Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Jake Gerloff! Jake is part of the West Coast team at ACM, and tonight he worked with Marc and the audience in a sports promo intensive.
Jake said that he moved to LA after attending UC Davis because he knew he wanted to work in entertainment. After 6 months in the mail room at WME, he started working in voiceover, saying he liked the fast-paced nature of the business. He’s been with ACM for the past 2 years and loves it.
Jake has worked with so many networks on sports promos that I didn’t catch them all, but they include Fox Sports, NFL Network, ESPN, Tennis Channel, and many more. He and Marc talked about how it can be hard to break into sports promo, but Jake said that most networks he works with keep their talent year to year. They also discussed the rise of opportunities for female talent in sports promos.
In terms of the sound of the reads, Jake and Marc talked about how some channels want a big booming voice, but that a more conversational read is preferred by other channels, or for certain events or sports. You want to feel like your buddy is telling you to watch an upcoming Lakers game, Jake said as an example. But if it’s a bull-riding competition, that’s something that jumps off the screen so it’s going to be a more booming voice, he said.
Marc asked Jake about sport promo demos and how often networks ask for them. Jake said that he feels it’s not as necessary as perhaps it was in the past, adding that networks rarely ask him for demos and that it’s mainly about auditions.
Regarding auditions, Jake’s advice was to stick to the script’s direction and throw in 3-4 takes since promo scripts are usually short. “I encourage variety,” he said, advising voice talent to show off their range and give the buyers some options. Marc agreed, adding some advice that he’s discussed in the club many times before which is that producers may not know what they’re looking for until they hear it. So giving options is a good idea.
Thanks so much to Marc and Jake for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET. You can read more of my recaps of Marc’s Clubhouse rooms by checking out this link.