Wow, I just made sort of a crazy and big decision. I'm going to make a demo to become a voice over talent.
Last night, for fun and to learn more about something that interests me, I took an adult education class at the local community college. These are classes anyone can teach and you don't get credit for them. It was a one night two hour class. The teacher was a woman who who used to do radio talk show programs in Sacramento and is now doing that in Seattle. She is also a voice actress. She has been the voice for several products in national ad campaigns.
In two hours she described what voice over work is, what it means, how to do it from home, the equipment you need, unions, how to market yourself, how to go about getting a demo tape of your voice made, etc. Of course, all the information was rather general as there was only two hours. Part of the class, the best part, was reading scripts. The students worked in groups to make commercials and we heard ourselves recorded. She completed an evaluation of each student and e-mailed it that night.
To me, it was pretty cool. I got the idea of voice over work from friends who want to do it. But I found out that you can do it from home for only about 600 dollars of equipment. You e-mail your voice across the world. I could do this and spend time with Nathaniel! I dabbled in acting a long time ago, which was fun, and this feels a little bit like that. In class the instructor told me that I have a very "youthful" voice and that she could see me doing voice overs for children's things. She said there's a definite market and niche for my voice related to that stuff. Also, I never realized until last night how many opportunities are out there for voice actors -- not just TV and radio, but video games, the voices you hear on pre-recorded flight information at airports, audio books, internet, people trying to sell you stuff while you're on hold on the telephone, the recorded greetings on company phone messages, the voices of toys that talk to children...the list is endless.
OK, so today I get the e-mail and she said a lot of nice stuff about my voice and said that she would be interested in marketing my voice. There was a link to a website for an invitation only package to create a demo tape. It includes a local one day class, personal coaching, studio time to create a demo tape, they pick out scripts for you, they make the demo tape for you, they give you CD's on how to market your tape, there's a two hour call to discuss how to market yourself, there's a 3 year membership to their website so that your demo can be accessed from their site, there's a manual for total beginners on how to run the computer software required for recording your voice and sending it out, there's a list of contacts to start marketing yourself, and more but I've already forgotten. The catch is that it's 3800 dollars. It's enough to make you lose your breath, but when I checked out their cheaper package deals, this one was actually the best price because the other ones required flying to Vermont to make the demo. In class she said the average demo price is 3000-5000 dollars. In class she said it's also an initial cost because if you get jobs, you can complle your best work for future demo tapes.
I called my sister and my mother to ask if I was totally crazy for even considering it. They said how bad would I miss the money and how much enjoyment would I get out of it. I actually have the money. I will have all my debts paid off by then and I will have the money cash by the time the class takes place in a few months. I might actually learn a new skill that could make money. The question I keep asking myself is, "How much will I regret it if I don't do it? Can I live with never knowing if I should have tried?" I think the money is worth taking a chance knowing full well that I may never get a voice over job or that I may never be wildly successful at it. I think success depends on how motivated you are. I think if I keep going and don't give up, I could actually do this at least part-time.
I spoke to the instructor on the phone today. She asked if voice overs work was something I had wanted for a while or not. I said it's actually a relatively new interest that I'm exploring. I suggested the part-time idea because she had mentioned it in c\ass. I told her I have a full-time job with medical benefits (and I'm sure she could hear Nathaniel yelling in the background). I said I'd keep my job and do voice overs on the side to see how it goes. If I make it, I can quit the job I hate. If I can't support myself on it, at least I'll have something on the side that makes money and that I can look forward to at the end of my hated work day. She said she thought that was a very wise decision and also very possible and workable.
So I've called her back and said I want to be included in the invitation only class. I'm wondering if I'm crazy. Actually taking a step to do something is very sobering compared to the wild idealistic flights of fancy that you go through just hoping and dreaming about it. However, if I don't try, I'll never ever know and I will always wonder. I see this is as my chance to branch out, whether or not it pans out in the future.
The friends whose idea it was to be voice actors are miserable. They are sitting in very comfortable paying jobs that they despise. They curse every morning they wake up. They WANT so badly to make a change into voice acting. They talk about it. They dream about it. They never make a move toward making it happen. I love the concept of my job. I love the meaning my job has, but I am sick and tired of the daily grind of my job. I am doing what it takes to make environmental protection happen. In most cases I'm finding that it has nothing to do with environmental protection. It's just negotiating with money about how badly you'll allow them to harm the environment because my department doesn't have the authority to say "no." It's frustrating and fruitless. I hate all the responsibility dumped on me with no training and little guidance. I don't have the experience or the skills to make the decisions I'm being told to make, and my ass is on the line as well as the Department's. We're often sued for some thing or another. I'm dreading the day I'm in the centre of a lawsuit. I'm currently being gently reprimanded because an ex-commissioner's consulting project on an agricultural DITCH has not taken precedence over my actually important and time sensitive work regarding sucking water out of the rivers and killing threatened species. I feel new and clueless every day no longer how long I've been there. My mentor left to another job in the Department because she said she felt like that every day after 10 years on the job. I've just about had it. I show up to work only because I still care about the environment, but moreso because I have a baby to support. I want to find another method of supporting my child. If nothing else, maybe voice overs could lead to a college savings for my son in the future. LIke I said, I have to TRY.
I'm not harboring hopes of becoming the voice of a national ad campaign (and, in fact, I don't have the voice for that kind of thing. The key to success is figuring out what markets want your type of voice and target those). I'm not hoping to become successful or rich. I just want to explore something that is compelling to me. I just hope I can justify the money to myself later :-)
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
sore
hopeful
complacent![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
apathetic
sad
amused
curious
geeky