The VOHeroes Podcast

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The VOHeroes Podcast

David H. Lawrence XVII

256 episodes

1 week ago

Hey there, hero! This is the final episode of the podcast for the year. And as I recorded this episode, I was wading through my inbox, which is currently filling up with listicles of The Best XXXXXX Of The Year, or Our Predictions For The Best XXXXXX Of The Upcoming Year. I tend to look at those things as fun, maybe interesting, but ultimately not very useful. Want a healthy alternative? Do your grunt work. Update your resume. Review your bios. Re-edit your demo with footage from your last jo...

Show more...

Performing Arts,

Entrepreneurship

All content for The VOHeroes Podcast is the property of David H. Lawrence XVII and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Hey there, hero! This is the final episode of the podcast for the year. And as I recorded this episode, I was wading through my inbox, which is currently filling up with listicles of The Best XXXXXX Of The Year, or Our Predictions For The Best XXXXXX Of The Upcoming Year. I tend to look at those things as fun, maybe interesting, but ultimately not very useful. Want a healthy alternative? Do your grunt work. Update your resume. Review your bios. Re-edit your demo with footage from your last jo...

Show more...

Performing Arts,

Entrepreneurship

Episodes (20/256)

The VOHeroes Podcast

13265: Talking To Yourself: Crazy? Or Crazy Smart?

Hey there, hero! If you find yourself talking to yourself when you're by yourself... ...that's not only OK, it's a mark of genius. That's what the Internet says, and I'm going with them on this. I don't want you to feel anything but joy and wisdom if you're an inveterate self-talker. And I'm not limiting my support just to those who murmur or mutter to themselves - I'm a full-volume talking machine when I'm alone, sometimes raising my voice to make a point. And I want to celebrate with you th...

2 days ago

3 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13264: Instead Of Looking Back (Or Ahead), Do This Instead

Hey there, hero! This is the final episode of the podcast for the year. And as I recorded this episode, I was wading through my inbox, which is currently filling up with listicles of The Best XXXXXX Of The Year, or Our Predictions For The Best XXXXXX Of The Upcoming Year. I tend to look at those things as fun, maybe interesting, but ultimately not very useful. Want a healthy alternative? Do your grunt work. Update your resume. Review your bios. Re-edit your demo with footage from your last jo...

1 week ago

5 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13263: What’s More Valuable: Being Smart Or Being Reliable?

Hey there, hero! There’s a lot of value in having workable expertise, value in having expertise that’s exceptional, and it’s something I think most of us strive to acquire. There’s also a lot of value in being dependable, being reliable, being a rock to others in your life…to show up, hit your mark and do the work. If you had to choose one or the other (I’m sure we’d all like to strive for both, but…), which would you prefer? I’d like to know your answer to the question posed in the title of ...

2 weeks ago

4 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13262: Be Like Miss Johnson: Write Your Own Textbook

Hey there, hero! Space mathematician Katherine Johnson said, about the new strategies, tactics and calculation being created for the moon landing, “There were no textbooks, so we had to write one.” Ever faced something brand new in your acting, voice work or writing? It’s not like working in a factory doing repetitive activities that have a long history of experience. There are very few “explainer videos” available on the things we create for our characters, our actions and our explanations. ...

3 weeks ago

5 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13261: Have You Limited Your Circle Of Competence?

Hey there, hero! You’ve met people in our business who’ve been trained to say yes to everything. When asked what they are best at, they never say never. They say yes to anything. They can play any role, voice any character, write in any genre…each with world class capabilities. Yeah. Don’t be that guy. But…are you being honest with others and yourself as to what you truly are capable of doing, or are you shorting yourself and “playing small” with your actual skill set? Does a self-effacing te...

1 month ago

5 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13260: We Face Daunting Numbers

Hey there, hero! The people who aren’t in our line of work simply don't understand the kinds of numbers we face every day. Actors, voice talent, casting, directors/producers...there are a lot of people who want to do what we do. And if those people knew the actual stats, most would likely rethink that desire. And sometimes, we need to remind ourselves just what we're wading into when we want to play in the pool. Let's look at these numbers...in the dozens, hundreds and even thousands. Shocked...

1 month ago

6 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13259: The Weird Twists That Landed Me HEROES

Hey there, hero! Deciding to pursue a performance related career also guarantees an immense amount of weirdness. You can't even begin to predict what's going to happen, like you can in some more traditional lines of work. In this episode, I reveal the strange cascade of events that resulted in me booking a multi-season run on NBC/BBC’s sci-fi series HEROES, playing the creepy, evil Puppetmaster, Eric Doyle. I mean really, really strange. Have there been strange twists in your career? Care to ...

1 month ago

8 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13258: The First 95 vs The Last 5: An Unexpected Split

Hey there, hero! The amount of effort it takes to learn something new, and to become facile at something, can seem like a humongous effort; once you get to a point of competence, you can and should feel really good about that accomplishment. It's a good 95% of the full journey to get to that point. Enjoy. You've worked really long and hard to get there. To then become really expert at something...to continue the honing and refining of that last 5%...is not likely to take just 5% of the time i...

1 month ago

6 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13257: Mac And Cheese Or Chicken Fingers: What Else Is There?

Hey there, hero! As kids, our parents often gave us limited choices (if they want to save valuable time and keep their sanity). But you're not a kid anymore. If you're trying to decide between a couple of presented options, there might be one or two that you could consider... ...even if no one's mentioned them as a possibility. You could take a moment when a list of choices are given to you, and ask, "What else ya got? PB&J? Cheese burrito?" Ever thought to yourself that you could have go...

1 month ago

3 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13256: Expect Nothing. Enjoy Everything.

Hey there, hero! I just got a really convenient, healthy, awesome phrase dropped in my lap. It immediately made sense, and helped me soothe any anguish I have (not much, but it rears its ugly head from time to time) about the uncertainty of our business. And maybe it will help you, too...at a number of levels: decoupling the result from the process of auditioning or spec writing, giving yourself permission to love all parts of the pursuit and more. After you hear it in the episode (hint: it's...

2 months ago

4 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13255: Treat Showbiz With All The Suspicion It Deserves

Hey there, hero! One of our most famous and revered actors used the title of this podcast as the answer to a question asked of him by an industry rag. The question was, “What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned about the business you’re in?” I want to drill down on this, and why, even if you’re not at Brian Cox’s level of notoriety yet, you should learn from this statement as well. Ever feel this way about the second oldest profession in the world? Let me know in the comments below. REQ...

2 months ago

3 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13254: Content: The More Personal, The More Universal

Hey there, hero! Early in my career in radio, I thought the more inclusive and general I was with my on-air content, the more people I’d attract. I learned that having the audacity to bring my own very personal sensibilities to everything I do was a much better approach. Just being me was the more attractive and authentic thing to do. It didn’t make everyone happy, but it was the path to truth in performance. It’s also a hell of a lot easier to make my stories completely my own, rather than t...

2 months ago

5 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13253: How To Have A Healthy Relationship With Ratings And Reviews

Hey there, hero! The audience is listening (and watching and reading). And social media and review sites allow them to criticize, rate and review your artwork. And there are always outspoken members of the audience who have things to say. And they aren’t always respectful or constructive. Sometimes, they are downright aiming to hurt you. I have my own approach to ratings and reviews - I pick and choose the reviews I pay attention to (the positive reviews) and the ones I ignore (the negative r...

2 months ago

7 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13252: The Simple Math Around Taking A Shot

Hey there, hero! So you want to try something new, or do something you’ve never done before, or finally get off your keester and create the first of something. You might not realize how infinitely powerful that action is. And I do mean infinite. I checked, and did so with people who are better at math than I am. There’s a concept called “delta.” The delta of something is the difference between two approaches: if something is twice as good as something else, than the delta is 100%, or two time...

3 months ago

4 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13251: How I Easily Add A Full Body Shot To My On-Camera Audition Slates

Hey there, hero! Sometimes, a little thing can be a puzzler, and can be annoying, and when you figure out how to solve it, can be a bit embarrassing. For years, I didn’t enjoy the notion of shooting a vertical full body shot for my on-camera self-tape auditions… …until I did. I stopped being so precious about it, and made it easy. And gave casting directors exactly what they want: a look at me, head to toe. In this episode, I show you how I do it. (And if you usually listen to the audio versi...

3 months ago

3 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13250: The Doubly Wonderful Week Of Ms. Karen Merritt

Hey there, hero! If you don’t know by now, one of my favorite hobbies is to brag on my VOHeroes Pro clients. (Given how real the struggle is to be a professional performer, and how we constantly have to manage our mindset when we inevitably don’t get the gig, each win is a savory morsel of delight.) Everytime that happens, I get a little giddy. I can’t lose. I always win. It makes me happy inside. And when the joy of success is layered twice over, it’s even better. Karen Merritt is a Lifetime...

3 months ago

17 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13249: How Hard Can This Be?

Hey there, hero! Ever notice how some people look at acting, voice over or writing and think it’s a snap… …and not that hard to do? I had an aunt that would make snide comments like “Oh, I could do that. Who would think that’s so difficult?” She would say that phrase to make others feel small. And, likely, to try and make herself feel better about herself…and her life choices. In this episode, we’re going to look at just how hard being an artist can be… …and how the best at their craft make i...

3 months ago

5 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13248: The One Car You Cannot Learn To Drive In

Hey there, hero! To get from here to there, to move forward (or even, sometimes, backwards), we need to be in a state of motion. Not standing still, but rather moving toward our goal. That sometimes takes bravery. Like when you were first behind the wheel in driver’s ed class (for those of you who grew up in NYC, you’re excused - we’ll see you next time). Pure terror. But you got moving. And that’s what you need to do to “figure it out as you go,” as opposed to the perceived safety of not mov...

4 months ago

4 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13247: André De Shields: Three Rules Of Life

Hey there, hero! The Broadway actor André De Shields has quietly made a stunning career out of performing on one of the most exclusive sets of stages in the world, and although he’s a Emmy-, Grammy- and Tony-award winning actor, he’s not a household name… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_De_Shields …but De Shields’ recently-publicized three rules of life ought be memorized and put to use by everyone. Who knows? They might make the world a whole lot better of a place to be. After you hear t...

4 months ago

3 minutes

The VOHeroes Podcast

13246: Hat, Haircut Or Tattoo?

Hey there, hero! Permanence. Import. Outcomes. Results. We make lots of decisions, and we talk a lot about the size of those small, medium and large decisions - but another way of looking at them is…permanence. The long lasting results of all those decisions, if any. The effectiveness of a decision that makes for real change. But instead of size, what about potency? What about import? What about the long-term permanence of your decisions? I found a really awesome way of looking at the effect ...

4 months ago

5 minutes