 Hear this, voice actors don't have it easy
IF you're good, voice acting seems like a piece of cake.
Get a phone call, turn up at the studio, read the script a few times, and they say thank you very much.
The hardest part is getting the phone call in the first place.
Even Singapore's best-known voice actor Jamie Meldrum, despite a busy January and February, has had no voice work for March so far.
At about $300 for each 30-second commercial recorded, it's not the most lucrative of jobs.
However, it's a skill one can take just about anywhere that has a media industry.
'If you're reasonably versatile, you can just about make a living,' he said.
It was his contract with Disney Channel Asia that allowed him to work full time.
He has also worked closely with Singapore's Peach Blossom Media, a production house owned by Radio 91.3 DJ Petrina Kow's husband, Mr Sung Lin Gun.
His voice appears in cartoons like Tomato Twins and Little Tao Shu, which also feature Ms Kow.
'Petrina and I always seem to end up playing husband and wife,' he said.
One thing that hampers the growth of the animation industry here is the lack of voice talent.
Part of it is purely monetary. Unlike in the US, voice actors here do not receive royalties.
He admits he has thought of going to work in the US, but he is hampered by immigration laws.
He said he can't get a permit unless he already has an offer.
'Agents there say if I were there, I'd be working, but I can't get the permit to look for work in the first place,' he said.
His only hope, he said, is to land a job as a classic character.
He said, with a chuckle: 'I can do a decent Mickey Mouse, but the current guy, Wayne Allwine, has to die first.
'Such jobs are usually for life.' | 
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