SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, our guest today is not only one of my wonderful agents, but she is the head of emerging talent at Formation Talent in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to leading the emerging talent department, Jennifer specializes in character voice representation, and her clients bring to life iconic animated films, hit television series, video games, and podcasts. She's a regular speaker and presenter at Vio Atlanta. In fact, that's the last time she and I got a chance to chat before now. And that's where she shares her expertise with the voiceover community among other places. Her passion as an agent is to help grow the careers of voice actors so that they can book their dream roles. And that's some of what she's done for me. Please welcome to the VO boardroom my agent and friend Jennifer Bola. Thanks for joining us today, Jennifer.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thank you so much, Paul. I love doing things like this and helping provide resources to up-and-coming voiceover actors.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Well, your passion comes through, and that's one of the reasons uh that we wanted to have you on. And I don't know that in the years that we've been working together, I've ever had a chance or taken the chance to ask you this question, but what does emerging talent mean? What does the you're the head of emerging talent? I'm not sure I've got a great handle on that term.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah, absolutely. So I wear a couple of different hats at formation. Uh so in addition to the voiceover side, I work on the on-camera side of things where I represent kids and young adults for film and television projects. So uh honestly, I love what I do. I really get to do two very different things, but I think they actually overlap in some really cool ways. Um, so I think with voiceover too, you know, whether it's voiceover on camera, kids, adults, right? People that have been doing this for a long time, what I really love is helping grow talent and helping provide our actors with everything they need, the answers to their questions, all of the things that they're wondering about as they're submitting auditions and just going through the process. And so, yeah, as head of emerging talent, my focus is uh helping kids book film and TV, uh, helping voiceover actors of all ages book character work. And in a lot of ways, there's crossover too, because you know, we might be working with Disney one day on the kids' side for on camera, and then talking to different people at the Disney office the next day for voiceover. So we've actually acquired some Netflix auditions just based on our relationships for on camera. It's really lovely how they can actually really help each other.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Very cool. What uh in your experience do uh agents, either on the regional or in the national level, and and I guess formation considers considers itself a regional agent, what do agents do for voice actors that maybe voice actors don't even really know about?

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Absolutely. I think one of the main things that we do that I don't think the actors totally understand is we're constantly just trying to acquire new relationships as part of the agency. And so, you know, all of the auditions that our actors receive are built upon years of networking with these producers, with these casting offices, pitching our talent. You know, like one of the things that we do when we're reaching out to someone for the first time is we'll share samples of our voiceover actors, right? So it's kind of holding up some of our bright and shiny actors to say, hey, this is just a sample of our incredible roster, right? And so even when you're not getting auditions from us, you know, you don't see the 90% of the work that we're doing behind the scenes that aren't getting you auditions, which are leading up to those opportunities, just pounding the pavement.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Uh Jennifer's got a great thing that she's put together for our VO boardroom audience. It's essentially a like a hacker's pack of how to apply for professional representation. And uh at the end of the chat, we will tell you how to get a hold of that uh as well. What I wanted to ask you, Jen, is how do people get it wrong when they're talking to you about representation? What are the biggest sort of uh myths or misconceptions that people have about agents, especially folks that are trying to get an agent for the first time?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, absolutely. So one thing that I hear all the time when I'm getting reached out to in one way or another is, oh, you're so busy, right? Which is true. Like agents have a lot of different things that we're juggling every single day. Um, but I think that can translate into actors being very timid when they reach out to me, right? So when I get an email from an actor who's interested in joining my roster and they say something like, Hey, I'm a voiceover actor and I'm really curious about formation. Uh, how do I apply? I honestly don't have time to reply to that. You know what I mean? But if you reach out to me and you send your demos, your website, a little cover letter about yourself, everything is literally right there for me to look at. I'm gonna look at that, you know, because it just takes me, it takes all the time out. I don't have to send you a reply and ask you questions and give you a list of what to do. You just have already done that work for me. And so when actors come to me and they're prepared, they're really, really ready to go, I just take their submission so much more seriously. And, you know, I have all the love in the world for people that are just starting out. So they don't even know what they don't know, right? When someone's just emailing me saying, What do I do? I'm like, like, I would love to help you just realistically. I don't have time in my day for that. I have to pound the pavement for all of the actors that are already on my roster, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

And that leads me to my next question, which is if if I'm newer in the business, how do I even know whether or not I'm ready for an agent? And is that binary? Is it on a on a spectrum? Like, how does that all how do I make that decision as a talent?

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Yeah, I mean, it really is challenging in a way because it is a spectrum, right? Like I think there's a way that actors can overthink and over-prepare, right? Where it's like, okay, you don't really need 10 different voiceover demos from every single genre to reach out to an agent, right? At that point, you might be um holding yourself back from taking that step. Uh, but I think the first place to start is with training, right? If you're in classes, if you're coaching, you're working on your demos with a coach, right? You have someone in your corner that's probably actively giving you feedback on your work on a consistent basis if you're in training, right? So I would ask your coach to give you those benchmarks of when they think you're ready, right? Because they are very tapped into the quality of work that you're turning in. They're probably voiceover actors themselves that have rep. And so they'll be really honest with you on, are you ready? Right. But beyond that, you know, if you are doing all those things, you're training, you're coaching, you're getting your demos done, you know, once you're in a spot where you have your home studio setup done, right? Like you have one or two demos that are really, really strong. You have your website done. If you're in a spot where you can get auditions done on a consistent basis, you know those auditions are gonna be really high quality, that's probably a good spot to reach out to agents because that's the main thing for me, besides just, do I love your voice? Are your demos quality? Like when I sign someone, they need to be ready to go. If I send you an audition tomorrow, is it gonna be a really good audition that I'm excited to send a casting director? And if that answer is yes or probably yes, it might be time to reach out.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

So let's say I uh I get the packet that you're about to bestow on us, right? And I go through all the things that you uh suggestions that you make in in the packet on how to apply for representation, and I get the meeting and I get accepted and I might get signed or I might get what they call hip pocketed. Uh in either case, you're sending me auditions. What should I reasonably expect in the first, let's say, 30, 90, 180, 365 days?

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Yeah, 100%. So I'll start with the negative, but I'll be honest, I wouldn't expect a booking, right? Even in your first year, it's totally okay not to expect a booking. And most agents don't even expect a booking. I think that's what a lot of actors get a little bit mixed up when they're starting out. Um, and there's this sort of like panic response of, oh my goodness, my agent has been sending me all these awesome auditions and I've been turning them in, but nothing is happening. I'm six months in. Are they gonna drop me? Right. It's this panic that starts to form that I get all the time. Um and it's just not a realistic goal that your agent has in mind. And it's just because voiceover is such an insanely competitive industry, right? Like we know because we represent so many actors and we've been doing this for so long, we know this is a marathon and not a sprint, right? And so we don't put any of those expectations on our actors. Um, so what we do actually expect is we expect you to take all of the auditions that we send you seriously, right? And that doesn't mean auditioning for something that you don't think is right for you, right? Like as an actor, I expect you to know what's in your wheelhouse and not in your wheelhouse. If you're not sure, try it, right? But if you're like, oh no, this is not an audition for me, decline. Like, that's okay. Agents don't stress about those things. Um, but yeah, like we're looking for you to be auditioning for us consistently. We're looking for high quality, we're looking for thoughtfulness, right? Not just an off-the-cuff audition. And if you're continually turning in auditions for me, then I'm really getting used to your voice, right? Like I listen to all of our actors' auditions. And so within that like one month to a year time frame, um, something to expect is your agent is gonna get to know you a lot better than when we first took that meeting with you, right? The other thing to touch on, um, just in that time frame is don't be afraid to talk to your agent. Cause I get that a lot too when I'm signing talent. Uh and I think there's a lot of people out there that, you know, sometimes this advice is true, sometimes not. It depends on the agency and the agent. But for me, I like talking to my actors, right? Like you don't have to be afraid to reach out and ask me a question or say, like, oh my gosh, I'm so excited to audition for this video game. I love this video, right? Like those things are great. They build relationship. And so that's one other thing to expect is don't just set it and forget it when it comes to signing with an agent. Like reach out, let it be organic, develop that relationship, you know, don't just ignore us.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

I think it's great advice. Uh and the other part of that too is, you know, now that let's say, well, for instance, in my case, now I'm on your roster.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Now I, you know, we've got maybe that first year under our belt or so. I might have booked, I might not have booked. What makes me, from yours perspective as my agent, what makes me easy to work with? And of course, I'm not talking about me personally, but what makes a voice actor easy to work with and easy to represent?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Yeah, a hundred percent. I think for me, it's um a mixture of communication and just professionalism and all, you know, in all. A lot of the auditions that we work on, unfortunately, have some pretty crazy turnarounds, especially on the commercial side. And so, you know, I don't expect all of our actors to be able to turn in an audition within three hours. But if you can, and I've sent you that kind of audition with that turnaround time, to me, that makes you very easy to work with. Cause it's like, wow, I was worried that I wouldn't get many auditions back. And look at all of these voiceover actors I have that were really on top of it, that got it back to me, right? Like that puts my mind at ease because I know that we'll have great auditions to send to the producer client or the casting client, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:27

How important is it to, let's say I get an audition notice from you uh, and the deadline is, let's say tomorrow, same time of day. I've got 24 hours. Is it is it helpful to you? Is it more important to get that audition in within an hour or two or three of when I get it? Or is it okay if I'm right up to the deadline? Does that make a difference?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So I think it depends on the agent. I'll tell you about how I like to work, but some agents can be a little bit different. Um, I like to send everything in one batch because I fear uh annoying casting directors by sending five different batches on a rolling basis, right? I think it's better to just send one really strong batch with as many actors as we can get on time before casting's deadline. And so if I say 10 a.m. on Tuesday and you turn it in at 9:55 a.m. on Tuesday, you're gonna get sent to casting. And that's completely fine on my end. Um now, some agents do definitely a rolling deadline. And so, you know, for the actors out there listening, definitely ask that question to your agent specifically and see how they like to work because, you know, it might be really helpful to get something in as quick as possible if your agent's gonna be sending out that audition quickly.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

So you've been doing this a hot minute, we'll say, uh, and you work with all kinds of talent, right? You've got on-camera talent, you've got uh voiceover only talent, you've got kids, adults, you've got people that have been doing this for 30, 40 years and people that are brand new.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

With all those relationships that you have to manage, what uh what what separates the people who have healthy, thriving relationships with their agents from the people that don't?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest where the rubber hits the road uh in this side of the industry is really when you're getting that booking, that availability check, that callback, that retape, right? So it's not just, you know, we're past the audition stage at this point. Now the producer or the casting director is really interested in you. Can you get back to us really quickly? Can you have clear and effective communication? Right. So we run into this all the time on the commercial side as well for voiceover. And it's they're interested in you. It's Tuesday. They need you in session on Wednesday, right? And so I need to hear from you as soon as possible what your availability is. You know, can you get into a studio? Where in the world are you right now? Are you near your home studio, right? These kinds of things. And I think that's where the relationship can turn into that sort of make or break situation, right? Because it's like, okay, we finally got the booking or we're about to have the booking. Are you actually ready to go? Or is that when you become incommunicado, right? Can I not get a hold of you? Or are you just going to have some kind of difficult obstacle that we can't get past, right? Um, so I think it's really important to just always have your email notifications on, you know, have your agents' phone numbers saved in your phone. Don't miss those calls.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I agree. I couldn't agree more. We uh we earlier mentioned a little bit about this uh wonderful packet that you've put together. Does it uh does it even have a name or is it just a a profession a packet to help voice actors submit professionally for representation, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a name on there somewhere. It's just not top of mind.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

We're gonna I either I missed it or we're gonna have to workshop it a little bit. But um but so uh leading into that, what I wanted to ask you is what are the big sort of ways that voice actors uh or even on camera talent uh kick the can? You've talked about that false start. Like I'm curious as to how to reply. Well, that just wastes everybody time, right? What are some of the other ways that that actors kick the can when they're submitting to agents like formation?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we'll kind of get these half submissions sometimes, right? It's like I'll get one demo reel, but it's clearly not professionally produced, or it's like an example of a couple of their recent auditions. And that is one thing when we already have a relationship, right? If you're on my on-camera roster, I know you, right? We already have that kind of we're already talking, right? Then I'm probably gonna give you some feedback and say, hey, this is awesome, but here are these like three, four, five things that I need before I can actually consider you for voiceover. But if we don't know each other, I mean, you're in danger of just making yourself look like you are not prepared and not ready to actually be in front of an agent. So I would definitely watch out for that.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

And that's you just said in front of an agent. I'm also thinking about what makes you confident that a given actor, like there's got to be a level of trust there, right? You've got to be able to trust the actor that with this client, I'm gonna put them in front of this client and I need them not I know not only need to represent them well, they need to represent the agency and themselves well. Uh, how do you like how do you get to the bottom of that? How do you ascertain that?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for me, it's really just how many different, you know, materials are am I able to listen to that show me your voice and just how prepared you are in general as an actor, right? So not like how many demos you have, but you know, if we're talking about character, right? If I give you a video game script, do you know how to break that down and make character choices, develop the character, figure out their objective, you know, make it really clear who you're talking to in the world, building out the scene. Can you match the genre of the game, right? And a lot of these things just take training and experience. If you're an actor coming from different sides of the industry, like right, like the film and TV world or the theater world, this might come a little bit easier to you. Um, but especially if you're a voiceover actor, maybe coming from the commercial side, do a lot of work in this area because that's where, again, things can kind of fall apart if you don't have a lot of experience or you haven't had a lot of training. Uh, when I'm putting my voiceover actors in front of these video game and animation casting directors, I need to trust that they know how to make a script work for them backwards and forwards and be really comfortable in that world.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

That's great advice. Excellent advice. You, uh, my dear, have been so kind as to take it upon yourself to put together a uh a checklist, a free checklist for our VO boardroom audience to help us submit when we're looking for professional representation. Uh, does this work whether it's my first agent or my fifth or sixth?

SPEAKER_00 19:32

It absolutely should. Yes. If it's your first agent, it should be really, really helpful because there might be some things on there that you haven't even thought about before. But even if it's your fifth or sixth agent, you know, some of these things might sound simple, like just proofreading your email before you send it. But if you've been doing this a long time, those might be the kinds of things where you're like, wait, I actually do have a typo in here, or maybe my demo is spelled wrong. Like you just sometimes you just don't think about these things until you slow down. So yeah, for people that have been doing this for a while, slow down, really read through it and ask yourself, like, wait, is there something I'm missing? Or uh, do I have every box checked here?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

I am laughing because that is the thing that petrifies me the most, is typos, because A, it's hard to see your own mistakes. And B, yeah, sometimes I am in a little too much of a rush. So uh I appreciate that reminder as well. Uh the checklist, if you've been uh furiously taking down notes during our chat, maybe in your VO boardroom workbook or whatever you use to capture your notes, relax a little, slow down because Jennifer's put it all together uh in this checklist. It covers demos, training, home studio expectations, submission materials, and those common mistakes, some of which we've talked about today, that can keep uh talented actors from getting signed. I cannot possibly thank you enough for being a part of the VO boardroom today, Jennifer.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Thank you so much, Paul. This was a joy, and I can't wait to see and hear about all of the feedback from the actors that are taking this workshop. That'll be great.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

I think, you know, chats like this make it make it super, super helpful. Uh by the way, I suppose I should probably mention how folks get the checklist. That's in the goodie vault, which is linked at voboardroom.com. If you registered and you're watching this, then you'll hopefully by now know where the goodie vault is. Uh, but you can find it at VOBoardroom.com. There'll be a nice little link to that there. And you can get that free checklist and all the free goodies that our speakers are supplying for the VO Boardroom. Jennifer Bola, head of emerging talent at formation. Thank you so much. It's great to see you and great to catch up.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

So good to see you. Thank you so much for having me. This has been lovely.