A primer on promo voiceover
Presented by Jessica Bulavsky at the 2024 Euro VO Retreat in Barcelona, Spain
Jessica is an agent and director at SBV Talent Agency. She gave us a lot of behind-the-scenes info on the world of promo—so much so that, we didn’t read any scripts! We just wanted to learn :)
We talked about the inner workings of union (SAG-AFTRA) vs. non-union work, and broadcast networks based in L.A. —ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and CW.
Attendees of Jessica’s first promo session (she’s wearing the sweater with a heart)
What is promo VO?
“I love the idea that it’s storytelling, but it's advertising, it’s entertainment, it’s marketing… all packaged in 30 seconds. You can have a crap show, but if your marketing is good, that's magic.” - Jessica Bulavsky
All promo work is not the same—you’ve got sports promo, cable promo, affiliates, value-added promo (product/corporate sponsor), radio promo, and broadcast promo. Each of type has its own sound, and pay varies wildly.
She advises that anyone interested in promo VO work gets “obsessed with television and television marketing, and understand what you're watching, why shows get greenlit, and why they get cancelled. Get a really solid understanding of that.”
All of the promo work for the networks is covered by SAG-AFTRA. There are scale minimums in place SBV as an agency, we do not work on anything that is going to be on any of the broadcast networks, non-union. And because all of the networks are signed to the Union code, they generally wouldn't offer that anyway.
Then there's radio promo, which is all of this but written a little bit differently, of course, because there are no visuals. That is also all covered by SAG-AFTRA with scale minimums all paid on a 13-week cycle. But look on the contracts, I think they call it the audio contract these days. They changed the name because radio means something different now.
Promo voiceover is timely—especially for affiliates
Because promo is so topical, it's only relevant for a short time. So if you are assigned the voice of a show, you are called in frequently, because every week there is new work for you. Sometimes the networks produce combo spots, where you’re promoting this particular show, and you're also going to talk about show right after it. So you make up the money in volume.
Affiliate work is good work to have if don’t mind being “handcuffed” to your microphone. With affiliate promo, you are you beholden to three or four sessions a day, not counting an emergency or breaking news. The pay is low, but it's guaranteed money.
There are groups that own affiliates. But you can’t cross-pollinate markets. So you can’t do promo for CBS and NBC in L.A. Most contracts have that exclusivity built in, but you could do promo for L.A. and Chicago, so there are ways to make money in affiliate promo. Some talents build to where they have four or more affiliate networks at the same time. The caveat is that you have to be available—you can’t be tied up with one affiliate when another needs you for an emergency. So if you're the primary promo voice for affiliates one or two, then you're a supplement for numbers three and four. You have to be strategic about your career when you're doing that and probably work out time zones as part of your logistics. But it is doable.
Streaming wars
Jessica also discussed the mess that is streaming platforms, and how we’re all confused about which broadcast networks that the streaming networks belong to. You may notice that, for example, Netflix, who said back in the day that they would never have live events or commercials, is pivoting their business model to keep market share and earn more revenue.
We also talked about the introduction of “mid-season” shows (typically with eight episodes), audio brand identity for each network or streaming platform, ProMax (now called GEMA), great promo voice actors, and much more.