So, welcome back live to MAVO 2018. We’re here with Rachael Naylor from The Voice Over Network. Tell me about your experience so far at the conference.
It’s been fantastic. So, thank you for having me on to start with. And yeah, it’s lovely to be here.
Really, really excited to be back in the States and to be at this wonderful conference, which is, Val’s done an amazing job. It’s really, really great, and lots of lovely people. So, yeah.
I agree. So when you target your appearance at a conference like this, what are you hoping to get out of it?
When I come to things like this, I just, I want to meet as many people in the industry. I want to help inspire people. And I love seeing people at the beginning of their journey and watching them grow and watching their careers flourish.
And yeah, the Voice Over Network, which is the company that I founded and that I run, is all about helping, supporting, and strengthening the voice over industry. And it’s about bringing the industry together. Agents, producers, casting directors, voice over artists from around the world.
So we started in London and we’ve grown now. We have lots of members here in the States as well. And we’re going to start doing events over here.
And yeah, it’s exciting.
You’re spending an awful lot of time in the state side, aren’t you?
I am, yeah. This is my third trip this year. And I do, I love coming out here.
It’s, yeah, it’s just wonderful to come out to these events and surround yourself with other forward-thinking, you know, proactive people in the voiceover community.
It really is a community, isn’t it? You get that feeling of camaraderie, of having somebody as your wingman, somebody by your side to go through it together. It’s really fantastic.
Definitely, definitely. And it’s very unique. I don’t think there are any other industries like the voiceover industry in terms of that sort of wonderful community.
And because we’re actors, most of us are, well, all voiceovers, I think, is acting. But it’s not the same as kind of on screen and theatre actors who, you know, you have to think about your appearance. And there’s something lovely about voiceover artists because it’s about our personalities and successful voiceover artists.
You know, we are getting booked to interpret scripts, so you have to have quite a big personality to be able to do that. And it’s, yeah, I mean, it’s lovely. I think also because we spend a lot of time sitting on our own in a little black box talking to ourselves.
That when we come to these events, you know, it’s just lovely. Everybody’s so, so wonderful and share. You know, there’s a lot of sharing and a lot of kind of helping each other.
So, yeah, it’s wonderful.
You started out with an acting career before VoiceOver. Yes, yes, I did, yeah. And what brought you to that transition?
Oh, I’m still an actor, but yeah, I mainly do VoiceOver now. And I think for me, the big thing was feeling in control. I loved having a VoiceOver business.
And I remember feeling like, also I wanted to start a family and I could just see the structure of having a VoiceOver business. Plus, the first time I got in front of a microphone, I just had that moment, you know, when I was like, I am home, this is where I’m meant to be. And I, like a lot of people, in my early days of my career, I really struggled.
I mean, it was tough back then. You had to have an agent, and I couldn’t get an agent. And I remember having to make CDs and send them in the post, and all that kind of stuff that we don’t have these days.
It’s so much easier. And the fact that as much as you can, as long as you’ve got the drive, you can get your own work. Whereas when I came into the industry, it was really hard to get your own work.
You didn’t have a home studio. You had to have an agent. And I remember sort of pounding the streets.
No, I’m going to continue. So think that I’m in a good position with The Voice Over Network, because I totally understand that. I relate.
And I want to share the information that wasn’t available when I started. And The Voice Over Network is about… It’s providing a safe place for voice over professionals to come together to help and support each other, to train, to raise the bar, to talk about issues in the industry, and really to strengthen the industry.
That’s the driving force behind everything we do.
You’ve got a teaming with entrepreneurial spirit, so it shows. What is the buzz about The Buzz?
The Buzz Magazine. The Buzz Magazine is the only magazine in the world dedicated to the voice over industry. I’m like, yes.
And actually, the idea for The Buzz Magazine came before the voice over network, and it was years ago when I was learning about PR, and I started writing to magazines and newspapers, and I started getting interviews. And PR is a fantastic way to get your brand out there and to get work. Yes, there we go.
Here we are. We’re doing PR now. And I remember trying to look for a magazine that was to do with voice overs so that I could try and get myself in it and realizing there wasn’t.
It’s like, why do we not have our own magazine? And I remember initially coming up with the magazine idea and I went and spoke to a friend of mine who works in PR. And I said, I’ve got this great idea.
I’m going to start a magazine. And she was like, oh, no, it would be a nightmare. And she kind of pulled it all apart.
And I ended up leaving that meeting going, oh, yeah, I’m not going to do a magazine that sounds like far too much work. And then when I decided to launch The Voice Over Network as a membership, I thought, I’ll do a magazine. How hard can that be?
You just pull together a few articles, stick it in a thing and get it printed. Well, it takes quite a lot more than that. But I am incredibly proud.
So we’ve just had the 15th edition. We’re working on the 16th edition at the moment. 15th or 16th.
But yes, it’s a quarterly magazine. It’s global. So you can subscribe and you can get it anywhere in the world.
It used to be that you could only get it if you were a member of The Voice Over Network. And it is part of the membership. So when you join The Voice Over Network, you get The Buzz Magazine.
But you can subscribe to The Buzz Magazine on its own now. And it is only printed. So I’m kind of old school.
I love the printer. There’s something about having it printed. There’s a feel.
And it’s jam-packed with interviews, with useful information, with reviews, with inspiring stories. And yeah, it’s popular. So yeah, proud of that.
Very proud of that.
That’s great. Congratulations. It sounds like a similar story to our podcast.
We initially started as a podcast for newbies, because my normal co-host Sean was about three years into the time, and I was one year in. And I had a similar discussion with a lot of people. I said, do you want to do this podcast with me?
And most people said, are you insane? No one wants to listen to that. No one wants to hear a bunch of idiots learn their way through the business.
And then Sean was the only one who really sort of believed in it, too. And here we are 33 episodes later and 11,000 downloads. So it’s an entrepreneurial spirit that you talked about that really helps push through your goals.
Yeah, and it’s also sharing, isn’t it? I think it’s so important. The information that we all learn and the experiences that we have, to share that with others, to help them on their journey, it’s so important, and it’s something that I really, I really kind of try to encourage, you know, whenever I meet people at all these events and at The Voice Over Network.
You know, it’s all about sharing, it’s about helping other people, and, you know, yeah, just reaching out and sharing your contacts or sharing some information, and yeah, it does come back, I believe.
Sean had a great statement at VO Atlanta. We were in the podcast room at VO Atlanta doing our show, and Sean said, the voiceover community is the only one where, instead of stepping over you to climb the ladder, the voiceover community will actually put you on their shoulders and say, come on, I’ll help you up.
Yeah, definitely, definitely, and it’s really, really special and very unique, and yeah, I feel very lucky to be in this industry, and yeah, and every day, you know, when scripts come through, I mean, we never know what’s coming, do we? We never know what’s happening. It keeps us on our toes, but it’s, yeah, it’s the best job in the world, to be honest.
So bring it back to the conference. What’s something you’re looking forward to over the next 16 hours?
Okay, so I am doing a workshop this afternoon on video games, so breakout workshop on video games. I’m really excited about that. I’ve got some fun things up my sleeve for that session, because I love video games.
Video games is such an exciting area of our industry, and I’ve been lucky to work on some pretty exciting games. So that, and then tomorrow, I’m doing a general session, The Power of Networking, because networking is…
You know something about that? I do.
I know a little bit. Yes. And I love networking, and it’s a funny one that I think, you know, lots of people struggle with just that word.
It’s, you know, we associate a lot of things with words. You know, we just like networking. I have to be interesting.
So, yes, my session tomorrow will be good fun. And I’m just, yeah, I just love kind of connecting with people and, you know, just walking around and networking. That’s what I love about these events.
Yeah, I’m looking forward to meeting lots of people and hearing their stories and seeing how I and The Voice Over Network and The Buzz Magazine and how we can help people. So, yeah. Well, great.
We look forward to seeing you at the rest of the conference. Thanks for being here right now. Tell people how they can join The Voice Over Network if they want.
So, yes, so come and join The Voice Over Network. It is the voiceovernetwork.co.uk. You can come to the page and subscribe.
And you can also, there’s a page on our website about The Buzz Magazine, so you can go in there and find out how to subscribe that way. So, yes, wonderful.
Rachael, thanks for being here.
Excellent. Well, thank you so much for having me. Fantastic.