J. Michael Collins

This is not an article about politics, but rather the impact of socio-political and socio-psychological trends on the commercial industry, and how that impacts the choices we make as voice actors. My job is to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry, and regardless of how we individually feel about the results last Tuesday, they are going to have an effect on our business.

I’ve been having conversations with advertising industry players since the election was decided, and I am convinced that we are about to see a rapid shift in what gets hired for commercial voiceover as a result of the vote, and that we need to be aware of what is coming.

The consistent theme of these conversations has been that buyers/brands/corporations and the advertising pros who support them have been jarred into a massive rethinking of how they have been selling many of their products. Much like many people did not see what the tea leaves were saying about the election, advertisers were caught off guard by the possibility that they have been missing market segments and positioning their brands in ways that are not effective to substantial portions of the population.

Let’s add some historical context with regard to how the political climate pertains to delivery and performance trends in commercial voiceover.

We’ll begin with 1996-2000, Bill Clinton’s second term as President. Everything prior to this period falls into the category of “the before time,” where announcer reads were fairly universal in commercial VO.

The first hints of change came during the dot com boom, during Clinton’s second term. Millennial voices began to find some traction, especially in the tech vertical, with younger male voices in particular starting to book reads that I would describe as pre-conversational. They weren’t as nuanced or acting-centric as much of what we have seen over the past decade-plus, but they were very different for the era. They felt like the future, and dovetailed with an optimistic America where the stock market was through the roof, “the end of history” had been declared, and there was an assumption that we were entering a period of permanent peace and innovation.

The dotcom crash, and then 9/11, put a hard stop to many of these trends. The Bush era saw a reversion of commercial performance trends to reads that were more corporate, polished, and in many cases assertive and even Alpha. While there were exceptions in places, the period between 2000 and 2008 was a time where powerful voices dominated commercial VO, and there was less room for brighter, fresher sounds.

Eight years of trauma, war, and two massive economic collapses, (the bursting of the tech bubble and then the Great Recession,) changed the mood of the nation, and in 2008 Barack Obama was elected on a platform of hope and change. Simultaneously, we began to see the beginning of the conversational revolution in commercial VO (and other genres as well,) as the nation and VO industry embraced introspection, self-care, youth, and diversity.

This trend snowballed into an unstoppable juggernaut, and has dominated the commercial space for over a decade.

Correlating trends like these to political winds and national psychology, one might have expected a pivot back to older-school approaches after the 2016 election. Rather, the unexpected nature of Donald Trump’s first win, coupled with the immediate resistance to the new administration, if anything led to an acceleration of the already prevailing trends, with smaller, acting-centric, conversational, relatable, and deeply authentic reads dominating throughout the 2016-2020 period. The COVID pandemic enhanced the appeal of less-is-more approaches and human connection in commercial VO performance, as the nation needed comforting, and in-your-face deliveries were largely frowned upon.

This continued largely through 2022 into the Biden administration, however even before last week’s election we have been beginning to see signs of the methods that have been dominant since the late ‘aughts starting to become less omnipresent. The “Happy Mom” read started trending in 2023 with a little more polish and sunshine returning to many female reads. Certain verticals that trend heavily male have seen a bit more push in performance over the past year. It makes me wonder if we could create some algorithm that might use VO trends to forecast elections, LOL.

The conversational read still predominates, but this may be about to change.

Indeed, in the conversations I’ve been having over the past week, I’m being told to expect much more of the following to make it to air, (which, as always, doesn’t mean the specs will immediately change, but they could do so more rapidly than we’ve seen in the past.)

1.) Assertiveness in general, across the board for men and women, and all demographics. We’re not going back to 1990’s announcer puke, but push and polish may be making a rapid return.

2.) A trend towards somewhat older talent.

3.) Female reads that are steely and confident, male reads that are more Alpha without being priggish.

4.) The “tech-bro” read becoming a thing very quickly, especially around suddenly hot-again crypto and finance products, and other tech-heavy industries.

5.) Alternatively, MUCH more targeting and geo-fencing, with heavy emphasis on compassionate reads for verticals that may be directly impacted by the shifting socio-poitical landscape, especially healthcare and health services.

6.) No shift away from diversity. Indeed, I’m told that diverse voices may now be actively considered for product categories that may not have previously been accessible, as companies realize that consumption patterns are not as monolithic in some spaces as they might have assumed.

Overall, the consensus is that, with the exception of commercials that contain humor, which could become edgier but are otherwise unlikely to change in terms of delivery, the days of less-is-more may be numbered, and with a low number indeed.

The election is still, and will remain a sore subject. I’m not here to judge your politics, (and acrimonious commentary will be deleted.) I’m here to pass along information that IS ALREADY CHANGING THE WAY I AUDITION, and will affect all of us.

The coming months and years may see events that cause these shifts to be short-lived. Alternatively, they may become “the next thing,” after over a decade of everything moving in one direction performance-wise. Commercial VO has been overdue for a pivot. Buckle up.

Happily enjoying a couple weeks of travel respite after the 11th Euro VO Retreat, the 4th at the stunning K-Club outside of Dublin, Ireland, so many reflections on what was probably one of our very best events have taken hold. When to do less. When to do more. When to go completely off-the-rails in an audition. But I think I speak for the majority of our attendees when I say that the biggest takeaway was learning to believe you belong with the best and brightest.

During the retreat, the term, “Elite Sandbox,” was coined to describe the university-like environment of working 10-hour days not just with top-tier agents, casting directors, and coaches, but also getting to experience the dynamism of being amongst a small group of truly world-class talent and seeing ideas and techniques come to life as one performance inspired another, and another, and another. The joy of deep, immersive, creative play.

It might be a bit much to describe it as like watching the neurons of the scientists fire in a scene from Oppenheimer as great minds came together to do impossible things, but there’s some validity to the analogy……though the only thing we detonated were about ten minutes worth of fireworks at the end. And any pretense that a few of us were good golfers. That poor caddie needed a stiff drink.

Minds, however, were certainly blown. And egos were checked at the door as even top-booking talent learned things they didn’t know they didn’t know. It was PhD level voiceover, and if I had a personal takeaway from the week it was that for all of the distress and uncertainty over so many shifts in the media landscape that are impacting everyone in entertainment these days, when all is said and done and the voiceover industry of tomorrow comes clearly into focus, those who will still be here are the ones who refuse to settle for anything less than greatness in every performance…..even through the failures it takes to get there.

Throughout the week there were many happy tears, many emotional ones, and a few questioning ones. But in the end, everyone rose to the occasion to grow from wherever they were, to the next level in their journey, and with more focus and understanding of what reaching the pinnacle really requires in terms of training and personal investment.

The great thing about the Elite Sandbox, however, is that you don’t need to spend thousands to come to a retreat to experience it. Never before has our industry been filled with more abundant and accessible offerings to learn, gather, and grow together. From sub-$100 webinars to conferences, meet ups, donation-based online events, and opportunities to learn with and from those who know what it takes, the Elite Sandbox is just a click away. Or a flight to Europe if that’s your jam. Or anything in between.

What matters is……that you come play. Grab a shovel. Grab a bucket. And dig. Dig for better. Dig for greatness. Dig and play and laugh and cry until your soul pours forth from every read. Because if you do, the temporary vicissitudes of the marketplace will never be able to hold you back from the destiny you deserve.

The voiceover industry is undergoing changes unlike anything we’ve seen since the first days of online casting reordered the way many parts of our business worked. As is typical during times of change, this has led to much hand-wringing, but just like the shockwaves of twenty years ago created a generation of talent who navigated change to tremendous success, so now exists the opportunity for anyone prepared to thoughtfully adapt to thrive and grow their business.

KEY #1: INCREMENTALISM

Something that must be remembered is that careers in voiceover, as in many other walks of life, are built incrementally. We live in a society that cannot abide a lack of instant results. Football teams pay tens of millions of dollars to top draft picks only to declare them a bust if they haven’t become elite in two years, whereas in past eras greats like Steve Young and Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and even current star Patrick Mahomes were given several seasons to develop mastery of their craft. Success is not fast food but for a lucky few. There’s a reason the tortoise beat the hare. Most enduring voiceover careers are built on the incremental development of a base of long-term clients in less-glamorous genres, while big one-off jobs can make a month or a year extra special. Think about it this way: You need to beat out hundreds of elite talent to book that big national campaign or animation job. But a corporate narration, e-learning, medical, or small-time commercial client who pays you $500/job three times a month is an $18,000/year client. Ten loyal clients like that and you’re in the top 1-5% of earners in voice acting. And these kinds of jobs represent the most abundant and easily-sourced work in the industry. Small starts can lead to big finishes. Building relationships and nurturing client loyalty will carry you through even the most jarring changes to the way we work. It may not be glamorous, but if you got into VO for the fame you got into the wrong line of work.

KEY #2: DON’T BE AFRAID TO SHOOT YOUR SHOT

Sticking with football analogies…..summon your inner Travis Kelce and just go for it with that dream agent or manager, (just be sure you have Kelce-like skills!) I recently had a top-5 agent tell me that they are constantly getting people telling them they “aren’t ready to send [their] demo.” To which the reply was, “What the f*** are you waiting for?!” It doesn’t matter how new you are or what you sound like….with top tier representation, timing is everything. If you’ve done the work, have the skills, have the reel or reels that showcase them, and the ability to back those reads up, let ’em fly. Yes, your coaches or producer/s should give you some guidance, but don’t get caught up in hesitation. All the agents have plenty of voice actors. But they don’t have a you yet…..and they might just hear you and decide they need one. Agents are just people. And business-people at that. If they hear something they think can earn for their agency, you’re likely to get a yes.

KEY #3: MAKE PEACE WITH AI

Can we all agree yet that the robopocalypse is starting to feel a bit like Y2K? For those of you just joining us in the last quarter century, I’ll mansplain that Y2K was a moment before the year 2000 when eminent scientists and commentators were largely convinced that there could be a massive technology-based catastrophe due to most computers at the time only being coded to recognize years up to 1999. Planes would fall from the sky, nuclear missiles would escape their silos, factories would shut down, we’d all become cannibals and look like characters from Mad Max. Now, to be fair, I’ve grown very pale and quite bald, so that last part might have come true, but the rest….not so much.

AI is here to stay. It will get better. It has and will be used for voice work. Some talent will lend their voices to it in ways both wise, unwise, and in between. But there is ZERO EVIDENCE on the demand side to back up any assertion that AI is substantially impacting professional voice actors, and for that matter, even semi-professional voice actors. Agents are sending as many auditions as ever. Talent doing marketing are building careers. Even P2P sites have not seen any noticeable decline, (P2P CEOs have publicly stated that their numbers hover anywhere from five percent erosion to actual growth, though in some cases slowing growth, which is easily attributable to any number of causes that might include AI, but is in no way significant enough to justify the terror this technology strikes into so many.)

If anything, organizations like SAG-AFTRA and NAVA have been shockingly effective in helping to move the needle on serious legislation and agreements that will substantially protect working voice actors. Their efforts, those of the legislators who are coming together on both sides to take this issue seriously, and the skepticism of the business world as AI continues to underperform earnings expectations, and that of the public in general about its value, means AT MOST this is a P2P-site level disruption of the industry, and possibly less than that. Twenty years after the dawn of the P2P sites, we’re still here, and we’ll still be here twenty years from now. It’s time to make peace that AI exists, we wish it didn’t, (at least in this capacity,) but that it also is not the grim reaper of VO.

KEY #4: UNDERSTAND THAT RECESSIONS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY ARE CYCLICAL

Now, as much as I’ll be the voice of reason on AI, there’s no denying that the entertainment industry at large is facing a crisis. Driven largely by the ravenous appetite for profits that are endemic to undertaxed mega-corporations, as well as the dramatic change in how consumers consume content, traditional forms of entertainment are seeing production budgets slashed and jobs cut to the bone. There may not be an actual recession in the greater economy, but there certainly is a major one in the arts. This inevitably impacts the most creative and artistic among us, with voiceover jobs tied to movies, traditional linear TV and even streaming, and video games under enormous pressure. The arts are, in the end, a business. One largely driven by ad dollars. Right now, the rapid shift in where eyeballs are looking for entertainment is causing an entire industry to play whack-a-mole trying to figure out where they will land….or if they will just keep moving from one new app or platform or new technology to the next. It’s hard to keep up. But while artistic forms are impermanent, the arts are forever. Ultimately, whatever Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha and their kids decide is the desired form and delivery mechanism of entertainment will take shape. And actors, and voice artists, and those who can deliver the role convincingly and sell a product without turning off an audience and teach a generation how to do the things that will be their essential skills will have a place in that ecosystem and those who excel will continue to be paid fairly and even handsomely for their work. Change isn’t the only constant. Humanity requires creative outlets and art, and eventually the money will once again flow freely to those who can master how to tell the story in the chosen forums of the future.

KEY #5: MAKE YOURSELF IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE

Good enough should never be good enough, but at times in our industry, it has been. At the dawn of the online casting era, an above average talent who learned how to game site algorithms could earn six figures with a volume strategy. Those days are gone. Now, to be sure, there are still plenty of earners both online and through traditional means of sourcing VO work, as well as the beginning of an era of ultra-savvy direct marketers and SEO stars who are finding niches and sub-niches to dominate. But good enough doesn’t cut it anymore. You could fill a stadium with online trolls who love to hate on voiceover coaches, schools, and demo producers, but the fact of the matter is that the proliferation of these services, (and yes, we all know there are plenty of dubious ones and buyer beware,) has forced EVERYONE to up their game. B-plus doesn’t work in 2024 and beyond, and while that may chafe if you were one of the ones coasting on just being good enough, there are two choices: Be great, or be gone.

It’s not just historically underrepresented communities that are thriving in voice acting today: There are plenty of voices in more saturated demographics still killing it. But they bring their A-game to Every. Single. Audition. And to Every. Single. Session. And their A-games are staggeringly good. Want to make it in today’s marketplace? Can you look at a piece of copy and instantly conceive of and be prepared to execute nine different delivery approaches for that read? Are you ready for a director in a live callback to say, “okay, I’m gonna pretend to be someone in the store and we’d like you to go off-script and just riff some funny comebacks?” And then be, actually, funny? No? Get there. Because your competition is.

Be so good they can’t say no. And they’ll still say no 90% of the time. But if they’re saying yes 10% of the time you’re gonna have a very nice career indeed.

KEY #6: EMBRACE AI? WHAT? OKAY, STREAMLINE PROCESSES

I had a chat with a casting director recently that I found fascinating. This is someone who, as a highly sophisticated creative who works in our space, you’d expect to be as far from the AI bandwagon as possible. And with regard to voiceover, they are. However, they use it in PRACTICALLY EVERY OTHER ASPECT OF THEIR BUSINESS. This person told me that using AI to streamline administrative processes, prioritize tasks and emails, organize their schedule, etc…. was saving them essentially an entire workweek per month. Now, whether you use AI, a great personal assistant from somewhere like vaforvo.com, other technology, or some combination thereof, one thing voice actors must always consider is this: At the pinnacle of the industry, (setting aside mega-millionaire animation talent who are largely celebs these days anyway,) the upper crust of just “working VO’s” earn in the low seven figures. That means that your time is, in theory, worth perhaps as much as $1,000 per hour or more at its maximum potential, based on a traditional 40 hour workweek. Now, almost everyone reading this is going, “geez, JMC, $100/hour over a 40 hour workweek would be just fine,” but even at that number, ask yourself, why are you doing tasks manually that could be streamlined with technology, and once you’ve started earning sufficiently, human help that might cost $20-$50/hour? YOUR TIME IS WORTH MORE! If you find tech or cutting-edge, yes, even AI, tools intimidating….do what you did when you started in VO….take a course…LEARN….and free up your time to get your voice on the ears that will pay you WHAT YOU ARE WORTH.

KEY #7: HAVE THE VISION TO SEE A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR YOURSELF, AND THE INDUSTRY

Let’s talk politics. Okay. Let’s not. Ever. Seriously I might consider letting the robots take over if we could just….not. But there’s an analogy to be made between politics and our industry in the sense that the voiceover world is not what you see on social media. Just like politics is not what you see on social media. I want you to think about that. Imagine the last time that you were at a non-political in-person gathering, like a voiceover conference for instance. Or a concert. Or a ballgame. Did you discuss politics with the other people there. Did you complain about inflation, or the dangers of authoritarianism, or whether or not there was sufficient fact-checking of that thing you just read or watched or heard? Probably not. You know why? Because all the complaining, vitriol, passion, and most of the ugliness lives behind a keyboard. When people come together, in person, we have a way of just wanting to lift each other up and believe the best about each other and the best about what the future has to offer.

Similarly, voiceover social media can sometimes be a nest of acrimony. Its where grievances are aired, fingers are pointed, and yes, sometimes home to important and needed discussions, but for the most part it is NOT the actual industry. The actual industry is the work being booked, the sessions being recorded, the finished product making it to air, and, when we’re together, the actual industry is people. People who time and again show that they are brilliant minds, free spirits, kind hearts, and hard-working actors dedicated to this craft and to its future. I’m never more inspired than when I’m with my colleagues, whether they are fellow voice actors, casting pros, directors, producers, or whatever role they play in this magically creative business. And one thing I am certain of is that such a collection of giving, decent, and magically talented professionals can write whatever future they….whatever future WE want. All we need is to give ourselves permission to believe it can be so.

Change is not the only constant. The arts are forever. And so are the artists.

This week I’m joined by experienced LA-based gaming voice actor Ted Evans (tedevansvo.com) to discuss the current Interactive Agreement strike impacting the video game sector.

JMC:  For these who are confused about the current SAG-AFTRA Interactive Agreement strike, can you explain what’s going on? Obviously another strike was settled recently. How is this one different?

With the One Voice Conference USA once again almost upon us, and the summer/fall part of Conference Season about to kick into high gear, I thought I’d drop a short piece on the “why” of what Anna and I do when it comes to conferences, and other services like workshops, retreats, demos etc….

Of course, this is where most people go, “Well duh….you do it for the money.” And that’s where you get a big ell-oh-ell, (I think we should spell it out phonetically like that from now on. Just sayin.)

Okay, let’s be real. There’s some profit margin in demos. But once you start adding up accumulated hours of opportunity cost not doing actual VO work it becomes six of one and a half dozen of the other. They’re a ton of fun insofar as the creative process goes, and I’ve hit so many personal benchmarks at this point that watching others hit them using the tools JMC Demos provides is genuinely rewarding.

The rest? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Voiceover events, especially when the only thing for sale are tickets and sponsorships, are about as smart a business proposition as NFTs. Don’t believe me? I’m happy to share a private look at our books in-person in Dallas if anyone is curious. Profit is marginal at best, and when you account for hours put in, it’s probably a net loss. Those $549 full-day workshops? Add travel, hotel/venue, a nice lunch and the fee for the agent or CD who usually joins, and that’s break even. Retreats? Did you know that in Switzerland a ribeye is about $70?

Now, this is also where you’re likely waiting for the self-aggrandizing humble brag about doing it to “give back.” Well, I won’t disappoint…there’s a bit of that. But mostly, the reasons we do these things, and the reasons people like our partners in OVC/OVA Hugh Edwards and Peter Dickson, and other great folks like Val Kelly and Carin Gilfry and Tim Friedlander and Jamie Muffett and others do this are simple:

1.) Let’s be honest….it’s a ton of fun! We’re stuck in our padded rooms most of the time being the voices that entertain and market to the world…..like Tom Hanks in Cast Away a little human contact is important or we’ll all wind up talking to volleyballs. Looking at you, Jenn Henry.

2.) We also remember a time when there was no ecosystem in VO. Now, there’s no golden “right way” of doing things in this industry….and anyone preaching a “thou shalt follow but the one true path” in this business should be looked at with a fair amount of skepticism. However, while many people get annoyed or overwhelmed by the proliferation of conferences, coaching, courses, workshops, and other stuff that all feels so retail in the business, some of us remember a time when those things really didn’t exist outside of certain twenty-mile radii, and even then barely at that.

Are we in an era where there’s too much voice over training and knowledge and expertise noise out there, like a bunch of space junk casually fired off by everyone who can put together a rocket? Maybe. But the thing is…..at least people can get a signal. And for every low-quality offering out there there’s another that will change someone’s career trajectory, and even their life.

Why in God’s name did we take all these things on? Well, the reason IS selfish….but not quite the way you think. I toiled in something close to isolation and ignorance for the first decade of my career…unaware of how broad the possibilities in this industry were, despite doing fairly well and having a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. I’m quite certain, as I’ve said on many podcasts and interviews, that if I had had access to the abundance of knowledge on offer today that right now, at 45 years old, I would be thoroughly retired and on to other ventures. I don’t want anyone else to lose those years. So Anna and I, and all those wonderful other folks I mentioned earlier…..we’re gonna stay committed to making sure the ecosystem grows, and that today’s new VOs don’t have to guess, or bus tables, or “get discovered,” because they will know any number of ways to attack their dreams and make them come true.

Some quick voiceover business thoughts to get your week in gear…..

1.) Okay, not VO related, but congrats to the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. Not the outcome I was hoping for, but what a series, and with two teams I didn’t care much about that was a lot of flight, hotel, and ticket expenses saved, LOL!

2.) Beware anyone presenting themselves as a moral authority (good advice outside of VO, too, by the way.) Wagging fingers are a well-known symptom of hypocrisy. It’s kind of like the line from Game of Thrones ….. “Any man who must say, ‘I am the King’ is no true King.” Moral authority is not a self-conferred accolade.

3.) Conference season is nigh…..OVC USA, eVOcation, MAVO, and WoVO Con are all coming up fast. Where are you headed this year? Remember, conferences aren’t like Pokemon….you don’t have to catch them all, and FOMO is nothing to be ashamed of. Pick one or two if you can, and try to mix and match lineups that best meet your current needs in terms of content, along with your travel budget. And if traveling is budget-busting, eVOcation is a great opportunity to learn the business side of VO from the comfort of your couch!

4.) If you ARE coming to Dallas in August for OVC, come say hi! We’ll have the mini JMC Demos booth there, and the best part about OVC USA is that Hugh Edwards and the Brits do all the hard work on the ground, which means me, Anna, and Tom are happy to hang with the peeps. See you there!

5.) As July approaches, newer talent may see the dreaded Summer Slowdown as lots of buyers go on vacation and things can stagnate a bit in certain genres. If you hit a slow patch, this is the time to go down your business checklist and make sure your website, marketing, demos, general skill set, agency rep, P2P profiles if you partake, and other ways you present yourself to buyers is ready to rock the fall. In many genres, mid-August through Thanksgiving is the busiest time of year. Be ready!