I agree that the cream rises to the top, but according to a casting director friend in Los Angeles, their database has about 30,000 voice actors, which includes everybody across the income strata from LA to New York, including celebs. In something like 1985, there were 800 total!

The industry is indeed growing. There are voiceover meetup groups in several cities, and there are a couple of notable VO events: Faffcon (the un-convention)for working pros only, and the semi-annual “VOICE” convention usually held in Los Angeles, with the next scheduled in June 2012. I’ve attended both events and they are excellent. By the way, I act as one of the announcers for the VOICE event! No kidding.

All The Best,

Bobbin Beam

Thanks very much for a very concise and accurate description of the voiceover world.

Believe it or not, there are some very well-attended gatherings for voiceover talent. The largest is a biennial convention in LA, which, generally speaking, features guest speakers from the most successful group you mentioned above, presentations, panels and instruction from voiceover actors in the middle group, and lots of people from the third group in the audience.

Another, much smaller conference, happens semi-annually, and is only open to working, professional voiceover talent. (If you’re interested in attending this one, just holler, I’m sure that your application would be approved. ; ) This one follows the “unconference” format, which means that it’s participant-driven, featuring successful voice talent sharing their knowledge and experience with fellow actors.

I’ve been lucky enough to speak at both, and the unconference vibe is certainly more my style. In fact, I recently wrote a blog post about how effective these “unconferences” can be:

http://bit.ly/lQkGm1.

Cheers,

Doug

Mike, does a Tier 1 voiceover artist ever have to audition? If not, do you keep a dossier of sorts (the way models do) that you shop around, or is reputation and/or word of mouth enough?

You talk about the cranky and the frustrated: could this not be in response to the very few opportunities afforded to the voiceover actor?

Since a select few end up with most of the work, how does each voiceover tier feel about the fact that many (if not most) of the voiceover jobs in film and television go to well-known, well-established “celebrity” actors?