Never make prospective voice actors join your server just to audition for or get more information about a project.

Inexperienced producers sometimes do this for a number of reasons—-perhaps they find it easier to have all their information in one place, or they want to bolster their numbers. However, voice actors largely find it irritating and a waste of time to join a separate server just to audition for a role they may not book, or – worse yet – just to see which roles are available! Put this information in a Google doc or something similar and link that when sharing your casting call on other servers or social media instead.

Even if you decide that joining your project server is a mandatory requirement for voice actors, wait until you’ve actually cast your project, in which case you can send an invite to the actors who were chosen. Most people will not agree to join a project server until they’ve officially been asked to be part of the team.

Once casting is finished, consider whether it’s really a requirement for voice actors to join the server.

Let’s assume that by this point, the voice actors have already been cast in your project and confirmed their roles. Do they really have to join the server? Most likely not—-things like sending scripts and receiving lines can be coordinated individually via e-mail or DMs, and may actually be more efficient that way. Sam Slade explains, “In my experience, a lot of the servers I’ve joined were made before final scripts were even completed and the project sometimes ends up getting abandoned, but the expectation is to stick around anyway ‘just in case.’ I’ve started asking to pass on Discord servers and requesting all project-related info to be sent via email for 1) record and reference purposes and 2) so I can treat the job the same way I treat my other jobs and not have the line blurred between Discord (my social messaging app) and work.”

The best scenario is to offer an invite to your actors in case they wish to participate, but to avoid making it mandatory. However, if you decide it is mandatory, try to make it as painless as possible by utilizing the following tips.

Decide ahead of time how you’d like to organize your server and who it will be open to.

Is your server just for people actively working on your project, or is it also open to fans/the public? Generally it’s best to keep development channels private and separate from anything public-facing for a number of reasons:

1. Internal development discussions can be sensitive in nature, and the general public does not need to be privy to these conversations.

2. It is common for proprietary assets, such as character designs, scripts, important plot points, and release plans to be kept under wraps until ready for release. Sharing your intellectual property in public spaces before you’re ready to could potentially result in theft and leaks.

3. Depending on the size of your project’s audience, privacy concerns can arise when team members and fans are mixed in the same space. For example, if your project has a large fan base that tends to skew younger, these fans may not fully understand the concept of parasocial relationships and may attempt to DM or friend request your voice actors or artists upon seeing them in the server.

If your project is small enough overall that you do want your server to be all-encompassing, make sure to utilize appropriate privacy functions for each channel so that no one is seeing anything they shouldn’t be.

Establish some basic ground rules, and have at least one trusted moderator besides yourself.

Whenever you create an online space for groups of people to interact in, it is always good to set some basic expectations for how people should conduct themselves within that space. Have a strategy in case something goes wrong, and do not be afraid to warn or remove individuals who cause undue problems for your team or project. Larger servers for game companies usually have at least one “community manager”—this may be overkill for a small indie team, but it never hurts to give mod privileges to someone in the server you trust, so that you can focus more on making your project.

Keep categories clearly organized, and avoid channel bloat when possible.

The primary purpose of the server should be for your team to communicate about the project. “Discord has been an excellent way to ‘catalogue’ my cast (both voice and art) and reach out to them directly,” says Jack Magus of Team Kyoshi. A few off-topic channels are okay, but if members are faced with a gigantic list of channels that are barely active, they may be less inclined to check them. When in doubt, start with the basic necessities and add new channels when you find you actually need them.

Limit @ everyone pings except for truly important announcements, and consider “opt-in” roles for any other pings.

Pinging “everyone” may seem like a great idea whenever you have updates to communicate. However, overusing this feature may irritate members of your server – especially if you’re pinging constantly for things that don’t even pertain to them – and can actually have the opposite effect by causing people to tune out or turn off these notifications. “Your cast and crew do not need to be reading paragraphs of unrelated text that have no bearing on our job in the project,” says Vanessa Benoit.

Voice actors have said that one of the worst offenders of the @ everyone feature is when it is used for things that have no relevance to the project—-for example, dropping a meme, telling people a game is starting, or even a project creator giving random updates on their personal life! “I don’t want to be scrambling to open my notifications every time thinking it’s important, just to find out someone is just streaming a random game on Twitch,” says Brittany Ann Phillips.

If you spam the @ everyone tag, what will likely happen is that people will go into their server settings and turn off “everyone/here” pings, which defeats the purpose for when you actually need to ping for an important reason.

Consider the following alternatives when you’re tempted to ping @ everyone:

• Assign roles specific to each member’s job. For example, you could have separate roles for “Voice Actor”, “Artist”, “Programmer”, “Tester”, etc. When you need to communicate something important that only involves one team of people, ping that role specifically.
• Set up “opt-in” roles—-for example, if people do want to be pinged when social voice chats or cooperative games happen, let them sign up for a role and simply ping members who have that role when something is happening. There are various Discord bots that allow users to self-assign roles.
• Make an “updates” channel where important announcements are posted. It’s a good idea to make this channel read-only so that updates you want people to see aren’t drowned out by commentary.
• Decide whether using @ here would be more appropriate. “Here” will only ping those who are around on Discord at the moment, instead of members who might be asleep, at work, etc.

Avoid mandatory check-ins or other “activity” requirements.

Many people are busy with work and real-life commitments, and also have other projects they’re currently working on. It is not reasonable to expect actors to be proactively checking your Discord server to see if they’ve been assigned lines yet, nor is it fair to ask them to be posting and commenting on your server daily or “reacting” to updates. If something is truly important, you can ping them (within reason) or send a DM or e-mail.

Do not rely on a channel in the server as your only method of letting actors know when a script needs to be recorded.

“As a freelance VA, I’m actually in a thousand different servers. If you don’t ping me, I’m not gonna see it,” says Joey Sourlis. Rather than expecting actors to proactively be checking these channels, it’s best to reach out to them via e-mail or DM – or at the very least, ping them individually – to let them know when something requires their immediate attention, such as a script needing to be recorded or a session needing to be scheduled. Handling such matters via e-mail can also help voice actors better catalogue their to-do lists, as it’s easy for such things to be buried on Discord and forgotten about.

Have a backup method of contact, such as e-mail, for important tasks that require action.

Sometimes people’s Discord accounts get compromised or they get locked out of an account due to two-factor authentication. It’s always a good idea to have e-mail addresses on hand, or at the very least social media accounts, in case you suddenly lose contact with one of your cast.

Voice actors generally do not need to attend team meetings.

You may find team meetings to be necessary for people who are doing day-to-day development work on your project, but for the most part, voice actors’ job begins and ends with recording the lines for their characters. Having another team member sit in on a live session is fine, but don’t force your cast to take unpaid time sitting through meetings while others go over parts of the project that largely don’t pertain to them.

Any (unpaid) rehearsals should be optional.

If you are largely working with beginners and hobbyists, they may find script readthroughs to be helpful for practicing their skills. However, this is not the norm in the professional world, and many working actors will not have time to participate in such activities. If the goal is to be able to provide feedback, you can do that by having live-directed sessions with your cast members for the actual project recordings. And if you really want the cast to record their lines together, it can be doable, but will require a lot of scheduling coordination especially if you are working across multiple time zones.

Perhaps the worst offender of unpaid time-sinks, however, is forced improvisation—-voice actors should never be required to get in a call and make up lines to “get into character!” This is also seen as a red flag in online projects. As the project director, you should be providing fully written scripts and giving enough context to where voice actors do not need to participate in a rehearsal or improv session.

Social activities are fine, but should also be optional.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to set up a game night, movie night, or stream for your project team. But remember that everyone has different levels of comfort when it comes to interacting socially with the rest of the cast or crew, not to mention real-life schedules to contend with. It doesn’t make someone less committed or less valuable if they opt to simply do their work and leave it at that!

Use discretion when it comes to handling sensitive information.

If you need to collect any personal information from your team for purposes such as contracts or payments, this should be handled privately with each individual. Do not put this info in a spreadsheet or server channel that everyone has access to. Also, if an actor is using a pseudonym or going uncredited, be careful about sharing their identity with the rest of the cast unless you know they’re okay with it.

Keep drama off of your server as much as possible.

Another complaint some voice actors have had about project servers is that they tend to be riddled with drama. Whether it’s heated political debates, payment disputes, or someone getting recast and turning it into a big spectacle, disagreements can happen and feelings get hurt.

Setting ground rules, stepping in when something starts to go south, and handling issues privately wherever possible can help keep your project chat from turning into a negative space. While “vent” channels are popular, they can quickly go sour if people use them to vague post or throw shade at others in the community, so carefully consider if the benefits outweigh the risks.

Finally, if an issue does happen, try to keep it within your team when possible. While there are of course exceptions for extreme circumstances, letting team drama spill over to social media or other servers can reflect negatively on your project and the others involved.

“But I’m really passionate about my project, and I want my voice actors to be, too!”

This is understandable! But it’s important to note that your project isn’t the only one that your cast is currently working on, and also, extracurricular activities are not a measure of how good a voice actor is at their job. Professional actors, for example, have varying levels of personal excitement about each project they are on, but they are still dedicated to doing a great job in the actual recording to help make your project the best it can be. Remember too that for professional industry-level projects, things like Discord servers and cast social activities are not common, and that some actors may limit time on social apps for varying reasons. The best way to keep your cast engaged is to be a supportive director, and to work on making a great project!

summary of key points

• Many indie creators find making a Discord server to be beneficial in organizing their project. Particularly if you have a large team (artists, writers, programmers, etc), it can aid in coordinating assignments. However, it is often not necessary for voice actors to join or be active in such a server.
• If you DO decide it is necessary for voice actors to join, keep important information easily viewable and related to the work the actor needs to do. Try to avoid bloating the server with endless off-topic social channels, or let people opt in to the channels they want to see.
• Keep pings to important announcements only. Instead of constantly pinging “everyone” for things that may not be relevant to them, create a separate role for each type of team member (ex: “Voice Actors”) and only ping that role as needed. Avoid tagging @ everyone for notifications that aren’t immediately relevant to their work on your project (ex: “I’m streaming a game!”) and allow people to opt in to such notifications rather than making it default. Otherwise, people will probably mute your server pings entirely!
• Do not expect your voice cast to proactively check your server waiting for scripts to be assigned. Ping them if something needs their immediate attention such as lines that need to be recorded (but DM or email is usually best if possible.)
• Foster a healthy environment for collaboration. Avoid letting drama or personal disagreements spill into the server, and do not drag project server drama onto social media unless it is a matter of safety.
• Remember that your team members have plenty of other projects they are working on at the same time as well as real-life obligations. You can do things like rehearsals and game nights for fun if you really want to, but these should be optional rather than a requirement for participation in the project.
• Treat materials and discussion in your project server with discretion, and respect the privacy of your cast members.
• Remember that plenty of actors will be able to do a great job on your project regardless of whether they can be active in your Discord!

[ back to top ]

This article is written by Kira Buckland. While all guides and resources on this site are provided on a volunteer basis, you may optionally support with a coffee if you found them helpful!