The Art and Business of Acting for Video Games

By Julia Bianco Schoeffling

The video game industry has experienced explosive growth over the past decade, and with that, opportunities have increased for actors to work in the medium. But these new opportunities bring up questions -- Where do you start? How is the process different than acting for film or television? What are casting directors and developers looking for?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nibi Press, LLC
• Release date: Jul 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985334210

Julia Bianco Schoeffling

Julia is a voice and performance capture casting director with over a decade of experience in the video game industry. Her experience includes working on some of the largest and most iconic franchises in video games history including Call of Duty, God of War, The Last of Us, and her clients include major studios such as EA, Insomniac, Activision, and more. She is also the Co-Founder and COO of The Halp Network, a network of creative entertainment professionals, and a Co-Chair of the Dialogue and Performance Track of GameSoundCon, the world's largest conference on audio for video games and interactive media.

Book preview

TheArtAndBusinessOfActingForVideoGames_cover.jpg

THE ART

AND BUSINESS

OF ACTING

FOR

VIDEO GAMES

Julia Bianco Schoeffling

Copyright © 2022 Julia Bianco Schoeffling

All rights reserved.

Nibi Press, LLC | Los Angeles, CA

NibiPress.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022909389

Paperback: 979-8-9853342-0-3

Ebook: 979-8-9853342-1-0

Printed in the USA

First Edition 2022

Edited by Vivian Syroyezhkin

Copy edited by Tenyia Lee

Cover art & layout by Morgane Leoni

Additional writing by Hari Leigh

Illustrations by Judy Alice Lee

Photographs attributed individually

The advice and strategies found within may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is held responsible for the results accrued from the advice in this book.

To Nina

Don’t let anyone stand in your way.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: The Business

Chapter 1: The History and Basics of the Industry

Chapter 2: The Business of Acting for Video Games

Chapter 3: Communication

Chapter 4: Beware the NDA

Part II: Acting

Chapter 5: The Toolkit

Chapter 6: The Sandbox

Chapter 7: Caring for Your Body

Part III: Auditioning and Beyond

Chapter 8: Representation Matters

Chapter 9: Auditions

Chapter 10: Extra Life

Chapter 11: Recording Day

Chapter 12: Capture — Performance, Motion, Facial

Conclusion

Script Addendum & Archive

Glossary

Resources

Acknowledgments

Author Bio

Introduction

In a dark recording studio in Santa Monica circa 2006, I found myself with [celebrity talent who shall not be named], who was recording for their character in the upcoming video game tied to the release of that year’s biggest superhero movie.

The actor was hurried from the start and not entirely thrilled to be there. This was a common attitude with celebrity talent back then, and while it’s gotten better, video games still suffer from a less than attitude from a lot of Hollywood. After testing audio levels, the recording engineer asked them to take off their baseball cap. They refused.

The engineer explained that we were getting sound reflections from the hat into the microphone, and it was causing an issue. They still refused to take it off. They eventually settled on turning it around. Not a great start.

My job as a production coordinator was to take notes on the script and otherwise act as invisible as possible.

When we cut to a line that didn’t quite feel right, the actor noted that their character would never say that. The director explained that this was an exposition line to help the player know where to go to find the next clue in the game. The actor claimed artistic differences and refused to recite the line as written.

Can you imagine presenting to this same actor a script with lines including getting hit x 5 followed by falling off a cliff (short, med, long)?

There are few settings more awkward than a video game session with a new-to-games talent trying to get through a set of efforts, or non-verbal action lines, for their character. In fact, it’s not unusual to have celebs forego efforts completely and have another actor voice the efforts for that role.

These are a few of the ways in which acting for video games isn’t like any other performance medium. The nuances of what a video game role requires are not necessarily more difficult, but they are different than that of film or television.

And even though our celebrity friend wasn’t enjoying that work back then, video games are sexy now! The industry has experienced explosive growth since 2006, and actors want to get in the door:

"The $200+ billion gaming industry is the largest and fastest-growing form of entertainment.

In 2021 alone, the total number of video game releases was up 64% compared to 2020, and 51% of players in the U.S. reported spending more than 7 hours per week playing across console, PC and mobile.

3 billion people globally play games today [2022], which we expect to grow to 4.5 billion by 2030."¹

There is more opportunity now than ever!

But with voice acting’s higher profile, it also means a lot of folks think they can do it. If someone who’s been told they have a good voice finds out what I do, the first question I’m always asked is How do I become a ‘voice actor’? or How can I be in a video game?

Reminding people that it takes skill gets old, and my response remains the same: Are you an actor? Although many people enter voice-over (VO) from different paths, ultimately it all starts with acting. That’s why I despise the term voice actor — because you don’t need the qualifier!

You are an actor.

While actors have resources for studying the craft of voice-over and for different acting techniques, there is no definitive guide to getting into the game industry. I struggle to keep up with the number of actors looking to understand how to adapt hard-earned skills to this new and rapidly changing and growing entertainment landscape.

Where does an actor looking to modernize their skill set go? Where can they read up on video games? Virtual reality? Interactive products?

These boundary-pushing technologies create new and exciting features that allow audiences to connect to stories more deeply. They also create new challenges and requirements for additional skills not currently in the curriculum of general acting schools.

The multifaceted actor is one who can blend their performance seamlessly from stage and screen to studio.

For a video game today, an actor may have 200 lines to power through in a four-hour voice recording session one day and three scenes to memorize for a performance capture shoot the next, with the script coming in only the night before. Blocking, line memorization, improvisation, and cold reading (reading without having seen the text in advance) are essential skills in acting for games. In addition, actors who can nail the fun little extras such as efforts, emotes, or non-verbal vocalizations will absolutely shine through.

As if things weren’t complicated enough, expectations are growing for self-taped auditions; actors now need editing knowledge and basic gear. There are nuances to every new technology you audition with, and you need a whole other set of skills to successfully use them. There aren’t any established best practices for video game demo reels or a guide on which casting websites are used for which types of productions and how you find the others.

This is a very new industry that is constantly changing, and until very recently, there weren’t many qualified folks to put this information together. But after years of teaching classes on the topic, I realized that I had a unique knowledge base to create this guide.

Why me?

Well, simply put, I need actors to have this information. The more your auditions have what game developers and creators need, the better games become…and the easier my job gets. Don’t you want to make casting’s job easier? I desperately want to elevate the level of performance in games, not just the ones that are narrative-driven but the shooters and fighters too. But most importantly, I want diverse and authentic representation in games. We’re incredibly far behind where we need to be, which means the industry has massive opportunity for growth and change.

But for real, why me?

I’ve been fortunate enough to be behind the scenes for some incredible game development processes and moments — recently, as a casting director for projects such as Marvel: Future Revolution, Wylde Flowers, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Tell Me Why, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Madden21, The Outerworlds, the English version of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and more.

Before all that, though, I started my career as a receptionist at the infamous Call of Duty developer, Treyarch. I learned the ropes of what goes into making a video game while finishing my recording arts degree at Loyola Marymount University. While delivering mail to various departments, I got to know the audio team and started bringing them my projects, such as band recordings, to get their feedback and help on making them sound less…amateur. Little did I know that honest relationship-building would be the foundation of my career. After graduation and a month-long backpacking trip around Europe with my sister, I was offered a position in the sound department of Treyarch. It was a position they created for me: Production Coordinator. I organized scripts, assets, and dialogue recording processes and attended every voice recording session for the games I worked on. Some of my dear friends, and even a few of my former interns, still work there today — a testament to the family-like atmosphere at game development studios.

During my time at Treyarch, Activision was just establishing its motion capture stage, which I was fortunate enough to work on during its early days. I did everything from wiring lavalier microphones and battery packs onto actors to running the audio recording and playback. I was a part of the creation process in a way that shaped my perspective for the rest of my journey, especially the path I’m on today. I mean, I had iconic actor Nolan North, known for games such as Uncharted: Drakes Fortune and Call of Duty, in the early days with a one-way microphone into my headphones, and only my headphones, for multiple shoots. That man is a genius and can make you laugh on a dime. I cherish these moments. To this day, my favorite place to be for work is on a motion capture stage. Even on the hardest days, it’s an absolute blast!

After five years at Treyarch, I left and started working for dialogue service providers, where I sat in recording sessions both in the booth and on capture stages. I took notes on the script changes and recorded takes in the studio; I served donuts and got lunches; I edited dialogue; I handled paperwork; I hired (and occasionally fired) engineers, editors, note-takers, and actors. We all wore a lot of different hats back then, although things don’t seem too different now either!

Throughout my journey, I worked with remarkable developers and franchises such as Gears of War, God of War, Call of Duty, Skylanders, Uncharted, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Halo, to name a few. And I got my first taste of casting with the original cast of Monster High, a then brand-new intellectual property (IP) coming to the world of Mattel.

After many years of working for others, I started The Halp Network (THN) with my business partner and friend William Chip Beaman; there we work on casting and production for all sorts of incredible projects. We are also co-chairs of the Dialogue and Performance track at GameSoundCon, the world’s largest conference dedicated to video game audio. We’ve recently expanded THN to include a school, The Halp Network Entertainment Academy (THNEA), which offers a variety of free and paid programming that changes monthly to cater to the needs of the students and the industry. It only felt natural to then tie it all together with this book.

My hope is to create a first-of-its-kind manual for actors looking to book jobs in video games, future technology, and interactive stories.

This guide is written for the experienced actor, whether intermediate or advanced, who is looking to add skills and knowledge to their pursuit of performance. For beginners, this book can serve as a blueprint to understanding the expectations of the field.

Prior to diving in to this material, you should begin with a solid foundational acting program. Not a one-off class, but in-depth classes at reputable places — colleges, junior colleges, online are all acceptable — and learn the basics of acting.

This book is not for someone looking to learn the skills of acting. Acting is a craft that is honed and learned with much practice and, yes, failure. Acting is hard; it takes a lot of commitment, training, rejection, and work, often more than most other jobs. If you’ve already trained, auditioned, and cried, then this is for you — keep going!

I still think there’s a lack of clear understanding about the video game industry and what it takes to both make a game and what it takes to be an actor.

–William Chip Beaman, Video Game Industry Veteran

In Part I, we’ll dive into a little history lesson on performance in video games as well as how the industry itself currently functions. You may be tempted to skip this chapter, but I put it first for a reason! Understanding the short history and technological advancements informs your perspective as performer and team member. From there, we’ll look at the business of being an actor in games, including agents, rates, and unions. Then we’ll make sure your marketing and communication skills are the best they can be, before moving into the nitty gritty of the contracts and non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, to conclude that section.

Part II is all about the acting! We are going to set the