VO’s know that copy has to sound like a real conversation, right? Today’s popular culture has me scratching my head. Particularly, with all the current “filler” words now part of the lexicon. I’m talking about “like” and what the “fu…k,” to name a few. Wow, I’m sounding like a, you know, “like” a “fu…king” PO porn star! But the client is selling a new makeup product!

We are definitely a coarser society when it comes to the spoken word. It can make me long for Shakespearean beauty and eloquence. But now that I think about it, that might mean too many “thee’s,” “thou’s” and “thine’s.”

Being a character and animation artist, I have no problem with accents, age, over the top eccentricities, or even non human characters. (I once was a talking pickle and a love addled skunk.) But profanity just feels wrong! Have you noticed that the good old “F” word has lost its shock value? The word “sh…t” was a word my grandmother hated me using. She said, “You have in your mouth what I wouldn’t have in my hand!” Well done, Grandma! Consider me shamed.

Even the command, “Fu…k you! or “Go fu..k yourself!” fails to rouse a strong reaction other than, for me, wanting to reply, “It’s obvious I have offended you. But are you ordering me to masturbate? How does that solve anything?” Words should be used eloquently and specifically, don’t you think? Can you imagine Morgan Freeman slinging these words around?

One last thing and I will relinquish the soap box. Nudity in our media is now also the new norm. Sexting, TV, film, etc. Sometimes I wonder if in the future, VO’s in the nude will be requested in a directed studio session. You know, to get that “natural” sound and feel. Preparing to be camera ready would be a major event and totally cancel the VO benefits of working in our jammies. Well, maybe some VO’s do work in the buff but I don’t need to see it. Ok, if you’re a guy and a SEAL TEAM 6 look alike I’d take a peek.

But, I can just hear my end of the conversation with my agent. “The client wants what???
But the product is soap? Well, I mean like, I’m not a prude, but like my booth is really cold and like, Oh sh…t! My voice would like shiver and like, oh f…k! Can I at least throw on a blanket? And tell em my price just quadrupled!”

I mean like, what the fu…k!