Would I recommend people to open up a voice over business in 2023?
It’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot. That in and of itself should tell you something.
If I would answer with an immediate, emphatic “YES, of course they should” it would mean I wouldn’t have to think about it. But I do. I’m hesitant to recommend it for so many reasons.
First of all, who am I to tell you what you should and should not do? I don’t even know you. I don’t know how much money you have saved up -if any- and I don’t know if you have a unique talent that makes you stand out. I don’t know if you have people around you who will support you in good times and in bad.
Secondly, the story of famous stage and screen actors always has a chapter about caring and concerned people telling their sons and daughters to get a “proper job with a proper paycheck.”
And yet, these famous actors made it their mission to prove their families wrong. They became successful against all odds. And when you read their biographies, you’ll see that the line between success and failure maybe drawn by a factor we call luck. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting the right people. It’s something we cannot predict or take to the bank when we ask for a loan.
Besides, which bank will even consider lending you money if you have no track record of success in an economy where you go from gig to gig, never knowing what tomorrow will bring? Banks want certainty. They don’t care about the things you dream up.
Remember that the actors who have supposedly “made it” are always the exception and never the rule. There’s a reason why most professional actors in New York and LA work in the service industry.
A majority of voice overs surveyed (you can find the results on navavoices.org) makes no more than 20 thousand dollars per year, and that’s gross, not net, meaning before taxes and other deductions are taken out.
Ask yourself: is that a solid career you would recommend to anyone?
And then there’s the big ugly elephant in the room: AI. No matter how little you charge for your services, synthetic voices will always cost less. They don’t complain and they never sleep, and people are getting more and more used to them. Don’t believe me? Go watch a few YouTube videos.
So, do I think it’s smart to open a voice over business in 2023?
I don’t think it’s smart, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
Go ahead, and prove the pessimists wrong!
I’ll be rooting for you, and I will applaud your success.
So true, Paul. If you look at any industry, there are people who made it big as well as failures and those in between. SAG-AFTRA has thousands of members. Most making less than $5,000 a year. But I hear newer actors, including voice actors, who say they want to join SAG-AFTRA. Good for them. I applaud anyone who has the dream and work ethic to learn their craft…along with business skills, to go all in. Our world is better for them. Thank you, Paul, for another thought-provoking blog.
I won’t deny anyone their dream, but at the moment the mother of a 15-year-old boy wants me to talk to him. The boy wants to become a voice actor and is thinking of dropping out of school. Not a great idea, if I’m honest. As a voice over, having had a good education has helped me with numerous scripts.
I ran some numbers a good few years ago and the result was horrifying. Anyone setting out on the road to voiceover heaven had a 2.25% chance of making money from the enterprise. Not a million, not a living, not making their money back, simply anything at all. 2023? The majority will end up making a substantial loss.
A few years ago I was asked to join a voiceover coaching business to be the business coach. 3 students requested, I did what I did in a single one hour session. Next? Tumbleweed. Was I surprised? Not in the least.
The American Dream is a wonderful idea but in our world it’s all about being wide awake.
Excellent info as always Paul. Definitely, some snippets I will add into my speech I give friends when they ask me about getting onto VO. I tell anyone who asks that the industry is so saturated with people trying to get in right now that the odds of making it a successful career that pays the bills are not that great. Unless you are already a very skilled actor or some kind of savant, there are years of work and thousands of dollars that need to be spent just to get your foot in the door. By all means, try, but don’t bet your life on it!
A lot of luck involves figuring out the likeliest places for good things to happen and then being there at the right time with the right talent. (As my mentor Alan Sklar told me, the market will tell you what it wants from you. your job is to find out where people are paying for it, and show up.) By showing up and having what is needed, I yhink I didn’t so much make my own luck as increase the chance for good luck to happen to me. Ithink that if you believe in yourself and your talent and are willing to go all in to be successful. it’s worth the try.
just my opinion. I’m lucky, I dove in, and I made it. I’m not the most successful VO ever, but I’m proud of my work, developed great friendships, had fun and made a pretty decent living. That’ll work!
The trick is not coaching, demo, marketing, blogging or social media, it’s presence!
So how does the aspiring VO react to the above? Go to every conference, meet up and gathering of other un or under employed voice over people. Well done.
From the greatest movie trailer voice ever, the dozen or so best known voices in the UK and right the way down the food chain to me there is one thing we all share. We were in the right place at the right time. Physically present.
Networking is about clicking WITH people not ON them. In 2023 that is a tough nut to crack.
Why are so many voices coaching and producing demos? A few just want to be helpful but the majority are filling the gaps in theirs diaries and the holes in their bank accounts. Are they right or wrong to do that? Neither, they’re just trying to pay the bills. Caveat emptor.