Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. –Winston Churchill

At Whitechapel, the only real Web forum in which I participate, some of us have taken stock of our lives and felt a bit frustrated all over again to see we’re not at all close to where we figured we should be at our age(s).  Several of us are staring down, if not fully ensconced in, middle age and reliant on someone else to help us get through everyday, whether its parents, spouses, housemates, etc.

It’s not just the frustration of trying to keep the momentum of a career going during tough economic times, many of us already got kicked around town by that particular bitter pill, but now we’re trying to get a new career going.  Many of us (because it’s Whitechapel and this is the sort of folks we are) are having a go at careers that involve artistic ability.  Man, talk about all around asking for negative judgment.  Subject: 35, lives with parents, limited background for but seeking paying projects in creative writing, acting, photography or graphic design.  Even I’m trying not to scream “get a job, ya bum!” and that’s pretty much my life.

I guess at no point in career counselling did anyone promise the line would be straight and clear between getting an education and securing an income, but then again no one ever mentioned it would be so murky, confusing, and rife with soft spots where a person could get awfully stuck.  Pushing your art as a service means running your work like a business and oddly enough it’s a rare curriculum that teaches artists/actors/musicians/writers how to do this.  There’s practical advice, here and there, but advice lacks the regimentation of study and is often contradictory.  What I mean is, I learn lessons from a classroom more clearly and for longer than advice I run across at receptions or on Twitter.

Of course, the reason advice is contradictory and isn’t subject to any kind of review is because these careers don’t have single correct path for advancement.  There just isn’t one and maybe there simply couldn’t be one.  There are many, possibly even one for every individual.  (Ugh, what an annoying thought, moreso because that’s probably the most accurate way to think of it.)  Everyone has to blaze their own trail because achieving success isn’t about getting to a virtual territory where all the pros are, but securing a professional status for oneself.  In other words, even though we think about it as traveling the better metaphor is evolution.  You become what you’re aiming for.

Oh well, all I’m trying to aim at saying is that I don’t know what are the wrong methods of going about this.  But what I have learned, and had confirmed for me by people who would know, is that a certain false path is giving up.  The only way to fail to get to where you’re going is to just not try.  Even if I put all my effort into this crazy career of mine and get hit by a bus before ever landing a paying gig, is that really failure?  I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way to be sure I’m not any good at voice acting is if I quit before I get anywhere.

I have my producer.  He’s well recommended, and I really liked the samples on his Web site*.  He’s a trip. Outsized personality but an astute listener.  Obviously savvy about the business but patient with a newbie like me.  Extroverts who are big to the nth degree sometimes drive me nuts because it takes all my energy just to properly digest everything they’re going on about without losing myself.  It’s the rare extrovert-like-whoa who actually takes his own reins in hand and holds still so he can hear me.  I appreciate that like you wouldn’t believe.

He handed me a stack of copy to try for the demo.  I’m going through it, getting all the words in my mouth and trying out different voices to make the most of the pieces.  It’s a little like trying out different herbs or spices on the same dish until I think the dish is sounding, uh, tasting its best.  Staring at the copy leaves me feeling like I don’t know the first thing about voice work, hell, like I don’t know the first thing about acting.

The Internet is a big help here.  I certainly won’t always get a chance to learn more about a product and how they’re typically being presented before I get in the booth (though, like absolutely nothing else, pursuing voice over has convinced me I must get a smart phone ASAP).  But as long as I have the time to do some research, I’ll take it.  And it’s putting me in an odd state of mind, listening to alternate spots for various departments stores, cosmetics products, etc.  I know I can lay down work that’s solid enough to match the pros.  But do I sound like what the people who hire the pros expect?  If the potential client doesn’t think I sound like who they are, that’s the ball game.

 
I’ve managed to get past the “I hate the sound of my voice” part of listening to myself.  I said that by way of apology in an early VO class and almost immediately regretted it. It’s taken a bit of work to not just bite my tongue to avoid saying it but to actually work with what I heard even if it was startlingly different from the sound inside my own skull and furthermore different from that of the actors whose company I had hoped to join.  Ok, I don’t sound like the stars exactly.  I don’t sound precisely like the lady on the Maybelline commercials.  I sound like me and the things my voice can do are… fun.

I do like fun. <–Understatement of forever.  The more I do VO, the more fun I get to have.  There’s a lot of stress and pressure in my life to get this right.  But I don’t tend to feel it when I’m actually working.  Then I’m just doing what I do.  I mean, I’m trying to impress my teachers. I’ll be trying to impress casting directors and agents.  I’m trying to make sure I’m better than I was the last time.  But the fun in voice acting lets me focus, leaving no room to fret about bills or debts or politics.

My only worries are getting the job done right.  Am I ready to talk about myself like a pro?  Fuck man, am I ready to do a demo?  Yes.  Well, maybe not.  And also, sort of.  I read somewhere “Amateurs do it until they don’t screw up, pros do it until they never do.”  That means it’s all in doing it, working at it continuously.  Not stopping because it seems good enough.  It’s hard and it’s intimidating but the only antidote I can think of is to plow ahead, practice every day and fight for it.

The demo recording session is on Monday.

*More than a few producer sites I looked at were clean & tidy.  And there’s a lot to be said for a site that’s easy to navigate and won’t make my eyes bleed.  But producers have to show what they’re capable of.  No samples on the site, no consideration.  The producer I went with has a site that’s a bit of an eyesore. But I found the demo samples easily and loved them.