For once the pundits and the public agree.
Donald Trump has it, and so does Bernie Sanders.
But Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton definitely do not.
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about what separates the pretenders from the real deal. It could determine the outcome of the presidential election, as well as the future of your career.
It is what clients are listening for when they make the decision to hire you or not. It’s something you cannot buy, and it’s almost impossible to fake.
What is it?
Authenticity.
Some dictionaries define it as “being true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.”
Authenticity is often linked to being truthful and sincere. Presidential candidates need to convey to the electorate that they genuinely care, no matter where they stand on the political spectrum.
If politicians pick positions just to score points, or if they flip-flop in the hopes of becoming more electable, people get extremely suspicious. Commentators say it’s one of Hillary Clinton’s stumbling blocks on the road to the White House. Some voters feel that she is distant, calculated, and disingenuous.
Sanders and Trump, on the other hand, are seen as principled, passionate, and authentic.
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH
Authenticity also has to do with how well you hold up under external pressure. Some people prefer to conform to certain trends in society to live a more comfortable life. Others stand up for what they believe in, and fight for the truths they hold dear.
When I became a vegetarian in my mid teens, friends and classmates never wasted an opportunity to make fun of me. While I was asked to defend my choice over and over again, the meat eaters at the table never had to explain themselves. I still get comments from those who love beef and bacon about wearing leather shoes, and why that’s supposedly inconsistent with a vegetarian lifestyle.
Going against the grain is never easy, but at some point all of us need to answer this question:
Do I want to live a life of conviction, or a life of compromise?
The question is deceptively simple, but the answer is not. It depends on the context, and on one’s personality. In certain areas it is easier to give in and be flexible. But in other areas you and I are morally obliged to draw a line so we can stay true to ourselves.
SMOKE SCREENS
For instance, one of my voice-over colleagues was asked to do a cigarette commercial. The money was very good, and he could certainly use it to pay off some of his mounting credit card debt. Yet, as a staunch non-smoker, he had serious reservations about promoting an unhealthy product.
Colleagues told him not to worry. “Just because you’re lending them your voice doesn’t mean you are endorsing their brand,” they said. “Work is work. What you choose to do privately has nothing to do with it. Most people won’t even know that it’s your voice in the commercial.”
“But,” answered my colleague, “how could I possibly persuade others to buy tobacco products I so much despise? It would be one big lie.”
“Oh, come on,” said one of his closest friends. “You’re an actor. Actors lie. That’s what they do. And the best liars become millionaires and win Oscars. That is how the game is played.”
In the end my colleague decided not to take the job because it would feel hypocritical, as he put it, to help sell a product he hated, and that had killed his father and grandfather. But the story doesn’t end there.
Two days later he got an offer for an on-camera job. A new client wanted him to appear in a short video for a chain of health food stores.
“Any conflicts?” he asked.
“Well,” said the producer, “because the video is promoting a healthy lifestyle, they want to make sure that the actors they hire are not associated with campaigns endorsing alcohol and tobacco products. Are we good on that?”
“You bet,” said my colleague with a smile. “You bet!”
FINDING REPRESENTATION
There is another way in which the word “authentic” is often used in our business. One of my voice-over students wanted to know what she had to do in order to get an agent. What would a typical agent be looking and listening for?
“Definitively someone with an authentic sound,” I said.
“But what does that mean?” she asked. “How do I know I sound authentic?”
“Well,” I responded, “You’ve probably noticed that many people who are thinking of becoming a voice-over, believe they stand a chance because they’re good at impersonations. Others come to me doing an impression of what they think a voice actor should sound like. It’s usually a version of a stereotypical movie trailer voice. That’s not what agents want to hear. They’re not interested in a cliché.
Agents want to hear the real, unvarnished YOU. It’s the YOU only you can bring to the table.”
“But how do they know it’s me?” my student wanted to know. “They don’t know me.”
“Trust me, they know,” I said. “They know because when you’re authentic, you sound believable and honest. You’re not pretending to be someone else.
Most people try too hard to sound good. They overact. They over articulate. They fix the mix a million times until they sound unnatural. You now what I mean, don’t you?
Of course you need to be easily understood in order to do this job. Your plosives can’t pop, and you have to tame your sibilance. But that’s technique. Just as in music, a technically perfect performance can fail to move people because there’s no personality behind it. No heart. A true artist uses technique to support the creation of something magical and vulnerable. Something real.”
A SIMPLE REVELATION
“That’s easier said than done,” responded my student. “Where do I even begin? Since I started these coaching sessions I’ve become so self-conscious. I find it hard to read a script and not evaluate myself as I’m reading it. It’s very unhelpful, and I feel like a fake.”
“Wow,” I said. “If only you could hear yourself right now. That was phenomenal.”
“What do you mean?” my student asked.
“This is the YOU I have been wanting to hear for quite a while now. This is the YOU I had hoped would come out.”
“But I wasn’t acting,” she said. “I was just talking to you.”
“Exactly,” I said. “You hit the nail on the head. You were not acting.
You’ve been trying way too hard for way too long. Relax! Take a deep breath. Soften the muscles in your face and in your neck. Smile for Pete’s sake. You’re taking this way too seriously.”
She looked at me as if I’d said something inappropriate. Then I continued:
“I want you to stop the internal dialogue, so you can focus on the external dialogue. Can you do that for a minute or two?”
She nodded.
“Let’s take a look at the first few lines of the script we’ve been working on, and TALK to me. Pretend it’s just you and me having a conversation.”
THE REAL YOU
After a while my student stopped and said: ”I don’t think this is working. I feel like I’m just phoning it in without making any effort. I don’t think I sound good at all.”
“How you think you sound, and how you actually sound, are two different things,” I said. “You can’t hear yourself the way I’m hearing you. That’s the problem. Shall I play the audio back to you?”
When she listened to herself for a moment, her mouth fell open. Literally.
“This DOES sound like me,” she admitted. “I had no idea… This is pretty amazing!”
“Allow me to let you in on a little secret,” I said.
“Great (voice) acting has nothing to do with acting. It has more to do with being. If you want to do this type of work and do it well, you’ve got to be comfortable with yourself. If you’re not, people are going to pick up on that, just as they can tell when a politician is blowing smoke.”
“Oh, let’s not talk about politics,” said my student. “My authentic self doesn’t want to hear about that.”
“Fine by me,” I said. “I vote to continue this session at another time.”
“I’m not going to debate that,” my student replied.
“See you next week!”
Paul Strikwerda ©nethervoice
PS Be sweet. Please retweet.
photo credit: Bernie Sanders via photopin (license)
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