapides: real,

Anne Ganguzza: of humor and humility,

Lau Lapides: you know.

Anne Ganguzza: I love that. Yeah. What a wonderful topic, wonderful topic. And Law, thank you for lending your ultimate wisdom in

Lau Lapides: Mmm

Anne Ganguzza: what you do and what you love every day. And again, we appreciate you so much, Law.

Lau Lapides: I appreciate you tremendously.

Anne Ganguzza: Well, you guys, I want to ask you, you know, as individuals, right, it's difficult sometimes to feel like we're making a huge impact, but as a group, we can absolutely contribute to the growth of our communities in ways that we never thought possible. Visit 100VoicesWhoCare.org to find out more and to learn how. Big shout out to IPDTL. I love connecting with law and all of you bosses. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys have an amazing week, and we'll see you next week. Mwah!

Lau Lapides: See you next

Anne Ganguzza: Bye!

Lau Lapides: week. Mwah!