I don’t like the renaissance fair. I do like dragons and swords and the Black Plague and torture and all that, but the whole “let’s play knights and maidens” thing seems rather silly to me. We have a renaissance fair here in Georgia south of Atlanta. They’ve built this town in the middle of nowhere where on the weekends, you can squeeze into your corset and go watch jousting and buy expensive glass blown art. I got dragged there one year by my girlfriend. We saw some shows and ate some food. The people watching was pretty good I’ll admit. I appreciated the craftsmen doing their blacksmithing and glass blowing, but the part that brings this story around to voice over was the knife throwing booth. For a fee, you are given 3 large throwing knives to attempt to stick them into large round tree sections. I took aim, and let my first knife fly; CLANG! The knife hit the wood and fell to the ground. The 19 year old girl dressed in costume said, “Oh, my Lord, you’ll get them next time sire”. Nothing like getting patronized in Ye Olde English. The next two knives had the same result, a loud clang and gravity taking over, leaving each one harmlessly laying on the saw dust covered floor. I was too embarrassed to continue. I walked away, head held low. I didn’t even have the desire to finish my giant turkey leg.
So what does this have to do with Voice Over? Dammit, man can’t you see? It’s everything!
Marketing is a lot like the knife throwing booth. You as the talent sit there, tossing and tossing and tossing out content and most of the time, it splats and hits the ground while you get patronized by 19 year old’s online. That last part just me? Maybe I should stop posting on Tik Tok then. What I mean is, you put a lot of stuff out there and it may not all stick. You have to keep trying, keep throwing until something lands in that block of wood, point in. That stuck knife is a potential client or a agency booking. The good thing about starting out is, the knives that stick can be completely random or accidental but the more experience you have in marketing, the better thrower you are, the more knives you’ll land. Don’t give up and walk away, my brothers and sisters. Grab that turkey leg by the bone and keep chucking those knives!