Auditions not being listened to

Stephen Small
Voice Over: English

I have to say, I'm starting to get a little irked at the fact that a lot of my auditions aren't even being listened to. Does anyone know why this is?

I spend time to really get it right and make my application - I think that if they listen to it, I'm in with a good chance of getting this one... Then nothing. It doesn't get listened to.

Is anyone else having this problem? Is there any way to rectify it?

Editorial Comment Hello Stephen,

We are currently investigating an issue where when viewed in the context of an application, viewing a file does not always cause the counter to increase. There is no issue with employers being able to view the file, but we're working on ensuring these views are correctly represented.

All the best,

The Mandy Admin Team

  • 3 years ago
  • 4,441
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Angus Scott
Voice Over: English

I'm a bit late to the party on this discussion - but seeing the 'nobody listens to my auditions' title piqued my interest as I've definitely noticed this in recent weeks/months.

In the discussion between David and Jahmene, my heart agrees with David but my head agrees with Jahmene.

In my first year or two as a VO, it used to seriously irk me the unprofessional lack of etiquette that advertisers demonstrated by not listening to auditions after so much effort. I used to put a huge amount into each audition for the reasons David explains. Even now it seriously wees me off at the basic professional rudeness of this.

But after a few years, experience teaches cynicism and pragmatism. My auditions now take a few minutes - no more. I DON'T read a 2/3 minute script, I read maybe 30 seconds. If the client can't make up their mind by then, you're not right for the job. Your time is just as precious as the advertiser, don't waste it.

Learn to make your workflow as quick and efficient as possible. Post the audition, move on, forget about it. Focus 90% of your efforts on the genre you do best in / your niche, with the massive increase in competition, don't waste time in areas you're 'having a shot' at. Just make sure the auditions in your niche are your absolute best.

Once the (external) entertainment industry picks up again, let's hope things return to relative normal!


  • 3 years ago
  • 21
Tony Coughlan
Voice Over: Scottish

I’m quite new to the voiceover game. But at the same time my screen and theatre acting is far more superior to my voice work (I’m a beginner in this field) I’m 39 I’m under no illusions on how tough this is. I have the attitude of ‘apply & forget’ put the work in what you feel is good for the audition but then I just forget about it. You do need seriously strong mental health for this game as it can bring you and down you question yourself.
There is not enough cake to go around I agree but keep going l. My approach might not work for everyone but it’s helped keep me sane.

Cheers

Tony.


  • 3 years ago
  • 22
Colleen MacMahon
Voice Over: English

In addition to the general disappointment of auditions not being viewed, for which I do understand the various reasons - especially in this current climate, I do have a major frustration which I would expect Mandy to be able to rectify:
When I'm personally alerted by email from Mandy about an appropriate job and wish to get my audition off before the general rush, the "attached script" is never attached; it only becomes visible later once the job has been posted on the public site, by which time I have either had to apply via the original email Apply Now button without a demo and seem unprofessional, or risk being too late to the party by waiting. Why does this happen and surely something can be done about it?

Editorial Comment Hi Colleen,

Thank you for raising this, however mail alerts only go out moments after the job is listed publicly. The email we send contains a personalised link for quick application to the same job that everyone sees on the board. If despite this you are experiencing issues of scripts not appearing please do let us know directly at emails@mandy.com, ideally with a screenshot so we can see the problem in action and troubleshoot it.

Best wishes,

Mandy Admin Team

  • 3 years ago
  • 23
David Sargent
Voice Over: English

I commented on this issue two months ago and it is still exactly the same. One third of my submissions simply have not been looked at or listened to. This is 21 out of 62 applications listed. Not good. Don't ask for recordings if you don't want to listen to them! Also - be more specific if you don't want to be inundated!!


  • 3 years ago
  • 24
Johnathan Welsh
Voice Over: English

Oh dear this sounds so utterly depressing but I guess it's reality in this industry compounded by cov 19. I will keep doing auditions and hope for the best. Good luck to all you fabulous vo artists out there... Ive heard many of you and you sound fantastic!!
Keep on keeping on.
Regards johnathan welsh


  • 3 years ago
  • 25
David Jacobs
Voice Over: English

@Jonathan.W. If anything, Covid will have increased the amount of spare time for some in the industry so really they should have been able to listen to MORE auditions, so I don't think Covid can be used as an excuse as this problem of nobody listening to them/responding to candidates either predates the pandemic ;)


  • 3 years ago
  • 26
David Sargent
Voice Over: English

My most recent SEVEN applications have so far not been looked at. Do I win £5? Yes a couple of them are at or on the verge of their closing date but others are now closed. So the notifications for jobs keep coming in but it becomes more and more like walking uphill in concrete boots to try and find the motivation to bother applying for them. Just to put this in context I have been an actor and voice over artist for 33 years. I have done major TV and radio campaigns and many corporates (prior to the world closing down) and since subscribing to Mandy Voices in May 2020 I have had 2 jobs from 215 applications. Like I said - walking uphill in concrete boots.


  • 3 years ago
  • 27
Michael Ashtiany
Voice Over: English

I'm with Jahmene all the way with this

Here's my 2 cents worth

1. To be within a fair chance of being heard, your audition needs to be sent in within the first 1-2 hours of the job being posted. If you take too long to do an audition, there's a high probability you won't be heard because too many others got there before you and Producers/casting folks don't sit and listen to them all
Get into a habit of auditioning jobs you know you are strongest at so you can do it more swiftly. None of this needs to come at the cost of quality. Also, if its a long script, don't read all of it, a paragraph is plenty. That's not a method to 'cut corners' to get the audition done quickly, it's a general industry standard rule for auditioning (unless they specifically state it all needs doing, but even then id leave out a word so it cant be used without permission)

2. You will rarely hear feedback. As mentioned above, directors get so many auditions so to expect them to reply to each one is incredibly unrealistic in a fast paced and deadline focused industry. It's nothing personal, so don't take it that way. Record, edit, send off and forget about it.

3. You'll seldom get a high paying gig on here. But P2P sites have their place, be it for getting used to auditioning and booking some work or just generally gaining experience. I'm of the opinion that it make no sense to go out and market yourself to companies for VO work when you have no experience, so P2P sites can help you with that but you'll get lesser fees as a result. I don't agree with it, but that's how it is and its improved somewhat since Mandy took more of an initiative to advise clients what the typical fee should be for a VO for the type of job they're posting

Now more than ever in P2P, mastering speed and quality in your auditions is crucial if you want a fair chance of being heard!

All the best

Mikey


  • 3 years ago
  • 28
Cia Allan
Voice Over: English

This post is probably so old no-one will read this but hey! Back in the day, VoicesPro used to have a system where they would tell you not only when an audition had been listened to, but also what time the employer had viewed it, so you could see if they'd come back to it later in the day. I know that this made not a jot of difference to whether or not I get a job, BUT, it's a boost to my confidence when I know that they haven't just dismissed the audition but have come back to it. So i know that at least I'm scratching them a bit where it itches, as it were .

As for earlier comments about spending hours mastering auditions and "being professional", in my experience, employers usually want to hear the raw audio with just the breaths and errors edited out so that they know exactly what your sound is like for when they do the mastering themselves. I used to spend hours on auditions but it didn't get me any more jobs and when I've been approached directly to audition, the employer has usually requested that I didn't do any compression or EQ or effects. They've just wanted the raw audio, glitch-free, breath-free and topped and tailed.


  • 3 years ago
  • 29
Cia Allan
Voice Over: English

The media industry works "last minute". Every minute counts. I used to work in an advertising agency where pitch preparation was many times completed the night before and campaigns similarly. It seems to be the same with castings. When the media company is ready to cast, it's usually very last minute as well. They need the auditions in immediately and often need final recordings, (or shootdays for acting) within a couple of days.

It is as others have said, about getting a quality audition done fast, getting it in early if you want it to be listened to. Imagine you are working for the media company and are faced with 400 x 30sec auditions. That's half a working day to listen to all those voice actors read the script. And the longer the script, the longer it will take to listen to them all. The truth is that as soon as they've found a selection of recordings that are really good, they really don't need to listen to any more. So if we are slow to submit, we don't get listened to.

I can't agree that it's discourteous to fail to listen listen to my audition unless I have been personally invited to audition, in which case it would be.

The thing that bugs me more is when a media company is pitching for a piece of business and uses a pro's audition in the pitch without paying. It happens!


  • 2 years ago
  • 30
Cia Allan
Voice Over: English

The media industry works "last minute". Every minute counts. I used to work in an advertising agency where pitch preparation was many times completed the night before and campaigns similarly. It seems to be the same with castings. When the media company is ready to cast, it's usually very last minute as well. They need the auditions in immediately and often need final recordings, (or shootdays for acting) within a couple of days.

It is as others have said, about getting a quality audition done fast, getting it in early if you want it to be listened to. Imagine you are working for the media company and are faced with 400 x 30sec auditions. That's half a working day to listen to all those voice actors read the script. And the longer the script, the longer it will take to listen to them all. The truth is that as soon as they've found a selection of recordings that are really good, they really don't need to listen to any more. So if we are slow to submit, we don't get listened to.

I can't agree that it's discourteous to fail to listen listen to my audition unless I have been personally invited to audition, in which case it would be.

The thing that bugs me more is when a media company is pitching for a piece of business and uses a pro's audition in the pitch without paying. It happens!


  • 2 years ago
  • 31
David Jacobs
Voice Over: English

Ok so why not restrict the duration of a posting to limit the number of auditions that these ‘poor little old clients’ have to listen to?
This isn’t directed at you by the way, it’s just a sore point with me and many others I’m sure.

Not being bothered to listen to applications just because there’s ‘too many’ isn’t an excuse to me. If I said to my boss or anyone ‘can’t be bothered to listen to everything someone has to say/every person talking to me’ where would that get me? You reap what you sow.

If there are too many applications, why not just send a blanket message to the great unwanted saying it’s “been unsuccessful and (we’ve now) found someone to fit the brief for the project”. It’s simple and effective, everyone knows where they stand and it would at the VERY least feel as if our application was received/acknowledged.

There are ways around the issues you mention but if companies still don’t want to consider these methods, that’s on them, not me. There is a way forward, but not many seem to want to take it up or use initiative to facilitate it.


  • 2 years ago
  • 32
Cia Allan
Voice Over: English

Your example of an equivalent with your boss of course isn't equivalent because there isn't a queue of 400 folks waiting to speak.

Restricting the duration of a posting can only be a solution if the client knows for sure how many good-enough auditions will be posted in that time frame, and that's like how long is a piece of string? It depends on the day of the week, the budget or kudos of a casting, the type of voiceover job it is, etc etc. Sometimes jobs disappear because there have been enough, but what is enough? Limiting the number of auditions is what Voice123 does and talent complain about that as well.

To be fair to some of the employers, I have sometimes received a message saying "thank you, the quality of auditions was high, blah blah blah, but someone else got the gig". What I don't know is if everyone got that or just the shortlisted people. They tend to add that they've got my details on file for the future, which of course is standard 'be nice' addition and I'm sure doesn't happen often. In 15 years of voiceover, I've only twice received a message regarding a subsequent job after not getting the gig I originally auditioned for and having my details 'put on file'.

I think it's also perhaps a fact that the initial shortlisting may not be done by the casting professional themselves but by an assistant sorting wheat from chaff.


  • 2 years ago
  • 33
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