VO Pro: The Business of Voice Over and Voice Acting

I've been getting a little discouraged lately about the voiceover business. 

We are hearing stories of lots of people potentially being allegedly hornswoggled by a particular coach. People are making up Zoom calls with celebrities that probably didn't happen. There's La Niña and war and unrest on the world stage and I'm feeling it all heavier in a way that I probably haven't since maybe 2016.

So when that happens, one of the best strategies I've found to manage it myself is to go hard in the paint on my gratitude practice.

Consistently practicing gratitude does a world of good for my mental well-being. It boosts my overall mood, it lowers my anxiety and my depression. And it's not just about feeling good. It improves my relationships, my sleep. It's good for the immune system. Lots of good stuff there.

So, as we head into Thanksgiving week here in the States, I thought it would be a great time to remind myself and count down the top five things I'm grateful for in the voiceover business.
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It’s November and as we stare down the barrel of the Holiday Season, it's clear that 2023 has held more change and transition for the VO business than any of us knew at the start of the year. 

We’ve also seen some change and transition in the PSP platforms, especially at the largest of the VO-specific platforms, Voices, as they replaced Founder David Ciccarelli as CEO with interim CEO Jay O’Connor in October.

So today as we start wrapping our heads around 2024, I think there’s an opportunity here to begin to repair a fraught relationship between the platform and the voice over community, and so I thought I’d write an open letter to Voices and Interim CEO, Jay O’Connor.

I believe that Voices can run a healthy, profitable business, provide significant value for shareholders, and have an ethical, collaborative relationship with the voice actors who provide the services upon which Voices is built.

Here are a few steps Voices can take to start to repair our relationship and show some good will toward the voice-acting community. 
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Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember Voices and Voice123. Both had lives with so much promise, yet cut so short. We had such hopes for you.

But as The Good Book says, “Yay, though I walked through the shadow of the valley of the pay to plays, I shall fear no evil. For the GVAA Rate Guide is with me.

Lord, we pray for these souls, Voices and Voice123, that though they be twisted and tortured by the evil of publicly traded corporations, that you may deliver them, Lord, once again into the kingdom of private ownership.

Pray with me, brothers and sisters. Lay your hands on your mobile device right now. Can I get a hallelujah?

[Hallelujah!] 

All this we pray in the name of fair compensation and usage. Amen.

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Music Radio Creative’s Izabela Russell recently said on their channel that she sees a mass exodus happening in the voice over industry. 

And while Izabela’s take is stark, and blunt, it’s not new. Do I agree with her? Yes. 

And no. I’ll get to that.

I agree, and I’ve said this for years, that AI will obliterate the bottom end of the industry where price is and always has been the primary driver. And I think that’s a good thing because for those of us who have taken the time and effort to get the training, build our businesses, and command pro rates, AI will take clients who don’t care about quality in the first place off the table. It will give them a better solution to their problem, and it will eliminate or at least minimize the garbage work out there for human voice actors.

And for those who haven’t taken that time and effort, I do think there is a reckoning coming.

So, what do we do? As voice actors? Push is in fact coming to shove, so what do we do when the robots can do what most voice actors can do?
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One of the biggest problems that folks new to the business coming into voiceover run into as new voice actors is how to separate, how to sort out the good information from the bad. 

In fact, it's one reason I started this channel because there is a substantial amount of factually incorrect garbage going on in our business that's floating around out there and the only way to fight that is with real facts and honest truth.

Now, is truth in the eye of the beholder. Largely, yes. But again, there's stuff out there that is just factually garbage and has to be called out as such. 

So, today we're going to do just that. We're going to talk about the five biggest lies in the voiceover industry, what the source of those lies are and the corresponding truths that you need to know to be a successful voice actor.
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Several times a week people reach out with the question, “People say I have a nice voice. Should I get into voice over?” And my answer used to be “Sure! It’s a great business! It’s the best job I’ve ever had and second isn’t even close!”

And while that’s still true as much as it ever was, my answer has changed. Voice over and voice acting isn’t for everyone. Some don’t have the talent. Some don’t have the drive. Most think it’s something it’s not: a way to make quick money with no experience.

So how do I answer the question truthfully when I know nothing about the person asking it? Today, I’m going to do just that. If you’re wondering whether you should get into voice over, I’m going to give you 10 questions to ask yourself to find out whether you’re cut out to be a professional voice actor.

I honestly think most people can learn the skills required to be a pro voice actor. 

I also think, like in most things, most people aren’t willing to do what it takes.

Mike Tomlin, the great football coach, says, “It’s not what you’re capable of. It’s what you’re willing to do." So…
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Two weeks ago I said that Voices was getting desperate and ten days later they ousted their CEO, David Ciccarelli.

I hate to say I told you so, but…

Earlier this week, Voices made the following announcement:

Dear Valued Customers and Friends,

Today, we share some bittersweet news as we bid farewell to a cherished member of our team, David, who has been at the helm of Voices.com, Inc. as its chief executive officer for the past 18 years.

Since founding Voices.com, David and his wife Stephanie have been instrumental in nurturing and growing the community and building the marketplace.

His dedication and leadership have been integral to our success and we are immensely grateful for the journey we have shared under his guidance.

David's decision to step down as CEO was not made lightly. 

So, what does this mean for Voices going forward? And more importantly, what does it mean for voice actors?

Spoiler alert: It ain’t good for anybody.
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As I touched on in my last video, 2023 has been a slow year for voiceover. In fact, this might be the first year in the 21st century that we can honestly say that voiceover work has not… available work… has not grown year over year.

There's no hard data that I know of in the voiceover industry that shows the exact amount of available work. But I talked to a lot of people in this business and pretty much everybody agrees it's been a down year.

This has also been the year that A.I. has exploded onto the scene.

This time last year, absolutely no one had heard of ChatGPT. That's because it didn't exist until November 30th of 2022, and by February 2023, ChatGPT was a household name.

Terms like generative AI were barely on our radar a year ago and they're now part of our everyday lexicon. A year ago, A.I. Voices was a term and a concept we all knew and were aware of and knew was coming. But nobody had any idea what that was going to mean for 2023.

Now, that said, if we agree that voiceover is in a bear market then that begs the question: why?

There are six main reasons VO is slow right now and I'm going to break them down for you today.
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I talk to a lot of people in the voice over industry regularly – voice actors, casting directors, producers, agents. And everyone acknowledges whether their business is up or down that the industry has been slow for the last several months.

One of the facets of the business that is seeing the most change is the online casting platforms, and this has become evident most recently in two ways, specifically on Voices. 

Today, we’re going to look at two pieces of communication to get a snapshot in time of just how desperate Voices appears. And stick around because there’s someone out there even more desperate, and I’ll tell you who that is at the end of the video.
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I recently posted on social media a great guide from the website of a well-known coach in this business.

And today I call bullsh*t. I'm going to break down exactly why I think this entire rate guide is a crap sandwich and be specific about the damage it does to voice actors and the industry as a whole.

You may want to put on coveralls. This is going to get messy.

I want to make it clear that this is not an attack on this coach personally, but it is an opposition to his teachings and practices in this rate guide which I believe are harmful to the careers of voice actors who put this right guide into practice and damaging to the industry as a whole.
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