Episode 398: Make Your Own Content

"Make Your Own Content" Is Incomplete Advice. Here Is What It Actually Means. I was scrolling TikTok, as one does, and I came across an actor who was fired up. She said the advice to make your own content is terrible. Her take was basically, I'm an actor, not a writer, not a producer, not a director. I don't have a crew or a budget. So what are you actually asking me to do here? Pull a short film out of thin air between my day job and my auditions? And I watched that video and thought, you know what, there's a point there that's fair. But I also think the advice is incomplete. Not wrong. Incomplete. And incomplete advice is dangerous because it sounds reasonable enough that people try it, fail, and then blame themselves. So today I want to unpack what make your own content actually means, who it's for, and how it means something completely different if you're a voice actor. The Advice Is Missing a Map As it's typically delivered, in workshops, masterclasses, panels, the advice sounds like this. Don't wait to be cast. Create your own opportunities. Write something. Film something. Put it out there. For a certain type of actor with a certain set of skills and resources, that advice is genuinely transformative. I've seen it work. But here is what it quietly assumes. It assumes you can write, or that writing is easy to pick up on top of everything else you're already doing. It assumes you have access to equipment and someone who knows how to use it. It assumes you have time. Not just time, but the kind of uninterrupted, energized creative time that doesn't happen at 10pm after a full day of survival jobbing and self-taping. It assumes you have money for space, editing, sound, and the seventeen other things that go into putting something on screen. And it assumes that the part of you that loves acting also loves producing. Those are not the same skill set. They are often not even the same personality type. So yes. As a blanket statement handed to every actor in every room, make your own content is incomplete at best and demoralizing at worst. What Nobody Tells You Recently I got together with some creative friends and we all said the same thing. We want to make something. We have ideas and we're tired of waiting. And here is what happened next, and this is the part that never gets said. We divided it up. I like to write, so I wrote some scenes. I don't want to be on camera, so I'm not going to be. A friend wants to film, so she's behind the camera. She needs reel content, so we're building it so she gets that. Other people are acting in it. The only money we're spending is on the space to film. That's it. Nobody is doing everything. Nobody is wearing every hat. Nobody is burned out before we even start. We collaborated. I know that sounds obvious when I say it out loud. But I don't think it's what people picture when someone says make your own content. They picture one exhausted person alone in their apartment trying to write, film, light, direct, act, edit, and distribute a short film by themselves. And that version is a nightmare. The collaboration version is actually fun. It's sustainable. It gets finished. So if you've been sitting on this advice and feeling like you can't do it because you're not a filmmaker, I want you to recalibrate the question. The question isn't can I make this content alone. The question is who do I know who wants to make something. Those are very different questions, and the second one is a lot more answerable. For Voice Actors, This Conversation Is Better Here is what making your own content looks like in voiceover. You need something to read. Then you record yourself reading it. You don't need a location, a camera, lighting rigs. You need your booth, your mic, your interface, and something worth recording. That something still needs to be good. You can't grab any text off the internet and call it content. It needs to be written well and serve a purpose. But here's what the on-camera version of this advice doesn't have access to that you do. There are artists everywhere who want their work heard. Poets who have never had their work read aloud by a professional voice actor. Playwrights with monologues sitting in a drawer. Short story writers who would lose their minds if they found someone with a real studio setup who wanted to record their work. Indie game developers who need narration. Indie comic writers who want audio versions of their stories. People are writing things right now who don't know you exist. And you can be the person who brings their words to life. In exchange, you get professional material to record, a real sample, and a collaboration that means something. That's not just making content. That's building a creative network. That's two artists making each other's work better. What to Actually Do This Week If you're an on-camera actor, stop trying to do this alone. Make a list of five creative people in your life. Actors, writers, directors, photographers. Send them a voice memo. Say something like, hey, I've been wanting to make something. Are you in? You will be surprised how fast a team assembles when someone actually initiates. Start smaller than you think. A two-person scene. A monologue filmed in a living room. A table read on Zoom. Something you can actually finish is worth infinitely more than a grand vision that never gets started. If you're a voice actor, find a writer this week. Go to an open mic. Post in a local Facebook group or Discord. Reach out to someone whose Substack you love and tell them you'd love to record something they've written as a creative project. Most writers have never been asked this. Most of them will say yes. The Bottom Line Make your own content is not wrong. It's just been delivered without a map. Figure out what you actually bring. Find people who bring the rest. Start smaller than your ego wants you to. And do not try to be a one-person production company unless that is genuinely who you are. If you're a voice actor, your version of this is more accessible than almost anyone's. You have the setup. You have the skill. And there are artists out there right now who want exactly what you can offer. Go find them. Want to Keep the Conversation Going? If something landed for you today, share it with an actor friend who needs to hear it. And reach out to Mandy at [email protected] for questions, content, whatever it is. Find her Substack, The Actor's Index, for more.