Talking Head

The thing about the pandemic is the silver lining. Lining's, actually. Just when you thought it was safe to leave the house, I get booked on a voice over job out of the blue. I mean, silver.

I've done a fair amount of voice over work and it's great fun. Going into the studio, meeting the techs, the director, acting for money. But, what's a boy to do when everyone's confined to home?

Interesting I should ask. Just the other day, Wednesday to be precise, a terrific studio here in the southland dropped off professional equipment for me to set up in my very own closet. (Actually, it's my wife's closet. Walk in. Don't judge).

Extraordinary problems breed extraordinary solutions and this is one of the best I've experienced. Of course, I can't mention the project that will appear on Netflix sometime in the future because of disclosure agreements, etc, but I can tell you it was fantastic.

My director and two techs visited me in a virtual world where I could interact with them, get notes, fix flubs and finish the project all without seeing their faces. Naturally, they didn't see mine either, but neither do I, most of the time.

I feel like I made some professional friends though I couldn't pick them out of a lineup to save my life. And, of course, that begs the question. Will we go back to normal?

I've spent an inordinate amount of time during the lock down watching webinars from casting directors, insiders and other "in the know" - ers. What I hear is, yes we will go back to normal. But, normal won't be what it once was. So, will we go back to normal, really?

I love in person work, auditions, classes. I think the energy between two human beings can't adequately be replicated over distance. Even for pros. We can do our best, but it always adds a bit of pop when everyone is in the same room. At least, that's how I feel. So, I was very glad to hear the vast majority of casting directors advocating for in-person auditions. Thank goodness.

Video auditions, distant voice over may take up more real estate in the process, but they won't take over completely. At least, not yet. Let's hope ever.

In the end, work is work. Acting is acting. But human beings are human beings and most of us really like other human beings. Let's keep being human together as soon as we can.