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Liz Drury Funding Article

December 11, 2020 by Liz Drury

Who would like some free money? Everyone right?! Well, did you know that you might be eligible for grant funding for your voiceover business?

Whenever I need to make a large purchase for my business, I always look to see if I can get any help with buying it. This attitude stems from when I was studying for my PhD in Archaeological Science, and I needed to make a field trip to Scandinavia to collect samples for my research. I didn’t have the money for the trip, so I applied for a number of grants – and I was successful nearly every time. I pooled together enough money for a three-week tour of Denmark and Sweden. Not to mention attending a conference in the States, and another one in Budapest…

I continued with this fundraising mindset when I was the chairman of my kids’ pre-school. I found them money to build a new playground, decorate the building, buy craft equipment – even pay the staff.

Then, in my pre-voiceover job at a local college I applied for funding for drama productions, and educational trips abroad for staff and students. I’ve also successfully applied for grants for my local theatre group to buy sound and lighting equipment.

I reckon that if you add up all the money I’ve successfully applied for over the years, it comes to over £35k. And I may well have forgotten some.

So, I hear you ask, what can a voiceover business get money for? Well, in the last 18 months I’ve had money towards buying a mobile studio for recording on the road; money to enable me to attend VOAtlanta; and half the cost of having a new website built (including the photography and SEO-optimised copywriting). I’m currently in the process of applying for a £500 grant towards the cost of having a new boiler installed in my house (because my office is at home, it counts as my place of work, and that makes me eligible). All of this totals over £3.5k.

How do I find these pots of gold Liz? Good question! If you want grants for a community group or project then I highly recommend www.fundingcentral.org.uk which lists many, many grants for all sorts of organisations. You won’t find funding for your business here though. For that, I’ve found the best way to find out what’s available in your local area, is networking.

 

My local council run a business networking group, which is very low-cost to join, and they will let members know if there is any grant funding available for businesses in the area. To find out if there is something similar where you live I would contact the Economic Development team at your local council. You could also try your local Chamber of Commerce and nearest branch of the Federation of Small Businesses. These organisations usually have their ears to the ground when it comes to funding for business. Both of these are membership organisations, but you can often go along to one event for free to try it out.

You could also try attending Business Expos, as any organisation with money to give away to businesses are likely to be there. In recent years I’ve seen a couple of local universities/colleges exhibiting at these events, as they had been given grants to work with small businesses. That’s how I found money for my mobile studio.

If you’re really not sure where to find business networking events or expos near you, have a look on Eventbrite – there are lots of events listed on there, and many are free. I’ve been to a number of educational workshops – particularly on using social media for business, and by going to those, I’ve heard about grant funding. That’s how I found the grant for my website.

If you want to attend a conference in another country, find out who your local Department for International Trade representative is. My local rep helped me apply for the grant that took me to VOAtlanta.

Bear in mind that there are often minimum spends for these grants. The three I’ve had recently paid 50% of my costs which had to be a minimum of £1,000 (i.e. I had to spend £2,000 to get £1,000 back). Another thing to note is that grants won’t cover the VAT on anything you buy.

The larger the amount of money you apply for, the bigger the ‘output’ your funder will want in return. For small grants they generally want to see that your turnover will increase, or that you’ve developed a new product or service. For larger amounts of money, they’re looking for job creation (which isn’t really possible for us, though I did once show that I’d gone from part time to full time and therefore created half a job….).

One final thing – all the money I’ve had recently has come from European grants, and post-Brexit the grant funding landscape will probably look very different. Having said that, in many cases funding streams are protected for the next year or two, BUT if you have a project in mind I think it will be best to apply sooner rather than later.

Good luck!

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With a background in Software Engineering, at the age of 24, she fully decided to fight her way through the arts as it has been her greatest passion ever since she was a teenager. She moved to London soon after her graduation, studied Strasberg’s Method and began her professional Acting career at the end of 2016, whilst keeping her Software Engineering career too.

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As well as running The VoiceOver Network, Rachael is a busy voiceover artist, actress, writer, award-winning entrepreneur and a mother of two girls.

Rachael’s love for acting started at a young age when she was inspired by her actor Grandfather and loved seeing him perform in the West End. She trained as an actress at Richmond Drama School and soon after graduating, discovered voiceovers and absolutely loved working in this area of the industry. Rachael has been a voiceover artist for over 20 years and during that time has worked with a huge range of top brands including Virgin Media (yes, she’s their telephone voice), CNN, Nestlé, Olay, Sure, Channel 5, The Travel Channel and many more. In addition, Rachael has worked with Derek Jacobi and Hayley Atwell in The Martian Chronicles radio drama and voiced three One Direction films.

Her voiceover agent is Excellent Talent. As an actress, Rachael has worked in TV, film and theatre as well as on commercials for brands such as Persil. Her acting agent is Comedy Actors, London. Rachael is co-author of the Amazon best-selling book, ‘Shine: …it’s like glitter for your soul! ’, and contributing author of a second Amazon best-selling book, ‘Believe: … it’s like glitter for your soul! ’.

Rachael is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience with others in the industry and in 2014, officially established The VoiceOver Network, which aims to bring the industry together. She won the Entrepreneurs Circle’s, ‘Entrepreneur of the Year for London and the South 2014’ award, not only for her work on her voiceover business, but also with The VoiceOver Network. Rachael was also a finalist at the 2014 National Entrepreneur Awards for ‘Best Business Enabler’ for her work with The VoiceOver Network. She finds business and marketing fascinating and enjoys the challenges of running her businesses.

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As a writer / producer she quickly learned the power of ‘voicing’ and in a twist of fate, she was asked to voice a scratch-track and that’s all it took for her to be enchanted by the magical world of voiceover. Leisa has trained with professional voice artists in voicing medical, children’s and lifestyle documentary narration.

As a stage performer, Leisa studied Dance for over twenty years and has travelled throughout America competing and performing professionally.

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Lorraine is a UK based Actor and Voiceover Artist. Her passion for Acting started at an early age when she loved to watch classic black and white movies. She studied at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

After graduating Lorraine worked on the London Fringe, noted for her powerful performance in ‘Glass Hearts’ by the award-winning David Spencer. Television includes the role of Ann McIntyre in Coronation Street, and other wonderful roles in Eastenders, Holby City, Merseybeats, and The Bill. Lorraine is a versatile Actress with the qualities required to play hard-edged raw characters. She has the ability to bring a sense of vulnerability to her roles and a sense of realism to her performances. Many Directors have commented on her naturalistic style and her commitment to her work.

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Natalie is a voiceover artist, actor, assistant director (TV/Film), theatre producer and radio announcer/producer. She works in commercials, animation, gaming, narration (corporate / audiobooks) and radio drama. Her clients include iHeart Radio, New Zealand Lotto, Blind Foundation, Les Mills, Vista/Veezi, McDonalds and Southern Comfort. Natalie works in a range of accents including New Zealand / Australian, various UK & US and Eastern European and has a great range of animation, character and gaming voices.

Natalie has a radio career spanning over 15 years and has worked as a radio announcer/producer in New Zealand, Sweden, Canada and the USA. She holds a Bachelor of Communication Studies (Radio) from AUT and is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA New York). She was a finalist in the inaugural SOVAS – Voice Arts Awards for animation and was a recipient of the Shakespeare’s Globe International Actors’ Fellowship.

She has worked in TV and theatre production including producer of the Auckland Outdoor Summer Shakespeare, 2nd Assistant Director for South Pacific Pictures (Shortland Street, The Bad Seed), as well as program manager for The Actors Program. She is a founding member of the International Actors Ensemble, performing as Antipholus of Syracuse in their Mexican tour of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors and festival appearances in Auckland, Melbourne and the UK.

Gabriel Porras

Spanish Translator and Proof-Reader for The Buzz Magazine, Voiceover Artist

Gabriel Porras is a world-record-holding presenter and voiceover professional with 25+ years of experience in advertising, news, live broadcasting, corporate, eLearning, gaming and animation roles (BBC, Microsoft, Netflix, Saatchi, Apple, BBM, Sauza, FedEx, McDonald’s, Sunset&Vine among others).

International records for continuous daily radio presence (12+ years, BBC World Service) and weekly TV presence (24+ years, Gillette World Sport; 11+ years, Mobil 1 The Grid) as the main presenter of a series. Main IOC Presenter for the London 2012 Olympics. OVA international award nominations for Animation and Audiobook performances. Advanced studies in Art, Philosophy, Music, Classics, Theology, Islam and Atheism. Loves to cook (Mexican, Mediterranean, Asian Fusion) and travel (40 countries to date).

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Resident Sound Engineer for The VoiceOver Network, producer, voiceover artist and DJ

Rich’s knowledge of sound stems from a 20 year career as a DJ/Sound Engineer for clubs and bars around the UK and abroad as well as a 1st class honors degree in music production.

From university Rich entered the world of radio production and secured a position as a commercial producer at UTV (now The Wireless Group) in which he won awards both locally and nationally for his production work.

In 2016 Rich made the leap of faith and became freelance offering his services to production companies and voice overs whilst building the reputation of his company ‘io Audio’ from his own studio. Over the last 2 years io Audio has successfully produced showreels for many of the industries leading voices as well as offering studio recording facilities for TV and Radio most notably for Russell Howard’s Travelogue aired on Comedy Central and BBC Radio. As well as producing Rich also lectures at universities on radio production and the subject of how sound creates visualisations in our minds and how this can be used as a tool in radio production. Rich loves the art of directing voice overs, as well as mixing records on a saturday night and chilling with the family.

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She has worked on a huge amount of animations and cartoons including The Woodlies, Corneil and Bernie, Nelly Nut Live as well as many more. Video Games include Horizon: Zero Dawn, Pusuit Force and Sacred Underworld.

Dian is one of the top voice coaches in the UK

Randall Ryan

Voiceover casting director and director

Randall Ryan is a voiceover casting director and director.

He is the Co-founder of Hamsterball Studios in Austin, Texas. His video game credits include: Small Town Terrors, Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Transformers: Optimus Prime, the Deer Hunter series, World Series of Poker, mobile gaming, children’s games, sports titles, shooters and so much more.

Tom Keegan

Performance capture director, audio director and casting director

Tom Keegan is one of the most in demand performance capture directors, audio directors and casting directors in the world right now.

He is a Director and Casting Director for Performance Capture, Video Games, Voice Over and Films. Games title credits include the Battlefield series, Wolfenstein 1, 2 and 3, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Dead Rising 3 & 4, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, Call of Duty: Modern Warfair Remastered, The Amazing Spiderman 2 and many more.

Adele Cutting

BAFTA award-winning audio professional

Adele Cutting is a BAFTA award-winning audio professional with 20+ years experience in audio direction, designing sound, music editing, casting and directing actors and covering all things audio across games, TV, installations, mobile and VR.

Adele is the founder of audio production company, Soundcuts Ltd., before Soundcuts, Adele spent 15 years at EA, working her way up the ranks from Junior Sound Designer to Senior Audio Director, working on blockbuster titles such the Harry Potter franchise (on which she wore both Audio and Voice director hats), plus well known cult classics Populous the Beginning and Theme Park World.

Recent titles Adele has worked on include Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (UK and Athens Voice Direction), The Room Old Sins (Sound Design), Pinky Malinky (Music Editing and co-ordination), Astrologaster (Voice Direction) and Elements – a James Bond cinematic installation in the alps.(Sound Design and Music Editing), Planet Zoo (Casting, Direction, Post Pro).

Lori Alan

American actor, writer, producer and coach

Lori Alan is an American actor, writer, producer and coach.

She stars on the Emmy Award winning, SpongeBob: Squarepants as Pearl Krabs, Diane Simmons on Family Guy, Sue Richards, The Invisible Woman, on Marvel Comics’ The Fantastic Four, and The Boss in the Metal Gear Solid video game trilogy.

She’s proud to be a part of the Academy Award Winning Pixar Family. Voicing characters in Wall-e, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Monster’s University, as Mother’s Sadness in Inside Out, and Bonnie’s Mom in Pixar’s extraordinary, global franchise, Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. Other credits include Minnions, Friends, Dispicable Me 3, Greys Anatomy and Law and Order LA.

Elley-Ray

Voiceover artist, actor, voice director and writer

Elley-Ray has traversed the stages, film sets, television and radio studios for over 40 years delighting audiences world-wide.

Her compassion to share it is unparalleled.

She’s is a Toronto-based voiceover artist, actor, voice director and writer. She has been working in the voiceover industry for over 37 years. She has worked extensively in animations, commercials, corporate, video games, promos, audiobooks and pretty much every area of our industry. Her credits include My Little Pony, Care Bears, Babar the movie, Z Baw (feature film), Cat in the Hat, My Big My Friend, Busy Town, Hotel Transylvania: The Series and many more.

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