The Role of the Amatuer in the Voice Acting Industry

Stephanie Ciccarelli, the primary public voice (no pun intended) of voices.com, recently broached the topic of establishing an amateur tradition in the voice over industry in a post on her Facebook.com profile. I quickly became engrossed in the resulting online conversation. While attempting to add my comments to those already posted on her Facebook page, I realized that I had more to say on the subject than could be conveniently written in that forum. So here are some my musings on the topic.

One of the first questions asked in response to Stephanie's post addressed what is meant by "amateur tradition." While pondering this, I realized that there are basically two elements of the definition of amateur that concern us: why and how.

Most formal definitions have an entry that reads similar to this: "a person who engages in a study, sport or activity for pleasure rather than financial profit or professional reasons." Many of us are aware that the root of the word comes from a French term that means "to love" or "one who loves." This is the why element, the underlying motivation for engaging in an endeavor.

Let me illustrate this with a personal example. I studied theater and classical voice extensively in college, but ultimately decided not to pursue either as a professional career. However, I am still very active in the performing arts, both as a community theater actor and as an classical vocalist. Because of my innate talent and subsequent training I am capable of presenting professional-quality performances, yet I still consider myself an amateur (or semi-professional at most, since I am occasionally paid for my singing). This does not speak to the quality of the performance, only to the fact that I do not attempt to derive any substantial income from my ventures. I perform onstage out of love for the art, not to make a living.

Voice acting, though, has become something different now. Even as an novice voice actor who has spent far more money getting into the industry than I have gotten out of it yet, I consider myself a professional for the simple fact that this is a business. Yes, I love what I do, but my primary motivation is to provide a service for a client in exchange for payment. Because I want to be paid well, I strive to provide the highest quality service possible. And this leads us to the second element: how.

Love for an endeavor does not necessarily translate to a sufficient ability to enact it as well as others. Thus we have the following subsidiary definition: "a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity." And herein lies our trouble.

As professionals, it is not the talented amateur who records a few projects that threatens us, any more than the community theater around the corner is a serious threat to the income of the actors in the professional company downtown. What we are fighting against is amateurishness. We don't want someone to come along and present an inferior service or product and call it voice acting. That is an affront to our pride in our craft.

I think most of us in the voice acting industry are a combination of the professional and the amateur. We make our livings with what we do, but we also love our work, and we take pride in the professionalism with which we approach it and the quality of the product we provide.

So what is the role of the amateur in our industry? I think it is two-fold because there are two kinds of amateur: the rookie and veteran. The rookies are those who are curious about our craft and want to learn more. We need this kind of amateur because they are the stock from which new professionals--much like myself--arise to refresh our industry.

And to keep that dreaded amateurishness from creeping into our craft, we need to remember the second class of amateur: the veteran--those of us who are working professionals who love what we do and want to preserve its rich tradition. It is the role of the veteran to protect the quality of our art, and we do that by being a mentoring resource for those who are inexperienced.

That is what the amateur tradition in voice over really is: the effort to both preserve and renew a craft we love.

Hi, I'm a Voice Actor!

"Hi, my name is Joseph, and I am a voice actor."

Some might say that the previous statement is somewhat presumptuous. After all, I don't have a degree in communications or an official certificate hanging on my wall. I've never worked in radio. I have never been hired to record a single commercial or narration. I don't even have a demo to play for you (yet).

So how can I claim to be a voice actor? I recall reading some advice from a veteran voice actor to VO newbies like me. The point was essentially this: don't wait until you finally get a demo made, or get that first gig, or get your home studio put together, or whatever other benchmark you can think of. Being a voice actor is, at least in the beginning, is more a state of mind than a state of work. Someone who seriously pursues becoming a voice actor becomes one when the choice is made and the action begins.

Case is point: I have thought about getting into voice overs for years. My father was in radio when I was young, and continued to occasionally get some work as a voice over artist while I was young even after his primary career changed to a different field. Consequently, I have been fascinated with radio. I don't know how many times over the years I was alternately teased about or received compliments on my "announcer voice." So I knew I had some inherent talent.

I also have a strong background in performance art. I studied classical voice performance and theater in college, earned a degree in music, and have nearly 20 years of amateur stage experience and more than five years as a semi-professional classical vocalist. This has confirmed that I most likely have the talent and skills necessary to be successful in the field.

And so I found myself, now in my mid-30's, thinking how much I would really like to get into doing voice over work. Not actually doing anything about it, mind you, other than occasionally asking people I encountered from local radio stations about it. Just thinking and dreaming.

I was NOT a voice actor.

Last fall I decided that if I was really serious about this dream, I ought to put some serious work into investigating the field, so I signed up to take an introductory class on voice acting at a local community college. I started doing a lot of research online about how to become a voice actor. I even started profiles on several voice over community websites.

I attended that introductory class on October 23, 2008, and it really confirmed my interest both my interest and my belief that I could be successful. By this time I was seriously thinking about spending some money on getting some training with a voice coach and had begun looking at several programs. I was sure that I had what it took... I just wasn't sure I had the money yet to get started. Someday though... someday very soon.

But I was still not a voice actor.

That all changed on the afternoon of Oct. 28, 2008. I didn't realize it for a few more weeks, but that was the moment when I transitioned from being an aspiring voice actor to an actual voice actor. I still hadn't taken any classes, I hadn't gained any sudden experience or education, and I certainly hadn't gotten any work in the field. So what was the difference?

I made a simple choice, and more importantly, I took action on the choice. I wasn't just going to think or dream about being a voice actor, or take a few classes to make sure if I really had what it took. I simply decided I was going to become a voice actor, and so I became one.

The particular action I took involved in making a substantial financial investment in a voice coaching and demo production program. That was the first step in a very exciting journey that I have now been on for a little over four months. But it was the fact that I stopped dreaming and started doing that really changed what I was.

As I mentioned above, it took me some time to realize that it was this moment that was the catalyst of change in my status. And that status can change again as soon as I stop acting on my choice. But until--and only if--that happens, I will be a voice actor.