If there's one piece of advice I would give younger me upon arriving in LA, it would be GET INTO VOICEOVER.
At the time, I thought it was a small, ultra-competitive community, tough to break into, required technical skills and equipment I didn't have, and was a different kind of acting than I'd ever done before. And all of that was, to some extent, true.
But here's what's also true; there is a TON of voice work out there; an actor's range is way broader in voice work because what you look like doesn't matter; the field is flooded with people with great voices and no acting training so they really need good actors; the technical stuff has become way more affordable and user-friendly in recent years; and much of the work involves hanging out at home in soft, stretchy, comfortable clothes. Sure beats driving across town at 4 o'clock on a Friday in a bridesmaid's dress for a commercial audition.
Even better, LA is bursting with resources for actors looking to get into voiceover, and that's what this post is all about. Here are a few of my favorites. (I don't get any kickbacks for mentioning them. I just think they're great.):
- The Don LaFontaine Voice Over Lab - Don LaFontaine is the voice you hear in your head when you think of a blockbuster movie trailer. The Lab that bears his name is a state-of-the art studio run by the SAG Foundation offering recording services, workshops, seminars and classes, all free to SAG/AFTRA members (and available to non-members at low cost.) In the orientation alone, I went from feeling utterly clueless about audio engineering to 'I can totally do this', and already have plans to go back to learn more about editing, work out in the booth, and lots more. For free. Amazing.
- Voice Over Experts Podcast - Simply put, this is a quick, easy, also-free way to get your brain thinking like a voice actor. Throw it on in the car a few times a week, and you'll start getting to know the lingo, techniques and people that populate the world of voice work.
- The VO Dojo - I met Tish Hicks through the LA theater community and knew she was a VO pro, so when I decided to finally jump in, she was my first call. Her workshops and classes strike a great balance between the creative and technical, she specializes in taking actors from newbie to working pro, and her students have formed an amazing community of ideas and support.
- The Voice Over Resource Guide - Basically a phone book for voice over. (People still know what a "phone book" is, right?) Studios, agents, classes, demos, and more. Bookmark it now and have it forever.
Incidentally, this post is one of approximately a bazillion 'how to get into voiceover' articles on the internet, each filled with links to stuff like this, so feel free to poke around and see what else you can find. Or if you're prone to overwhelm, don't. The point is just to find out if voice over might be something you want to explore. And if you're already doing voice over but haven't thoroughly explored these resources, do!
I finally got into voice over in 2011, and it feels like I added a whole new wing to my career-mansion. I got my skills in order, recorded a demo, got an agent, built a home studio, started auditioning regularly, booked some work, and as a bonus, now have a whole bunch of technical and creative skills I can also use in my on-camera career.
And it can all be done in yoga pants. There's no higher endorsement than that.