workin'...

Husband just sent me a link to an AV interview with Billy West, a prolific professional voice actor.  wow.  knowing what I know and coming from my limited experience, a couple of thoughts came to mind:

1.  I sincerely admire actors like Billy who can move in and out of voices/sounds at the speed of light.  it's such a valuable skill set.  I can't really do that... I'm not a 'cartoony' VA per se, in the sense that I can trot out my Donald Duck and Bart Simpson at the drop of a hat.  I think I work a lot because I have a pretty large vocal range and control, I know how to read well, and I'm fast and easy to work with.  that goes a long way.  plus, because I currently work a lot in dubbing, the ability to match flaps helps enormously.

*side not on the 'cartoony' voice thing... fairly recently, I got to interact with a guy from Los Angeles at a voice audition.  it went sort of like this:

LA guy: "lemme hear your boy voice."

me: "what?"

LA guy: "just do your boy voice."

me "um, I don't really have a stock 'boy voice', like a Bart Simpson or something.  I voice a lot of boys but I'm mostly asked to do more realistic-sounding boys.  If you give me some adjectives and tell me what you're looking for, I can try to match it."

LA guy:  blink.  "oh.  okay."

this exchange happened after he benignly asked me if I knew anything about acting... further cementing in my mind the opinion that a lot, not all, but a lot of people who live in LA are under the misconception that living on the California coast makes you both talented and a professional.  and who knows... in a different world with a different bank account ten years ago, I probably would have ended up in LA or NY (NY was totally first choice) and might have grown some ego about geography, too.  but it is what it is, and here I am - a full-time actor working in Texas.  I get having to explain and defend the viability and professionalism of my business to the average Joe... it can be annoying, but understandable... so I'm super-annoyed at defending it to industry peers.

2.  A question was put to Billy, who's done a lot of commercial work in addition to animation, etc., something to the effect of, "is doing commercial work in your industry considered selling out?"    what in the world... I've heard this sentiment expressed before, and for the life of me it's mystifying.  sometimes the artist's work is about art.  but at some point it usually becomes about making money using your skill, and commercial work is one of the few genres that is a) fairly steady opportunity-wise, because businesses always need to market themselves on tv, radio, internet, print, etc, and b) the commercial contract is one of the few you have a shot at getting that may have residual income.  why do you supposed Sarah Jessica Parker hawks hair color?  or why Catherine Zeta Jones tried to sell you T-Mobile?  or why you'll hear James Earl Jones' voice on your tv until he dies?  I'm confused as to why making an honest advertising buck equals selling out... everyone's just trying to make a living.  how terribly unglamorous and un-artsy!  meh.

  

I have to get to work, but here are a few other observations about what I currently do for fun and money:

I love working for myself.  even when I had day jobs, I enjoyed being a contract employee for the freedom it gave me.  I love the changeable hours and different projects, and I like working with lots of people for bits of time.  something in my nature resists the structure of a 9-5 and working for other people.

It's a great day when a paycheck intersects with an acting challenge.

I've been very, very blessed.  and this career is now helping husband and I achieve our goals.  

people are intrigued by this industry... so you get questions like, "are you working on anything new?" or "have you had any new auditions lately?"  here is my job:  I audition for things, all the time.  sometimes I'm hired.  sometimes I'm not.  I don't much talk about it, either way, because this is what it's always like and it's... well, you just keep auditioning and working and moving forward and paying bills.  it's a job with revolving clients that come and go.

and one other thing:  for whatever reason, I don't really put people on pedestals.  like celebrities... take Oprah.  I honestly believe the adoration shown that woman is weird... or actors, or singers.  it's not that I don't think successful people should be shown respect... I believe very much in that concept.  and I remember feeling that sort of celeb love... the new version of Annie was on tv the other day, and I was telling hubby about my LOVE of Aileen Quinn, the original Annie.  I wanted to be just like her - got the wig, the dress, the whole bit.  I read all about her in Teen Beat, and desperately wanted a 'pink and red pre-teen dream' bedroom like she apparently had.  but somewhere along the way I stopped looking at people in the limelight in that romanticized way.  maybe I'm kidding myself and I'd turn into mush if... oh, who would I freak out about?... see.  I can't even think of anyone.