" Be committed , be persistent , be good at your craft , your business and your technology ."
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the sides , I jumped into my car and and used voice memo on my iPhone to try to rehearse as I drove there . It didn ’ t work out very well . All the way I kept wondering if there was an app to help me prepare and learn my lines for auctions . "
" Even though the part that I auditioned for was written out of the script , it lead me to develop a really cool app that helps actors prepare for auditions , Rehearsal ® Pro . It follows an actor ’ s workflow . It ’ s mostly used for preparation and is perfect for actors everywhere . The App has been featured in New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , and USA Today , and used by quite a number of celebrities . I love it when I get an email saying , ‘ you need to see what Lili Taylor said about you ,’ or ‘ what Kevin Bacon said about Rehearsal ® Pro .’ It ’ s pretty awesome knowing that my app is helping others . I designed it to help myself succeed and it just works . And even if I were the only user , I would be happy because it has proven success ."
We then asked David about his voice over business . “ The way I teach it is from three perspectives ; the art , the commerce , and the science . We teach our students how to book commercials . They will learn about narration work and audio books . I show them how to do animation and video games voice-overs , promos and trailers . We also place a somewhat higher importance on understanding the technology that ’ s required to have a successful practice . You will know how to run your own business and the correct technology that ' s required , all in 36 classes . It ’ s very thorough and what a voice over talent needs to be successful . I ' ve even won four Backstage
Readers ' Choice Awards for best voice over instruction .
How does he do it all , you might ask ? “ I probably spend about half my time performing , acting and doing voice overs , then about a quarter of my time teaching voiceover , and finally a quarter of my time developing , marketing , and supporting Rehearsal ® Pro ."
When asked about his downtime , and what his secret passion was , he said , “ I make sure I have plenty of personal downtime . I make time to watch television . I love television . People like to ask about what shows we watch . Well , I tell them that I watch everything , from reality TV , like MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT to great sci-fi like , I , ROBOT . My girlfriend and I spend a lot of time binge watching as well ."
We asked a big question that many have a strong opinion on , as does David , ' Do you recommend that actors watch television and movies ?' “ If they aren ’ t , then it is the biggest mistake they can possibly make . They should be watching the very outlets that they ’ ll be auditioning for later that week and I think that ’ s a huge mistake in judgement if they aren ’ t . They should also see as many films as they can . I ’ m not just talking about lovely art films , but the blockbuster films , because that is where the money is . It should be a goal to want to generate a career that is both profitable and satisfying , as opposed just being to artistic and uplifting , yet your ' re unable to pay the rent . Friday is my favorite day , when I go to my mailbox to pick up my SAG / AFTRA checks from the network projects and film projects I ’ ve worked on . You don ’ t receive checks from student films , or nice little art films , web series and things like that . You receive checks from working on network television and big studio films .” And with close to one hundred network episodes and just over forty feature films under his belt , David knows this first hand .
David likes to give back to the acting community by mentoring actors . He makes it a point to take a lucky actor out to lunch every so often , because he feels that actors are notoriously hungry for food and for information . It ’ s something that no one did for him when he was first getting started in the business . Also , because he ' s had the success he ' s had , he feels it ’ s important to prevent people from making some expensive mistakes . " I can ’ t stress enough to other actors , that you have to be as much of a good business person as a talented actor .” Thank you , David , for all the great information ! ���
How can our readers follow you ? Website : http :// davidhlawrencexvii . com / VO Teaching site : http :// www . vo2gogo . com / Rehearsal ® Pro : http :// www . rehearsal . pro / Twitter : @ dhlawrencexvii FB : http :// www . facebook . com / DavidHLawrenceXVII LinkedIn : http :// www . linkedin . com / in / davidhlawrencexvii
" Be committed , be persistent , be good at your craft , your business and your technology ."
- David Lawrence XVII
Photos by Ali Donze , Donze Photography
ActDanceModelSing . com
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