Not too long ago, actor Michael Kostroff was generous enough to do a Q+A call with a group of actors from the My Big Year program, and it was so incredibly insightful that I just have to share some of what we covered on the blog this week.
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So you booked a great job, congrats! It feels amazing to receive the validation of booking work when you’ve been working your tail off in class, auditioning like crazy, and living the actor life.
But have you ever booked a gig and found yourself feeling like maybe you don’t really deserve it? Or like you somehow “tricked” casting into believing that you’re talented?
I certainly have, and guess what? It’s not uncommon for actors – or any artists, for that matter – to feel this way. In fact, there’s actually a term for this feeling in the psychology community: it’s called Imposter Syndrome. Eek!
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A lot of people ask me what’s the best way to get started in voice over. Everyone from fellow actors to a guy sitting next to me on a plane have asked me for advice. So, to make it easy for me and you I wrote a blog about it.
The first thing you have to do is get coaching. There is a technique to this. It’s not just about how your voice sounds. It’s about breaking down the script, it’s about visualizing the commercial, it’s about giving variety, etc. A lot of people think they should do voice over because they have that “voice over-y” (not be confused with “voice ovaries”) sound, and everyone says, “Oh, you have a great voice. You should do voice over.” It’s more than that.
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If you’ve been watching the Olympics this week, you might have caught US swimmer Katie Ledecky’s incredible world record-breaking 400-meter freestyle swim on Monday night.
The world record was 3:59. Katie’s goal was to do it in 3:56 or better... and guess what? She finished first, and her time was 3:56. What a way to win a gold medal!
I especially loved seeing bronze medalist Leah Smith gasp (“3:56?”) when she saw Ledecky’s time come up on the scoreboard – it shocked even her!
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I recently had a conversation with the My BIG Year Group about the “highlight reel” that seems to bombard us on Facebook. We all do it: I mean, who’s really going to post a photo of themselves when they’re puffy, hung over and depressed because their boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with them the night before? No way! I’d personally much rather post about good news, or an image from a trip I took.
So sure, on an individual level it feels like we’re all actively choosing to put our best foot forward when we select the content we’ll post online. But collectively, when we scroll through the Facebook feed, the result is that we see tidbit after tidbit of hugely successful and happy news.
I did a little research, and it turns out that we’re on to something.
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