Update: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1295085-skyrim-actors-guild-day-2-update/ -- Let's continue discussion over there to allow continuation following Day 1 developments, and to move forward from Day 1 events.

If any aspiring actors are reading, then you might consider approaching your agent with a suggestion. One of the hardest resources to come by for modders is decent voice acting. Any of us can grab a microphone, edit some clips to alter our voices, and put it to work BUT... Well, that's not the same as professional acting, is it? Much moreso, what we find often is that modders voice their creations themselves, or involve their friends and family. So, the suggestion would be to refer talent to what is described herein. Yet this is not limited to professionals -- a greater pool of people willing to be immortalized in Tamriel helps all modders, and by extension, all fans of this game.

I did some acting in the past, and I know that one of the most important things an aspiring actor needs to do is to beef up their portfolio. So, meetups and round tables of various areas some times create independent projects just to get an entry for the resume. Now, voice acting is a niche, but it's one that relies entirely on your skill with delivering lines. So, there's no need to be concerned with your "look," the politics of casting calls, nor even travel. Lines may be recorded at home, sent to a modder, and then a clip from the game can serve as a reference for your resume.

The beauty of this is that anybody can get involved. So, here's what I propose: A group of people united to deliver lines, who can be approached by modders and submit clips to compete for parts. Modders submit lines with context and character information, and actors respond with their delivery of lines so the modder may choose the one that most closely matches what they're looking for. All we need is a place to make submissions possible, and between blogs (to post news and accolades), Reddit (to thread requests and implement a voting system), and Soundcloud (to share the clips), we can do this without spending any money on resources, though for purposes of organizing this I'm willing to volunteer some funds for promotion.

Note here that with a community-based approach, a talented voice actor might become something of a community celebrity. That's when the offers start rolling in. With voicing in games still relatively new, this suggestion bears the potential of becoming a "talent garden" where the profession may grow for the betterment of the entire gaming industry. With enough participation, it's likely we'll see people get involved just for fun who then discover a talent they might never have known they have.

So, if anyone (actor or not) is interested, reply herein. Let's see if we can make this generation of mods better than ever!

UPDATE:

1. Let me stress that I am not seeking free professional voice acting for my mods. To prove no conflict of interest, I will forgo modding to work on building this up.

2. This effort aims to facilitate collaboration and networking, but not to replace nor compete with existing organizations with a similar purpose. Think of what I propose as the playground people gather at, and each individual organization out there as one house in the neighborhood. You might not play at, say, Bobby's house, but you and Bobby can still be on the same swing set. I hope that, in time, this initiative can serve to help promote the organizations that already exist.

3. A subreddit has been created and a prototype set of guidelines drafted. Please show your support by discussing voice acting for Skyrim there: http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimactors

4. As pointed out by blood_orgy on page three, this may be an excellent opportunity for theatre majors to earn extra credit practicing their craft!

5. A few minor edits have been made above to reflect that this initiative is open to all, and not only aspiring actors, though its usefulness to developing careers remains.

tl;dr: OP needs free voice acting.

I sincerely doubt that the majority of modders out there actually pay people to voice-act, considering everything they do will be out-of-pocket.

I don't, and I have no problem finding plenty of voice actors for my mods. (At least the latter 2)

OP: Post auditions on the Voice Actors Club, or the Voice Acting Alliance forums.

http://voiceacting.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general

http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/forumdisplay.php?183-Fan-Visual

AJV

Voice actors expect to get paid for some lines for an indie mod?

I've done voice acting for lots of different stuff including various Dremora in the 'Dremora Companion Mod" for Oblivion. I've done some work in flash cartoons, fansubs and other game mods as well.

My voice profile is deep and I am accomplished in many different kinds of variations of deep-voiced characters with lots of different accents. My voice is best suited for the following:

Argonians
Ashlander Dunmer
Dremora/other daedra
Imperials
Khajiits
Nords

Evil characters are usually where I shine but I am well-suited for any kind of deep voiced character. I will not and do not accept or require compensation for my work.

I don't need free voice acting. Between myself, my friends, my girlfriend, and my former agent's resources I have access to plenty of free voice acting.

Cynicism and skepticism are appreciated, but it's frustrating sometimes how an attempt to contribute to a community is met with nothing but those things.

First, not ALL voice actors expect to be compensated. Numerous aspiring actors already contribute to inde projects to get a credit. That's what it's all about in the beginning of the game. You don't decide you're going to act and then become a celebrity, and it's not luck either. You get training. You contribute selflessly to projects for free to get credits and build a resume. You go to casting calls, but you don't really expect a part for some time. You travel, sleep in your car, and do background extra work to network and learn first hand how things work on a set. Eventually your resume attracts the right attention, and you get a call for a day player part or commercial. So, it's a process of paying your dues, learning, building a reputation, and gaining experience.

So, aspiring actors have every reason to contribute to something like this for free. If a mod gets enough exposure, then that's their voice out there contributing to the scene. A credit on a successful mod can tout downloads like views on YouTube. My goal here is not to find voice acting, but to spark the creation of a community to provide it. I'd rather focus on that exclusively than a mod even, because it would mean a greater contribution to the community. This also allows those without the time or technical prowess to make mods themselves to contribute to the modding community, and I can see absolutely no reason why the community would be opposed to this.

What I'd really love to see and would trigger my putting more of my personal time into building up this idea is more responses like Arklite's (thank you, Arklite) edit: or thomas0611 below, or responses from people who just think it would be fun to have their voice in the game. I don't need to gain anything from this but the satisfaction of contributing to an awesome modding community (and, maybe, better mods ). My role in this would be simple and small compared to the real stars (the modders and voice actors): establish the framework between a few sites, build interest, promote, and moderate. In the event that it takes off well, I could see myself handing the keys over to whomever distinguishes themselves as more capable. So, it's about the community. It's about Skyrim. It's about actors. It's not for my personal benefit any more than it's for the benefit of all people in the community.

Will do voice acting.

Can do many (sub)accents, styles and characters. Am also familiar with the common inter-European linguistic idiosyncrasies, adding depth and resonance to a character. Am in the late stages of developing my very own training module, focussing on visual - rather than auditory - cues, enabling the individual to quickly pick up many accents in a short period of time.

Will do free 'bits' of work, do expect to get monetary incentive for further effort. Full charge for tutoring.

The problem I have is that the OP is clearly asking for professional-quality voicework, yet offers no incentives beyond "it'll look good on your portfolio", which I have considerable doubts about considering that it's hobbyist work. It's the exact same [censored] that writers, artists, web designers, and other creative types deal with when they're asked to work for free.

For your viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Also, a nifty infographic: http://i.imgur.com/oFxPC.jpg

I am asking for community-contributed voicework for ALL modders. If professional-quality work is provided by those interested, then it is available. Otherwise, amateur work provided in no way differs from what would typically be included in mods anyway. The only difference is that a greater pool of volunteer talent is available to choose from. People could do this for fun or to build a resume.

If professional actors choose to charge for their service, then the Skyrim Actors Guild may facilitate their networking so that they may negotiate contracts with modders directly. Otherwise, an actor who would typically be overlooked for lack of experience does benefit from a credit in a well-exposed mod in exactly the same way they benefit from free plays, YouTube videos, local commercials, and the wealth of other projects engaged in specifically to build a resume.

Nowhere did I say that I am soliciting free work to diminish the earning potential of actors. I am offering to assist in facilitating networking, to assist actors in gaining credited roles, and to assist the community in generating better mods while offering community members the opportunity to contribute in a new way. There is absolutely no reason to oppose this. On the contrary, a talented and capable voice actor may distinguish themselves such that they become in high demand, which in turn could easily assist developers in seeking talent as well as enable aspiring actors to begin charging for their services.

This absolutely DOES differ from requesting free design work in that aspiring actors as a matter of course become involved in free projects to build credits anyway. That is a standard part of the progression of an actor's career. Additionally, speaking some lines into a microphone only gains the value of hours put into design when the talent distinguishes themselves. That distinguishment occurs AFTER exposure. So, as a person with experience as an actor it occurs to me that while you may understand design very well, you don't have experience as an actress, are not aware of the career progression of talent, and simply are detracting from this initiative out of malicious intent. Your infographic has no context here. Has it occurred to you that perhaps some Skyrim players might have fun helping to voice mods?

Also, by your logic every single website to ever exist for the purpose of facilitating things such as photoshopping as a community (such as SomethingAwful, for example) should not exist and can not be successful. But that ignores the simple reality that such websites do exist, have been successful for a number of DECADES, and that marketable services absolutely have been distinguished and promoted through such services. The model works. It has been proven. The only reason to oppose it is to suppress competition, which is silly in this case. Modders seeking professional talent are in no way barred from currently-existing channels by the creation of this initiative, and this only provides a new way for talent to promote themselves. No harm is done here.

Also, if you think that there is a market for voice talent in modding today or that such a market will emerge without the creation of community to facilitate it, then I don't think that you have thought this through. Final edit: As for the continued cynicism and skepticism, I've already posted that I am willing to eschew modding altogether to focus on this initiative, and if there are ethical reasons for me to do so then I have all the more incentive to do so.

I'm not being malicious about it; I'm simply erring on the side of caution since you seem to be giving off the impression that doing voicework for someone's KAWAII DESU ANIME MOD!! is going to aid aspiring VAs in their future career aspirations, as if working on some mod for a video game is equivalent to doing volunteer work for a local charity or providing VOs for a series of Youtube videos.

Next you'll be telling them that the voicework they did for a bunch of [censored] Flash cartoons on Newgrounds technically qualifies as creditable work and would totally look awesome on a resume.

Frankly the best mods are made without pulling any strings with cash but I bet you a TC Mod that has gone very far would likely make a sacrifice in the form of cash for good voice actors to make the mod shine even more. I tend make mods as a passion and not to [censored] out a following, though granted its all been personal work. In fact its not a particularly tedious thing to do "Hobbyist" work and get decent voice acting when you know people who can edit sound as well as people who can do voices for this sort of thing.

I only voice-act my own mods, sorry.

I appreciate your caution, but you're not heeding history here or thinking broadly enough. First, the exact same thing was said about YouTube videos, and that was wrong. In fact, every time a channel for exposure has been scorned simply out of scoffing at its potential, the result has only been that talent has been divided into those who use every channel available for promotion and those who consider some channels beneath them. Guess which group wins every single time.

Video games are an increasingly relevant media, and as a result mods too will become increasingly exposed. Now, granted, not every random mod will grant an actor or actress exposure. Not every random YouTube video helps to promote a musician. However, the observation that not all projects are fruitful in no way facilitates the conclusion that NO projects are fruitful. It's not the next "look at my awesome house!" mod that is a resume-builder, but the next "Magic Spells of Aurum," "The Lost Spires" or "The Underground" (from Morrowind days) that sees massive exposure through downloads that really is a prize for the resume. Talent choose which projects to contribute to. The more distinguished talent may watch for the big mods with true development teams, and they'll be the ones starting with a sample but negotiating a contract anyway. Beyond this potential lies the vast untapped community, a large segment of which may enjoy playing Khajiit for the next "look at my awesome house!" mod, and there is no reason they should be prevented from doing so. There's no reason we can't make it easier.

The more participation in the community, the more relevant recognition of talent becomes. A broad community working together can produce amazing things. It has been proven time and time again.

In addition, this allows for mods of new breadth and scope to be created. A serious mod team who, themselves, are looking to create a portfolio-building title benefit not only from the distinguishment of new talent and easier networking with distinguished talent, but the unprecedented scope of voicing minor characters that this may provide. Saying that modding is not an outlet to a real career is also short sighted and ignores the history of modding (as well as falsely limits its future potential). The selection of development talent from pools of modders went mainstream back in the days of the original Unreal Engine, when contests were held and people were actually hired.

So, that there are hobbyists out there who could benefit from this in no way makes it a bad idea for aspiring professionals, and that current professionals may participate in no way limits their capacity to charge for their services. As with all entertainment, the most capable, talented, and in-demand participants will find that new doors can open for them. So, your observations are very much similar to say, "Well, because we have a motion picture industry, schools can't put on plays, and casting directors never attend them anyway." Can you see how that might be silly? It's also like saying, "Since not all YouTube channels are successful, it's pointless for YouTube to exist." Come again?

To re-enforce the idea the OP isn't asking for free voice actors. He/She is trying to pull together a community of people willing to do free voice acting for -other- people's mods so that voiced mods will be less difficult to achieve.

Hmmm, please browse through the audition info for my current project at: http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/showthread.php?71385-Falskarr-Skyrim-new-lands-mod.-25-Voice-actors-needed-male-and-female!

Audition if you think you can play any of those characters well. And if you have a deep voice, you should be able to!

Quanta.

I am a freelance artist who gets paid to do exactly what I have been doing for Morrowind and will be doing for Skyrim. Just putting that out there so you know where I am coming from.

The reason I am going to do free work for Skyrim is because I want to, and because I may just be able to come up with something worthy of being put into my portfolio, and I will get to play with it in game. Having this platform is a great way to try new things, and learn. I am sure there are other professionals around these forums doing essentially the same thing. Just because you are doing something for free doesn't mean you are being taken advantage of.

And it is known that this is a modding community, damn near everybody here is working for free, for their own personal enjoyment and love of the series/game. If you come here looking for paid work, you will probably end up homeless.

As I mull over how this would work, there is one limitation I think would be ethical to include.

Expanding the lines of currently-existing characters means doing one of two things: Either all of the lines are recorded fresh so the voice matches in the new lines, or a voice actor who can sound like the original talent is sought. Both of these cases are wrong. In the first case, if the Skyrim Actors Guild facilitates it then we're encouraging that other peoples' work be removed. We should be all about building, never destroying. In the second case, the creative work is directly copied, which is unethical for the same reasons that making knockoffs of branded merchandise is. That would be an attack on the original talent, and that's not what we should be about.

So, that will need to be a rule for this. Only new characters may be voiced by Skyrim Actors Guild unless the talent behind a currently-existing characters gives permission for an exception.

I understand that, and it's certainly an initiative I could get behind, but I think it's a terrible idea to suggest to someone looking for a career in voicework that this is going to look good on their resume when they start applying for actual, paying work. This isn't Youtube or some small-budget indie game project; it's a mod for a single-player video game. Perhaps I'm thinking about it in the wrong fashion though, since it's likely that their demo reel would include a short montage video of some of their best lines for various characters, so there'd at least be some context to it.

Oh yeah. If they were successful it'd be good for them if they were to be Voice Actors for a living.

Really? I have an aquaintance that did voice work for the star trek online subspace radio, and hes working as a VA now thanks to that. Any work you do for a specific field, especially if its really good is going to look good on your resume because it shows experience. When artists go for interviews to do concept art, they bring ALL their art, even stuff dont for themselves or mods for games. This isnt no different.

Community notoriety can go a long way. There are different kinds of voice acting roles. Casting directors for cartoons might scoff at video game actors (or might not). However, we can count on one thing: developers pay close attention to their communities. Someone with a decent credit in a mod that is well-received has proven their worth in game voice acting, with all its unique subtleties. When the community starts to say things like, "Wow the work of Soandso is always outstanding," developers are guaranteed to notice.

Beyond this, video clips from the game provide context, as Caldera513 points out. Casting directors aren't always familiar with all of the work on talents' resumes, but in many low-end roles, the question is whether the work is there and has gained exposure rather than whether they have heard of it.

There are different levels of career progression. As an example, Jack Black did extra and day player work in more than five hundred films before landing his first principle role. I'm sure that once he started pulling day player roles, background work came off his resume and when he started pulling principle roles, the day player entries vanished. Voice actors have a unique set of challenges, too. In film and television, a milestone is reaching a "speaking role," but in voice acting they're all speaking roles. So, it becomes a question of exposure and receptiveness. A mod with a couple thousand unique downloads and great reviews demonstrates just that.

Certainly the majority of modders are volunteering their time and energy to make things purely for their own enjoyment, but that's not what I was arguing against. I was railing against was the idea that creatives should volunteer their services and produce professional-quality work simply for the promise of exposure and/or future work, which is a terrible promise to make.

I also misinterpreted the OP's initial intentions and thought that this was some scheme of his to get professional-quality voicework for free, but it would seem that is not the case, so I apologize, Gnostici.

Why would someone want to join your voice actors guild if you're going to place restrictions on what they are allowed to voice? This shouldn't be up to you to decide. If it was truly wrong, Bethesda wouldn't be giving us the tools to do this stuff in the first place. If a modder wants to do something that Bethesda doesn't disagree with, that's their choice to do it, and you shouldn't be able to restrict them just because they're using someone from your voice actors guild.

I'm a amateur voice actor and I'd love to lend a helping hand. I can provide many different accents and characters. I will throw together a demo for you when I find some time.