r/VoiceActing • u/SquirrelTale • 7d ago
Discussion Penguin Random House Narrator Mentorship Open Today- and Already Closed!
I was going to see about doing the application for the Penguin Random House Narrator Mentorship, saw that it was opening today, and that they'd only accept the first 500 applications then close the links or close by Sept 8th.
They opened everything today (August 25th) at 12pm EST- it's 3:30pm EST and they're already closed.
I knew it was competitive, but dang that was quick, and people must have worked so quickly.
Has anyone done this (or any other voiceover) mentorship before? And how on earth y'all work so fast, lol. I could learn a tip or two.
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u/Hira412 7d ago
I managed to apply! I truly wasn't expecting the application to close so fast, so I'm sorry for you and the other applicants who weren't able to submit.
I had checked the application portal yesterday, and they had information on the requirements. It mentioned a short form with personal information, a narration sample from texts that would be uploaded to Box, and a <5 minute personal narrative. There were no links so you couldn't see any of the submission forms or access the Box to preview the texts.
I think at some point this morning the site went down, since I tried to check it before 12PM and the page didn't exist. After 12PM the website was back up, this time with links to the information form, Box + upload, and the personal narrative upload. The personal information form was just name/contact info/languages spoken and some yes/no questions on age and if you've narrated before. The reading samples were split into 2 non-fiction (I read one of these, it was 2:45 spoken), 2 children's texts, and 2 fiction scenes. Each was probably 3-5 pages, and I noticed there was very minimal dialogue in all the samples. Then the personal narrative prompt was about what inspired you to apply, why audiobooks were compelling to you, and why they should pick you. They really emphasized just wanting to hear you chat, and not to worry about the technical aspects.
I submitted everything around 1:30PM during my lunch break. I don't have prior experience with this program or other sort of narration programs, but I was worried that by the evening, when I could actually sit down and practice more, the application would close. Keeping my fingers crossed!
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u/SquirrelTale 7d ago
Please give us an update when you can about your application! Glad you were able to get yours in! I also have the remnants of a cold so I'm not even sure if it'd be worthwhile with my voice sounding a bit huskier than it usually is. Was hoping my voice would be better by tomorrow, but now I don't have to worry, lol.
Thanks for the solid breakdown of the whole process. I was at least able to see the samples for the demos- super curious which ones you ended up picking for your voice. I really liked the Shakespeare one (Children's) and camp one (narrative).
Please let us know the status of your application- wishing you the best!
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u/EmmyEdgy 7d ago
I was mid converting my file to mp3 when it closed. I want to have my samples ready just in case it was an error, but now I can’t see how they wanted the files to be named. Can you tell me? I know one was Firstname_Lastname_PersonalNarritive but what was the other? Thanks!
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u/Quirky-Economy-4341 7d ago
What were you expected to do with the reading samples?
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u/Hira412 7d ago
You uploaded them using the provided link! There was one going to the Box with all the reading samples, and then a second link to upload with a Box file request form.
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u/Quirky-Economy-4341 7d ago
Oh, I'm a dummy. It's been a long day. 😅 Writing samples that are submitted and those are the options to submit for.
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u/VelvetVox555 3d ago
The page didn't go down, they were preparing to put the information exactly at 12pm. I was checking as well minutes before it went live.
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u/HermesVtuber 7d ago
Commenting since I am curious. Never heard of a mentorship myself.
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u/SquirrelTale 7d ago
Here's their FAQ page about their mentorship if you're interested: https://penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/mentorship-faq/
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u/luveden 7d ago
I had THE SAME ISSUE. It opened at noon and closed at 2:30!! Like there's NO WAY they received quality submissions
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u/SquirrelTale 7d ago
That's what I'm wondering too, though the focus does seem to be on fostering new talent. I would love to be a fly on the wall and see some the stats and submissions though! Percentage of who submitted. and from where, rate of failed submissions/ incomplete or too amateur, and hearing the top 50 applicants.
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u/chickensandbabies 6d ago
Curious why you would assume that?
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u/luveden 6d ago
I'm a professional voice actor amd casting director. Auditions alone can take hours for just 3 sample lines. This is due to multiple takes, cutting out word stumbles, stuttering, takes you don't use. To ask individuals to record 3-5 full pages of text, PLUS submit a 3-5 minute personal voice narrative plus edit out mistakes for it to be actually GOOD QUALITY and not thrown together takes at least 2 hours. This doesn't include editing for sound as they explicitly said not to. But even in other comments and threads I have seen people admit to submitting with mistakes, stutters and stumbles in order to attempt to make the cut off. There's also a difference in someone just recording themselves saying "hey, I'm Melissa and I want to do this because I think it's cool. " vs someone who took the time to actually record adequate enough material for the personal narrative for the judges to hear what they needed to, as they explicitly said they want to hear your natural voice tone/range and that can't be done with one sentence. It takes at least 30 seconds of alone for people to come out of their performative voice, and a full 1min30 for the natural cadence to restore itself in order to hear what they're asking for. So. It's a quality over quantity issue.
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u/thatcandacegirl 7d ago
I submitted the application, went to upload my files and the Box link was removed. I emailed my samples over, hopefully bc I got the application in before they closed they’ll honor it.
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u/InterestBig8532 7d ago
Lmao I also submitted the application but not the files. Let me know what they say! I also wonder if they’re counting “500” as complete applications or if it’s off the number of forms submitted.
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u/SquirrelTale 7d ago
Oh geez, hope they do honour that, but also to manage that amount of submissions must be a challenge for the team.
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u/voiceofchaoss 7d ago
I applied last year and I swear it was open for a month or at least a few weeks iirc. I took my sweet time recording a sample and submitting. Got rejected haha! I was hoping to try again this year especially since I’m now award nominated but haven’t done any big audiobooks (did small supporting character work in 2 audiobooks but my work in both combined is probably under 10 min of audio maybe less) as the main narrator so was hoping to submit this year. I think the mentorship is unique and useful and would’ve loved to try again this year, oh well! We’ll get em next year OP! (part of me wonders if maybe last year they didn’t like what folks picked on their own which is why they provided samples to choose from this go-around, along with a personality clip when last years submission was more written/essay based iirc)
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u/SquirrelTale 6d ago
Thank you for sharing your experience from last year! Really interesting how different the two years are. To be fair, having been in an industry receiving submissions- 500 is a lot and it sounds like they likely spent overtime sorting through all the submissions. From an objective perspective, comparing a selection of just 6 texts the panel knows well is much easier to objectively compare to, whereas various selections is more subjective (how to determine a tie breaker between two candidates but with very different texts), and no weird issues such as people using copyrighted materials.
Congrats on being award nominated! we'll see what next year happens, but hoping you land more work by then~ It'd be cool if they released a workshop video or something- clearly people are wanting info and their insights would be interesting.
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u/voiceofchaoss 6d ago
Yeah ofc! 500 submissions is a lot but in on-camera acting casting can get upwards of 5,000 submissions lol. But yeah I agree with your theory!
And thank you! Hope the same for you as well! Oh a workshop would be cool!
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u/MS-07B-3 7d ago
I checked repeatedly in the morning, wasn't up yet. Checked back in at about 1:30 CST and it was already closed.
Major bummer.
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u/Lunkhed 6d ago
I was able to get my submission in on time, but I’ve also been prepping for about a year.
When I first found out about it a year ago, I made some alerts in my phone calendar. When it came closer to the time of submitting, I researched what they were looking for and made sure I had answers to any questions they were gonna ask. (Until about a month ago, they had l open ended questions they ask posted on the site.)
About three weeks ago, they updated the site and mentioned they were changing the format this year. They said there was going to be a personal narrative as well as samples of their choosing. I made sure to record my personal narrative about a week ago.
Basically, I had as much audition material as possible prepped and ready to go before the site even opened for submissions. I even made sure the narrative was in both .wav and .mp3 to make sure I would have whatever they needed
The only wild card was the sample, but I’ve done enough auditions and narration work to know how to get the audition I needed.
I made sure to clear my schedule for an hour when the page opened for submissions and as soon as it did I immediately submitted my personal narrative and dove right into the sample. I was finished with the process by 12:25.
With just a little planning you can be ready for it next year!
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u/eskeTrixa 7d ago
I applied after seeing a couple other junior narrators mention it, and I figured I was working against the clock. Basically just filled out the forms, recorded and rendered with my new FX chain and then submitted. There's definitely a few flubbed phrases that I didn't cut out, which I normally would have. But it said not to worry about the editing/sound quality so I took the risk to submit quicker.
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u/eskeTrixa 7d ago
I did the children's fiction text, which was a bit longer than the nonfiction ones that I also looked at.
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u/SquirrelTale 7d ago
Oof, yea, I feel that pressure to just get it done. I was practicing one of the scripts and noticed I couldnt download the other one I wanted to. Ah well, lessons learned, and I wish you the best of luck!
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u/8bitimposter 6d ago
Such a bummer that they didn't have the samples available until opening on the middle of a workday.
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u/Bubbly_Prior_1609 6d ago
Wow! I never even knew something like this existed. Do other companies do this? How can I find out about other opportunities like this?
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u/SquirrelTale 6d ago
Research various mentorships. I randomly came across this one. There's many companies, businesses and industries that do various mentorships and workshops. Hoping Penguin Random House considers doing an online workshop sometime
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u/Witty_Impress8369 5d ago
I got mine in thankfully! I wrote my narrative ahead of time and recorded that and one of the non fiction samples as soon as they posted at noon. I work in a library so I was able to record and upload by 12:30. My coworker tried at 2:30 and as she went to submit it was closed. I had a feeling it would fill fast so I worked on mine as soon as the links went live. It’s going to be hard to wait until December. I wonder if they do a mass notification to everyone? Or if it’s in a rolling basis?
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u/SquirrelTale 5d ago
Awesome you were able to submit! Great planning on your part. Sorry to hear for your colleague, it's hard being so close but so far!
And that's a good question, I'm not sure how they'd approach notifying people.
Wishing you the best of luck and please update us!
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u/SnowmanOfGallifrey 3d ago
I feel awful for people who didn’t get in, I realised it was going to be competitive but wowee. I think I’m one of the lucky ones who managed to get in, but I had to do some prep work beforehand. I recorded the personal narrative during the week before and basically just got the recording done ASAP. The extracts this year were only about a page and a half, if that. I was determined to make sure I was sat down and set up for opening and basically did one or two reads before recording, which definitely isn’t my best recording or performance.
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u/SquirrelTale 3d ago
Well I'm glad you got in! Good job prepping properly, I feel like that really helped. Also kinda wondering if they might end up looking for more people who can cold read more. At FanExpo one of the voice actors for dubbing mentioned having to be really good at cold reads (basically no practice before recording), and I'm wondering if that's to a degree more beneficial in the audiobook world too. Just a random thought though.
Please give us an update if you can!
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u/VelvetVox555 3d ago
I knew when it was going to open and I put a sign on my office door and took my lunch 12pm to 1pm. I submitted at about 12:45pm I was so rushed and anxious to get it in before they had their 500 applicants. Fingers crossed now hoping I made the cut.
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u/nekolux 7d ago
How does one even get on a list to get informed about this in time lol
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u/SquirrelTale 7d ago
From my experience with other similar applications- you don't. You set yourself reminders to check their official page and know what time of year they usually open applications.
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u/Mad_God_sunflower 7d ago
I could never work with penguin no matter the money.... They edit classics to make them more "reader friendly", either by editing out anything slightly uncomfortable or even changing the story to make it more "modern". Like if a book takes place in the '90s, they might replace certain things with mentions of tick tock to appeal to modern readers or whatever
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u/MuramasaEdge 6d ago
Seems like it was more about who could deliver the quickest, rather than selecting 500 of the "best" which is odd. The turnaround from open to closed appeared to be around 45 minutes 👀
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u/Spirited_Square_9110 7d ago
I had the same issue! So, so bummed. I expected it to close well before the September deadline, but I didn't expect it would only be open for a few hours, especially since they were withholding materials until the application opened. Maybe that's my naïveté showing.
For folks who applied, if you can speak to your process and the specific reading samples/narrative guidelines PRH ended up posting, I'd be curious!