Breaking In: Talent vs Connections

[Matt Alan]

So guys and gals who want to break into the VA biz or just want to express their opinions. What gives you that "big break"? Is it your "talent" or who you know?

Which is more likely to get you a role? How good you were at the audition, or how close you are to the casting director's wife/brother/friend?

Discuss. :D

[ajrich]

i would have to say talent lol i mean y would u cast someone just cuz u know them they have to have the skills to nail the role flat ^^

[ClymAngus]

I hate to sound authoritarian (who am I kidding I love it) but generally in my some what limited experience of work in the media industry; it's contacts that get you the jobs in this world and it's talent that enables you to keep them. :)

[Lucien]

i would have to say talent lol i mean y would u cast someone just cuz u know them they have to have the skills to nail the role flat ^^

The answer here is; you shouldn't. Yet it happens everyday. I have to agree that connections are much more important in getting you your first break into the industry. There are so many people who want to do this, and who are good at it, that being on someone's "good side" is an undeniable plus. Not only are you one of the people who will be present in the individual's mind out of all the other applicants, but if the person LIKES you, then you would be someone who they'd enjoy working with, spending time with in the studio. This is a major advantage.

Now...to argue for talent's sake, while connections may get you a foot in the door, and maybe even a couple gigs, if you do not have a considerable amount of talent, or at least showmanship to boot, you will not stay in the industry for very long.

[Batgirl]

I'm going to agree with Clym and Lucien, Connections give you an edge over getting that first gig, but Talent is what makes them call you again.

It's easy to bring in someone who's a friend, or even a friend of a friend for a small role, maybe even a medium, but if you suck well... The directors want to make a good piece of work, not friends.

In the end, connections certainly don't hurt, but you can't get by on kissing ass alone.

[TamTu]

It's not just for voice acting, but pretty much any kind of work. The same goes for art, modelling and other creative jobs or professional skills (I don't know. Let's say you're great at leading a team...you'd do well in project management =P). Talent will definitely, as lucien and Clym mentioned, keep you somewhere. In the end, people want you to be useful. How useful is up to you.

[explosivoooo]

Honestly the two go hand in hand. My Rabbi's daughter is a casting director for Disney Animations and her story is a perfect example. She started doing casting all over New York and small gigs here and there, but at one point a stage director was asked by Spike Lee to get a casting director for his movie in New York. The stage director remebered that Rebbeca was very good at her job and he called her up. The same thing happend with a Chris Rock movie but it was from a Agent she had worked with before as a assistant.

Later that year she got a phone call from Disney asking her if she wanted to get a interview for a casting director job in Hollywood. They had gotten her name from the director of the Chris Rock film that had loved what Rebbeca had done for his movie.

She goes to Hollywood and she has been a casting director at Disney Animation for 3 years now. She cast Chicken Little.

My point is that she had her connections, but the reason she had those connections is because she had talent in what she did. Her name wouldn't have come to those peoples minds if she wasn't a good casting director. But also she would have never gotten those jobs if it hadn't been for the people she had connected with.

[Rinoa]

People can get places with connections, heck even in community theatre if the director favors someone they always seem to be more likely to getting the part. But like others have said that, you need talent to stay there. If you got a job and have absolutely no talent to back it up, it's not going to last and you won't get any future work. But naturally with connections it makes it easier to get jobs I would imagine, it gives you that first shove to getting noticed.

[Lady Plantagenet]

So guys and gals who want to break into the VA biz or just want to express their opinions. What gives you that "big break"? Is it your "talent" or who you know?

Which is more likely to get you a role? How good you were at the audition, or how close you are to the casting director's wife/brother/friend?

Discuss. :D

I think it is both. You have to have some kind of talent for acting and being able to do different things with your voice. Voice acting is difficult because you aren't physically acting, you are projecting your voice onto another character that most of the time you do not see till the visual is finished.

It is about who you know but that is how it works anywhere. It also depends on your location. How close you are to any company. Most companies only heir people within their area.

As for what gives you that "Big Break" is nothing more than being someone who stands out above the rest and has this presense that is hard to explain, and you only know it when you see it. I think you can train to get that but for most I think you have to be born with it.

That is what happens with any type of acting. I do not care how good an AVA someone "thinks" that they are, being the top or well known AVA online with tons of roles does not mean in the "real world" the "real professionals" are going to see it in the same way. If you do not have that something special that puts you above the rest then you do not get that "Big Break". And, there is tons of compentition out there.

That is not to say that no one should get out there and try. I think everyone should but with the understanding that the chances of making it are not always very high. I think I have only see one person in my entire time who actually did make it. I do not mean they sent demos to companies or went and did these one time little auditions, that is nice, but I mean they actually were making money and getting jobs offers.

My hope is to see many more get to do that but only time will tell.