Approaching second year with a reflective lens felt intuitive after having developed those skills in year one. However, bringing the industry into consideration felt daunting at times. A lot of this year I was unsure how I could fit into the industry, and what I should do to market myself. Through my research and exploration this year, I now can see a journey I could take.
The best way to begin researching was to be interested in what I was looking for. I started reflecting about what work I would be inspired by, and how I could work towards that. I adore Studio Ghibli movies, and was aware that they create English Dubs of their works so I began to look into voice acting with Studio Ghibli as an aspirational goal. From my research, see appendix 1, I have begun to get an idea of the companies/casting directors that are associated with Studio Ghibli and that the English dub actors tend to be signed under large agencies and often are already well established. This makes sense, as they are a huge brand, so doing more research into how I could begin to gain voice acting experience was hugely helpful as if I want to aim for these huge movies I’d need to build my reputation and hone my skills. I noticed that most of the voice actors I looked into, had their own website with a variety of voice reels to listen to, so this is something I am now considering building. I have taken advice I have read from voice actors into my training in order to improve my ability, Marlena Crowell (interviewed by Amanda Ellard, 2025) said that “you have to be willing to just let everything go to give your best takes” which has lead me focus even more so on becoming more free in order for that to reflect in the voice. We had mock auditions in term 2, and I saw this as a good opportunity to try to lose any insecurity and give them my best shot. In particular, I played Baloo from ‘The Jungle Book’ for one audition which I had a moment of anxiety about as I felt I didn’t suit the role. But I worked to try to make it fit me and just approached it with energy and enthusiasm which resulted in feedback which I was very happy about.
Appendix 1
Something else I love which also would connect with voice acting is video games. Being able to voice-act in a game is something I have always been interested in. Through looking into voice actors, I saw that plenty have specific video game voice reels which I will definitely want to consider recording in third year in order to aim towards these jobs.
Within the film and video game world there is also the motion capture artform (appendix 2). This relies on the actor’s physical ability, as there needs to be a “noticeable readable difference in your movement” (Hollis-Leick 2018). Physicality is something I have focussed on this year, as, having dyspraxia, I do have a difficult time with embodied movement. I paid particular attention to physicality during my American project, ‘Our Town’ by Thornton Wilder. I played two different roles so I wanted to have a clear distinction between them. Also one of the characters was a child so I needed to push past my own likeness in order to authentically perform. My most positive feedback from the project was that my physicality was strong, so I was glad to see the work pay off. However, during my Shakespeare performance I took on the same process with physicality, mostly using animal studies and Laban efforts, and my feedback was much less positive. After this, I saw that I need more ways to explore movement in character as no technique is a one-fits-all situation. Knowing now that continuing to work on this could support me to be effective using motion capture technology contributes to my desire to improve. From looking into this I discovered there are various courses throughout the UK to support actors through using mo-cap, which I am interested in looking into.
Appendix 2
When looking into agents, I wanted to have a general scope of knowledge into the different kinds of agencies that were out there before I began to really focus on what I personally would want. I mostly used social media, following the agencies that people I knew were signed under and finding new ones through seeing actors casted in roles I would be interested in. I then began to create a table (appendix 3), compiling some information so I had an easy reference point for when I want to begin contacting agencies. Something that I noted was the size of the agency, as I can see there are both benefits and negatives in being signed under a small agency with a concentrated client list versus a more well-known agency with a large client list. A lesser-known agency may have less contacts but with a smaller client list they may give more individual attention to their clients and may work harder for each client as they are still building themselves up. This is important to me, as in my early career I will have to work hard to build my reputation and portfolio so having a partnership with an agent who has a more staked investment in my success is ideal. I am also very keen on screen acting, in particular I adore the fantasy genre and work that the BBC produces – such as ‘His Dark Materials’. I have begun to investigate which agencies seem to have actors signing gigs like this.
Something that highlighted to me within our artistic development classes was to nurture your relationship with your network. In creating a networking spreadsheet, I realised that I have good connections with my local theatres in Reading and began to think about how I can nurture these relationships. For example, I work front of house at Reading Rep theatre, and I began to ask more questions about how the theatre chooses their shows and how they cast – leading me to find out they have a list of Reading based actors and their spotlight pins. This pointed out to me that I can reach out to them once I graduate. Seeing how some genuine curiosity has helped me find more connections and ways to find work once I graduate, I feel much more comfortable since the industry initially felt so big and daunting.
Finding out about access riders (appendix 4) really made me consider how I could support myself in the industry. I’d taken on the mindset that when working I had to ‘suck it up’ and just deal with my differences. Looking into these, and reflecting on myself and my training I began to see how I could create one to make work more accessible. In one lesson, I experienced why this would be so important for me. I am slow at picking up choreography, and can get overstimulated by the sounds and having too much information given to me. I can handle this myself, if given room to. However, once a comment was made to me about the fact that I wasn’t picking it up, it led to me becoming very overwhelmed. I saw that if my needs and the expectations towards me were set up beforehand, I could feel safer in that environment. Looking at different examples of access riders and advice on how to create one has been very helpful. The task initially felt huge and there was a pressure to get it right. During research, I read Aby Watson’s (2024) article about access riders, and noticed that hers came across as more personal and vulnerable as she had specific details about her needs before then bullet pointing the adjustments. I appreciated seeing how this could be valuable as it made her needs very clear. I felt, however, for me it would be too personal if I were to write mine similarly, but seeing there is not necessarily a set format makes me more comfortable to create access riders suited to me. I have begun to bullet point my access needs (appendix 4) and during my New Work project I am noting down anything that comes up in order to have a sufficient document when I get to third year.
Appendix 4
Deciding who to take headshots with was a very anxiety inducing choice. With financial constraints, I was nervous about finding someone I was happy with since most of the ones I saw were over my budget. Thankfully, by looking at the 3rd years’ headshots I discovered Akta’s pay what you can scheme. £75 for 5 headshots was something that I could realistically afford and more photos than I thought I would be able to get. So, I looked through their portfolio and mapped out some of my thoughts, looked at the backgrounds and shots I liked and felt would work for me – considering my hair, eye and skin colour as well as casting (see appendix 5). For my headshots, I am keen for them to look accurate to me and my personality, but I also want some variation in order to show my range of roles.
During a screen class we had a session where we discussed what our casting is which I found to be extremely helpful in narrowing down how my 5 shots can support this. Below my research (appendix 5) I have bullet-pointed ideas for these and I will decide on what kind of clothes would both suit me and my ideas.
In order to create my CV (appendix 6) I used spotlight’s profile layouts as inspiration. I felt this would be the best way to make it clear and digestible. I want to come across as professional, so I do believe having a CV that reflects that is important. So far, my CV is rather plain and straight to the point. My instinct wasn’t to make it overly flashy, as to not distract from the information that is needed to be read, however I do wonder whether I may want to edit it to show more personality. There also is not much on it yet. I need to build on my skills section, for example accents, as I want to make myself as employable as I can. For now, I have the projects that I have worked on which I feel suit the work I would love to do and I will continue to adapt my CV when I have more to flesh it out with.
For my bio (appendix 7), I want to be concise and clear but still highlight who I am. However, there are aspects of my identity that I feel are important to who I am, and the work I would love to explore, but I was unsure as to whether to highlight them in my bio. For one, even though I am comfortable being open about my queer and neurodivergent identity, I am still grappling on whether I am okay with everyone knowing this about me; especially when family members aren’t privy to all of it. Also, I wonder how helpful it is and worry about misconceptions being put on to me. In the end, I did decide I wanted to try to include these in my bio but in a less personal way. Including that I am political and passionate to tell stories showcasing these identities, shows my interests without necessarily saying this is my personal identity. Choosing key characteristics about myself was also difficult, as I found the bios that I was drawn to were marketing people’s bubbly, lively personalities which I don’t feel exactly fits me. So, I tried to seem ‘approachable’ in my own way.
Summative Statement
Something that was weighing on me throughout this year was the anxiety of not getting signed with an agent in third year. Even though I still had my second year to do, everything felt fast approaching. However, from learning about the industry and everything I can do in order to get work, I feel much more secure. Even curating this portfolio has reassured me. I can see that it is not the end of the world if I don’t sign with an agent, and just putting focus on what I can actively do has been very helpful. The aim now is to build towards my goals and make progress in my career.
Before the summer, I will search for projects that I can apply for. Throughout this year, in artistic development classes we were shown where online we can discover projects outside of Spotlight and I have taken note of these. For example, as we were pointed towards student projects as a nice way to gain experience, I have been emailing local universities to see if they need any actors for their graduate work. I would love to be in some short films to get some more practice on screen. I would have done this throughout the year, but I had to be honest with myself and know that I didn’t feel confident enough yet. Now in term 3, the process of my New Work project has shown me that my confidence has grown as I feel very comfortable to give offers and feel secure in my work.
In screen lessons, I noticed I still am not overly comfortable on camera and I have watched scenes back and sometimes have felt I seem stiff. This is a major thing I aim to improve on. Also, we had a mock screen audition and afterwards I realised I didn’t check the framing or really consider the camera. So I want to work with a camera more in order to develop the things I have learned into habits. Something I plan to do in order to be more comfortable, while also improving my audition practice, is to film more self-tapes at home even when it’s not for an audition. This means I can look at them back, and improve my abilities without the pressure of a job on the line.
In ‘Our Town’ during term one, it took me a while to achieve the specific New England accent. However, I was really happy with my ability during the final performance which proved to me if I work hard enough I can improve my accent and voice work. I plan to be comfortable with multiple accents, as this would support both my voice acting and CV goals as I can alter my voices for different characters and also would make me look more employable overall on spotlight/my CV. I haven’t had to do accent work in class since performing in ‘Our Town’, so this wasn’t a focus for me anymore but now I want to bring it back to being a priority.
Another way I will work towards voice acting, is I will look into having sessions with a voice coach that specialises in voice over work after I graduate. It will be a good way to maintain vocal technique I have learned as well as focus on creating character voices. – taking spotlights voice acting advice (see appendix 1). They also reference building a home studio, and from research I have curated (appendix 8) an idea to what I should aim to buy for when I graduate. First I will go for the budget option, and then build my way up. With having a home studio, I will be able to access work which requires you to record at home, which is more popular since the pandemic. Like short films, I can apply for smaller, voice over projects to gain experience and potential material for reels.
Appendix 8
To achieve my goal of fleshing out my CV, outside of accent work, is by developing other useful skills. I have interests outside of acting that could lead to me developing skills that would be helpful for the CV. For example, I love animals and would love to learn to ride a horse. This would be a wonderful experience that would also give me a skill to put on the CV that would make me more employable for something like a period piece.
The majority of these plans rely on money to fund them. I know I will realistically have to be able to make money separate from acting jobs, only 2% of actors make enough to not need to do so (Williams, 2019), so I have begun to set up means to earn money once I graduate. Currently, I work in hospitality but I would like to move away from this and mainly work within theatre. I have been given the opportunity to start to assist teaching kids acting classes, which will be a way to earn money whilst still doing something I am interested in. I can also gain experience teaching doing this, which I am interested in as long term I would be keen into going into coaching or drama school teaching. Also, I am interested in directing. During third year, there is the opportunity to assistant direct a third year show so I will pitch myself forward for this and find other ways to gain experience.
Overall, through my research I have found many things I can do to help me break into the industry and make focus towards what I am passionate about.
Bibliography
Aby Watson, Unlimited. (2024). ‘To access rider or not to access rider?’ [online] Available at: https://weareunlimited.org.uk/blog/to-access-rider-or-not-to-access-rider/.
Amanda Ellard, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. (2025). The Art of Voice Acting. [online] Available at: https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/art-voice-acting.
Hollis-Leick, Backstage.com. (2018). What Do Motion Capture Actors Actually Do? [online] Available at: https://www.backstage.com/uk/magazine/article/trends-and-intelligence-motion-capture-performance-66001/.
Williams, O.E., Lacasa, L. and Latora, V. (2019). Quantifying and predicting success in show business. Nature Communications, [online] 10(1), pp.1–8. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10213-0.
