Yipee!! You booked the job!! Um, now what do you do?

Most people who are brand new don’t have any idea what happens immediately after you book a voiceover gig. So we're going to talk about it.

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Yipee!! You booked the job!! Um, now what do you do? - 6:22

Hey guys, thanks for joining me on another edition of The Gift of Gab.

So um, you know I'm always getting ideas and information for new videos from other voice actors, from my staff—and my producer made a really, really good point.

Most people who are brand new don’t have any idea what happens immediately after you book a voiceover gig. So we're going to talk about it—stick around.

It makes sense that if you're new to voiceover and you yourself have never booked a gig, you have no idea what to expect. So I'm going to try my best to break it down and hopefully not miss any crucial steps.

Okay, so first thing that happens is: you are going to not only be told that you booked the gig, but you are going to be confirmed for a session time, and the details of the session are going to be worked out at that time.

The other thing that’s going to be discussed is connectivity—how are you and the client going to communicate for this booking?

The number one answer in today’s voiceover landscape is Source-Connect. The other possibility is that it’s going to be browser-based—Zoom, Google Meet, something like that.

The second thing that might happen is a discussion about rates—if there is one yet to be had. If there’s any negotiations to take care of, that’s going to be in this process as well.

That’s about it in terms of that immediate moment. The only other thing that’s going to take place is the potential for something to get changed, bumped, or moved in the scheduling.

Please don’t expect the script right away. That’s not a thing. We usually get our voiceover script for our session—if we’re lucky—like, a half hour before we actually go in.

Don’t let that freak you out. That’s one of the reasons why you have to be really, really skilled at cold reads prior to entering this industry. We don’t get time to practice scripts—it gets handed to us—we go. That’s that.

The day of the session, you and the client are going to, you know, banter a little bit, exchange some pleasantries, and then ultimately, the job is going to take place.

It should be relatively smooth.

If the studio is recording on their end through Source-Connect, there is nothing left for you to do. When the client releases you from the session, that’s it. You’re done.

If you were recording on your end, then you have to send them a file—how? Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer—those are the most used methods to get large audio files from point A to point B.

Almost immediately after the session, you’re going to want to go ahead and send an invoice.

Yes, you need one of those. It should be professional. It should look pretty decent. You want to use either a template or a company like Wave, or Xero, or one of any of the other scores of invoice and accounting softwares that are out there.

Make sure your invoice is detailed. Make sure that it’s complete. If you just put your name and the word "voiceover" and an amount—no. That’s assuming that you’re the only voice actor this company ever works with.

They need to know the project name, they need to know any identifying numbers, the date of the session, maybe even the time of the session, who the producer was—you want as many details in that sucker as you can possibly get.

Around the same time that you send the invoice, you also want to go ahead and send thank-you notes—just a quick email to say:

“Hey, I had a great time. Session was awesome. Thank you so much. I hope we get to work together again.”

Just basic courtesy stuff.

If you had an agent involved in the booking, or a studio, or anyone else for that matter—you want to go ahead and CC them as well, to let them know that everything went smoothly and the job is complete.

From here, that’s pretty much it—you’re waiting on a check, my friend, or some other means of digital payment.

It is possible that the client will come back to you and let you know that changes have been made to the script or that the end client had some tweaks that they want to make.This usually means you're going to get paid again for this pickup session.So, you know, you might have some details there to maneuver.

But from this point, it should be pretty smooth—you’re just now going on to the next thing, which is hopefully another booking from another client.

The only alternative to this process is if you are self-directing the job—meaning they hired you, all of the details have been established and agreed upon, and you’re not actually being directed by anyone. You’re just going to go into your own studio, record the material, and when you’re done, you send the file.

But everything else is pretty much exactly the same.

It really is incredibly straightforward, and it’s a well-oiled machine for the people who are used to doing it and who do it day in and day out.

But if you’re brand new—number one, don’t be nervous. Don’t panic. We were all there at one point.

And please just ask questions, right? There’s no shame in just saying,

“I need a little bit of help,” or “I’m new to this process.”

Chances are, everyone will be very gracious and be able to help you through it.

So there you go, guys—that’s what happens after you book a job. I hope it helped!

704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com

Gabrielle Nistico, Gabby Nistico, The Voiceover Vixen, The Business First VO Coach, #VoiceoverVixen #VoiceOnFire #BusinessFirstVOCoach Voiceover, Charlotte, North Carolina, Voiceover Demo, Voiceover Coaching Advice, new beginner voice actor