What does putting the cart before the horse mean in voiceover?

Many hopeful actors expect that right out of the gate – perhaps after taking their first workshop series or getting their first demo made, they’ll already have a client base, a healthy income, agency representation, and an “in” at major studios. Maybe they’ll even expect to start doing live appearances and autograph signings. Some introductory classes unfortunately play into this mindset as well, promising a fast road to a lucrative career if hopeful actors just sign up for their coaching and demo packages!

However, expecting to achieve any of those things so soon is wholly unrealistic. Sure, you might have that one friend who boasts about having made a five-figure income in their first year of doing VO, but those people are the exception and not the rule. The reality is that it can take many years to get to where you want to be in your career, and rarely ever does it happen overnight.

The importance of groundwork

The biggest example of putting the cart before the horse in voiceover involves aspiring voice actors wanting to immediately jump to their idea of “success” or insisting that there must be some way they can bypass all the traditional steps and just “get their foot in the door” or “be given a chance.” They may have never taken a single acting class or booked a single acting role, yet they’re already asking how to get into an anime studio, how to get an agent, whether they should move to LA, how to start doing conventions, etc. Additionally, they tend to overemphasize the idea of networking and marketing themselves, without yet having the skills to back it up.

Remember that ACTING is the most important part of voice acting, and anything else is secondary. In today’s ultra-competitive market, you must have your acting fundamentals in place before anything else.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, and setting goals for yourself can give you something to work towards in your career! But you can’t rush the journey in hopes of arriving at the destination.

How skipping the fundamentals can get you off on the wrong foot

Many newer voice actors seem to place an intense focus on marketing above all else. They’ll get fancy graphics and a fancy website, create social media accounts promoting themselves, and talk about their ready-to-go home studios. They may be even be charming and good at networking, resulting in potential audition opportunities by way of making friends easily.

However, if you listen to demos or auditions from these actors, the simple fact of the matter is that the performance isn’t always up to par. Marketing yourself well may get you auditions, but it isn’t going to substitute for acting chops when it comes to actually booking those auditions. You can even have an impressive demo complete with flashy sound effects and music, but if you can’t deliver when it comes to your actual reads, it’s not going to get you as far as you like.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to “fake it till you make it”, it’s crucial not to overlook the very core of voice acting, which is acting. This means going back to the very basics: the fundamentals of acting and scene study. There is a reason that people with theatre and/or on-camera backgrounds tend to do well in VO, and that’s because they’ve already had to learn the fundamentals of playing a character believably. There is still that matter of having to transition over to emoting with only your voice rather than your face and body, but good acting instincts are something that can’t simply be glossed over with a nice-sounding voice or a trendy Twitter banner.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to put your best foot forward, but if you are new to the industry, your priority should be learning to be a good performer, first and foremost. Marketing is important, but it’s not a substitute for being able to deliver when it comes to auditions and especially being brought in for a job. If you desperately try to rush the process, it almost certainly won’t do you any favors long-term.

“But I just wanna skip the small jobs and go right to the big stuff”

There are actors who, while barely having booked a single job, insist that they want to “skip everything else” and immediately jump into booking AAA games or pre-lay animation. They may scoff at the idea of working on lower-budget jobs such as explainer videos or localized media such as live-action dubbing and act as if those jobs are beneath them, which is not only insulting to the actors and crew who DO work on these types of jobs day to day, but also comes across as arrogant, as if their own skills are so superior to everyone else’s that they don’t need to “pay their dues” and work their way up like their peers and seniors did.

It’s okay to aim for the top, but do not expect to start at the very top and then get disappointed when you don’t. Sure, everyone wants to book lead roles and make a great living right out of the gate, but try to be humble and open to considering any opportunity, big or small, so long as it’s something you feel comfortable doing and the rates/terms are not exploitative. Keep in mind that actors may work for very many years to even be at the point where they are able to audition for “big league” types of opportunities, much less book them. Enjoy the ride along the way and take pride in every job no matter how small…you never know what it might lead to in the future.

If a peer or mentor says I’m not ready yet, is that a form of gatekeeping?

While there are surely some outlying instances of someone putting down another’s skill just to be unkind, if someone – especially an industry mentor or a peer whom you are close to – tells you honestly that they don’t think you’re ready to submit to an agency or studio yet or that you need a bit more training before getting a demo made, chances are they’re actually doing you a favor.

The fact of the matter is, first impressions matter in this business. It’s not impossible to come back from a bad first impression, but it’s significantly harder than if you wait until you’re able to make a good one. You may think that if your friend could just walk you into a studio or agency they work with, you’d start getting work, and after all, how hard could it be?

Here’s how this can potentially go wrong.
Let’s imagine Actor A has an acquaintance, Actor B, who is still quite early on in their journey. While Actor B has some potential, it’s clear they still need a bit more training, and their reads aren’t quite competitive yet. Nevertheless, Actor B asks for a recommendation to an anime dubbing studio, and Actor A hesitantly agrees because they want to help out a friend. Because the studio trusts Actor A, they agree to bring Actor B in to try them out on bit parts. However, Actor B is nervous and has trouble delivering their lines properly, and is also inexperienced in taking direction, causing the director to have difficulty getting the performance they need. Because Actor B still lacks acting training and experience, they have trouble connecting with the copy, and the director needs to ask for a lot of takes until they finally land on an option that’s “good enough”. Overall, the director comes out of the session feeling frustrated at how much time was wasted and even leaves with a bit of a negative impression of Actor A for recommending someone who wasn’t ready. Sure, Actor B technically walked away with an anime credit, but is it likely they’d be called back again?

Please understand that if someone you trust tells you that they don’t feel comfortable putting you forward yet for a certain opportunity, it’s almost never because they’re trying to gatekeep or sabotage you (and it’s important to note that fellow actors often aren’t even the position to give someone a referral anyway.) Opinions are subjective, and just because someone tells you they don’t think you’re ready for something doesn’t make that the singular truth, but it’s worth listening with an open mind on how they think you can improve.

What is meant by “fundamentals”?

Because acting is the most important part of voice acting, “fundamentals” refer to acting basics that everyone who wishes to become a professional actor should learn first and foremost. These include things like character analysis and scene study, how to break down a script and portray a role believably. Traditional theatre courses can be an excellent way of learning and practicing one’s fundamentals – even if they’re not VO specific – but there are some voice acting classes that focus on this type of thing, too.

While formal acting training is ideal if possible, there are many ways you can still learn on your own if money is tight. Watch YouTube videos, read articles, and listen to podcasts from reputable teachers and listen to experienced actors talk about their process. It’s crucial to note that there is no singular “correct” process for acting—there are various schools of traditional acting methods, and many working actors end up mixing and matching with what works for them.

Independent practice is highly valuable, too. This includes reading out loud, listening and observing existing performances in media, recording yourself on your own time and participating in collaborative online projects. While it’s understandable to want to jump in to making money right away, it’s difficult to compete in higher-level paid projects if you are still learning how to act. It doesn’t mean you can’t try of course, but don’t discount things like hobby projects if you’re still learning.

The perception of success and what it means to be successful

A big part of why new actors put the cart before the horse has to do with chasing the idea of “success”. The idea of success looks different for everyone—for some people it might mean financial freedom, for others notoriety or recognition, or for others it may be more about achieving one’s “bucket list goals”. Therefore, there is no singular definition of what makes a successful voice actor, because everyone has their own idea of what constitutes success.

The illusion that everyone else is doing better than you

If you’re feeling down about your lack of progress, you may look at your friends and peers and think “they’re all making it, why can’t I?” But keep in mind that you only really hear the success stories. You don’t hear about all the people who wanted to be actors but ultimately gave up for one reason or another. And when working actors experience disappointment and setbacks, you’ll rarely hear about that either because most people feel it would reflect badly on them to talk about these frustrations in a public setting. But you would be surprised at how when the public-facing mask is off, even actors you look up to are dealing with a lot of the same insecurities that you are.

According to Michael Schwalbe, newer actors aren’t necessarily facing increased pressure to be successful, but rather feeling more pressure. “Nobody is pressuring new talent to be successful immediately outside of their own head. But the pervasive highlight reels of followed social media accounts fosters a severe impostor syndrome, while also ingraining into new actors’ heads a hivemind of ‘Well, if I wanna be successful, I’ll just talk, behave, and perform like the successful people on here.‘ And Twitter success is an almost completely irrelevant metric of actual success, so they’re all modeling themselves after the wrong thing.”

Even if you practice mindfulness when it comes to being happy for others and not comparing yourself, the competitive nature of the business can mean that sometimes you can’t help but slip. “I can understand the frustration some may feel if they are going through a dry spell and are seeing “victory after victory” for someone else. I don’t think it’s right or healthy to be jealous, but again I can understand the frustration,” says Michael Malconian.

Dave Bisson, who works as both a voiceover actor and voiceover coach, emphasizes the need for real human connection in order for actors to understand all sides of the business—the good, the bad and the ugly. “When we see only the successes and never the struggles or hard work, we assume that everyone but us is successful, and that it comes easily.”

Social media sets unrealistic expectations for success

Social media is easily the biggest catalyst for why actors put the cart before the horse. Sites like Twitter/X and Instagram are often used as publicity tools, meaning that actors who use them tend to curate their posts to create the type of public image they want their friends and followers to see. While constantly posting about work can be obnoxious, some people feel compelled to do this in order to show clients and casting directors that they are booking. “When several people post about successes, you feel like you’re lagging behind, but the truth is that you’re only getting a snippet of their journey,” says Caitlyn Elizabeth. “There’s this feeling of ‘I have to be posting about my successes constantly’ or you’re not successful.”

But these posts don’t always tell the full story. That booth selfie your friend posts every single week might be on the same recurring project that has a weekly schedule. The twelve auditions they bragged about doing might have all been characters for the same one or two projects, or cattle-call auditions on a pay-to-play site. The huge client they boast about working for might have been something that was outsourced to a third-party company for an app or internal employee training course. The bothersome trend of “vagueposting” means that you can be constantly comparing yourself to what it seems like other people are doing, without actually knowing the full story. “I think the Internet plays a huge factor in distorting your views of how fast you should be achieving things,” says A.J. Beckles.

There are some actors who are fantastic at marketing themselves to social media and/or conventions, but don’t actually work as much as you think they do…and meanwhile, there are actors who are constantly booked but don’t have the time to post about it 24/7 because they’re busy actually working! Focus on your own path first and foremost, but if social media starts negatively affecting your mental health too much, it’s always okay to log off for a bit.

Success is not linear

Any actor’s career will have ups and downs. You may have a great few months where it feels like you’re constantly booking and achieving your goals, and then the next few months it feels like work has all but dried up completely. Even very established actors have these ebbs and flows, despite what it may seem on social media—-the saying goes that it’s either a drought or a flood.

Nazeeh Tarsha cautions aganst actors thinking they’ve ‘made it’ after their first booking. “You’re in for a world of disappointment as you might not book again for several months. Be proud of the accomplishments you make, but understand that your accomplishments don’t mean you jump the gun and quit your job and just go full time.” Many actors juggle day jobs or side jobs to help pay the bills, and there’s no shame in having (or returning to!) another job while you continue to pursue acting work.

Being patient is important, not just for your career path but for your own sanity. “There will always be work to be had,” says Jordan Dash Cruz. “Whether it’s now, 6 months from now, or 10 years from now, there will be acting work that needs to be done.”

If you expect your career trajectory to constantly be moving upward, you will set yourself up for disappointment. “Goals should be short term and realistic, and each meeting of goals should be celebrated as success,” says CB Droege. Aim high, but also temper your expectations and understand that slow periods are part of the reality of the business.

You can be successful without being popular

It is perhaps ironic that the type of voiceover job which gets the most notoriety – anime dubbing – also pays some of the lowest rates of anything in the industry. It is easy to look at “anime stars” who have big fanbases and do lots of public appearances and think they must be very well-off, but that is not always the case. Many of these actors rely heavily on convention sales to supplement the low pay and on-call schedule of dubbing work, and while the idea of traveling the country to meet fans sounds glamorous, the constant travel can take a toll on both one’s physical and mental health.

Meanwhile, actors who work regularly in more lucrative genres such as commercial and promo can make a good living and often even work from home, yet chances are you would have never heard of them because this type of work isn’t usually credited and doesn’t tend to garner fan recognition. You can absolutely work towards specializing in the type of VO you’re passionate about, but just keep in mind that career success isn’t measured by how many fans or followers you have.

The unfortunate reality that some clients care about publicity further pushes actors to care about their social media numbers, despite it being something that they shouldn’t focus on early in their careers. “It’s an unhealthy mindset, but an understandable one considering the day and age we live in,” says Jordan Dash Cruz. “And for those who aren’t social media savvy or who don’t post often (or just don’t care), it’s a legitimate worry that they may not be considered because they may not promote the show as heavily or because they aren’t in the public eye much. Some may feel as if they HAVE to post or risk being forgotten.”

Having some type of social presence can of course help you, but a prime example of putting the cart before the horse is focusing on your social branding and follower counts ahead of working on your acting skills. While it’s true that stunt casting happens from time to time, stunt casting is often limited to influencers and content creators who have hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of followers and are already famous for something else. Unless your goal is also to be an influencer, trying to get voice acting roles by hoping you’ll eventually become well known enough for stunt casting is a huge gamble that almost certainly won’t serve you as well as if you just pursue being a voice actor from the start.

The good news is that for every project where clients care about marketing factors, there are plenty of others that don’t. After all, even the big-name actors had to start somewhere. Plus, online presence becomes far less important when it comes to projects outside of the anime and JRPG sphere. And at the end of the day, good actors—-well-known or not—-eventually do get noticed in the casting room.

Age is just a number

Age was also noted as a contributing factor to feeling impatient. “There are some very young actors that “make it”, landing bigger roles quickly, and that can deflate the ego of a newcomer,” says Mike Paine. Caitlyn Elizabeth adds, “My mom is an elementary school music teacher, and has first graders that are hoping to be YouTubers basically as soon as possible. Kids are getting brand deals at age 5, so it really feels like the pressure is on. The pressure is there because we let it be, rather than enjoying the process and journey of it all.”

The good news is that unlike on-camera acting where your physical appearance can easily “age you out” of roles, it’s so much less of a factor in voice acting—-for example, there are plenty of middle-aged women who still voice young children and teens! While it’s natural for one’s voiceprint to shift slightly over time as they age, there will always be roles for virtually any age and voice type, and many casting directors are focused less on the sound of one’s voice and more about how well they can embody the character with an authentic performance.

While some people do start at a young age and therefore may have an advantage, it’s never really too late to take steps toward achieving your goal. Keep in mind, too, that people progress at different rates. You could accomplish in one year what someone else accomplishes in three to five years, or vice versa. It’s easy to get stuck on wanting to hit certain milestones—-“by age 30, I want to accomplish THIS much”, and while it’s good to have goalposts you want to hit, don’t stress if it takes a little longer than anticipated.

Overnight success is usually a myth

If you’re feeling insecure or dissatisfied with your current trajectory, it can seem like everyone else is “making it” overnight while you’re stuck grinding away and barely moving. Yet again, this is exacerbated by social media. Michael Malconian notes that the environment on such sites tends to foster “impatience with one’s own pace, envy at the success of others, fear that one will never ‘catch up’ and continue to miss out on the constant flow of opportunities, and bitterness that one is not as far in one’s career as they feel they should be compared to others.”

But it’s also important to remember that even actors who seem like overnight successes rarely are. It may seem like someone is coming up out of nowhere and suddenly booking everything, but chances are they’ve been preparing and honing their craft for years in the background. Just because you haven’t heard of a specific voice actor before until one day they’re “suddenly in everything”, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t been acting and auditioning for a very long time prior to landing those popular roles. And while some actors may downplay the grind by claiming they just “fell into” VO, it’s quite rare in this day and age compared to decades ago. Jordan Dash Cruz notes that “there is always the VERY RARE case of immediate success, but realistically that’s highly unlikely.”

The rush for demos and agents

Quickly, without thinking too hard about it: What do you think is necessary to be a “successful” voice actor?

Chances are what comes to mind is having good demos, a great home studio, and agency representation, among other things. While these factors are obviously important, it’s easy to get in over your head about what your priorities should be, particularly when first starting off.

How soon do you need to worry about getting a demo done?

Traditional advice has been “don’t make a demo until you’re ready”, but especially with the rise of indie games and the social media casting sphere in general, there are a lot of jobs in the indie – and sometimes even hobby! – realm that require a demo of some kind in order to even be considered.

A.J. Beckles felt this all-or-nothing advice hindered some of his early progress when it came to online castings. “I can’t tell you how many casting calls I had to skip out on at the beginning of my career,” he says. He adds “You can absolutely make a demo that shows what you can do for indie clients…but do not send that demo to an agent.”

A “starter demo” is generally okay in the interim for the online market only. “My first demo was self-produced and recorded, and it worked for what I required as I was looking only for amateurish work. As you evolve as a VO, so will your demo,” says Nathan Hunt.

But when it comes to submitting for the “big leagues”, you can easily end up wasting thousands of dollars on a demo that sounds nice but doesn’t cover up the fact that your acting skills aren’t competitive yet. “Get a coach, get criticism from a professional, and be objective,” says Nazeeh Tarsha. “On that note, I actually think that the demo makers of the industry need to be more scrutinous. Part of the problem is that they’re more eager to take money from people rather than be honest about whether or not people are actually ready to get those demos.”

If you reach out to a professional demo producer who tells you you’re not quite ready to have a demo made yet, you might understandably feel offended. But they’re actually doing you a favor by not sending you out into the industry with something that won’t serve you properly. There are plenty of demo producers out there who will be happy to take your money regardless, but without having your best interests at heart. Jesse Hawford recalls that when first starting out, a demo producer kindly but honestly said “not yet”, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise: “I think back to what if I ended up somewhere else with a bad class and a bad demo and out $2,000. These types of things would have been a huge setback for me and I would have ended up with a lot of dollars out for little return.”

A bad demo can be worse than no demo

If you slap together a hasty homemade demo and send it to major studios, agencies or casting directors, this can actually hurt your chances more than help you. While these types of demos are fine for the online hobby market, be warned that if you send a prominent casting director a demo that sounds sloppy or amateur, their first impression of you may be that you are not a professional or competent actor. While casting directors listen to hundreds of demos and tend to forget most of them, if the demo is egregiously bad, it might even stick in their mind, and this negative first impression can be hard to shake later even after you’ve improved as an actor.

Keep in mind that just because you pay a lot of money for a top demo producer doesn’t mean that your demo is automatically pro-level – if your acting is still not there yet, all the fancy mixing in the world can’t cover up a subpar performance. “I walked face-first into a free demo event I wasn’t ready for. I did book work with it but then instead of something that worked for me, it became something I had to work around,” cautions Gustav Humo. While it can feel frustrating to miss out on opportunities for the time being, play the long game and submit for those opportunities when you know you’re ready.

In regards to creating a starter demo in the meantime, Michael Schwalbe offers the following perspective: “A homemade demo can be made at any time. It’ll just probably suck. And it’s fine to suck. Better to suck and have something to submit for indie projects than not be able to submit. The traditional advice should be “don’t have a professionally-produced demo made until you’re ready,” because otherwise you’re throwing a lot of money in the trash. Now, don’t go sending your homemade demos to an agency or anything though.” As someone who also reviews a lot of demo reels as part of casting for various projects, Michael additionally made this thread on common demo pitfalls.

Generally speaking, it’s best to invest your money on classes and/or coaching first, and only get a professional demo made when you believe it will serve you well in your career. It’s common for one’s skills to improve quite rapidly during the first few years, so you don’t want to invest all your savings in a demo you’ll immediately outgrow. David Winter illustrates how this can end up being a costly mistake: “My first commercial demo was made before I was ready for a commercial demo. I ended up replacing it fairly quickly once I was booking commercial work via auditions.”

Vocal range and “I have to do EVERYTHING!”

Versatility is helpful especially if you plan to do “utility work” (where a small handful of actors are hired to cover a bunch of “incidental” one-off roles such as NPCs or unnamed background characters). However, many actors prioritize vocal range above all else when starting out, and feel they must be able to portray every archetype imaginable to show that they have “range”.

In today’s market, especially for characters who have a major role in the story, decision makers would often prefer to cast an actor who is extraordinary at one particular thing over an actor who is mediocre at a bunch of different things. Diversifying your skills can still be a great supplemental thing to work on, but it’s also important to be aware of what you do WELL and focus on that first before trying to expand to being able to do everything else under the sun.

The rush to get an agent

Rushing to get demos made and then immediately rushing to get an agent is so often seen as the “success pipeline” that actors can feel bewildered when it doesn’t pan out the way they were hoping. “I fell prey to the notions initially as well,” admits Caitlyn Elizabeth.

Many actors understandably feel that they have invested in equipment, gotten a demo produced, learned and practiced acting…only to find themselves stuck when it comes to actually getting audition opportunities. A lot of veteran actors and teachers will tell you that the logical next step is to get an agent so you can start booking work. Questions come up often in VAC server from people wanting to jump into getting an agent despite having little work experience. But getting an agent is extremely difficult, especially with agencies scaling back their rosters and the market becoming increasingly flooded with talented actors. When you send out lots of agency applications or email outreaches only to hear nothing back, you may feel discouraged and wonder if all the time and money you invested was just a waste.

Just like with trying to get a demo made too early, submitting to agencies or professional-level talent rosters before you’re ready can backfire. “It comes off as ambitious at best, and wildly unprofessional at worst,” warns Gustav Humo. “What newer talent don’t always realize is that they might be limiting their own opportunities by submitting to agencies without proper materials.”

It is important to note that being unrepresented does not make you a failure. Even talented and experienced actors get passed over all the time for any number of reasons. Maybe they already have too many people on their roster who sound like you. Maybe they think you’re a great actor, but wouldn’t be a great fit for their specific agency. Maybe they’re not even looking to represent anyone new right now.

The good news is that while having an agent can certainly be helpful, you don’t actually need one to start booking work. Many smaller nonunion projects book directly with talent or work through casting directors, studio talent rosters, pay-to-play sites, or even open casting calls on social media. There are successful actors who are able to work full-time without representation! “I’ve been in VO since 1987 and radio since 1988 but never had an agent,” says Mike Paine.

If you have competitive and professional marketing materials and you are a great actor, start researching ways to market yourself for auditions that don’t immediately require an agency. Once you start building up a resume of impressive credits, you will be more likely to be taken seriously by a prospective agent anyway.

Casting director & agent showcases

Yet another way a beginner actor might put the cart before the horse is by signing up for “showcase” workshops—an opportunity where you pay to read copy in front of a working casting director or agent to receive their feedback. These events can be highly beneficial for already-working actors who want to refine their reads or see what minor adjustments they might need to become competitive in an agency setting, and also serve as a chance to be seen by that particular industry professional.

While these opportunities may seem tempting for a complete beginner, a group class is usually a better investment. Agent and casting director showcases tend to move quickly, and the expectation is usually that you already have your acting fundamentals down and just need to narrow down your choices or dial in read styles for certain genres. If you’re newer, you will generally benefit from more detailed feedback that a one-off workout with a guest director won’t always provide.

Offering classes, coaching, and advice

Whether you are an established professional or a relative newcomer, your opinions and experience are valid, and can help other actors, too. That’s why we encourage actors at all stages in their careers to contribute to daily discussions on our Discord server. Offering advice is great as long as you remain mindful of the fact that your perspective is based on your own experience, and is only one of many.

However, the waters become muddied when actors take to social media to position themselves as an authority in the business and offer their opinions as the absolute truth, which can sometimes lead their peers astray. “It’s good to pass along solid info and advice, but I’ve notice with some newer actors, the moment they book a role that garners a bit of attention, they become scholars of VO and act as if they have every answer to every VO question known to man and will constantly post their own ‘advice’ or give career advice to others despite being somewhat new themselves,” says Jordan Dash Cruz.

This extends to classes and coaching, too. Sometimes after only a few years in the business and primarily working with one particular studio or client, actors will decide to try their hand at teaching or coaching others—often charging the same amount or even more as people who are decades their senior. While up-and-coming actors can still have valuable perspectives, their relative lack of diverse experience in the industry can sometimes mean they are passing along bad habits to students or unable to provide effective feedback.

There’s no definitive timeline for when someone is considered “ready” to teach or coach others – and even someone who is a great actor may not be a great teacher – but in general, if you are considering doing this, think about whether you truly believe your insight, experience and feedback are worth students paying money for at tihs point in your own career and journey. If not, this can be another form of putting the cart before the horse!

Financial matters

It is true that you need to spend money to make money when it comes to voiceover, but it’s important to invest your money wisely. Some people assume that if they immediately rush into buying expensive equipment and software, they will automatically be set up for voiceover! This is not true. Keep in mind the equipment and space is only one piece of the puzzle: the most important thing is still being a good actor.

Similarly, try not to fall into the trap of assuming that if you just spent money on one certain thing or the other, you’d magically be successful in the way you want to be. “I see many newer actors fall into the money pit of VO. Investing early in the Big Name mics, Big Name Demos, trying to chase agencies. And they barely know how to read off a script,” says Jesse Hawford. Hawford also notes that plenty of “getting started in VO” blogs and websites contain affiliate links to purchase gear, which can lead a hopeful actor down a path of unnecessary expenses for someone else’s benefit.

Equipment and booths

One way brand-new actors tend to put the cart before the horse is feeling like they must immediately invest gigantic sums of money in getting the fanciest microphone, a top-of-the-line audio interface, and a name-brand recording booth. While having a quality home studio is indeed important in the long run if you expect to work remotely with professional clients, your space and setup will likely be a work-in-progress over the years which you can update gradually as finances allow. “Don’t buy super expensive equipment when you first start—-heck, there are plenty of actors who work more than me that don’t have nearly as good equipment,” says A.J. Beckles.

It is important to note that even the most expensive, pro studio-grade microphone won’t magically make your acting sound better. High quality audio is of course more pleasant to listen to and can help your auditions sound more professional in terms of the overall sound, but it’s not going to fix a mediocre performance—the microphone can only capture what was recorded into it! Subpar audio quality can often be mitigated within reason, but it’s harder to fix poor acting! Many producers would prefer to work with a great actor whose setup needs a few adjustments than an actor with a great recording space who is still very green.

George Peter cautions up-and-coming actors about “spending money that they haven’t earned from the business yet. Now, it’s all fine and dandy if you want to do this, but it’s gonna save you a lot of money if you just wait and reinvest the money you earn into your setup until you are making solid money before getting something like a Neumann or a Whisper Room.”

Take advantage of free resources online to find recording equipment that fits your budget, as well as options to acoustically treat the space you’re in at the moment that won’t break the bank. The most important element of your setup is having a quiet space to record that is ideally free of room echo, reverb, and background noise, hiss or hum. Even if it’s not perfect to start, it can still serve you well in your own practice, auditions, and in online projects.

Pay-to-play sites

Pay-to-play casting sites are commonly lauded by marketing coaches as a quick and easy way to launch a lucrative voice acting career. But these sites are extremely competitive and overrun with talent, who are often forced to bid for low-paying jobs in hopes of making their membership fee back. “Most beginners don’t have the acting ability to be competitive on these sites but they spend huge yearly fees or regular monthly payments to jump in,” says Jesse Hawford, noting that actors at this stage would almost certainly be better served by classes or coaching to get to the level they need to be at to see returns.

Moving

If you’re interested in pursuing character work, you probably already know that the majority of this work requires or strongly prefers that actors live in an industry hub. But this doesn’t mean you should immediately rush to move to LA or Dallas—-if you’re not ready yet, don’t expect that living in the right place will mean work will magically fall in your lap. Nazeeh Tarsha notes that not only does moving not necessarily mean you’ll get work, “it doesn’t even mean you’ll get through a single door. Expect to fail. Brace for the worst as it’s going to be rough. Life is going to suck. Look up the scene, join online groups, become acquainted with things. Expect your move to result in a several year journey before anything happens. Plenty of people fall flat on their faces because this is a lot rougher than they’ve anticipated. I know more people that have quit than I do who have succeeded.”

While this may sound discouraging, you can maximize your chances at a career in your target market by being as prepared as possible. Before planning a major move, be sure to do everything you can in your current location first: learn and train as much as possible, practice and get experience in online projects, get professional demos and marketing materials. Having connections to studios, casting directors, and/or agents in your target market can be very helpful. If you have a lot of friends there who are actors, this can be helpful too, but don’t put people in an awkward position by asking them to walk you in if you don’t know them all that well. Get to know actors in the area and make friends naturally!

Keep in mind that there are a lot of freelance voiceover projects that can be recorded remotely in the meantime, too. While most anime and larger-scale video games do mandate in-person recording, there are plenty of other types of work that can be done from wherever you are currently located as long as you have a good home setup. Some actors who aren’t ready to move yet will even fly out to LA at their own expense for jobs that require it. Overall, it’s a good idea to do everything you realistically can in your current market before taking a big gamble on moving to a competitive (and expensive!) place like LA, Dallas or London.

A backup plan does not equate to failure or giving up

Many actors who are first making the jump to professional voiceover work, and/or are planning to move to a major market to pursue it, balk at the notion of getting a stable job to support themselves because they see it as a sign of weakness or failure. Maybe an older and more established actor they look up to said “well, I just dove right in without a safety net and never looked back!”

Sure, some people get lucky. But the reality is also that things are very different now than they were perhaps 20 years ago. The cost of living, especially in LA where most of the work is, is higher than ever. Again, it’s easy to see social media successes and feel discouraged when it seems like someone goes full-time after only a couple of years, but it’s also important to remember that everyone’s life circumstances are different, too. For example, a young person living with roommates in a low-cost area would have a much lower threshold of income needed to be “full-time” than a single parent supporting two kids in a major city.

Furthermore, the notion of full-time is different for everyone based on their lifestyle and needs. Actor A may be fine with having a long commute to studios, budgeting intensely for expenses, and living in a small apartment with other people in order to be a “full time voice actor”. Meanwhile, Actor B may make a decent living off VO, but prefer to keep a stable job on the side because they want to live in a bigger apartment by themselves, drive a nice car and treat themselves to nice things. Neither option is right or wrong because everyone has different preferences and priorities.

Remember what we said about a “flood or a drought”? CB Droege cautions that “going ‘full-time’ is not a permanent change. “An actor should expect to have highs and lows throughout their whole career. There will be periods of ‘full-time’ levels of activity, and lulls in that activity that might last for years. That’s normal. It’s always wise to have something to fall back on when needed.”

Having a “plan B” doesn’t mean that you’re settling for less. It means you’re being smart about your financial situation and making good decisions for your future by ensuring you can actually make a living while you pursue the field you ultimately want to make a living in. There is no shame in working jobs such as hospitality, retail, or manual labor to allow you flexibility for scheduling sessions while still earning an income. And there’s no set timeline or age as to when you should have “made it”; everyone’s journey is different.

Going full-time can take longer than expected

A.J. Beckles notes that there isn’t really an average timeline for when someone can expect to support themselves on acting work. “ Some people do this for a decade and can’t go full time; other people are really good at commercial reads and have been doing it for only a year and can go full time.”

Caitlyn Elizabeth says that her actual timeline is about 5 years. “I had only done a couple of VO internet projects prior to landing my first role. Then it was about a year or two of REALLY hitting the ground running with classes and workshops before I got a demo. I was going on the mic 5-7 days a week, 3-11 auditions a day (either practicing old copy or finding any audition I could) while holding down a full time job. From there it was more classes, asking for advice, going to workouts, and research.”

Nathan Hunt’s timeline was also about 5 years, but 2020 threw an unexpected curveball: “A few months after I made the switch, COVID hit and completely killed my local industry from which I got most of my work.”

Michael Schwalbe points out that the genre of work one is looking to do also plays a major factor in how easy it is to make a living. “Going full-time in audiobooks or corporate narration is much, much easier than going full-time in anime or videogames.” (Anime and video game work can eventually lead to more lucrative opportunities in the form of autograph signings at conventions, but this is largely based on luck and not guaranteed.)

“I don’t think there is a realistic time but rather a benchmark line,” says Nazeeh Tarsha. “It’s very generic but it boils down to money. For some, that happens in 1 year. For others 10. For others, never.”

Dave Bisson emphasizes the importance of the journey rather than just the destination, noting again how different everyone’s journey is. “I went full-time in 2014. Working backwards, I started aggressively pursuing VO as a career (4 hours a day advancing VO career + 9 hours of day job) in 2012. I started toying around with doing VO part-time for local TV & radio commercials in 2009. I started formal acting training in 2000. I unknowingly recorded my first audiobook (The Final Fantasy strategy guide) on cassette in 1992. Point is, it’s difficult for me to nail down exactly when my journey started. It might take 2 years, maybe 5, maybe 10. The important thing is that you are enjoying the journey, not burning yourself out, & know in your heart of hearts that you’re pursuing this career because it fulfills you, & not solely for financial or social reasons.”

I came across a website that says their class program will teach me everything I need to know to be successful in voiceover in a certain number of weeks. Is it really true you can’t rush the process?

Mathematically, the more time you have to devote to pursuing and practicing voiceover, the sooner overall you might expect to see growth and results. But the simple truth is that everyone progresses at different rates. No matter how much you are training, a good amount of what you’ll learn happens over time and on the job.

“Acting intensives” can often be beneficial, but do be aware of any course program that promises you’ll be ready for a demo or agent or be able to make lots of money by the time you complete your study with them. These types of classes often end up being “demo mills”, where they send the actor out into the world with a one-size-fits-all type of demo – whether they’re ready or not – and a false sense of confidence that because they completed this program, they’ll be able to get an agent or start making money right away. There are many factors that go into how quickly someone is able to progress: level and quality of training, whether or not that training is actually effective for you, how much and what type of practice you’re able to do individually, natural aptitude, availability of opportunities that fit your voice type and skill set, and of course…just plain old luck.

There seems to be a pervasive idea among beginners and aspiring voice actors that there must be some secret, magical way to skip all the preparation and training and just sneak in the back door with this One Weird Trick for success! According to Gustav Humo, beginners tend to, “subconsciously or otherwise, try and plan around having to do the everyday work. Almost as if asking questions ten steps ahead of where they’re at will be either relevant or a shortcut. The fastest way to get where you want to be will always be through, in a business like voice acting.”

Being patient can be challenging, especially when you feel like everyone else around you is already succeeding. But the industry isn’t going anywhere, and there will always be new opportunities!

What should your priorities be?

Crucial

• Foundational acting training
• Learning how to interpret a script and convey emotions and situations authentically
• Cold reading ability, proper diction, breath support
• Learning how to use your voice in a healthy and safe manner
• Getting some type of equipment – even rudimentary – for practice and hobby-tier auditions
• Independent practice; getting used to recording your voice and gaining confidence

Secondary (“when you’re ready”)

• Basic home studio setup (quiet sound-treated space, quality microphone and interface) sufficient for auditions and recording for entry-level projects
• Learning the basics of editing auditions and deliverables (gain control, cutting takes together, trimming silence and flubs, exporting in various formats, basic cleanup, etc.)
• Getting a demo made that is appropriate to your current level and goals
• Making a website for your voice work (once you have a demo)
• Independent submissions; basic direct marketing
• Private coaching
• Learn about the business side of voiceover (payment, contracts, studio etiquette, etc. – “Learning how to write an invoice and how to check a contract is something best done BEFORE you have to do it,” says David Winter.)
• Finding character archetypes that already suit you as well as others you’d like to work on further

Later on (aka, not needed to prioritize right away – can do when you’ve already started working)

• Agency and talent roster submissions (when skills are industry-level competitive)
• Broadcast-quality home studio
• Social media presence & personal branding
• Vocal range and versatility
• Targeted workshops and showcases
• Long-term major life changes (moving to where the work is or traveling for jobs, etc)

What are some things you can do for FREE at any stage of your journey?

• Read articles online, watch videos, and/or listen to podcasts to get an idea of how the industry works as well as some tips and tricks.
• Record yourself cold-reading any type of copy and listen back critically to your voice and performance. If you can’t afford any type of equipment yet, you can do this on a phone or laptop (while not suitable for actual recording, it is fine for practice purposes.)
• Audition for anything and everything you can find online that suits you. If you’re brand new, this might include unpaid hobby/passion projects. If you’re already somewhat experienced, this can be indie games, video narration, etc.
• Create or join a workout group where you and your peers practice reading scripts together and give each other feedback.
• Learn the basics of audio editing. You can even try producing a fun collaborative audio project with a friend.
• Join online communities (such as our Discord server) to meet and converse with like-minded people.
• Follow people in your field on social media, start building up your account, and make whatever friendships come naturally.
• Most of all, HAVE FUN!