WHERE TO LOOK
I almost didn't end up doing this story because I didn't want to have to deal with hiring voice actors. I was rightfully concerned from the beginning about finding the right voices for my characters. Since this is a drama dealing with a complicated family history, I needed voices that could deliver the emotional weight without being theatrical.
I put out my casting call on three different platforms - Voices.com, Facebook pages/groups, and Reddit. Here are my experiences using each platform:
VOICES.COM
P R O SSolid/professional. Quick turnarounds - these are just industry professionals churning out good work. Their UI is streamlined so that you can submit your casting call, receive and shortlist your submissions, and contact/pay your actors directly within the platform.
P R O SSolid/professional. Quick turnarounds - these are just industry professionals churning out good work. Their UI is streamlined so that you can submit your casting call, receive and shortlist your submissions, and contact/pay your actors directly within the platform.
Expensive (for a student budget - I actually think the actor’s quotes are fair)
facebook groups & reddit
P R O S
Cheap. Greater exposure.
Cheap. Greater exposure.
C O N S
It’s the wild wild west out there. Quality fluctuates. Involves a good chunk of well-intentioned, yet inexperienced amateurs and enthusiasts.
It’s the wild wild west out there. Quality fluctuates. Involves a good chunk of well-intentioned, yet inexperienced amateurs and enthusiasts.
FINAL CASTING
I’m really glad I casted a wide net though because I ended up finding the voices I was looking for from all platforms. The casting call process also was super encouraging in seeing how positively people were responding to my story. Up until this point, I was mostly getting feedback from people who had seen the project from its pitch deck phase, so it was hard to gauge how effective the story was. Having gotten more than 200 responses across all platforms (the Voices.com screenshot the amount of responses after I weeded out the obvious no's), I felt at least a little relieved that the story made sense to people.
Here are my super stars who made my characters come to life:
FATHER | Brad Avenyou
For the father role, I imagined a deep, traditionally masculine voice that could capture a sense of regret and remorse. While I received a handful of decent submissions, Brad’s audition tape was the only one that made me do a double take. He singularly seemed to understand the character’s deep turmoil in coming to recognize his own failures.
ADULT NICK | NicHOLAS Contreras
Nicholas, aptly fitting for the character, Nick, had a voice that struck a perfect balance between the maturity of a fully grown man and the juvenile spirit of a youth. His pitch was also just adequately higher than Brad’s voice that there would be an obvious enough distinction between the two. But most importantly, his performance was one of the rare few that actually carried the complicated emotions of the character.
CHILD NICK | Boston Mullen
This one was the most difficult and, truthfully, I was most concerned about. First off, I barely got any real child voice actor submissions in response to my casting call. The majority of the submissions were adult actors talking with a high pitch filter on (like what?!) or adult female voices. Though I would’ve been fine with a female voice actor as long as the final product sounded convincingly like a child, unfortunately, all the female voice submissions were heavily cartoonish.
But then the stars aligned when the uncle of a nephew who was looking to get his voice acting career started reached out. I was amazed at how well Boston captured the attitude Nick was giving Frank in each line without over-acting. Under the condition that we would be able to do a live directing session for the recording, I had Boston onboard!
But then the stars aligned when the uncle of a nephew who was looking to get his voice acting career started reached out. I was amazed at how well Boston captured the attitude Nick was giving Frank in each line without over-acting. Under the condition that we would be able to do a live directing session for the recording, I had Boston onboard!