Short form insights for (voice) actors, part 2

Insights 1, Insights 2, Insights 3, Insights 4

More random thoughts on acting, career and the challenges of going for it…

You become what you do. A side hustle is fine, but not for too long.

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An actor can learn things from a live, paying audience that they can never learn in a classroom.

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Starting out unskilled or “from nowhere” is neither a meaningful disadvantage nor a unique obstacle. We all start from “nowhere.”

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Not random: You’ll get better faster by assuming there are good reasons you don’t get called back or book.

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Don’t pre-worry your day, your career or your life. Why invite obstacles?

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Always be making stuff. Better still- create regularly with others.

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A fruit’s purpose is to ripen: Creating must be a habit, but as important is a habit of seeing your creative ideas to completion.

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Earning trust is as important as gaining confidence.

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Follow your dreams, not your illusions.

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Admire or emulate but don’t copy.

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Don’t let your ascending career dilute your efforts at getting better.

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You can’t be better than you see yourself or get any better than you allow yourself.

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Lose your discomfort of looking like an idiot.

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A professional’s job isn’t so much hitting any single ball that comes over the plate. Their job is to be ready to take a good swing at any ball that comes over the plate.

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An audition is like a lotto ticket someone else scratches off for you. If you win, you’ll get the call. Otherwise, forget it.

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Shakespeare is like classical music. Voice acting is small combo jazz.

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Unless it’s in writing, nobody owes you anything.

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Don’t be recklessly cautious in your acting choices, your career, or life.

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Some of the worst bets are the ones that are too small.

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Acting is improv. Your day is improv. Your life is improv.

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The journey from oblivious naïveté to instinctive command is this: 1. Oblivious and effortless incompetence –> 2. Self-aware effortful incompetence–> 3. Effortful competence–> 4. Effortless, instinctive competence.

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Those starting out in L.A. want in and up, but in the end, many want out and down.

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All actors are directors- even when being directed and especially when auditioning alone.

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At the mixer/party: Please talk about things that matter to you- other than acting.

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Whether feast or famine, never abandon following your amateur heart.

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Always have “a mouse in your pocket”- that is, something secretly yours, that you’re working on, playing with, cultivating- not for show or sale or even for others, but for you because you love it.

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Have the story of your day in mind- what you’re involved with that matters or energizes you, that makes you laugh, that drives you mad, that moves you.

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It’s not “who you know.” It’s “who knows that you are really, really good.”

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Acting isn’t real life: It calls for unfiltered emotions applied to imaginary ephemeral relationships. Real life calls for sustained emotional commitment and diplomacy applied to real, long-term relationships.

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Move the ball down the field in life by training your efforts on the intersection of what matters to you and where your efforts can have meaningful impact.

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Get in the ring: The most efficient acting lessons are to be found while performing with actors who are better than you.

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Lose your modesty- proudly admit your talent to yourself and others. Wear that confidence always.

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Capacity over resumé: You will attract far more interest with what you can do rather than with what you did.

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No expert can sell you all that luck that you’ll need.

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It is surprising how many “missed opportunities” turn out to have been just another bullet dodged.

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Love the legacy: Knowledge of the history of entertainment and its players is invaluable shorthand for communicating with a good director.

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Goal: Find an agent that your employers love working with.

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Sometimes a good way to learn isn’t by “doing,” it’s by watching someone else do it well- or poorly.

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An honest & accurate assessment that stings is still a complement to be savored and learned from.

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Free range: Plant your creativity outside of your career.

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Limitations are the riverbank that energizes the forming and flow of art.

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When another’s disregard knocks, don’t answer the door.

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For an astronaut, the Moon doesn’t intimidate or repel- it inspires and beckons.

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Ears never shut: A good voice actor listens as they speak.

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“Certain” is brittle and weak because it is finished and static. “Provisional” is supple and strong because it can grow and move.

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Want to better understand human psychology? Get a dog.

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Why is a dog a great acting teacher? Because it is a pack animal that is honest- even when it deceives. There are no inauthentic dogs.

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Great art endures: Dragonflies have been around for hundreds of millions of years.

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An actor’s fullness of imagination is as important as accessibility to emotions.

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Good singing is a controlled yell. Yelling must be supported properly like singing to avoid damage. Proper yelling/singing comes from a targeted placement of relaxed power that does not damage the voice muscles.

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Opera singers are the body builders of voice.

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Unique, authentic you is an actor’s most valuable renewable resource and fuel.

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Prep the runway: Say what you want out loud and often.

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An inexperienced actor always says, “yes.” But you will find the greatest creative power flex is to learn to say with good reason, “no.”

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Relaxation enables power: Excess tension limits and can damage the voice. It over-amps the performance and diminishes your ability to steer your performance.

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Delivering the goods: You are doing your employer a favor by not allowing your work to strip the gears of your instrument.

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Forced effort leads to monotony, a short session and a short career.

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Without a clear grasp of story and context, your performance will feel arbitrary or generic- mere clutter and debris in the flow of the story.

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Voice acting is one part speaking, one part listening and one part staging and setting the scene in your mind.

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Avoid monotony. Always favor the switch up of pace, tone and idea.

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A voice actor’s greatest challenge is self-directing an audition.

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First, “show” then waaaay later, “business.”

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Golf as metaphor: Your best shot is when you forget all previous shots, all scoring, the course ahead and all your competition and solely commit to taking your best swing at the shot before you.

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Economy of effort: Getting better entails doing more with less.

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Never one speed: Purposefully alternate gas and brakes to the pace of your performance.

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If one sentence ends up, send the next down. Follow fast with slow. High with low.

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Downstream from vaudeville: The timing, clarity and specificity in good animated story telling tracks back to the silent masters- Buster Keaton, Chaplin, etc.

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Whether it’s an audition or a gig shouldn’t affect your effort.

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You don’t need anyone’s permission to find out how good you are at something.

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Generic choices are the enemy of all good story telling and acting.

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A microphone confines your movement but shouldn’t confine or inhibit the extension and fullness of a voice actor’s performance.

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Quiet can be large and powerful. Soft can be sinister and deadly.

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At best, social media wastes your time.

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Mimicking and impressions are voice acting-adjacent.

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Every gig is an audition.

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Good acting is clear, appropriate choices applied with intent and conviction- not random guessing. Don’t throw your birdseed in the lake.

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An actor’s “range” is bounded by their self-image.

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Acting is about choosing and arranging who or what takes the “captain’s chair” of the self. Non-actors manage this passively or thoughtlessly. Good actors do this with intent and control.

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Don’t mistake what should be your career for what should be your hobby. Or visa versa.

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Having something you care about that isn’t acting is more important to your acting than any training.

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You wield the words. The words don’t wield you.

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Don’t compliment to ingratiate but don’t hold back a genuine compliment.

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Success should amplify gratitude.

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In descending order of importance: Acting, mic technique, studio acoustics, studio tech.

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You may get all the praise but your work is always a collaboration.

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Paint your performance with an adjective. Assign it a temperature. Clothe it in pre-life. Power it with specific wanting. Direct it at someone- even a monologue is a conversation.

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Moonshot: Shooting for the moon but missing it by just ten feet isn’t some great failure or cause for despair. Celebrate the incredible “almost!”

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