This past Summer, I answered one of those ubiquitous ads in the back of the Village Voice (free tabloid in New York City) for people interested in doing voiceovers.

The person made sure he invited me up to his "office" after complimenting me on my beautiful voice. [I happen to believe it is, but that's my ego talking.] When I got there, he wasn't in. His assistant was and it was immediately clear that his office was also his studio and rather rundown apartment. There were at least 4 phone lines for different businesses.

The first thing the assistant did was had me a generic script to train with. He also handed me a list of fees. They were: Training--$1000; demo tape--$500; introduction party with agents--$350, etc. In short, it seemed like a rather creaky way of separating people from their money. When he finally arrived, he immediately began to pitch me. My questions were answered evasively.

I put off making a decision that day and made an appointment for the following week. When I arrived the following week, I began with one simple pair of questions: "Do you have a business card? Why was it not out on the table?" He seemed insulted by the question. After he gave me the card, I advised him that, as he was unable or unwilling to give me concrete answers to many of the questions, I had decided to not sign up for now. His answer was that his rates were going up in the immediate future and why did I waste his valuable time on this second interview.

I am glad I was not hungry or stupid enough to invest in his program. Sounded like a con to me.