How did I end up doing Improv?
Firstly, I never set out to study improvisational technique when I started doing voice over. Early in my VO career I worked with amazing coach Fred Frees. Fred was my character coach. We were doing private lessons working towards a character demo. Fred is not only an established talent, but he also grew up in the industry. Fred happens to be the son of VO legend Paul Frees. There is not a voice, character, or trick that Fred can’t do. The man is amazing. One day in one of our lessons Fred told me I had to find an improv class. For me, this was out of my comfort zone. He told me that he heard repetition in my characters and that I was falling into patterns. The only way to break this was with an improv class.
Why was I nervous? Well, in the safety of my studio, I was fearless in front of a microphone. Fred suggested leaving the booth and going to an actual theater with real live people. Learning a very new different skill set was scary. It was daunting. And, it was necessary.
I found a class called “Advanced Acting and Improv” at Paper Mill Playhouse. Taught by Broadway great Elisa Va Duyne, the class was hard. I was not used to learning lines. The amount of drama was also a big change. Physicality amongst others was also new to me. But I started the class none the less. Want to know how long it took for Fred to hear a difference once class started? Fred heard a difference in my reads in one week. He said I was like a different person in our sessions.
Scott Parkin and Voice Over
Fast forward quite a few years. Now I have the luxury of having a weekly Clubhouse Room, “Ask the VO Coaches.” This week voice over legend Scott Parkin was our guest! Whether you know it or not, you likely know Scott! He is the voice and face of many recognizable brands as he does both voice over and on-camera work. He actually started out on morning radio. Scott has a national Tide TV commercial and many more. He has also made appearances on well-known shows like “Grace and Frankie.” Scott finds that the relationship between VO and on-camera work is symbiotic. Scott shared that most of his work comes in through his agents at DPN. As a single dad, his daughter Miranda grew up socializing with other talents in the DPN waiting room.
Scott Talks Improv and Voice Over
Diana Birdsall and I asked Scott why voice actors should study improv? Scott explained that improv helps you find a character. It also helps you find that sought after conversational read. For example, think about what you like to do for fun. When you respond, you make it real, including stops and starts. Scott was great fun in the Clubhouse! He fell into many characters for us. He was Angus, a Scottish soccer player. Then he was Doug from Doug’s BBQ in Texas. First Scott became the character. Then he showed how they would say their lines with ease.
Improve Across the Genres
We asked Scott which genres of voice over improv helps with. He said it is useful in all genres. We talked about assuming characters in genres like eLearning or narration. One of our attendees, Jeffrey, told Scott he is taking improv classes in Atlanta. Jeffrey asked Scott what he should look for in class. Scott said it depends on your goal, which might include:
- On-Camera work
- Sharpening your skills
- Writing Sketches
The conversation went on to consider if improv practice can happen via zoom. Scott said that he has adapted his drills to work on-line. But, in-person classes are still the gold standard.
The Culmination of Improv: “Comet Casino”
Scott has a daughter Miranda. Miranda is both a voice actor and an amazing artist. Perhaps it’s because Miranda grew up surrounded by voice actors. Maybe it’s because Miranda’s dad bursts into character at the snap of a finger. Or most likely it’s because Miranda has oodles and oodles of talent! This 21 year- old phenom has created her own cartoon: “The Comet Casino.”
The show boasts an all star cast with the likes of Tara Strong, Billy West, and Maurice LeMarsh to name a few. Dad and daughter are doing all the leg work themselves. From creating the team to raising funds for animation, it is a family project. What’s the point? If you connect the dots, it’s no accident that a kid with profound improv training did this. Miranda can act. She is also an artist. Miranda had a vision. This gal also happens to have an amazing dad behind her. Now, am I saying that if you study improv you can write a show? Maybe not. But the point is, you never know where years of exposure and on-going training and coaching will take you. That’s the point. Work on your craft. In conclusion, keep working on it. And if you have the means, also support this amazing family here.
I have been blessed to have three precious dogs in my life, and each of them has brought me immeasurable joy. I had no idea, however, that when we got our Labrador Retriever Daisy, in addition to being super sweet and super smart, she would also be super challenging to walk without the right training. A neighbor with two Great Dane pups introduced me to the dog training books by the Monks of New Skete, who have been training dogs since the 1970s. We made the choice to send Daisy for a board and stay training program, and I learned from the brothers that there were a few keys essential to Daisy’s success. We needed to be consistent with her obedience every day and maintain her routine. She would need structured daily exercise. We needed to plan everything- even her walks, to set her up for success. As a small business owner, I realized that in voice over all the lessons that would lead to success for Daisy also hold true to maintaining a successful professional voiceover career.
Now back from New Skete, every day Daisy has to run through her exercises, from leave it and heal to place. Similarly, working on my craft is essential every day. From warm up exercises to practicing cold reading, this is part of my daily routine. I recently reflected on this in my blog about the class that I am taking with Kim Handysides, but in order to stay strong in the reads that I submit both as auditions and as booked work, this daily work is essential to my success.
Just as Daisy needs her purposeful walk, I need a certain amount of daily exercise to stay in shape for voice over, I walk four to five miles a day. I do pilates three times a week. All of that is in addition to my vocal warm ups. When your body is your instrument, you have to maintain your instrument every single day.
In the same way that communicating well with Daisy strengthens our family bonds, doing all of the above plus communicating well with clients strengthens our connections with them. As they can rely on our work being consistently good and being there when they need it, they will be able to trust us for their clients, and in the end that trust is what matters most. As a professional talent, a new booking is great, but when that new booking comes back, it’s almost as good as when Daisy comes galloping towards me.
I happened to marry a huge Bill Murray fan, and from Quick Change to Groundhog Day, I think I’ve seen all of his top hits, but Groundhog Day is my favorite. As a working mom, having a system to maintain efficiency is really important but unfortunately that same system often makes every single day feel the same. I go into my booth and warm up. I do my most pressing auditions first. Next I tend to all 
It’s important to pick the right coaches and I’ve been blessed to work with many excellent ones in the years that I’ve been in voice over. Sometimes you want private lessons and sometimes group classes can meet your training needs. Right now I wanted to shake things up. Kim Handysides and her daughter Lisa Suliteanu book a lot of work. They understand what is au courant and have created a curriculum across genres to target bookable reads. Kim has been an industry leader for 30 plus years and her talented daughter Lisa has been working steadily since she was 7 years old and has been full-time since finishing university. In case you’re wondering what the vibe of their class is like, it is upbeat, inspirational, clever, and fun. With so many coaches in the industry at the moment, this class is designed to put voice actors on the path to success and enrolling was a great step for me, even so many years into my career!
In Groundhog Day, we see Phill Conners taking piano lessons and becoming an amazing pianist. This did not happen over night. It took lots and lots of practice. Right now in The Voice Over Study, we work on different scripts and then can use those tools to go back and really work on a script. The more we learn to unravel it, the better our reads become. For me, having fresh feedback on my reads is helpful. It is also just as helpful to pay attention to the reads of the other voice actors in the class, listen to how they approach the scripts, and think about the feedback that they are given. I try to incorporate this approach into both my auditions and my booked work and bring some freshness to it all.
In Groundhog Day, we see Phil’s relationship with others in the town blossom and develop throughout the film as he gets to relive each day. For me, having an opportunity to meet other voice over actors is really valuable. The other talents in the class are from different parts of the United States and Canada. We are at different points in our careers and we all aspire to focus on different genres of voice over. Still, I think knowing other voice actors is essential to our success, and I am so thankful to be getting to know the other actors in this class as we all learn together.
Just as we see Phil repeatedly attempting to cover the story about Punxsutawney Phil, there are countless ways each script can be approached, so wouldn’t it save a lot of time and energy to understand which reads are actually booking right now? That is the point of “The Voice Over Study,” the nuances of the bookable read are not necessarily my go to read, so I am so thankful for the first few sessions already! For example, the words to emphasize or blend may not be what I had thought of, so this valuable feedback, and the reinforcement of it, makes Kim and Lisa’s class outstanding. In class last week, Kim directed me to hit words I never word have that to enunciate, and the overall gestalt of the read was just a million times better. Her instincts are amazing. Kim and Lisa book A LOT of work on their own, and my goal is to be as busy as they are!
In class we have homework. We have scripts to prepare and we are also supposed to work on cold reading. I also love this, as both make me more efficient and more effective in my daily work. These tasks are something that I look forward to, as I feel like I am taking control of my career and determining my own path.
