VOCS 075 | Coffee with Mark Rider

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Voice Over Coffee Shop - Episode VOCS 075 | Coffee with Mark Ryder

Host: Andrew Morrison
Guest: Mark Ryder
Release Date: May 18, 2024

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1. Introduction to Mark Ryder

In episode 75 of The Voice Over Coffee Shop, host Andrew Morrison welcomes Mark Ryder, a renowned voice actor known for his extensive work in promos, trailers, and commercials. Mark Ryder is celebrated for bringing nostalgia to countless audiences with his voice work across major platforms like Fox and campaigns for blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man: No Way Home and Bullet Train. Additionally, Mark is the founder of Veoli Life Coach, where he mentors aspiring voiceover talent.

2. Coffee, Fasting, and Personal Routines

Mark and Andrew dive into personal routines, starting with their coffee habits. Andrew shares insights from recent studies on how coffee affects the brain, highlighting that caffeine doesn't provide energy but blocks sleep-inducing receptors. This leads to a discussion on the infamous 2:30 PM coffee crash.

• Andrew Morrison [02:24]: "You give yourself 30 to 45 minutes after you wake up to let those things disperse before you drink your coffee and then you don't crash."

Mark reveals his commitment to long-term fasting, explaining how it induces a state of autophagy, which helps eliminate bad cells and reduces inflammation—a crucial benefit as one ages.

• Mark Ryder [03:24]: "I do it because it puts my body into a state of autophagy after about 18 to 21 hours."

3. Transition from Radio to Voiceover

Mark discusses his transition from radio to voiceover, driven by necessity after being downsized multiple times from corporate radio jobs due to shrinking budgets.

• Mark Ryder [10:35]: "It took a lot of time and patience... it's either going to kill you or make you strong."

He emphasizes that transitioning required leveraging his innate voice talents in a burgeoning industry, which wasn’t as widely recognized two decades ago.

4. Navigating the Voiceover Industry

Mark shares his initial strategies for breaking into the voiceover world, including door-to-door marketing, networking, and consistent auditions. He underscores the importance of patience and persistence, comparing the journey to building a relationship where you can’t force immediate results.

• Mark Ryder [12:27]: "It's like a relationship. You can't just be like, love me."

5. Building and Maintaining Relationships

With the shift towards unsupervised promo work, especially accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark highlights the challenge of fostering relationships remotely. He advocates for personal touches like handwritten notes and active engagement on social media to maintain connections.

• Mark Ryder [14:58]: "You definitely have to be more creative to foster relationships."

6. Marketing and Self-Promotion Strategies

Mark rejects traditional cold-calling and mass emailing, choosing instead to rely on word-of-mouth and a strong portfolio. He emphasizes the importance of authenticity in marketing oneself.

• Mark Ryder [17:56]: "I'm just gonna say, be yourself."

He also shares his strategy of building a robust team to handle numerous auditions efficiently, allowing him to focus on quality over quantity.

7. Representation and Agency Relationships

A pivotal moment in the conversation revolves around managing representation. Mark advises that if an agent isn't delivering results after approximately a year, it's time to consider a change.

• Mark Ryder [21:13]: "If you have an agent that does nothing for you, you don't have an agent."

He recounts his straightforward approach when switching agencies, advocating for honesty and clarity.

8. Keys to Success in Voiceover in 2024

Mark defines success in the voiceover industry as an "almost unhealthy, relentless pursuit of passion and excellence." He believes that being in the top 2-3% requires unwavering dedication and a genuine desire to excel.

• Mark Ryder [23:07]: "It takes an insatiable desire to learn other people's things."

9. Continuous Learning and Adaptability

Emphasizing adaptability, Mark discusses his ability to channel various characters by drawing inspiration from influential figures and personal experiences. This skill allows him to meet diverse client needs effectively.

• Mark Ryder [26:26]: "I’ve learned to channel the specialness of other people."

10. Coaching Philosophy and Techniques

As a coach, Mark focuses on helping clients tap into their creative sides, encouraging them to draw from nostalgic influences to embody different characters. He advocates for investing in quality coaching as an investment in one’s career rather than an expense driven by fear.

• Mark Ryder [34:29]: "Every week, when I'm done with this session, I'm empowered, I feel better, I'm more confident."

11. The Importance of Quality Demos

Mark stresses the significance of producing high-quality demos, warning against poorly made ones that fail to leave a lasting impression. He only produces demos for his coaching clients to ensure authenticity and effectiveness.

• Mark Ryder [32:15]: "A great demo leaves the person on the other end going, 'I want more of that.'"

12. Overcoming Fear and Managing Stress

Mark shares personal anecdotes about dealing with fear, such as performing in front of Greg Kinnear and handling challenging sessions. He likens overcoming fear to his experience of skydiving, suggesting that once you've faced extreme fear, other fears become manageable.

• Mark Ryder [35:05]: "Because I go, well, I did that. I lived. So everything else should be easy."

13. Balancing Work and Personal Life

Highlighting the importance of work-life balance, Mark explains his decision to stop auditioning on Fridays to prevent burnout. He prioritizes personal time while remaining open to urgent opportunities that align with his goals.

• Mark Ryder [46:59]: "I chose to stop working on Fridays. It just don't work."

14. Advice to Aspiring Voiceover Artists

Reflecting on his journey, Mark advises newcomers to invest wisely in their equipment and studio time, emphasizing the difference between approaching voiceover as a hobby versus a professional endeavor.

• Mark Ryder [52:05]: "Come at everything from the mindset of being an entrepreneur and not a hobbyist."

He cautions against the temptation to buy numerous microphones without understanding which best suits one’s voice, advocating for informed and strategic investments.

15. Closing Remarks and Further Resources

Mark concludes by inviting listeners to visit his website, VCoach.com, for coaching services tailored to all levels of voiceover artists. He emphasizes that effective coaching should leave clients feeling empowered and confident.

• Mark Ryder [55:45]: "I coach all levels... great coaches make you feel good."

Andrew wraps up the episode by directing listeners to additional resources and encouraging them to engage with future episodes.

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Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Morrison [02:24]: "You give yourself 30 to 45 minutes after you wake up to let those things disperse before you drink your coffee and then you don't crash."

• Mark Ryder [03:24]: "I do it because it puts my body into a state of autophagy after about 18 to 21 hours."

• Mark Ryder [21:13]: "If you have an agent that does nothing for you, you don't have an agent."

• Mark Ryder [23:07]: "It takes an insatiable desire to learn other people's things."

• Mark Ryder [34:29]: "Every week, when I'm done with this session, I'm empowered, I feel better, I'm more confident."

• Mark Ryder [52:05]: "Come at everything from the mindset of being an entrepreneur and not a hobbyist."

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Resources Mentioned:

• Mark Ryder's Voiceover Work: RyderVO.com
• Mark Ryder's Coaching Program: Veoli Life Coach
• Podcast Information: VocsCoffeeShop.com

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This episode offers a comprehensive look into Mark Ryder's disciplined approach to voiceover work, balancing personal well-being with professional excellence. Mark's insights on persistence, quality, and authenticity serve as valuable lessons for both aspiring and seasoned voiceover artists.

Transcript

[Andrew Morrison]

Voiceover coffee shop episode 75.

[Mark Ryder]

Welcome to the Voiceover Coffee Shop where we give you a glimpse into the world of the biggest voice actors in the industry over a delicious cup of coffee. And now, here's your host, voice actor Andrew Morrison.

[Andrew Morrison]

Hi there, my name is Andrew Morrison and welcome to the Voiceover Coffee Shop where we start our day with some of the finest names in voiceover. If you'd like to get to know more about me, feel free to check out my [e-mail] in this episode, we have a legend in the world of promos, trailers and commercials. My good buddy, Mark Ryder. Now I could give you a laundry list of Rider's extensive credits across numerous platforms, but for me, he was the unknown voice of many aspects of my childhood evolved into today's nostalgia. In show narration for hundreds of TV networks from Fox to Shark Week, the trailer voice for numerous campaigns like Spider man, no Way Home and Bullet Train. And the founder of veolifecoach.com where he arms up and coming talent with his process. This man is truly a powerhouse in the world of voiceover. So join us as we talk about primal mindsets fostering relationships in today's remote world, when to realize your representation isn't working out for you, and the obsessive pursuit of growth.

[Mark Ryder]

What's up?

[Andrew Morrison]

How are you feeling, dude? How have you been?

[Mark Ryder]

Doing good, man. Doing good. I don't know what the hell we were both thinking scheduling this thing at 2:30 in the afternoon. I don't know about you, but at 2:30 is when I've never needed coffee more in my life because it's that hour after lunch, everything's settled and I'm ready for a nap.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right? No, me too. And actually, I've been reading these recent studies on how coffee affects the brain. And so because of the. Because it doesn't actually like give you energy, it just blocks the receptors that make you sleepy. Well, when you first wake up, those receptors are all clustered together because you just woke up. And so when you drink coffee, right when you wake up, they haven't had time to disperse yet. And so why you get a 2 o'clock crash is because once coffee reaches its half life, once the caffeine hits its half life, then all of those clustered receptors are now going back out into your system.

[Mark Ryder]

So how do we wrangle the clusters?

[Andrew Morrison]

You give yourself 30 to 45 minutes after you wake up to let those things disperse before you drink your coffee and then you don't crash.

[Mark Ryder]

Wait, I'm supposed to wait 40 minutes.

[Andrew Morrison]

I know, it sucks. It sucks. I've been having trouble doing it. I got some electrolyte powder and I've been mixing that with my water and trying to chug that first thing in the morning.

[Mark Ryder]

It's, it's such a, it's a habit that, you know, like, I'm not, I'm not a habitual person in any way, shape or form. I've never used drugs. I've never even really been a drinker or anything like that. Coffee is my thing. Like first thing gotta have, like, couldn't imagine like waiting 40 minutes. Like, I'm currently fasting right now, but the only thing I allow myself to actually eat when I'm fasting is coffee. I'll have black coffee.

[Andrew Morrison]

What kind of fasting are you doing?

[Mark Ryder]

I do a little bit of long term fasting. Three, four days.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay.

[Mark Ryder]

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's. I, I do it because it puts my body into a state of autophagy after about 18 to 21 hours.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah.

[Mark Ryder]

@ which point all the, the bad cells in your body get kicked out.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right.

[Mark Ryder]

And you feel amazing. And for a dude in his early 50s like me, you know, inflammation takes over and, you know, after two or three days of taekwondo each week, I'm like walking around like a rickety old man. And so if I get my body in that state, all of a sudden I feel great, feel amazing again. So why do you ask? You actually got excited for like a split second there.

[Andrew Morrison]

Because I do intermittent fasting and I do it for a couple of reasons.

[Mark Ryder]

See, I did intermittent fasting when I was your age and it worked.

[Andrew Morrison]

And see, I've been thinking about doing the three day fast for that exact reason, because it gets all the bad stuff out. Because when you're feeding yourself, you're. You're not just feeding the good cells, you're also feeding the bad cells. And so I was thinking about doing a two or three day fast for that exact reason. But I do intermittent fasting for multiple reasons. One for the cell thing, but two, also for the productivity mindset. Because I'm very primal in the way that I market and the way that I work. And so I feel like as human beings, I want to be a little bit hungry when I'm marketing because that tells my primal brain it's time to hunt, it's time to be productive, it's time to work. I haven't earned food yet, I haven't hunted it yet. And so, so I do something like kind of along those lines, but no.

[Mark Ryder]

I totally, I totally get that because I remember when I first started doing this long term fasting stuff, I had to find a way to psych myself into doing it because it's hard. Anybody can fast for a day, right. But when you start getting two, three, four days in, it is a massive mind. And so, I mean, like, all you get to a point where all you're doing is thinking about food. Right? So.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right.

[Mark Ryder]

The mindset that I chose to go with was, okay, well, what if I was a caveman? What if it was a thousand years ago and, you know, I wasn't able to track down, find and kill that prey until Wednesday afternoon, you know, and I started my fast on Sunday, you know, so that was the one thing that got me through. And I always made sure they say you're supposed to like break your fast with something light, you know, kind of like, like broth or something like that. And I just like that. Just broth. Just the word doesn't even sound right.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right?

[Mark Ryder]

It's pretty much. So. Long story short, I always break my fast with meat.

[Andrew Morrison]

I do too. I'm actually going back onto the carnivore diet. But yeah, no, that's what I do is I break my fast with meat because it's one of the best absorbed, especially grass fed beef. It's one of the best absorbed things for your body.

[Mark Ryder]

Well, it's apparently working for you because your eyes look all bright and shiny and stuff, as opposed to mine. I look like I'm about ready to pass out.

[Andrew Morrison]

So how do you take your coffee, man?

[Mark Ryder]

Coffee for me has always. I'll tell you when I had my first sip of coffee.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay.

[Mark Ryder]

I was at a funeral when I was about five or six years old. And it was one of those family funerals where it took days for the whole process to happen. And so back then, like, nobody cared what the kids did. And I was the only grandchild back then. So while everybody else was upstairs doing what you do at a funeral, I was downstairs where the snacks were and the coffee, and I discovered my first cup of coffee and I saw an adult or sugar into it. And I was like, that sounds amazing. So the adult did like a couple of scoops. So I did a couple of scoops and I was like, oh, that's good. And so here I am, like 5, 6 years old and I'm done and I'm just chugging, chugging coffee. Since then, I have gotten away from putting anything in my coffee except for I will do a flavored creamer every now and Then, you know, I really, really like Dunkin Donuts creamer.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay. What flavor?

[Mark Ryder]

Uh, it's just, it's like just a cream. It's like a. Like a vanilla cream.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay.

[Mark Ryder]

Yeah, but I don't. I don't put anything else in there anymore. None of the, none of the sweet stuff.

[Andrew Morrison]

So whether you drink it black, are you snobby about the type of beans that you get or you just whatever's.

[Mark Ryder]

At the store, you know, here's the thing. When it comes to coffee, I also tell you when I had the greatest cup of coffee in my life was I vividly remember I was in Portland, Oregon for a job interview. This is back when I was doing radio and I was out of work and so I went out there for, for an interview and I found myself at a. At a Starbucks. And this was before Starbucks was Starbucks, right? This was like, like Starbucks was like a thing, but it wasn't a thing. It was like an underground. It wasn't like an. On every corner thing. It was like a. You had to go out of your way to get to one. So I just happened to be at one and I had the greatest cup of coffee in my life at this little one in Portland. And I went up to him afterwards because I had just asked for a pour over, you know, and I didn't, you know, I wasn't a snob about beans or anything like that. It was the greatest cup of coffee I ever had in my life. And so I went up to the counter, I was like, what the fuck was that? That was amazing. Like, I need to know. And it ended up being a rainforest blend from, I believe, the Amazon or something like that. And so I. I had ever since then been on a, like the quest to find that exact bean combination. And I haven't been able to. I keep. I keep trying, you know, like every now and then someone will tell me, oh, I've got a company that does the best. You know, what do they call it? Roasting. I got to be. You got. I got a roaster, you know, I got a buddy, he's a roaster. You gotta try his stuff. And yeah, I try his stuff and I buy two bags and that's it. Because it's never as good. So. But I feel like too. I feel like as you get older, your palate changes. And coffee, for some reason, to me, doesn't taste the same as it used to.

[Andrew Morrison]

What do you mean?

[Mark Ryder]

Now it's more habit. It's more. Because I need it. It's like a smoke. Okay. Than it is for the taste anymore, which sounds sad, even me saying it out loud.

[Andrew Morrison]

Well, see, that's why I do like to buy good coffee. Like, I mean, I'll cut corners other. Other places, but I do like to buy good coffee because it is habitual. And I like to enjoy that habit because if not, why do it? Because, I mean, I get it for, for waking up and stuff, but.

[Mark Ryder]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Morrison]

So how did, how did you start in voiceover? Like, you said you used to be a radio guy. How did you transition from being a radio guy to hopping into the voiceover industry and doing this gig full time?

[Mark Ryder]

The answer was necessity. I had been corporately downsized three times from big morning show jobs because the budgets were shrinking and they weren't able to pay a quarter million dollars anymore to a morning guy. They're like, hey, you could still keep the job, but we'll pay you 50. And I'm like, no. And so I got downsized a lot. And in the process of doing that and being replaced by syndication, I just had one of those moments with God where I was like, how am I supposed to take what you've given me and use it in a different way? And this was way back in the early 2000s, and like, voiceover really wasn't even like as much of a. I don't know, it wasn't. So, like, you mentioned voiceover today, right? And people kind of understand what it is and they get it right? But, you know, 20 some years ago, they were like, what is that? You know, so it's, it's, it's, it's evolved a lot over the last 20 years. But when I first got into it, you know, there was very little Internet. It was just in the beginning of the Internet world. And so I, I would, I was looking for an out to answer your question. How can I take the gifts that God gave me and use them in a different way? And somehow that got placed on my heart, and I did it simultaneously with my radio job for another 10 years before saying goodbye full time to radio for good.

[Andrew Morrison]

So what did those first initial moves look like when you were trying to go into voiceover full time? Door to door marketing? Were you networking? Were you sending emails? How were you finding your place in the industry and where you felt you would be happy?

[Mark Ryder]

The answer is yes.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yes.

[Mark Ryder]

Everything that, anything and everything that anyone has ever done to try and get their foot in the door somewhere, you know, I tried. And I think that it's, it's very similar to any other industry where you can't push your timeline. It happens as it happens. You just have to be consistent, and you have to be good, and you have to be available, and you have to. You can't force it. You know, it's like a relationship. You can't just be like, love me. I want you to love me. Now tell me you love me. It's never going to work like that in voiceover. So for me, I don't think I can answer the question very specifically, but I can say that it. It took a lot of time. It took a lot of time and patience and, you know, luckily I had that other thing. You know, I feel bad for people that have, you know, nothing else right now except for I've chosen this voiceover path and it's year one. I'm like, oh, God, that they're good. Like, how much money do you have in your bank? Because, right. This is going to be a ride, and it's either going to kill you or make you strong.

[Andrew Morrison]

And you're right. Those relationships do take time. Being a promo guy myself, I've noticed a big shift where even promo work has started to be less directed.

[Mark Ryder]

Where.

[Andrew Morrison]

Where they have. You had that same thing where they're just sending you the promo work and you're just sending it back and. And they no longer are doing directed sessions or.

[Mark Ryder]

I don't think that's. I don't think that's changed much. I mean, I would say I'm newer into the promo world, meaning I've been doing it for a little over 10 years. And in the 10 years that I've been doing promo, it has pretty much almost always been unsupervised work. Occasionally there's different networks that, you know, want somebody in, you know, has it. Has it gotten a little worse thanks to Covid? Yeah, I think so, but I've gotten used to it. And I know what the producers want, you know, which is they just want a lot.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right.

[Mark Ryder]

Just give them a lot of choices, you know, when it's unsupervised, like, you can't go too long.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right. Well, I guess what I was getting to with, with things being unsupervised. How do you foster new relationships in those kinds of settings?

[Mark Ryder]

Oh, that's interesting. Now, that's a great question. It's different. You really got to go out of your way, you know, because you don't have those. Those. Those moments that you used to have, you know, over the phone. You know, I. I'm a big believer in sending actual notes, like handwriting, something remembering when it's someone's birthday, you know, acknowledging them, you know, when, when you see something on their LinkedIn that they did that didn't involve you, you know, making sure you give them the proper atta boy or atta girl. Yeah, you know, it's, it's, you definitely have to be more creative, you know, to foster relationships. But at the same time I think that people, people can tell just because of, for the most part a lot of us are, we're very front facing, you know, to the whole world. And you know, people can tell the type of person that you are from your social media, you know, and they can very quickly decide, do I like this guy or do I not like this guy? And sometimes the relationship just continues because of social, you know, like, you know, like I was the voice of AMC for the first three years that it existed, right. And so because of that I was also doing some network stuff for AMC as well. And then Covid hit and all those budgets dried up and they weren't doing any more promos with any voices on them, period. And then three years later, I get a message out of the blue saying, hey, we're doing this movie thing, can we get you on this? And I'm like, where you been? You know?

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah.

[Mark Ryder]

And when we actually did the session, I remember the, the gentleman telling me, he's like, oh yeah, I've been paying attention to what you've been doing for the last three, four years. I'm like, oh shit, are we even. Like, I, at that point I didn't even realize, I forgotten that we were connected on social media because, you know, it's kind of on autopilot.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right. So how are, how are you marketing to, to build new relationships now? Because there's always that balance between getting into front of as many people as possible, but also trying to build a genuine connection. And that's hard to do on a first impression, especially in like an email or a cold call or whatever. So like, what are you doing to try to build that out the gate? Like, how are you marketing yourself Now?

[Mark Ryder]

I'm going to say this and I'm going to try and not sound like, like an arrogant dick. Okay. It's hard for me to say this though, but I'm, but I also find it very, I'm very proud of the fact that I've never had to, I've never had to because I decided a long time ago I was not, that was not going to be the way I do business.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay.

[Mark Ryder]

I don't want to call cold Call anybody, you know, like, I will use LinkedIn, you know, to foster relationships and meet new people. But beyond that, there's no mass mailings, there's no emailings, there's no, none of that stuff. It's just word of mouth and a 20 year body of work and a lot of auditions. So when you have a big team around you funneling you auditions, because at the end of the day, that's what this is all about. You, me, everybody else, we're all in a race to 100 auditions, fastest, you know, faster we can get to 100 auditions, we're booking a job. Right. And so when you set yourself up with a big team around you, where you're, where you're getting through those hundred auditions in two and a half days, three and three days, you don't have to network so much and market yourself so much. So I guess what I'm trying to say is you have to when you can. And I hope that every single person listening figures out a way to not have to someday. Because it's a good feeling, it's a cool feeling, you know, because I get, I get asked all the time like, well, do you have any tips you can share when it comes down to like networking and marketing? And I'm like, I'm not gonna rewrite any, you know, rocket scientist manual here, but I'm just gonna say, be yourself.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah.

[Mark Ryder]

You know, be you and let them see the true colors of you and who you are and what you're all about. And then let it organically evolve.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah, it is, it is different for everybody. But I guess what I'm asking is when you are making that first impression, whether it be a LinkedIn message, how, how are you taking that first message and saying who you are? You know what I mean? Like that, that's, that's a difficult thing.

[Mark Ryder]

That's a good question.

[Andrew Morrison]

Together, you know what I mean?

[Mark Ryder]

So now what I'm about to tell you is going to make me sound like an arrogant dickhead. But I'm going to tell you that the last time that I made a representation change in a regional market, and I'm not going to say which one. Okay? Okay. But I've always been a call it like it is kind of guy. And so when I realized that there was this one agency that really wasn't performing for me, and it's pointless, it's for anybody listening. If you have an agent that does nothing for you, you don't have an agent. Okay? There's no point of having that if you're not getting the opportunities. If you're not getting the bookings, then you don't have an agent. You need to be looking somewhere else. Okay, so I did that. And when I reached out to the other agency, I literally said these words. Hi, this is Ryder. I'm kind of a big deal in this industry. I called it, like, it was. I'm like, listen, I've been doing this for 20 years. I make a lot of money doing it. I don't have representation that is doing anything for me right now in this market. Would you like to work together? Their immediate response was, yeah, so.

[Andrew Morrison]

So what. What overall time frame did you look at to decide they weren't working for you? Like, was there a period of time where you're like, I wasn't booking for three months, or I wasn't getting auditions for six months, or like, what I tell.

[Mark Ryder]

I tell people. I tell people that if this is one of my coaching practices is once you've realized that there's a problem, it's probably been about six months. Gotcha.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay.

[Mark Ryder]

And then you're going to think about it for a little bit, which now all of a sudden, you're at nine months. At that point, in my mind, I'm putting an agency on about a three month. So it's about a whole year. So a little probationary period where you do the right thing and you call them up and you say, hey, I haven't been seeing much activity through you guys. Is everything. Is everything good? Because truth is, I've. I've said this before in a different podcast, so if I'm repeating myself and you're hearing this again, I apologize. But it's. It's important to know that sometimes shit happens at agencies where their lists get destroyed, and all of a sudden you might just. You just might not be on the list because of something that happened internally or something that happened digitally, and you just didn't get anything for three months or four months, it's happened. So if you notice three or four months go by, check in and find out, like, legit. Are they just. Was it an error or are they just not. Are they not working for you?

[Andrew Morrison]

Gotcha. And what do you think it takes to be successful in VO in 2024?

[Mark Ryder]

I'll repeat what I said.

[Andrew Morrison]

That means something different to everybody.

[Mark Ryder]

But I will repeat what I said at Voiceover Atlanta, because it came to me on my drive there, and that was a. To be successful in 2024 in voiceover, it takes in almost unhealthy, relentless pursuit of passion and excellence. That's it. Like, you've got to give it your all and then some. Because there's way too many of us out there, right? You know, and the scary part is that, you know, the majority of people that are, that are out there scrapping it, you know, are maybe making 30 or 40 grand a year. And I decided a long time ago that if I was going to make a run, I was going to be in the top 2 or 3%, and if I'm not, then I'm done, right? And I, and I, and I got to the point where, yeah, I am in the top 2 or 3%, and I look back on it and because I coach every single day, I coach new talent, experienced, seasoned talent every single day, you can see and you can feel when you're around somebody who fucking wants it. Yeah, right. It feels good. You want more of that? It smells good, right? And so in part of my coaching, like, I'll tell you flat out, if, if, if, if you're going through the motions here while you're coaching with me, I guarantee you you're never going to break out of that. You know, that, that lower divide, you know, in, in voiceover, I had a. I had a gentleman recently who told me that he's. He's in pond B and he wants to be in pond A. Right? And I said, well, then everything has to change. Everything that you were doing before that got you into Pon B is not acceptable anymore. It has to be that and then some. So this almost unhealthy desire to this like, effervescent bubbling of passion to want to get to a different place in your career is what is needed. That. And, and I, and I, and I really do think you have to be a good person because this industry is full with more good people than bad people. And I think that good people want to work with good people.

[Andrew Morrison]

That's true. And so with you always wanting to grow and, and always wanting to get better and better and better and having that desire, what are you currently doing to invest in yourself, to get yourself to whatever you feel your next ceiling break is?

[Mark Ryder]

I don't, I, you know, I don't think I have an answer to that question because I don't know what I want next.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay, well, then let me switch it. What different practices do you do to maintain adaptability and malleability in a constantly changing market?

[Mark Ryder]

Ah, okay. I would say an insatiable desire to learn other people's things.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay.

[Mark Ryder]

Because there's a reason why will arnett is asked for time and time again in specs. He has a certain thing just like you. Fill in the blank. Patrick Warburg, Sam Elliott, Dennis Leary, Morgan Freeman, they all have this thing, this thing that they do that makes them special, right? And for the. The truth is, most of us, we don't have a ton of character. We're just boring ass, 30 to 40 to 50 year old. You know, if you're not white. Sorry, what I mean by that is we're just kind of boring white people. I'm looking at you, so I'm saying white people. Yeah, yeah, I get what you mean. And a lot of these scripts that are coming out these days don't require us. They're not calling for us. They're calling for something special, right? And I'll admit it, like, I'm not that special. But what I've learned to do is I've learned to be able to channel the specialness of other people. And I really think that that is where I excel. Like, I'll give you an example. The other day, Fox had put out a audition request for an intro for the NASCAR race that just happened in Dover. And they wanted something that was kind of scary but not too sinister and over the top. And so I thought to myself, okay, well, what do I have in my bag of read styles that would work well for this? And I went and I did my Vincent Price read. And I did that first, but then I thought to myself, I'm like, I think that's probably too much character. Probably too much. So I stripped it down and I did Vincent Price's cadence, but without so much of the accent. And that ended up booking. And I didn't even have to do a session. They took it straight from the audition. And so had I gone to it and said, well, what does scary writer sound like? And I'll just do a scary writer voice that would have never booked. Because if you know me, there's nothing really scary about me.

[Andrew Morrison]

That's true.

[Mark Ryder]

Except for maybe my stature, you know, so, you know, a lot of times these scripts are not calling for a version of you. They're calling for something else that you have to put a mask on and wear.

[Andrew Morrison]

So how do you turn that into something tangible that you teach? How are you able to pull that out of your students? How are you building their toolkits?

[Mark Ryder]

Well, I tell them that, you know, so you either a. You're a creative person or you're an analytical person. Analytical people have a hard time dealing with this shit because this is like they're just like, I don't know what you're saying. You're speaking French.

[Andrew Morrison]

That was one of the hardest part about me getting into the industry is I'm an analytical person. I had to learn to let my creative side bleed through.

[Mark Ryder]

Yes, yes. So to answer your question, how do I teach it? I say the easiest way to learn how to channel someone else's essence and character is to think back to when you were young. The shows, the movies, the artists, the comedians, those people from when you were young, they still live within you because that was when you were, like, your most susceptible to character. Right? So, you know, I can. I can say. You know, I can say, read this line, but read it as Mickey Mouse, and instantly everybody will know exactly what I mean, whether or not you can do it or not. But you can hear it. And the thing is, you have to be able to hear and you have to be able to see the person that you're kind of channeling. And so it's a lot. I find it a lot easier to teach people to go back to their past. Say, give me five shows that were important to you when you were growing up. And they say, friends. And I go, okay, how would Joey read this? And they go, oh, okay, boom. And they read that. Or for, you know, for the older folk, how would Andy. For Mayberry read this? Right. How would the Fresh Prince of Bel Air read this? You know, there's. There's just. How do I teach it? I try to make it as easy as possible, and some people get it right off the bat, and some other people have to work at it. But nothing in life that is worthy is easy to make happen most of the time. Right. It takes work. So I think that's why they call this, you know, the voice arts.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right. So what got you into the demo production side of it? Like, I mean, I know you only do that. You. You are very vocal that you only do that for a select few people, and those are people that you coach with. But like what? Like, I know you used to work in radio, but, like, are you proficient in audio engineering? Was that a learned skill? Did you just feel that people's stories could be told better?

[Mark Ryder]

Why do I do demos? Because there are so many fucking bad ones out there being, quote, unquote, professionally produced.

[Andrew Morrison]

Then what makes a good demo?

[Mark Ryder]

What makes a good demo? Well, there's a lot of things.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah, okay.

[Mark Ryder]

I'll tell you what makes a bad demo. Okay? One that makes you question whether or not it was professionally produced or not. When you're listening to it and you're going, did he do this himself? I'm not sure. That's the kiss of death right there. So what makes a good demo, what makes a great demo is one that ends and leaves the person on the other end going, I want more of that. That's what makes a great demo. And that varies from person to person. And it all comes down to the relationship that you have with the person that you're working with. And so that's kind of one of the problems that I have with the demo process is that for the most part, a lot of people are paying money to work with someone that they don't know, and vice versa. Never seen him before, never talked to him before. There's no relationship of any kind whatsoever. You know, well, how are you supposed to bring out the best of somebody like that in that situation? It's stressful. It's kind of scary. So why do I only. Why do I only do demos for my clients? Because I'm not stupid. I want my demos to be good. I don't want there to be a bad demo out there that, you know, that speaks volumes for. Oh, God. I got this demo from Ryder, and I wasn't really sure about that.

[Andrew Morrison]

So what is one of the biggest problem areas that you've seen in trying to coach new people? At least recently?

[Mark Ryder]

I would say the lack of understanding that this takes time and that you have to look at every dollar spent on coaching as it's an investment in yourself and in your future as opposed to just, oh, God, I'm spending all this money. Because when you do that, when you do that, you're coming from a place of fear. And so what I try to remind people, like, yes, this is an investment. Yes, this. This costs money. But you have to look at it like, dude, every week, when I'm done with this session, I'm empowered, I feel better, I'm more confident. I've got more skills, I've got more tools to use in my auditions process, in my auditions over the next couple of weeks before I work again. So does that answer the question?

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah, it does. Are there times in your career that you feel fear?

[Mark Ryder]

Absolutely. Absolute freaking lutely whenever you work with Mark Writer.

[Andrew Morrison]

Like, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, because, like, you are announcing big stuff, and you're often in a room with a lot of people, and so, like. But I also know that you're an introvert, and so, like, how do you get beyond that? Like, how. How do you get beyond Your own fears.

[Mark Ryder]

It's interesting. You almost have to. I look at it like I've jumped out of an airplane twice. Okay, okay. Now, the mere fact that I did that and plummeted to the earth at like 150 miles an hour is the reason why I can get away with a lot of the stuff that I do today. Because I go, well, I did that. I did that. I lived. So everything else should be easy.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah.

[Mark Ryder]

But the truth is, it's not like getting up in front of a room full of people at Via Atlanta. It may seem like I'm at home and that I'm enjoying myself, but inside I'm like, get me the fuck out of here. This is scary. I don't like it. But I'm a Libra, so I'm half that. And I'm half the other. I'm half the. I love this. I need more of this, you know? But the question is, how do I manage the fear? Yeah.

[Andrew Morrison]

How do you not get that clouded brain of, like, where your brain's just thinking about the fear instead of actually focusing on the action?

[Mark Ryder]

I feel like I've been lucky in the fact that, call it genes or God or whatever, I've been equipped to be at my best in stressful situations.

[Andrew Morrison]

That's cool.

[Mark Ryder]

Yeah. Like, it takes a lot for me to shut down. For me to go, I just don't know what to do next. But for me, like, if there's, if there's stress going on, I'm like, okay, let's go. How do I handle that? And it's the same thing, like when you're working with a producer for the very first time, that this all started with fear. Whenever I work with somebody for the first time, I'm fearful of that because they don't know me. I don't know them. I'm trying to make a good impression. I want to be helpful, but I don't want to come off as bossy. You know, I want to be creative, but yet at the same time, I don't want to take away from, from their vision. You know, I, I, I want to be adaptable, but I also want them to know that I'm an individual and I'm an artist. And I'm gonna also want to put my own spin on stuff. So I go through a lot of all of that before I go into a session. And then I just remind myself, okay, we're going to jump off the diving board now, and you're just going to be you. And this session's either going to be great or it's going to be okay, you know? But there's like. I think in all of my years of doing this, I think I've only had one really bad session.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah. You want to talk about it?

[Mark Ryder]

I was working for the Tennis Channel and I was doing a nearer a narration project, okay. And I was the wrong guy for the job. I should not have been hired. So first of all, let's begin the story by saying, really, I shouldn't have been there in the first place. They were trying to take me and make. They were trying to take a buffalo and turn him into a poodle, okay? They wanted a very Tennis Channel read out of me. That's not me. Right. So why did you hire me? I don't know. But it got to a point where the producer was very condescending in every little bit of direction that I could not achieve, even though he could do it. And he would end his sentences by saying, thank you. But he didn't mean thank you. And I called him just like a dismissive thank you. Oh, yeah, yeah. If you could try it like this and not sound like so much of a trailer guy. Okay, thank you. And I'm like, listen here, dickhead. First of all, I am a trailer guy, right? So, you know, like, don't say that like it's a bad thing because I, you know, one bad movie trailer is going to pay me about 100 times more than this session. So did I say any of that out loud? No. Did I bite my tongue and be a fucking professional? Yes. Do I work for them anymore? Very sporadically.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay. What's the best session you've ever had? I want to go full 180 on this.

[Mark Ryder]

That's hard, man. That's like asking Eddie better what's his favorite Pearl Jam song?

[Andrew Morrison]

What's. What's the most memorable positive session?

[Mark Ryder]

I did a movie with Greg Kinnear about seven, eight years ago where I was playing the part of a dj. The movie actually starts with my voice. And I went to do the session. Nobody fucking told me this, but I put my headphones on, the phone rings, I'm like, hello, it's Ryder. Yeah. Hey, hey, it's Greg Kinnear. I'm like, who? It's Greg Kinnear. Okay? You're fucking with me, right? Greg Kinnear is not going to direct me on this. He goes, yes, I am. So first I had to get over that. Talk about fear. Holy shit. I'm a big fan of this guy. Like, he's great, right? But that's how wrapped up he was in his own project. He was legit going to tell me how to do the beginning of his movie and what he wanted. And so that was a really cool, unique experience for me. And it's the first thing that just came to mind when you asked the question. Question.

[Andrew Morrison]

That's really, really cool. So, I mean, you talked about a lot about persistence, about the concept.

[Mark Ryder]

By the way, the name of the movie was Phil. If anybody wants to look it up. The movie was Phil.

[Andrew Morrison]

Phil. I will be looking at that trailer.

[Mark Ryder]

E H I L. Like as in a dude's name. Yeah.

[Andrew Morrison]

Okay, gotcha.

[Mark Ryder]

I think it went. I think it went straight to Amazon prime, but I don't care. I was still in it and I still get residuals.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah, but, but you talked about that constant persistence. But I mean, there. I know for everybody, especially after doing it, as long as you have done it, there have to be some mornings where you wake up where you're just exhausted and you don't, like, what are your driving factors to keep pushing a.

[Mark Ryder]

Kid in college and another one that's going to be there in nine years. So, yes. I mean, like, I'm going to be totally honest with you. There are days where. Okay, let me rephrase. I never, never have that problem in the morning. Never.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right. Okay.

[Mark Ryder]

I am always ready to go. I'm excited as fuck. I love the auditioning process. Give me as many as you possibly can. Where I have a problem is after that 2:30 in the afternoon funk that we started this whole show talking about is this, this new thing that agents are doing where they're sending everything out with a ASAP, has to be done by 5pm and they're sending. And I'm just like, dude, I'm. I'm fucking fried. Fried right now. And you want me to somehow pull out my best. There are days where I just. I just delete everything. And when I do that, I send it out to the universe with thanks and I say good luck to whomever else deserved this because that's the only way that I can deal with the stress of right now. There's somebody listening to me going, what a dick. What an asshole. He deletes auditions. I don't get enough auditions and you're deleting them. But my point is, if you're not 100% in the headspace to kill that audition, then you shouldn't be doing it.

[Andrew Morrison]

I got that. So why.

[Mark Ryder]

You can't half ass it. You can't half ass it because they will hear it.

[Andrew Morrison]

And you said that you constantly have this drive and you constantly want it, but why do you want it? Everybody has a different reason for why they love voiceover or why they want to do this or why they love being behind the microphone. Why do you love voiceover?

[Mark Ryder]

First of all, I love getting the call that you got booked. Yeah, I love that. Second of all, why. So what was the, what was the initial question?

[Andrew Morrison]

Why do you love voiceover? Man, you just have this like absolute love for. And that comes from a different soul feeding place for everybody. And I want to know why voiceover feeds your soul. Why do you find such purpose in it? What, what is that to you, man?

[Mark Ryder]

That is a deep question. You're making me think now because I'm a doer, right?

[Andrew Morrison]

I passionately love something for 20 years like that.

[Mark Ryder]

So if I wasn't a doer, I think it would be a different thing. But like, voiceover is great because there's lots of boxes that you can just check off. It's like this giant honeydew list. Right? And I'm a big fan of checking stuff off a list. There's a lot of professions out there where the job just never ends.

[Andrew Morrison]

Right?

[Mark Ryder]

Right. There's no stop, there's no start, there's no beginning, there's no end. I really love the fact that I wake up and there's 22 emails and I'm going to do 22 auditions and then I'm done. For now there's like a start and a stop. So I think what I love more than any anything about voiceover is that I am my own captain and I control my own destiny. And so years ago, when I was with Paradigm in New York, my then and still agent, Matt Ambrosia, was telling me about this older gentleman that I had met when I was at Star Treks in New York. I was, I was there for some weekend and we shook hands and I don't remember the gentleman's name, but he was like, yeah, I'm with Paradigm. I'm like, really? I'm with Paradigm. Huh? You're like really old. Dude was like almost 80, right? And, and, and Matt told me that this guy only works one day a week. And I just thought, man, that's cool. I want to do that someday. Now, Matt did caution me by saying it's very difficult to book anybody who will only work one day a week because he's only auditioning one day a week. But I took that and I tucked it away and I got to a point Where I was working a lot and I was working too much to the point where it was unhealthy and all I was doing was working. And I said, hey, dude, reminder. You're the captain, you're in control. So if you need some more time to live life, to decompress from the stress of all of what you got to do, then guess what, you can choose to do that. And so I did. About a year ago, I chose to stop working on Fridays. It just don't work. Every weekend's a three day weekend. That was the idea. Okay. Now mind you, there are, there are going to be, you know, times during certain seasons, sports seasons.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah.

[Mark Ryder]

You know, certain political seasons where, yeah, I'm going to have to do a session or two or five. But the way I've gotten around it is, you know, I would say maybe two thirds of those I'm off and I'm out on my horse riding in the forest. And if a session comes in, it's going to be late in the afternoon and I've practically had the day off anyway, so it still counts. But I don't audition on Fridays anymore. Anything that comes in that even looks good, I'm just like, if you can't wait till Monday, then I'm not doing it. Because you have to be able to say when. Because otherwise this industry can be very overwhelming and it will chew you up and spit you out and not care about you, you know, so the only person at the end of the day that's going to be in control of that is you. And so that's, you know, that's one of the things that I just, you know, my buddy Matt Baker, the other day, he, he decided that his priorities were a little bit out of whack. And he used to start his day by going to the gym and working out, right? And you know, he's a monster. So he's in the gym for like a couple hours, right? But then he realized that his auditions were suffering because of that, because he was rushing to get them in for the deadline. So smartly he just decided, I'm the captain of my own ship, let's switch that shit. So that's what he did. So now he does the auditions first, goes to the gym afterwards, just about setting the priorities. And sometimes the priorities are going to be the work and sometimes the priorities are going to be yourself as a human being.

[Andrew Morrison]

So what is your average? I mean, I know it differs, but like, what does your average day look like now? Because I mean, you do coaching, you've got a farm, you've got you horses, you've got a VO career and you've got return clients and you've got kids and you've got like all of these different hats that you wear. So what does your average day generally look like?

[Mark Ryder]

I'm up at 6, I'm out with the animals, taking care of the horses and stuff. By 7, Emerson's off to school at 7:40. I'm usually in the booth by 8:15, 8:30, auditioning my brains off for probably about the next hour to an hour and a half. Then I'm doing radio imaging projects and then from there it's, you know, if there's any like extra projects that come in that are unsupervised. First coaching session at 11am, lunch at noon, coach again at 1, and then that whole thing repeats itself because by that point the audition box is full again. Right, right. And more radio stations have asked for stuff. So it just, it just sort of repeats again. It's, it's, it's sort of like Groundhog's Day, but twice in the same day. And then I'm usually, I'm usually, you know, I'm usually out of here to go to Taekwondo in the afternoon at about 5:00. And you know, the thing with the movie trailer world is that the movie trailer world doesn't even start yet because it's only 2 o'clock on the east coast then, right? So by the time I'm home from taekwondo and have put the horses away and are sipping a cocktail and sitting down the love hate of east coast, that is when the phone goes off and Jason Helsner is asking me for either a trailer scratch or there's a booking or whatever. And so it's, it can, it can feel never ending. And I do have to remind myself of the blessings that, you know, that is sometimes because like, you know, your first response is when you're sitting down to watch TV with the wife and you've got a cocktail in your hand and you're just like ready to Zen out, right? And then you got to go to work. The first word out of most normal human beings mouth when they look at their phone is fuck. Right? Right. So yeah, I am like most human beings. But then I get in here and I have to reset myself and go, dude, this is what you asked for all those years ago. This is what you asked for. You're getting it now. So you have to decide, do you want it? Because this universe will take it away just like that. And I Constantly remind myself of that, and I go, nope. I want this. Want this more than anything. So I gotta. You know, I leave that baggage at the door, come in here and be.

[Andrew Morrison]

My best awesome sauce.

[Mark Ryder]

And that's a day at the Rider family ranch.

[Andrew Morrison]

And if you were to send yourself a letter and send it back in time to before all of that, from where you're sitting now, what would you tell your past self?

[Mark Ryder]

That's an easy one. And this is my default answer to that, because I actually use this in coaching, okay? I would tell myself to stop buying every fucking mic and piece of equipment that somebody else has recommended, right? And I would do the smart thing and say, go to a studio and Hear yourself on five or six microphones. Invest in yourself. Spend $300, rent a studio for an hour. Have them set up five or six microphones and find the one that sounds best on you, as opposed to going through 19 different microphones in the first 10 years of your career because you're not happy with any of them. Oh, I bought a manly reference mic because Don LaFontaine used it. Of course I did. Fucking hated myself on that microphone. I sounded like dog shit. And I lost a thousand bucks on it. And I'm pretty sure I lost a thousand bucks on about 10 other microphones as well. So that's. What. If I could go back, I would say, and this is what I coach. The difference between somebody who's a hobbyist and some, like, somebody who's an amateur and somebody who's a professional is the mindset that I'm going to do it right the first time. And so I would tell myself, listen, dude, go back and do it right. Do it right and spend the money. Don't be cheap. My first microphone was a Mojave MA200 because it supposedly sounded at the time like a U87 clone. Okay, great, awesome. I bought it. 599 bucks. Sounded like shit. Hated it, you know? And then I did that time and time again with Mike Pre and all this other stuff. So, yeah, if I could go back in time, I would say, come at everything from the mindset of being an entrepreneur and not a hobbyist. Because if you have a. If you have a goal, and that goal is to kiss your 9 to 5 goodbye, then what you're replacing it with isn't a hobby. It's a new life, right? And so you can't just. It's. It's. It's like you can't say, all right, well, I want to replace my day job and I want to open a restaurant, but until then I'm just going to sit on the corner and sell lemonade. Right. You know, like that's just, it's stupid. You, you have to start planning for the restaurant. Everything that you're, everything that you should be doing is for the restaurant. And so when you open that restaurant, are you going to be like serving freaking paper plates? No. You want people to come back. You want people to have a good feeling. So you're going to invest in the right stuff. And that's what I'm saying in a long winded way is you can't do this half assed. I mean, like, can you? Sure. But are you going to make 10 grand? Yes. And that's probably it. Because you know, you can't show up to the Indy 500 in a Pinto. You're gonna get laughed at.

[Andrew Morrison]

I like that.

[Mark Ryder]

They're gonna laugh you out. You gotta show up with the right stuff. That's what, that's what I would go back in time and say, fantastic.

[Andrew Morrison]

This has been awesome. Where can people find you and where can people find your coaching?

[Mark Ryder]

Vcoach.com is my website. You can go on there and you can check out, you know, who I am, what I'm all about. Even though if you've made it this far, you know, but my rates are on there for both coaching and for demos and stuff like that. And I coach all levels. Whether you have been in this for 15 years and just need a way to level up your game or whether or not you've been in it for a year and you're just getting started and you just need a wingman to help you to get started and to help bolster your confidence. I think that's one of the, one of the misunderstood things of great coaches is that great coaches, you walk away from the experience feeling good. Right? Okay. If you ever coach with someone and you walk away from that experience on multiple times not feeling good, then that's not the right coach for you. Right. Because their job, all of this, everything that we do, people ask me all the time, they're like, if you whittle it all down to one thing, the one thing is confidence. If you don't have it in what you're doing in every facet of this industry, from the performance to your equipment, to your editing, to taking direction in a live directed session, all that stuff, if you're not completely confident in those things, then you're not going to succeed. And that's what your coach should be there to do. Help you build that confidence.

[Andrew Morrison]

Fantastic. Thank you for coming on, man. This has been awesome.

[Mark Ryder]

Enjoyed myself, man. Let's do it again.

[Andrew Morrison]

I really hope you enjoyed Ryder's unique perspective on not just what goes on inside of his side of the booth, but also this generous peek into the mind of never ending growth. If you'd like to hear Ryder's work, you can visit rydervo.com and if you'd like to join his coaching program, you can find that over at veolifecoach. Do. Thank you for listening and I'll catch you in the next one.

[Mark Ryder]

Thank you for listening to the Voiceover Coffee Shop. For more information on guests, new episodes and more, be sure to visit vocoffeeshop.com and our YouTube channel or your favorite podcast streaming platform. You know you want to.