Interview 6, Philip Banks

The sixth interview in my on-going series with people I think you need to meet is with Philip Banks, a very talented gentleman as you can hear from his demos.
A big part of the reason I wanted to include Philip among my interview guests is because of the many valuable and insightful contributions he’s made to the Voiceover Bulletin Board, several of which I’ve highlighted previously on this blog. (Just search my blog archives on the word “Banks” to find them.)
My first question for Philip: You’ve been working in the voiceover field for well over a decade now. What did you do before? And what turned your attention in the direction of working as a voiceover talent?
Philip: I left Oxford University with a double first in Law and Economics and went to work in investment management. My last job was Investment Director for a Swiss Bank. In 1989 a good friend was changing jobs and she explained to me how the new commercial radio station for which she was going to work made its money and how radio commercials were produced. Purely for my own amusement I hired a recording studio and put together an audio montage of commercials, imaging, character voices and anything else that dropped into my mind. Phase II was to mail copies of this to anyone and everyone. I did my first paid Voice Over session on my 30th birthday and it’s been downhill every since. Went full-time pro in May 1992.
Follow-up question: So, was this interest in voiceover something that had been in the back of your mind from the time you were little or only developed as an adult?
Philip: I was born to do this. As the midwife slapped me on the behind a few seconds after my birth I growled “In a world where medicine and violence merge ….” Not much has changed since then except women now slap my face.
My second question for Philip: Since you’ve started your voiceover career, what turn of events has been the most surprising to you?
Philip: ISDN and working from home most of the time. Didn’t expect it, certainly would never have predicted [being] the voice of 3 major TV networks doing the biz from a “wee huttie” in Portgordon, Scotland. It does make me laugh when people say to me without a hint of irony, “It’s easy for you. I don’t have your local market!”
My third question: Have some things about working in voiceovers turned out about the way you expected? If so, what?
Philip: With apologies to anyone reading this who is just starting. Yes, the increasing flight to quality in the last few years. Talk to any producer or director and they will tell you that they are always looking for new voices but most of those who claim to be voiceovers are not able to do the job. The net result of this flood of new talent is that many who do the hiring are now getting a list together of the voices they need and then slamming the door shut.
My fourth question: Was there a specific experience that represented the turning point for you? That is, when you knew for sure things were going to work out well?
Philip: I went to a TV station to voice some promotions, my first time ever in such a place. VT rolled and the sound engineer took some level.
“Ah!” said Sian the producer, “you’ve done this before!”
My fifth question: How do you handle rejection?
Philip: I don’t, I’m not being rejected. Think of the number of productions in the world requiring a voice over, I don’t get MOST of them. Around 75% of the world’s population live off of less than $1 per day, so as a failure and a reject I do quite well.
My sixth question: Have you ever been cast for a voiceover job that you wondered whether you could pull it off?
Philip: Singing – Two hour session from hell. It worked, just.
My seventh question: Are there things you need to avoid in order to be successful?
Philip: Idol worship is one. If you catch yourself bowing at the altar of (INSERT THE VOICE OVER NAME HERE) then re-think where you are going. Having a degree of respect for other artists is good as long as that respect extends to everyone, especially yourself. When working, take doing well what you do seriously, but do not take yourself too seriously.
My eighth question: How do you define success?
Philip: Not being able to tell the difference between work time and play time. A couple of years ago I had a session booked for Best Buys at 7pm UK time. While we were all settling down the sound engineer in New York commented on his commute to work and the poor weather. One of the ad agency people who was somewhere else in the USA on a phone patch made a similar remark. I said that because I had about 30 minutes to kill before the session I’d been sat on the beach drinking tea – feel free to swear at me. They did!!
My ninth question: For the individual who has had some modest success (e.g.: a decent part-time income) from voiceover work, can you suggest some guidelines for deciding whether to take the leap to full-time voiceover work?
Philip: If you lost your full-time job tomorrow what would you do? If the answer is anything other than, “Well I’d give doing voice over work fulltime a try” then don’t jump. Including business expenses write down exactly how much you need to generate in fee income per year. Divide the number by 46 to give you a 46 week working year (6 weeks with no work). Divide the 46 by three to give a daily amount. OK, that’s what you need to earn 3 days per week, 46 weeks per year. Look at what you’ve done so far in your career and see how much your average session earns you and how many people you had to contact in order to get each session. Early in your career you have to play the numbers game, they’ll look something like this.
Average session = $100
Daily target 3 sessions at $100 = $300
Weekly target $300 per day 3 days per week = $900
Annual target $900 per week 46 weeks per year = $41,400
How many people did you have to contact to get 1 session?
You need to multiply that figure by 414 to find out where you start.
Is there an easy way? Yes, see above for details.
My thanks to Philip Banks for taking time from his schedule to answer these questions. As you can see, his advice is practical and direct. In other words, the very best sort. While I don’t idolize Philip (see his answer to my seventh question above) I do have the utmost respect for both his talent and his business acumen. You can find his website here.