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SOCIAL MEDIA It's Getting Ugly: Tension. Negativity. Toxic Social Media Rants. Hey - We're Talking About Voice-Over! August 7, 2019  By Tom DheereThere is a lot of tension in the voice-over industry right now. It's been building over the past five years or so ...
I have HAD IT with most of those VO-related Facebook groups. Many
have become too negative and often downright toxic. It's like every day there is another smart-mouth, know-nothing
newbie, scumbag predatory demo coach, knuckle-headed flamer,
holier-than-thou union member, or jaded veteran who has nothing better
to do than Statler & Waldorf the group minus the funny. WHAT'S GOING ON? Anyway, why
is there so much tension in the voice-over industry today? There are a
number of factors, but I think the number one factor is: thoughtlessness. The
voice-over industry has changed massively over the past 15 years.
Social media and the Pay-to-Play (online casting) model have severely disrupted the
industry. Some would say for the better, others (likely if you're in
SAG-AFTRA and book mostly agent-driven work), for the worse. How can we reduce the level of tension in the voice-over community? Be more thoughtful. And how to do that? Get a grip. I'm talking about:
Pull your collective heads out
of your collective asses and do your best to make your perception of
the voice-over industry match reality. That way, you'll be less inclined
to judge as quickly and harshly as many of us have - especially on those
sometimes-soul-crushing voice-over Facebook groups. EDUCATE YOURSELF Take the time to learn more about exactly how and why the voice-over
industry has changed so you can better adapt. When the light bulb was
invented, nobody felt bad for the candle-makers. Learn, adapt, grow! Think before you post/talk/answer. Put yourself in the other person's shoes before you judge them. Read
your social posts aloud and ask yourself how you would feel if someone
said that about you. If it's an "angry" post, imagine writing it to your
grandmother or your kids or your boss. Sometimes the best thing you can
do with your posts is to never write it in the first place. We are in this together!
This is a tough industry to navigate, much less be consistently
successful at. We were all newbies once, we all have feelings, and only
by working together can we make the voice-over industry a better place.
Always be in the business of being a good human and collecting good humans. ------------------- ABOUT TOM Over more than two decades, Tom Dheere - AKA 'The VO Strategist' - has narrated thousands of projects for clients in over a dozen countries and voiced more than 40 audiobooks. He is also a voice over business consultant, a coach at Edge Studio, was the marketing consultant for the Voice Over Virtual online conference, and is also writer/producer of the sci-fi action comic book Agent 1.22. Email: tom@tomdheere.com Web: www.tomdheere.com Agent 1.22 SEE MORE HELPFUL VOICE-OVER CAREER ARTICLES |
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"Philip, why are you wearing an old manure bucket on your head?"
I removed the bucket and noticed the following printed on it - The Voiceover Community (international) Membership Level XII.
I did not sign up for this! I threw the bucket away just missing Otto my neighbour's Miniature Schnauzer in the process.
FREEDOM!
Cue phone.
"Philip, have you heard about the latest scandal in the voiceover community! IT'S DISGUSTING!"
"No it isn't" I replied. "Human Trafficking is disgusting, child exploitation, pornography, neglect and abuse ALL disgusting, but anything in the voice over world, no. Those dramas are up there with questions like, whilst flying first class should I accept the Champagne or the orange juice?
I know people who do voice over work. When there is nothing under them they simply do voice work. Of the people who make a living doing what I do, I quite like 3, despise 1, consider 42 of them people I once met and the rest worthy of being fed to mad Monkeys in outer Mongolia (you should so visit, the Friday Buffett is divine).
Should life in the heady world of overs we call voice get too much for you, fly to Portgordon and join me and Bess the Border Collie for a walk along the beach. If you're broke I'll pay the air fare.
One has to opt in to drama, choose to opt out.
The bashing and negativity is tiring. I also tire of the injection of personal political views into professional/business social media accounts (which are invariably negative). Unless a policy directly impacts your VO business, please keep political views to personal social media accounts.
Voice Actors, union or not, NEED each other.
Why? Because every other thing being argued about is set up to tear your community apart.
Once you are all broken from fighting with each other, a new control system will be easier to implement.
Just food for thought.... the very people and services you fight about only care about you for as long as you are paying customers. Conflict breeds profit.
But profit can also be controlled by a community that sticks together.
All the services and platforms have been around 15 years now.
Don't fall apart now. If you're experienced lead by example.