BOSSes, are you ready to nail those voiceover auditions? In this episode of the VO Boss podcast, Anne Ganguzza talks with special guest Kelly Moscinski, owner and head of casting at The VoiceCaster. Kelly, who oversees thousands of auditions, reveals what truly stands out to casting directors and how you can stop being predictable to book more jobs. Get ready to transform your approach to commercial auditions with invaluable insights straight from the source!

00:00 - Anne (Host)
Hey bosses, Anne Ganguzza here. Are you ready to take the next step in your voiceover career? At Anne Ganguzza Productions, I specialize in target marketed coaching and demo production that gets you booked. If you're thinking about elevating your performance or creating an awesome demo, check me out at anneganguzza.com. 

00:22 - Speaker 2 (Announcement)
It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a vo boss. Now let's welcome your host and gang guza hey everyone, welcome to the vo boss podcast. 

00:44 - Anne (Host)
I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I am thrilled to welcome very special guest, Kelly Moscinski. Kelly, the owner and head of casting at the Voice Caster, which, very impressively, is the oldest voiceover casting house in the country, established in 1975. So, with almost 20 years of experience in voiceover and even more in entertainment, Kelly casts and directs all things voiceover. She's also a coach for voice actors, teaching group classes, private coaching, and I am so excited that she's going to be teaching a VO Boss workshop coming up on July 16th, which I am super excited for. She is also the founder of the VoiceCaster Lab, a digital VO training and community platform offering a variety of learn-at-your-own-pace courses, seminars, a membership community and other resources dedicated to giving voiceover artists the chance to learn from the casting perspective, which is so, so important. Kelly, it is absolutely wonderful to have you here today. Thank you so much. 

01:43 - Kelly (Guest)
Thank you so much for having me. 

01:45 - Anne (Host)
I am just excited to chat with you. It's been I feel like it's been not so long ago that I saw you, but, like we always, we're like we kind of just pass each other because we're always like on these schedules which are insanely busy, and I always think that you know, I think I'm pretty busy in this industry, but my goodness, you're doing an awful lot over there at the Voice Caster with your classes and you've got all sorts of fun new things that I've seen you come out with this year. So for the bosses who are not familiar with you, let's let's kind of start at the beginning and tell us a little bit about how you got started in the industry and your casting journey. What led you to the voice caster? 

02:24 - Kelly (Guest)
For me it was, you know I did. I did drama club, you know theater in high school. When I went to college I originally went to school for pre-med. I wanted to be a psychiatrist, so I was focusing on psychology and then from there it was just. I was so involved in the theater department and eventually, after, after a little hesitation, I decided to get my degree in theater instead of following the pre-med path I had. 

02:51
And then I got my master's degree in writing and you know it was kind of while I was working on that that you know I had friends. I was doing a ton of directing. So I just had some friends who were like working at local radio and TV stations. They'd ask me for advice on an actor. You know I need this kind of a voice for a spot, you know. So I was starting to do some voiceover before I even really realized what I was getting into. And then I moved out to Los Angeles and you know I had actually interviewed in the same week at voice caster and at a talent agency the same week at VoiceCaster and at a talent agency. Talent agency wanted to bring me on as an agent and VoiceCaster wanted me to come on as a casting assistant and I was like you know what I feel like casting is my calling. You know, I get to, I get to cast, I get to direct. You know there were opportunities to teach. You know, like, all of the things I wanted were kind of all in one with VoiceCaster. And, you know, as soon as I walked into the office, I was like, yeah, this is home. And so I kind of knew right away. And then that was in 2009. 

03:55
In 2013, the previous owner, huck Liggett, came to me and said I'm retiring, I'm gone in two weeks. Do you want to take over? I've had other offers. Yeah, he's like. I had other offers, a lot of money, he's like, but I don't want just anyone to take over. Wow, and so he's like, if you don't want it, we're closing down the doors. Wow, yeah. 

04:20 - Anne (Host)
And wow, what a compliment. 

04:22 - Kelly (Guest)
That's amazing, wow, yeah yeah, and it's funny because I actually had just gotten back from a week vacation when he came to me on that Monday and like he's like pulled me aside. I thought I was getting fired, I was like oh no, what's going on? 

04:36
Like what did I do? 

04:37
What happened while I was gone? It was only a week. Who knew it was going to be the next big step in my career? And yeah, so, within, within within two weeks, I took over completely, so it was a very quick transition but, like I said, as soon as my foot stepped in that office, I just knew that this is where I was going to going to be. 

04:59 - Anne (Host)
You know it's, isn't that? Isn't that funny. It's like when you step into a home, when you're buying a home, and all of a sudden you're like, oh yeah, this is it. I have so many questions because you seem to just go from like, oh, I went to school for, and then I went into education and then went into voiceover and did you get any pushback from people in your life that said, hey, it's obvious that you have multiple talents, and there's always those people, kind of the naysayers, that are like, really Like theater or the arts. There's always those people, that kind of the naysayers that are like really like, yeah, theater, or you know the arts. And so tell us, did you have any pushback from, let's say, you know, family members or loved ones about that? 

05:53 - Kelly (Guest)
Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. You know, it's one of those things where I I originally was like, oh, I can't just go into theater, so maybe I can, maybe I can teach theater. So I decided to take the education track, kind of in between that and within like three semesters, I think I I basically I had all of the classes I had needed for an education degree. I just never did the student teaching, so I could have gotten my education degree as well. But instead I was like no, I just I want to commit to this, this is all I can see myself doing. So why? Why have the plan B? You know, it's like when you have plan B, you fall back on plan B and it's like I don't, I'm not, yeah, that's it. 

06:36 - Anne (Host)
That's a really, that's a really great perspective. 

06:38
I like that Because you, you felt it and I think you and you went for it and that's that's so. 

06:45
I love that because I feel like I'm kind of that person too, like, if you feel so strongly about it, I feel like, well, that's where I'm supposed to be and that's where I should be, and I feel like my work ethic was there to drive it to the place where it needed to be. And I think a lot of times I never second guess my work, my intuition, my gut feeling I feel like that might be the same thing for you, absolutely, absolutely. So then, along the way right to becoming like, first of all, to have someone say to you I'm going to close the doors if you don't take over First of all, that's what a compliment. And and so obviously I mean there was, there's just a ton of talent there, did you have? Have? It sounds like you had no hardships a long way, but I feel like you might have, like I definitely did so tell us about maybe you know a hardship or something that was a challenge for you. 

07:42 - Kelly (Guest)
Yeah, yeah. So I mean, first of all it was, you know, through through college my dad was battling leukemia and so it's like he was actually in a hospital in the same city that I was going to school, and so you know I was going over there every day before rehearsals, after classes, you know, anytime I could kind of sneak in, I would go over to the hospital and see him. 

08:05
You know, and it's like he couldn't come to my graduation, he couldn't come to some of our shows because just too many people. And you know, and it's like he couldn't come to my graduation, he couldn't come to some of our shows because just too many people. And you know, when you're going through cancer treatments you have to be careful of that Part of I stuck around to get my master's degree. I think I would have probably left after my bachelor's degree, but I stuck around to get my master's degree. I started dating my now husband and so I was like I guess I'll stick around for this guy, I'll stick around for my family, you know. 

08:33
And I was originally going to go to New York because I wanted to work in the Broadway world, you know. And then he actually convinced me, my husband, travis, convinced me to come to LA. So we moved to LA with nothing and it took me. I sent out back in the day when you send out, you know, cover letters and resumes through the mail. 

08:54 - Anne (Host)
Yeah, I remember those days, Not email. 

08:56 - Kelly (Guest)
I do remember those days I sent out over 3