Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Jul 22, 2020 23:41:39 GMT -8
Important Note:
We all love and appreciate our fans very much! These are meant as a few gentle reminders for polite etiquette when interacting with your favorite voice actors* over social media. Please do not let this seem intimidating or stressful - most of the time, your interactions are perfectly fine and welcome! These are just some little things to be aware of, and have been compiled based on comments made by various actors on social media.
(*A lot of these can apply to other creative professionals as well!)
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Treat actors like people.
At the end of the day, actors are just regular people trying to make a living in their creative field. There is a person with human emotions on the other end of the screen. Be mindful to treat others how you would like to be treated.
Try to Google/do a small amount of basic independent research before asking for advice.
This was brought up in a viral Twitter thread recently and quickly became a contentious topic. Please understand that if an actor isn't available to answer your questions about getting into the industry or getting started in acting, it’s not because they don’t care about you or they’re stuck up or unappreciative. Actors receive these questions daily and it is simply too exhausting and time consuming to type out a massive essay in response to every single person who asks (because there’s no “quick and easy” answer to how to break in). Please try to do your homework first as there are so many free resources out there. And then, if you really have a specific question, you can go ahead and ask. (You may also want to consider joining our Discord server, where there are lots of people available to help answer specifics for you!)
This was brought up in a viral Twitter thread recently and quickly became a contentious topic. Please understand that if an actor isn't available to answer your questions about getting into the industry or getting started in acting, it’s not because they don’t care about you or they’re stuck up or unappreciative. Actors receive these questions daily and it is simply too exhausting and time consuming to type out a massive essay in response to every single person who asks (because there’s no “quick and easy” answer to how to break in). Please try to do your homework first as there are so many free resources out there. And then, if you really have a specific question, you can go ahead and ask. (You may also want to consider joining our Discord server, where there are lots of people available to help answer specifics for you!)
"But why would I Google how to become a voice actor, when I could get that actor's personal story?" Many actors have a bio section on their website where they talk about their personal story if you are curious. However, it's important to note that everyone's journey is different. What someone did 10 years ago that led to a series of events that had them working as a voice actor isn't going to be what works for you, or the next person, or even their own peers. The best pieces of advice we can possibly give you are "take acting classes to learn how to be an ACTOR first and foremost" and "practice recording your voice and reading out loud on your own".
Please don’t beg actors to follow you.
If you ask someone you don’t really know personally to follow you back, it’s almost guaranteed to make them feel awkward. Sure, they might follow you out of a sense of guilt or obligation because you asked them to, but do you really want a pity follow? There are many reasons why people might choose to follow someone, and often times people keep their “following” list to close friends or accounts of interest. Some people see it as a badge of honor if an actor they’re a fan of follows them, but at the end of the day, it’s really not a big deal, so please don’t stress over it.
Don’t ask invasive or inappropriate personal questions.
Most people don’t mind answering innocuous questions about their work, hobbies or daily life. But be mindful of appropriate boundaries—-for example, don’t ask someone about their relationship status, or pry for details about an illness or personal tragedy.
Don’t friend their personal Facebook accounts, unless you actually know them as a friend.
Most people use their Facebook accounts to post more personal statuses or keep in touch with family and close friends. If an actor doesn’t accept your friend request, please don't feel hurt or take it personally. Don’t keep deleting and re-sending the request, or message them (or even worse - their friends, family or significant other!) to ask why they didn’t accept it. Many actors have a Facebook “fan page” you can easily find with a quick search - or, if they don’t have Facebook, you can interact with them on their public Twitter accounts. Many people prefer to keep their work and private lives separate from their public-facing accounts.
Don’t make creepy and/or sexual comments, or send/tag them in lewd fan art, unless they have explicitly indicated they are okay with this.
This is inappropriate, and you will probably find yourself blocked or muted if you do this. Even if an actor plays a highly sexualized character or does voice work for adult projects, this doesn’t mean they consent to receiving these comments. Be respectful.
Don’t use their Twitter/Instagram/Discord DMs or Facebook messenger as a 24/7 chat room.
If someone has DMs open, many times it’s primarily for business reasons. It’s okay to send a message letting them know you appreciate their work, and once in a while you may even end up becoming friends. But actors tend to be very busy and cannot constantly be at your beck and call to respond to messages. You can be a fan of someone without necessarily having a personal relationship with them. (Again: we promise it’s not that we don’t care! Many times it takes a lot of “spoons” to constantly respond to questions and messages, especially from strangers.)
You don’t need to reply to everything someone posts.
It’s fine to reply often if you have something to add, but try not to reply with meaningless or spammy comments that don’t really contribute anything. For example, if an actor posts a role announcement for a game they’re in, you don’t need to let the world know that you’re not planning to play the game yourself. If they post about a cool accomplishment, you can simply “like” the tweet rather than posting a one-word response such as "ok".
When responding to a mass tweet with lots of people tagged, PLEASE untag anyone not relevant to the conversation.
The inability to truly untag yourself from a conversation is one of the most obnoxious issues with Twitter. ("Mute thread" doesn't stop the conversation from showing up in someone's mentions.) Please, please, PLEASE remember to untag other people if you’re responding to something like a Follow Friday or one of those mass threads with 20+ actors tagged, or having a whole conversation with someone else in the replies that doesn’t concern them. This floods their mentions with irrelevant replies (GIF spam, anyone?) and makes it harder for them to see messages that are actually meant for them.
Try to avoid directly asking someone to signal boost, unless it’s for a really important cause they’re aligned with.
I know it’s really tempting to ask someone you know with a high follower count to share or retweet something for you, but this is one of those other things that puts people into an awkward or uncomfortable situation, especially if you don’t know them. Like the “asking for follows” situation mentioned above, it guilt trips the person and makes them look heartless for saying no. If they decline, it doesn’t mean that they don’t care about you or don’t think the cause is important—-they may just not feel comfortable sharing for whatever reason, and that’s okay. Another big reason is that if an actor agrees to retweet something for one or two people, suddenly everyone starts asking, and it floods their timeline. It’s okay to bring attention to something once in a while, but make sure to communicate that the ball is in their court if they wish to boost it.
Resist giving unsolicited criticism or “advice” that comes off as rude.
If someone wants advice or feedback, they will ask for it. If you are obnoxiously rude or tactless in your replies, chances are you’ll be blocked or muted. See this post for a much more in-depth explanation.
Understand that generally, actors can’t confirm anything until an official announcement.
If an actor has news to share, they’ll share it when they’re allowed to! Not only are actors typically under strict NDAs when working on projects, many times we don’t know any more than you do as to whether a certain show is getting a second season or whether or not our characters will show up in a spinoff of a game or if something is even getting localized/dubbed. Try to resist asking an actor for any role confirmations until a project is officially released.
Don’t put people up on an impossible pedestal and then get upset when they can’t live up to it.
Your favorite actors are human, and everybody makes human mistakes and has human limitations. Just like you, actors are people doing the best they can most days, and nobody is perfect.
Don't tag them in drama or ask them to comment on controversial matters.
This is self-explanatory.
Please don’t expect actors to be your personal therapists.
Talking about how a character they played helped you get through a hard time in your life? By all means, go for it! However, please be aware of certain boundaries.
[CW: Self-harm, suicide]
This part is very difficult to write and express properly, but please know that it is meant in the spirit of love and compassion: If you are struggling with self-harm and/or suicidal thoughts, please seek help from a qualified professional, not an actor you are a fan of. As much as we want to be there for those who are hurting, we are absolutely not qualified to deal with these things and it is a very heavy emotional burden to place upon a relative stranger. Also, many actors deal with mental illness themselves, and these topics could potentially be triggering for them. You are not alone, and there are plenty of resources out there to help. Actors, unfortunately, cannot be one of them.
And finally…actors are not their characters.
We know, this has been repeated over and over on Twitter as of late, but actors are doing a job portraying a fictional character written by someone else. We have no control over the story. We have no say in our character’s actions, or how something is localized. We are performing the scripts that we are given. It’s called playing a role for a reason, and it doesn’t mean we necessarily endorse the actions of our characters. Similarly, an actor’s real-life personality might be nothing at all like the role they are most known for playing. Try to resist making too many comments about how they’re “being out of character” by being their normal selves, or addressing them as their characters rather than who they actually are.
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If you’ve done any of the above, please don’t beat yourself up, and try not to stress over it! We all make mistakes or do little things that bother other people, and the important thing is to learn and grow from it. I hope this helps provide a little perspective for everyone and that you can understand where we are coming from, too.
Finally, here are some things actors generally love:
- Seeing your artwork or cosplay of characters we’ve played
- Receiving sweet letters, notes and e-mails
- Hearing that we inspired you in some way
- Hearing how a project we worked on impacted you
- Birthday wishes, congratulations, general support/kind words
- Hearing that you’ve contributed to a charitable cause we’ve promoted
- Seeing positive content related to things we care about (for example, as a cat lady, I adore hearing all your rescue stories and seeing your darling cat photos!)