Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Joe Cipriano! Joe talked about all things promo, and the renowned VO artist, demo producer, and consultant listened to a lot of fantastic reads from the audience and gave great advice.
We heard promos for shows like Unikitty, Doc McStuffins, and LEGO Masters, and Joe’s direction and guidance included tips such as:
- Use the music as a cue to how you should deliver your reads.
- When thinking about animation promos, “You have to push and dig deep, but don’t get pukey.” There’s a line between fun/hokey and going to far to where it just sounds wrong and way too overemphasized.
- One good way to research is to find videos of James Arnold Taylor’s work — “he’s over the top, it’s a bit hokey, and he’s hitting it perfectly.”
- Doing promo research in general on YouTube or iSpot is great to understand the style. Just search for network + promo to get the idea.
- Being able to switch between two styles of performance is an important skill to have.
- “Ladies, work on your promo reads!” He said that networks are looking for new voices and more women when it comes to promos.
I loved hearing the feedback on all the reads. As Marc said, “Keep taking chances because that’s how you break through here.”
Thanks so much to Marc and Joe for their awesome feedback and conversation, and for everyone who read tonight!
In addition, Marc announced that he is donating proceeds of his upcoming book now through March 15 to UNICEF to help families in Ukraine.