1. Narrative, classic/descriptive - A paragraph from a book/novel, usually quite descriptive, (perhaps from something pre 1930s but only if you need it to be out of copyright for Spotlight, otherwise don't worry). The opening paragraph often works best, or start of a chapter. Obviously, something closest to your own accent/ethnicity is best.
2. Narrative, modern/childrens - Something from a more up to date novel that allows a contrast. Maybe something grittier or more urban, maybe a children's book (especially good for girls). As a contrast with piece 1, its useful to have dialogue in there along with the 'narrative voice', for which there is no limit as regards accents/age/gender. A great chance to include some characters/voices/accents.
3. Character piece - Can be a monologue you've done onstage/screen, a speech from a movie, a cartoon character (or characters), something from a play, something you wrote yourself - the sky really is the limit. It allows you to bring the energy of a character(s) to the reel and show off sides to your personality or range that the rest of the reel doesn't allow. Also, a lot of radio ads particularly are very character driven.
4. Character piece 2 & 3 & 4 (if doing radio reel) - anything that contrasts with the first of these. Don't forget this can be an opportunity for you to lean towards the computer game market with some fairly extreme or dramatic characterisations. Or more sedate Radio drama type characters. Or a montage of accents/characters. Radio reels require a broader age range and accent range in these pieces.
5. Documentary - This is a chance to recreate the feel of a TV documentary, working alongside music and SFX to recreate that specific TV doc feel. The subject matter can be anything, particularly if there's something you are passionate about. National Geographic have websites where you can see many video examples of the style and type of piece. It can be quite dramatic ('do ghosts really exist?', 'the disappearance of Flight 107' etc), or more discursive/journalistic (i.e. 'the miracle of multiple births', 'discovering King Tut's tomb' etc), or more reality TV based (My Beautiful Face, Last Woman Standing etc). Try YouTube for examples.
6. Article/Journalistic/straight read (optional) – What voice over agents describe as 'narratives'. Essentially anything non commercial that discusses something. Perhaps a chance for a lighter tone of piece. The kind of thing found in magazines discussing Hollywood A-listers and their quirks etc. Guy Browning writes a lot of pieces for the Guardian in this style - very witty and well written and delivered with a sparkle. Or maybe a more gossipy ‘Grazia’ style talking about Big Brother or Britney’s career relaunch. More radio based and more chatty than TV. A blog can be perfect.
7. Promo - A promo/teaser for a future or upcoming program/DVD/Blu-Ray release. The kind of thing seen at at the start and end of virtually every ad break.
8. Poem (optional – useful for Radio reels) - Sometimes a chance to hear a 'straight' read of something very obviously more stylised. Have a favourite poem? This may be the place to use it.
9. Corporate/IVR(Phone menus)(optional) – Can include telephone hold messaging, training videos, learning modules, presentations, appeals, website audio, instructions, science, nature, public announcements etc. Usually 'in house' training/information voiceover. The art of making often very 'dry' text sound interesting!
10. Commercials. - 3 in total. The possibilities here are infinite, but the crucial thing is to find ads that perfectly suit your voice and style of delivery, and find a balance and variety across the three. A bit of a natural London/urban accent? Then maybe an ad for the new Paul Weller album, or Ministry of Sound cd etc. Just be really honest with yourself about what would make sense in an ad using your voice. Sometimes it’s surprising - girls in their mid 20's are often perfect for late teen type ads.
Please bear in mind this is just a guideline, and by no means a definitive, carved in stone list, and it’s extremely unlikely you’ll need to record more than 8 or 9 pieces for your reel, so you won’t want to include all these options. Most people, however, find it very useful to have a starting point to help them start choosing. Also remember that no one piece should ever be more than a minute long, so the amount of material to source is probably much less than you think.
Have a look around the voice agents websites and listen to their clients reels to see what works and why. You'll see that most of the time they don't want crazy voices or accents that aren't genuine. 'Natural voices' is usually what they're after. And notice how they will often summarize your main selling point in just a few words. i.e. "Young, light, effervescent sound. Versatile and fun", or "Rich and resonant, yet natural and unaffected". Our job is to help you find what yours will be, and make it easy for them to know how to sell you in an instant. Your uniqueness is your best ally.
A few good agencies to start looking at:
The Joneses
Another Tongue
Lip Service
Hobson’s
www.hobsons-international.com/
Yakety Yak
Sue Terry voices
Excellent Voice Co.
www.excellentvoice.co.uk/index.php
Hamilton Hoddell
Rhubarb Voices
www.rhubarbvoices.co.uk/index.asp
Mouth2Mouth
Just Voices
Earache
Harvey Voices
Evans O’Brien