Voices carry into career opportunities

[Tami]

I know this is an older article, but I feel that it carries alot of value in regards to career information.

Voices carry into career opportunities
Making the sounds behind animated characters can provide a solid living for actors

Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun
[url=\"http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=7ae48ce8-8570-4d69-a24f-cb785d96daaf\"]Published: Saturday, February 11, 2006[/url]

Vancouver's thriving animation and video game industries have a growing need for people who can make a pretty good living being anonymous. They are the voices of the characters.

Voice-over actors come to the studio in their street clothes and, script in hand, act their roles in front of microphones, their voices as animated as the characters they represent. They have a plenty fun at their jobs, which can pay as much as $50,000 for one television series if they have a recurring role.

The industry is constantly on the lookout for new talent.

Lana Carson, president of [url=\"http://www.voiceboxproductions.com/\"]Voicebox Productions[/url] -- which, along with [url=\"http://www.bltproductions.ca/\"]BLT Productions[/url], does most of the voice-over work in Vancouver -- says the talent pool in the Lower Mainland has more than doubled in the past three years, but there are plenty of opportunities to get in the door.

"We're always looking for new voices and to bring in new people, because that's what sells our company," says Carson, whose company has a stable of 200 voice-over actors. "The more versatility in voices we can offer clients, the better we'll do."

Tanya Taylor, production manager for BLT Productions, which uses more than 100 regular voice-over actors, says the industry needs more people.

"The talent pool here is strong, but the pool is small," says Taylor. "It's a great industry for people to get into."

Both Voicebox and BLT look after entire productions. Networks or studios will contact them, and they put together the pieces: hiring the crew, voice-over actors and booking the studios. Actors generally work 9-5 days, and work with a voice director.

Anyone interested in this work has to be a good actor and must be consistent when doing a voice or an accent.

"I'm looking for versatility and originality," says Terry Klassen, a voice-over veteran and voice director for current series PUCCA, Transformers and Ed, Edd & Eddy. "Consistency is a huge part of it. You need to stay on character."

Voice-over actors must be able to project. Theatre experience is a plus, because stage actors know how to be expressive, and can nail things in one take.

"When you're in front of a microphone, you really need to project," says Taylor. "When you're on camera, you have all these subtleties with your face movements. "With voice-over, everything has to come through with your voice."

Another plus is the ability to do multiple voices, which gives more work to the actor and can save the production company money.

Klassen uses the analogy of kids reading aloud in class. You have those who read in monotones, and those who are overly perky. Then you have the kid who commands your attention and makes you listen to the story.

"Those are the people we're looking for," says Klassen.

Other opportunities for voice-over artists include commercials, walla (human sound effects, such as voices in a crowd) and voice chips for merchandise ("A lot of times the talent makes much more money on the merchandising than they do on the animation," says Carson).

However, the main work is in animated movies and TV series and video games.

Those with career aims in this field who have never acted should take some acting lessons, and everyone should take a voice workshop from someone in the business. There are several Vancouver voice-over actors who do workshops, including Cathy Weseluck, Trevor Devall and Michael Dobson, and students are advised to do a 1-on-1 workshop with an instructor.

The Union of B.C. Performers, whose members do most of the voice-over work in the city, have different pay rates for voice-over artists. Someone who lands the part of a regular character in a TV series will make more than $1,000 per episode and, depending on the number of episodes in a series, can earn $20,000 to $50,000 for one series.

"Many of the voice actors in Vancouver have two or three series going at one time," says Carson. "In the last three years in particular, a lot of people have made their living solely on voice-over."

Both Voicebox and BLT accept demos, preferably a tape or CD, from prospective talent, who must be able to go beyond the demo in the studio.

Last week, Klassen received a demo from a young actor who, he says, "blew me away." He doesn't have a role for him at the moment, but he will likely use him on a future project.