Transcript:
Joe Lemer: The gaming world has become a multi-billion-dollar industry globally and is expected to grow. Now our next guest wants to see better representation and diversity in this sector. Melissa Thom is a voice actor and voice acting coach. Now her voice includes games such as Grand Theft Auto, as well as narration for the likes of UNICEF and Facebook and Amazon and Google. And LL Cool J, that's pretty cool. During the pandemic, she sets up BRAVA, the Bristol Academy of Voice Acting, to train others in the art and business of voiceover and joins me now, hello.
Melissa: Hello, it's so lovely to be here.
Joe: What a lovely voice you have. So this is, you're used to this environment, right? You're used to being in a studio and doing voiceovers and talking, and I talk for a living, but you're doing something on another level. You're providing voiceovers for other people.
Melissa: Yeah, it's, well, I cut my teeth in radio, so it's really lovely to be back in a radio studio and we worked together many years ago. But yeah, things have changed a bit and I moved on from radio and got into voice acting and lived in California and carried on being a voice actor in California and then came back to England and voice acting has kind of grown in the last 10 years in the UK, so now I also train creatives and professionals to become voice actors and to add voice acting to their skill set.
Joe: How hard was the transition from radio to first of all doing a voiceover to then voice acting because only in the last probably I'd say 18 months to try and do voiceovers and I find it incredibly difficult because there's only one job right? So somebody wants a voiceover, you put your demo in and they've got to select from all those options who they want and I guess you just need one person to say yes and then things might snowball and carry on. So how hard did you find it?
Melissa: It's a really good question. To become a voice actor it's a lot more difficult than you might think it is and if you're coming across from radio for example in America they actually don't condone radio voices becoming voice actors.
Joe: They don't condone it.
Melissa: Well, they say it's a different world. But really, once you recognise that it's just a character that you're playing, then you can choose to relay a script in lots of different character voices. So it is difficult. There's a lot more to learn than you think, which is why you should always get training and coaching. And that way you can be guided through where you might sit in the industry, which I think is really important.
Joe: So there's two sort of, I guess two areas and that you can be a voiceover artist and I played earlier Red Pepper who does that big booming voice you hear on movie trailers and then there's voice acting for maybe gaming, that we're gonna talk about a little bit. So what makes a good voice?
Melissa: Oh, that's a big question. I think being able to connect with a script. Remember you are delivering other people's words, but you have to bring your lived experience to that and that requires understanding techniques and tricks that we use when we coach you, it's much more than just having a lovely voice, which is a good starting point, but when you realise that it is a craft and it takes years to learn, I still coach, I still train, I certainly don't sit there thinking that's it, I know it all, that would be quite sad, but yeah, it's the most wonderful job.
Joe: People think for radio though, they go, oh you just talk out loud, and I go, well, yes I do, but it does require quite a lot of preparation, you want to say things eloquently, you want to get the point across in a concise way. So like with voiceovers, you're not just reading what's on the piece of paper, you're bringing it to life.
Melissa: You are totally bringing it to life and understanding how to do that, I think, is what marks you out as a voice actor, perhaps opposed to a voiceover artist or a voiceover. For me, voice actor will incorporate character work as well. So those are the main differences, I would say.
Joe: And what about accents? Because when it comes to voiceover, some will say, we want this style, we want that style. Particularly when there is an accent required. That can be quite hard. If you can't do it, then you're not going to get the job.
Melissa: You have to know what you're doing. You have to understand that we like to sprinkle accents. They have to be understood across a global market. There is a huge call for West Midlands, from Peaky Blinders effect, of course. But we are seeing certainly more requests in script specs for more diverse accents, more dialects that can still be understood in an American market as well. So it's really fun.
Joe: And we've moved on as well because, you know, BBC back in the day was a very sort of, you know, posh, plummy voice. These days, you can't turn the TV on without hearing a whole range, and quite rightly, of regional accents from all over the country. Whereas back in the day, you never really got that.
Melissa: Yeah, back in the day there was all the accent ironing that went on. Maggie Thatcher, for example, had voice coaching. I don't know if you know that. I didn't know this. She actually had voice coaching from an actor from drama school because she understood the power of changing your voice to suit the market. So, yeah, I mean, accents are definitely required, but you have to know how to deliver it for acting on the microphone as opposed to acting on stage or TV or film. And that requires a certain skill set.
Joe: Tell me about your voice acting now. As I mentioned, it includes voiceovers for various games and brands. Tell me about some of the highlights you've experienced.
Melissa: Well, Grand Theft Auto V was certainly a highlight. You know what I love about that gig? And the best gigs I've found in my experience always come when you least expect it. And I was doing a talk about radio in LA, which sounds very showbiz. And I literally was on stage for maybe three minutes. And there was a lovely producer sat next to me. And we must have said hello for two seconds. Six months later I get an email from him and that was the Grand Theft Auto 5 gig. The great thing about that job was guess what my role was? What? Radio imaging voice.
Joe: Oh wow. You got it down to a T.
Melissa: So just to explain what that is, when you're driving around in the car playing Grand Theft Auto 5 and a voice comes on the radio station saying DJ Skepta, that's me. So it couldn't, I mean I've been doing radio imaging for years and years so it was the perfect match. I wasn't a main character clearly.
Joe: But when you put the radio on and you hear it on this station or other stations, when you hear that voiceover on the little trails or adverts for other shows or the, we call them, idents, between the songs, that's a voiceover artist. Somebody is being paid to voice BBC Radio Bristol, that little bit. So there's a lot out there.
Melissa: Yeah, and imaging requires a certain skill set. You need lots of breath support. You need to understand that your voice is highly likely to be compressed amidst all the noise going on. So you have to understand the platform for which the job is going to be broadcast on.
Joe: In the gaming industry, and this is why we're talking about this, is that through your line of work you say Grand Theft Auto, we mentioned about doing stuff for UNICEF and Facebook and Amazon, but in the gaming industry you made some very stark observations.
Melissa: Yes, I mean I'm still learning, okay. The gaming industry obviously has exploded exponentially and I can only talk from my experience which is, you know, we need to see more representation and diversity. We need to see ourselves represented in the wider world around us. And, you know, I have conversations about that, so I have lots of private conversations with industry connections because I want to learn where we really are. There's a gentleman called Marcus Ryder who has done a lot of work for the TV and film industry, and I'd like to see some of that replicated in audio. But having those conversations privately is very important, but also having them publicly. So we have a podcast at BRAVA called High Notes where I interview casting directors, game producers, sound designers, and I ask them the questions, you know, what is currently going on in the industry? And it's so interesting because I get a completely different set of answers. Some people will say we need to do much more, others will say I think we're doing loads. So I'm trying to understand that through my work at BRAVA.
Joe: And I guess the weird thing about it is that we can talk about representation in film and television and everyone can see whether there is a mix of people from different backgrounds on the TV, on the screen. But I guess with a voiceover you can't always tell.
Melissa: Yeah, you know, it's so complicated. I mean, I've always thought of myself as a British actor and it's only recently that people have been asking me the question about my heritage, which is Indo-African, my mother's Mauritian. But my voice sounds British RP, so where does that line get drawn? For us at BRAVA, our responsibility is to make sure that our talent gets the highest quality training and understands the industry, where it is today and where it's going. The number one factor for us is talent, but also we want to see more representation, and so we have lots of conversations. It's so complicated, so just talking to people, having these conversations, coming and doing things like this is so important.
Joe: So what needs to change do you think? Although you're still learning about it and people have different opinions, what do you personally think needs to happen in the gaming industry?
Melissa: That is such a big question. I recently interviewed my agent and asked her what the current trends were for gaming in the industry. It was a Women in Games special, and she explained that most of the roles that they are booking are still going to men. So even with the gender gap, I think there's more to be done there. I think there's more to be done in representing diverse voices. I think the indie sector of the industry is certainly where that is happening more and more. So I think that will trickle down to the wider industry in general. But more conversations, more representation, more talking about the realities of casting as well.
Melissa: Where can we hear your voice next? I've just done imaging for Drake's channel. Right. So you can hear that on Sirius in America. I can't tell you any more than that at the moment. There's lots of other projects going on. Oh, okay. I've had to sign in NDA.
Joe: Sworn to secrecy.
Melissa: I am. Sorry, it sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But unfortunately, yes.
Joe: How much do you enjoy being a voice actor?
Melissa: It's the best job in the world. I mean, I used to love radio but the early mornings absolutely killed me. So full respect to everyone that still does that.
Joe: Tell me about it. Normally I'm getting up at a stupid o'clock. This is a lion coming in at 7.30.
Melissa: Yeah, I remember the pain. One of my eyes used to close. Do you get that? And I kind of walked around. When I'm very, very tired, the little sort of corner of the eye was sort of flicker.
Joe: Yeah, when I'm really tired. And it's like, you're a knackered Joe, go to bed.
Melissa: Yeah, it is another world getting up at 4 a.m. But it is the best job in the world. I absolutely love both sides of it. I love the performing, the games, the narration, the commercial, the radio imaging, but I really love the coaching as well. We work with the most incredible, creative individuals from all sectors and it's such a privilege to work with them. So yeah, best job ever.
Joe: We may have to keep in touch as I try and forge a career in the world of voiceovers. Great to see you again after all these years. I think we worked together like 20 years ago. Good to talk to you. Thank you for your insight and we'll catch up again soon.
Melissa: Thank you so much.
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