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Feeling "Phony" and getting over it

 
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V


Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State

PostPosted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:54 pm    Post subject: Feeling "Phony" and getting over it Reply with quote

So, since we are ACT-TORS! obviously our job is to take on the role of someone we (probably) are not. So, I was just wondering: When you guys do a read for somethings you either dislike or couldn't care less about, and you are supposed to be into it, do you ever feel "phony"? I don't just mean like an intellectual recognition that you don't actually like whatever it is you are talking about, but an actual negative visceral reaction as you are doing the read. Do, or did, anyone else struggle with this? If so, how do you combat it or get over it.

It's almost like my moral compass is saying "this is wrong" even though I know that there is nothing wrong doing a read for "Wholesome product X". (Maybe it is due to a somewhat legalistic period I went through years ago?)

I know. It's weird. But I also know that there is no way for me to grow as a VO if I don't address this.

Thanks guys. I appreciate your feedback on this.
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Bob Bergen
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Joined: 22 Apr 2008
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Every once in a while an actor will get to a place in their career where they can pick and choose what they want to do. Rarely are these VO actors. Even if you get a 6 figure promo contract, you don’t have script approval. Most actors who can have the kind of care control you are referring to are the rare on camera celeb.

Now, as a Vo actor I have no problem saying no to certain gigs. This weekend I was offered high 5 figures to narrate an audio book. I would rather watch a grapefruit grow. I so despise the idea of recording an audio book. I’d rather wait tables. But that’s just me. The tedium it takes to do this cannot be bought.

Now, I don’t have to buy or believe in a product to voice it. I will not voice it if I have ethical issues, which is why I won’t do political ads.

I hate dairy foods. I hate the taste of cheese, milk, butter, etc. They make me projectile vomit. But I’m happy as a clam to do a VO for dairy. I don’t feel like a fraud. I’m an actor.

Most actors feel one say they will be discovered as a fraud. So do fine artists, dancers, etc. It comes with being an artist.
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Bish
3.5 kHz


Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 3738
Location: Lost in the cultural wasteland of Long Island

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 5:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This argument comes up repeatedly. We are actors employed to portray a character and perform a part. We sell our voice and our performance skills. We are also individual businesses that can make our own decisions... and most of these are really "who cares" type decisions. Bob's point about dairy is well made... it's not for him personally, but is it inherently harmful?

You answer your own question... if your moral compass is saying, "this is wrong"... then just simply don't do it. The fact that you actually ask the question already provides you with an answer.

Political ads are a good example Many VOs will be pragmatic and do whatever they are paid to do. Many will not voice for the party/person they do not agree with. Some will work for free for the person/party they support. Some won't touch any of them with a barge-pole because they view them all as hate-speech.

What you ask is not weird... but it really is a simple question. Just do what you are comfortable with and don't do the jobs that make you feel sullied.
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todd ellis
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Joined: 02 Jan 2007
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Location: little egypt

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 6:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i'm with bob on audio books (hey, look bob, we agree!) lots of people make a whole career out of them - i just can't stand it. i'll do political ads for either side unless they are extremely vitriolic, case-in-point, i DID drop out of a north african group's radio spots when they started getting anti-american.

also - to me, there's a difference between saying "cottage cheese, it tastes great, builds strong bones, etc ..." and "hi, i'm bob bergen, america's voice, and i LOVE the clumpy, disgusting, semi-digested texture of cottage cheese!"
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Lee Gordon
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Joined: 25 Jul 2008
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Location: West Hartford, CT

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I won't voice robo-calls. I find them morally reprehensible. Get Lost
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Bruce
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7921
Location: Portland, OR

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:44 am    Post subject: Re: Feeling "Phony" and getting over it Reply with quote

Neil K. Hess wrote:
... an actual negative visceral reaction as you are doing the read. Do, or did, anyone else struggle with this?


If you are running into this problem often then either you are seeking/accepting the wrong kind of work from bad sources, or you are very sensitive to content of many kinds.

I've run into a couple of uber-religious voice talent over the years and their solution was pursue mostly religious work, of which there is plenty.

Sure, in our work most of us have to extol the virtues of products and services we've never used but that's our job. I've never turned down a job for moral reasons (since I have never run into that dilemma in my decades of voiceover) but I have decided to not audition for client organizations I abhor.

B
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Dan-O
The Gates of Troy


Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 1636

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Neil, are you asking about the ethical choice or actual acting where one takes on the role of someone who they find distasteful?
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Eddie Eagle
M&M


Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 2393

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dan-O wrote:
the ethical choice or actual acting where one takes on the role of someone who they find distasteful?


If it's the distasteful.. taking on the acting role of the villain and embracing that is a skill that can be rewarding and useful. Ethics are ethics, either discard it or embrace the villain inside. I usually discard the ethically challenged so my read is true.
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Art
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Joined: 27 Sep 2017
Posts: 78
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also won't do robocalls. I have no problem performing topless, however.
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juliaknippen
Club 300


Joined: 25 Nov 2012
Posts: 348
Location: NYC

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It sounds to me like your negative visceral reaction is to the "acting" of reading the copy like you care about it, not the copy itself. Have you ever taken an acting class? Substitution is a common method. "What would motivate me, the actor, to behave in the way the character does?" Strasberg asks the actor to replace the play's circumstances with his or her own, the substitution.

So the idea is to create a set of circumstances that don't seem phony to you. Under what circumstances would you actually say those words? Who would you say them to? What can you substitute from your own experience to make the act of talking about cottage cheese seem authentic to you?

This may seem like a lot of work for a :60 second spot, but if you're listening to yourself doing a read and thinking "I hate this, I would never say this, I don't believe this," then it might behoove you to learn a technique like this.

Most trained actors are able to do this without thinking about it too much. They aren't listening to themselves delivering the copy and judging it; they are absorbed with getting their point across, using whatever substitution is necessary.
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Art
Contributor III


Joined: 27 Sep 2017
Posts: 78
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA

PostPosted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The first time I was paid to read something I felt kind of weird about it, too. It took some getting used to, to think my voice would be out there talking about the wonderful food at a restaurant I had never actually eaten at, or the joys of traveling to a town I had never visited.

However I then contemplated how else I had used my voice: doing customer service. How fun was it to use my voice to explain company policies that I felt were really unfair to the customer, or to make excuses for the mistakes and negligence of co-workers I'd never met? Did I get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I had to break it to someone that what they had been told by their sales rep might not have been exactly, eh, accurate?

When anyone bemoans their job in show business, I tell them to try doing a few years in retail or a call center. They'll suddenly see the joy in doing most anything else.
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Last edited by Art on Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Deirdre
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Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 13016
Location: East Jesus, Maine

PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 8:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I won't do anything promoting a product or service or candidate I find personally reprehensible. I've seen the fallout from seemingly "harmless" ads I've done, and if there's a purgatory, part of my time there will be because of those ads.

I can act like a complete murderous reprobate when I'm doing a video game— hold my rifle (even though it's a pellet rifle) in the booth so I'll sound like I really could kill you, etc. But when it come to ads, I've got to believe the message, or be happy to let others believe the message, or I'll just say no.

My hat is off to audiobook folks. Can't thank you enough for your company, and can't ever hope to do what you do.
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Dayo
Cinquecento


Joined: 10 Jan 2008
Posts: 544
Location: UK

PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2018 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

juliaknippen wrote:
It sounds to me like your negative visceral reaction is to the "acting" of reading the copy like you care about it, not the copy itself. Have you ever taken an acting class? Substitution is a common method. "What would motivate me, the actor, to behave in the way the character does?" Strasberg asks the actor to replace the play's circumstances with his or her own, the substitution.



This is the good stuff.
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Ed Fisher
DC


Joined: 05 Sep 2012
Posts: 605
Location: East Coast, U.S.A.

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Food you've never tasted?

Places you've never been?

No problem. It's all part of the job.

You are there to convince and "sell"...and if you're good at it you're rewarded.

However.....

It REALLY bothered me when on some P2P sites I saw these infomercial VO jobs that start out...

"Hi...I'm Dr. Joseph Black...the discover of Blah blah Blah....that will change your life. Now many people don't believe it...but it been proven that....blah blah..."

I mean talk about "acting?"

Pretending to be "the guy" and giving a 12 minute speech to sell COW DUNG to the unsuspecting?

"You mean those testimonial ads AREN'T real?"

Now...with THAT....I've got a problem. In fact it smells a lot like FRAUD to me.

BUT...as a point of reference....

Only in the last few years did I figure out that professional wrestling was all "pretend."

Who knew?
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