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First Come First Served

March 12th, 2008 Posted in General Info, Talent Agency

So many of us have voice over representation in cities across the country. Sometimes doubling up on agents can result in doubling up on invitations for the same audition. Rule of thumb? The first agent to send the audition gets the submission. It’s sort of like dating. Until you’ve made a commitment and become exclusive, you’re free to test the waters with other agents. It’s one of those unspoken things. They know you’re not “theirs” but still they want to be special. I recently got an email from one of my agents asking for help with this dilemma. They’re saying when the voice talent uses the “First come first served” rule, it doesn’t give them enough time to confer with the client to get valuable insight on the specs giving the agent the winning edge. Does this mean we actually have a better chance with this agent? Not sure what to think. Any thoughts? Post your comments.

-Tracy Pattin

  1. 10 Responses to “First Come First Served”

  2. By Jeffrey Kafer on Mar 12, 2008

    I give the audition to the agent who has given me the best service and treats me with th most respect. I have one agent who formats everything nicely into an easy to read email, gets rates as best s/he can, clearly communicates directions etc. Then I have one agent who merely forwards the raw auditions from Voicebank to his/her roster without even the courtesy of using the BCC line.

    Who do you think is going to get my audition?

  3. By Tracy Pattin on Mar 12, 2008

    Thanks for your comment Jeffrey! I think there are many “rules of thumb” to go around. In this industry where often we are just a number, I think it does make sense to submit the audition to those deserving agents who treat talent with respect and in the most professional manner.

  4. By Bob Souer on Mar 13, 2008

    Tracy,

    As a general rule, I use the “first come, first served” principle. But, I don’t often get auditions for the same job from multiple agents.

    Since I have a very good and warmly professional relationship with all 3 of my agents, I don’t have one to whom I would give preference on the kind of basis Jeff mentions.

    Be well,
    Bob

  5. By rowell gormon on Mar 13, 2008

    in the few cases where it’s been an issue, i go with the outfit which has given me more information to work with.

    in one case, two ‘voice-brokers’ (as i call them) had the same audition for me. the first just sent the info and i sent the mp3. the other one came in later but, when i explained the situation, said they were cool with a double-dip and recorded the audition…with some helpful direction during the recording! it sounded a lot different than the earlier one i had knocked out on my own, so i actually benefited from showing two different interpretations.

    …now i wish i could remember if i got the job.

  6. By Allan Peck on Mar 13, 2008

    It’s a loyalty thing for me. My first rule of thumb is that I wait and see if my original agent that I first signed with received the audition. They helped give me my start and I just feel it’s the right thing to do. I always explain this upfront before signing with additional representation and have never had a problem with it.

  7. By Peter O'Connell on Mar 14, 2008

    I do have the first come first served rule and it has served me well.

    1. Its equitable and offers preference to no agent. It’s based solely on THEIR response time in getting me the audition.

    2.When I get a duplicate audition 2-3 days after I got the first one…and its happens over and over, I can tell which agents are really on top of their game.

    The hope (though not always the reality) is that if you’re in sooner, you may have a better shot at getting the job.

    Best always,
    - Peter

  8. By Philip Banks on Mar 14, 2008

    This is a bit of a “If you win the lottery would you prefer cash or cheque” debate. The nature of auditions being sent to every agent and then the auditions being passed to every client result in 200×2000 and as such the odds on a successful audition are fairly unlikely.

    Voice Overs need to exercise quality control when signing with agents and quality control when deciding which project is worth an audition.

    Philip

  9. By Tracy Pattin on Mar 14, 2008

    Thanks for your thoughts Philip. Quality control is a good thing to add to the “Rule of Thumb” list. It’s clear by the myriad of responses there are many things to consider.

    Tracy

  10. By Elynne Dale on Mar 15, 2008

    I appreciate the dialogue and all the thinking here. This primarily was my intent in asking talent to understand the quandry and offer views and suggestions.

    I appreciate and/or concur with much of what you have to say here and would like to add a couple notes and conclusions based on my experience from this side of the ‘lottery window’.

    Regarding getting the auditions in first to the client, there will be occasion where this is indeed a benefit. For the most part though, the client has posted the job so broadly because they want something they believe they cannot find locally or by casting with one or two agencies. In this case, they tell us they will listen to every last audition that comes in.

    The next time they cast though, they invite the agencies that provided them more bang for their listening buck.

    Armed with this information, our strategy and focus is not to be first, instead we focus on providing value as if these clients are ours exclusively and we treat them as such.

    We cannot be first and also retrieve correct pronunciations -nor can we be first if we ask the client if they have some clearer references to make your job and theirs easier. We cannot be first if we don’t clarify rates when they haven’t been posted, or tell you exactly how the material will be used.

    Frankly, we can only be first if we ignore what we know is better business and rely instead our keyboard accumen alone to work in this unique and highly specialized industry.

    We are officially out of this race. If we get the audition to you first, you may conclude that we are not doing our job, or perhaps everyone else was sleeping. If we get it to you with blazing speed, it means we don’t really expect to win the audition, but instead believe it’s all a speed game of purely chance.

    We know it isn’t and our record speaks for itself.

    Have a lovely day.

    Elynne Dale // the Big Fish Voice Company.

  11. By Tracy Pattin on Mar 21, 2008

    Elynne-

    Thanks so much for your great insights. So much so, I am posting another blog on this subject today quoting you. I think it opens the talent’s eyes that some agents like Big Fish work very hard for each project that comes your way. Could be the tipping point for some voice talent to go with you first.

    Tracy

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