I have a project that was supposed to of kicked off a few years back, for some reason it didn't, I've have had shitty personal circumstances occur most of my life and practically gave up my dreams. I disappeared off the scene for a couple of years and pursued other interests. In 2012 I made a little bit of a comeback and made a few little short toons and this year was the year I had the motivation to reboot the series "Salty Swamp". Which is what this post is about.
I had casted around 8-9 talented people to voice in this toon back in March.
5 people gave me lines very promptly and were very professional. Considering they did it all for free, and the quality really tells me they're passionate about what they do. It's exactly what I wanted, however...
I am still waiting on 3 others whom to this day are supposedly keen but have not delivered. Excuse after excuse. This has made me lose motivation almost completely because like I said this was supposed to kick off March-April! I can't animate the toon without voices. I need to capture the personality perfectly. I've done projects in the mean time, and what gets me is these guys say they REALLY want to do it, time and time again when I chase them up, but I am constantly being fed broken promises.
THE CATCH IS that 2 of the voice actors were part of the original 1st episode I first made back in 2005, and really gave life to this toon. They're talented voice actors for sure. They were the reason I wanted to give this toon another go, because they kept telling me they're on board and ready to go if I wanted to reboot it. I spent a good while working on the opening scene for this movie thinking that this will be the best thing I've done. I even had a skype call with the cast members in April and read through the script together and showed them what I've made so far. One of the guys even promised me a spotlight on his channel cause he has a large audience, and that got me super stoked even more so to get this going. But now it's June - Almost July and I am tired of hearing excuses when I have to chase them up myself, for the most part I don't even get a reply when I do chase up, so I have to chase up EVEN more than I'd like to. It feels like dejavu, because this is what happened a few years ago. We were reading through the script and nothing ever took off after that.
This is what I don't get about people in general. Why do people "sign up" or say they're super keen to contribute to something, and then don't end up delivering what they say they would. Sure if you go through some shit in life, it can be hard, but it's different when YOU KEEP TELLING ME YOU WANT TO BE IN THE TOON! I've been used to this my whole life, being taken advantage of and messed around. I am fed up with relying on these sorts of people and feeling guilty if I decide to ditch them.
If I do ditch them and find replacements, It's going to be hard. Because they gave the characters their life. Hell it's going to be real tough replacing their voices, but what the fuck am I supposed to do? I want people who are passionate and reliable, and the whole casting thing was difficult enough as it was. I had about 40 people apply, about half were decent, and a few really stood out. This is why I've been doing mostly solo toons since 2012 because all I have to rely on is myself.
I just feel it will be a waste if I don't finish this. I've always wanted to get off the ground but the voice actors I needed the most, haven't even pulled through or taken the time to let me know anything. And I just keep letting it be, thinking one day they will have lines for me, even after all the chasing up I've had to do. It does my fuckin head in so much.
I could upload the preview I've done, maybe as a little trailer for the episode. But I don't know. It's probably not even worth all the fuckin effort anymore to be honest. I feel so bi polar about this whole animation thing it's incredible.
Could anyone care to give any words of advice, I could use some right now. I'm in a pickle :{
Saminat
I think it needs to be taken very carefully. Perhaps think of giving them an ultimatum, either get their lines in by a new deadline, or tell them that you'll replace them.
Please, not all of us are insensitive like that, there's just bound to be a few bad apples, just try not to let them spoil the bunch.
Blordow
I hate blackmailing people. If people wanna voice, they wanna voice. Tired of giving people second chances when they don't deserve them.