Or, “The continuing story of MamaCat Always Has a Plane to Catch”

Here I sit, in my least favorite part of the airport: on the tarmac “for about a half an hour.”

The weather has been hammering the east coast, and there are ever so many flights delayed all over the country. I was very excited to be aboard, 40 minutes ago… when I boarded. I had illusions. Illusions of being home by 1am. Now my connection in Chicago is supposedly delayed until 12:54am. Oh, goody.

But no worries, really. Flight delays are a total pain, but I’m willing to face a little pain for the privilege of being with my VO family. This was my 3rd VOAtlanta, and to call this conference “life changing” is no small claim. It’s also no exaggeration.

I first heard of VOAtlanta back in early 2022, when we were all beginning to come out of the coma. The Covid coma. The pandemic. The shutdowns. I had sustained what I cheerily refer to as my “Tragic Career-Ending Dance Injury” while rehearsing “Menopause the Musical” in Manhattan just six short months before we shut the world down. So personally, I was already six months worth of stir-crazy before everyone else was.

I had stepped away from voiceover as a career focus when I became aware that the so-called school of voiceover where I was on the coaching staff was actually what we in the trade call a “demo mill”. If that phrase makes you think, “puppy mill,” you’re not far from the truth. Just as puppy mills are what we call unscrupulous dog breeders, demo mill is a term used for the unscrupulous folks who decide that a good business plan is ripping off dupes who fall for tales of glory. A fool and his money are soon parted, and a demo mill producer is in the business of parting them.

Say what now??

Let’s say you have recently discovered a love of recording your own voice, and are a little bit “excited & scared” (thank you Sondheim) about maybe trying to do it professionally. So maybe you look up local coaches, try to see there is some sort of training program available. And perhaps you hook up with a program nearby, because the people were nice, welcomed you in, made you feel like a budding talent in a world where you’re needed.

You’d like that, wouldn’t you?

Please, who doesn’t like to be romanced a little??

See, fellow kids, I’d you’re new to the industry — or not in it! — these are the sorts of places which lure you and your money in, praise you too high too fast, give you false hope, cut you a crap demo, and tell you to find your fortune on Fiverr.

And in so doing, they contribute to the degradation of the rates, the business, and the market worth of talent. It cuts our power as a group of independent contractors who control our own businesses and lives.

AND IT’S BASICALLY ANTI-UNION.

All of this made me flee. And I really didn’t do much regarding voiceover as part of my work for years, preferring theatre and film. I actually have a couple of pretty decent quirky roles in feature films! And then came that pesky injury.

So just as thousands of Co-VOs, aka Covid Voiceovers, were flocking to podcasting and voiceover as activities that can be done from home, I was wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my life. And that’s when I found out that three people I know, two of whom I’d coached, were now successful voice actors and were attending this “VO Atlanta” thing. I took a chance, went, and yes, it was a key step in completely changing my life.

So now I’m sitting in a closed bar at Chicago Midway, we’re two hours behind, and all the bars here closed before we landed. Oh, the pain. But the Doritos were good. Anyway… we allegedly board in 35 minutes. To take off at 1:14am.

Next year I hope I have direct flights! 🤣🤔😜

Meow, darlings.