Latest / Next Act with Jeff Ornstein / Michelle Falanga – Emmy-Winning Voice Actor, Writer & Storyteller

Transcript

Michelle Falanga – Emmy-Winning Voice Actor, Writer & Storyteller · Next Act with Jeff Ornstein

• 0:01
  Jeff Ornstein: Hi everyone, and welcome to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein.
• 0:05
  Jeff Ornstein: I am Jeff, and on this show we celebrate people on the cusp of greatness.
• 0:10
  Jeff Ornstein: Those building on past successes in some of the curious and inventive and sometimes unexpected ways they have achieved those, and stepping into moments that could define their legacy.
• 0:21
  Jeff Ornstein: We'll talk about current projects, lessons learned, and the extraordinary opportunities ahead.
• 0:26
  Jeff Ornstein: So the best is yet to come.
• 0:29
  Jeff Ornstein: An award-winning voice actor, actor, and writer known for her work in commercials, cinematic brand stories, animation, and live drum chorus competitions.
• 0:38
  Jeff Ornstein: With over two decades of experience, she brings a natural, relatable, and emotional connection to every project from national campaigns to international performances.
• 0:48
  Jeff Ornstein: Welcome, Michelle.
• 0:50
  Michelle Falanga: Thank you, Jeff.
• 0:51
  Michelle Falanga: So nice to be here.
• 0:52
  Michelle Falanga: Thanks for having me.
• 0:53
  Jeff Ornstein: So I was able to listen to a bunch of your voiceovers, get online and track them down.
• 0:59
  Jeff Ornstein: And I have to say, this description of natural and relatable really sort of summarizes your voice.
• 1:06
  Jeff Ornstein: It's it's like familiar without being it sounds like someone you've known and trusted.
• 1:12
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 1:13
  Jeff Ornstein: Which I'm sure is why sponsors love you.
• 1:16
  Jeff Ornstein: Can you tell me a little bit about that?
• 1:17
  Jeff Ornstein: Is that your natural voice?
• 1:19
  Michelle Falanga: No, no, I know.
• 1:20
  Michelle Falanga: A lot of people get into voiceover because they were told they have a great voice.
• 1:23
  Michelle Falanga: That was not my situation.
• 1:24
  Michelle Falanga: And it's not that my voice is great, it's that the ability to connect to a script, to what you're saying.
• 1:30
  Michelle Falanga: But um, yeah, I I I get a lot of feedback that you sound credible, but like real and relatable, like someone I might like.
• 1:38
  Jeff Ornstein: Precisely.
• 1:38
  Jeff Ornstein: Precisely my impression when I was listening to yours.
• 1:41
  Jeff Ornstein: All right.
• 1:42
  Jeff Ornstein: So we want to start a little bit at the beginning.
• 1:44
  Jeff Ornstein: So that you started as an actor, is my understanding, and somehow that morphed into voice up.
• 1:50
  Jeff Ornstein: Can you tell us a little bit about that?
• 1:51
  Michelle Falanga: Well, that the acting be was an accident.
• 1:54
  Michelle Falanga: Everything was like this is where you know it was meant to be, because uh it was all accidental.
• 1:58
  Michelle Falanga: Um, I was working in my 20s, gosh, this was I'm gonna date myself, 1996 at a an insurance company.
• 2:06
  Michelle Falanga: I was like an administrative assistant or something, and um this improv troop came in to do a um, like one of the the you know, the higher-ups was get retiring.
• 2:16
  Michelle Falanga: So they came in to do like a little sketch, you know, little party, and they did a little improv sketch to, you know, for fun for him.
• 2:23
  Michelle Falanga: And I guess the day before, one of the actors fell sick.
• 2:27
  Michelle Falanga: So they called my HR manager and said, Is there anyone in your company that's funny?
• 2:32
  Michelle Falanga: And apparently I stood out as funny in in insurance.
• 2:36
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, it was clearly not the job for me to be in the insurance, but anyway, so she like nominated me.
• 2:41
  Michelle Falanga: I was like, I had never performed, I was mortified.
• 2:44
  Michelle Falanga: She nominated me to help them with their sketch.
• 2:47
  Michelle Falanga: Now keep in mind, I I'm like, what?
• 2:49
  Michelle Falanga: Like, I I guess I didn't feel like I could say no.
• 2:52
  Michelle Falanga: And they came in, they did the sketch, they you know, they briefed me.
• 2:56
  Michelle Falanga: I was like a little side character, I was like a had a powder puff and I was like a makeup artist or something.
• 3:02
  Michelle Falanga: I don't know how I had the guts to do that in front of my all my bosses and all my like coworkers.
• 3:08
  Michelle Falanga: Honestly, like today I'm like, I don't think I would do that.
• 3:11
  Michelle Falanga: Like, you know what I mean?
• 3:11
  Michelle Falanga: Oh, but I did.
• 3:13
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, right.
• 3:14
  Michelle Falanga: I don't, I don't know.
• 3:14
  Michelle Falanga: I was in my 20s, I think.
• 3:16
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 3:16
  Michelle Falanga: And then one of the heads was there that day, and he afterward, I got a big laugh.
• 3:22
  Michelle Falanga: And afterwards he was like, You were hilarious.
• 3:24
  Michelle Falanga: Would you consider performing in one of our public shows?
• 3:27
  Michelle Falanga: And I was like, what is happening here?
• 3:29
  Michelle Falanga: Like, you know what I mean?
• 3:30
  Michelle Falanga: Like I had no, I wasn't really a performer.
• 3:33
  Michelle Falanga: You know, as a child, I performed with people on the street, you know, little silly things.
• 3:37
  Michelle Falanga: And yeah, I guess I was like a performer in the sense of that, but I was never, I never went to schooling for it or anything like that.
• 3:43
  Michelle Falanga: So next thing I know, I'm like an understudy in one of their public shows.
• 3:46
  Michelle Falanga: And that started like 25 years of every Friday and Saturday night performing in murder mysteries and improv shows and in all these different characters and stuff like that.
• 3:57
  Michelle Falanga: So that kind of again happened by accident.
• 3:59
  Michelle Falanga: And then the voiceover, a few years in, I was like, oh, I'd like to do animation.
• 4:04
  Michelle Falanga: I want to do like care all the characters, all these voices I do.
• 4:07
  Michelle Falanga: That would be kind of fun to do.
• 4:09
  Michelle Falanga: But I mean, again, I live in Boston, and that was not in 2003 that you couldn't be in animation if you were in Boston.
• 4:16
  Michelle Falanga: That's just not a thing.
• 4:17
  Michelle Falanga: You had to be in LA.
• 4:18
  Michelle Falanga: It was like a whole thing.
• 4:19
  Michelle Falanga: So I kind of accidentally I did a reel, I think, and then I ended up starting to get hired, you know, just a few jobs a year for my regular voice.
• 4:28
  Michelle Falanga: So I would never even try to be a VO for my regular voice.
• 4:32
  Michelle Falanga: And then so again, I feel like that happened by accident too.
• 4:35
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 4:36
  Michelle Falanga: And it just kind of grew from there.
• 4:38
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, you know, what's interesting is it's like you said, well, you you you were surprised when you got asked to join, and surprised when you could you participate.
• 4:45
  Jeff Ornstein: Yet you participated every weekend.
• 4:48
  Jeff Ornstein: So clearly, you know, something was ignited within you and said, Yeah, this is fun.
• 4:53
  Jeff Ornstein: I'm gonna, you know, do this in my personal time.
• 4:56
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 4:56
  Jeff Ornstein: And the same for the voices.
• 4:57
  Jeff Ornstein: I mean, basically, something got stirred in within you and said, Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep doing this because especially in your 20s, you know, young people don't have super long attention spans for things that require a while a while to get better and better and better at it.
• 5:10
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:11
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 5:12
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, I I definitely I remember the first night doing the improv show, like being the understudy, and I remember I got a big laugh.
• 5:18
  Michelle Falanga: There's just something very fulfilling.
• 5:20
  Michelle Falanga: It was interactive, like, you know, murder mysteries and and like, you know, the actors are also your wait staff.
• 5:25
  Michelle Falanga: You know, we waited on them and we sang and danced and did everything.
• 5:28
  Michelle Falanga: But um, there was something very like um tangible about getting that instant like see, and that happened over the years so many times.
• 5:36
  Michelle Falanga: People would come on like one of the shows and they would come up to me afterwards and they would be like, you know, you know, we just my sister just had breast cancer, and my, you know, what someone else just passed away, or husband passed away.
• 5:49
  Michelle Falanga: And, you know, I just want to thank you because you made our night like we really just needed a night out to just feel like like carefree.
• 5:56
  Michelle Falanga: And like to me, that's like the biggest gift that I could make them, you know, forget what was going on in life and make them laugh and it makes me cry.
• 6:03
  Michelle Falanga: Like I was still friends with some of those people that had like reached out to me and said how much it meant to them to have a night.
• 6:09
  Michelle Falanga: You know, not that I didn't do it, but like they were came out and that that whole environment made them for a while.
• 6:13
  Michelle Falanga: It impacted them.
• 6:14
  Jeff Ornstein: You know, it impacted them.
• 6:15
  Jeff Ornstein: Yeah.
• 6:16
  Jeff Ornstein: So you are I have in my notes here that you're a storyteller also, so that you're a writer, a storyteller, and was that and you've actually written this children's book, The Amazing Monster.
• 6:27
  Jeff Ornstein: Can you tell us a little bit about that?
• 6:29
  Jeff Ornstein: It's a very cool title.
• 6:31
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, when I write, it literally just kind of comes into my brain, and then I like I have to get it on paper.
• 6:36
  Michelle Falanga: Like it's it's like uncontrollable.
• 6:38
  Michelle Falanga: You know, that came to me like while I was at one of my jobs that I was working full-time before I went full-time as a voice talent.
• 6:45
  Michelle Falanga: And I remember like just kind of writing it in like in an email draft, the whole book, like in one like on my lunch break.
• 6:53
  Michelle Falanga: Of course, it took many years to like facilitate and get it to the point where it was ready to publish.
• 6:57
  Michelle Falanga: So it was inspired by meeting people in life that had been kind of hardened by life and kind of were going down kind of a I don't know, like a yucky road, like weren't like the best, like you know, people and who put on armor because they were protecting themselves.
• 7:13
  Michelle Falanga: I feel like I've always had the ability to see through that, to see through the armor, to see through masks people put on and kind of see who their true selves are.
• 7:22
  Michelle Falanga: And that's what the story is about.
• 7:23
  Michelle Falanga: It's it's about this person who became a monster, but this little tiny bunny with magic eyes who's able to see the true self.
• 7:30
  Michelle Falanga: And you know, so it's kind of about like being true to who you are and like seeing the good underneath, you know, to in people.
• 7:37
  Michelle Falanga: Right.
• 7:37
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 7:38
  Jeff Ornstein: Yeah.
• 7:38
  Jeff Ornstein: Give g giving people the benefit of the doubt.
• 7:40
  Jeff Ornstein: Because you can say you might you might be a monster on the outside, but I can see something.
• 7:44
  Michelle Falanga: It's not everything.
• 7:45
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, and then that's very like hard.
• 7:46
  Michelle Falanga: Like when somebody's like, you know, they put this this facade up and then someone can see through it.
• 7:51
  Michelle Falanga: That can be amazing, and it's also like scary, you know, but it's amazing too.
• 7:56
  Jeff Ornstein: Right.
• 7:56
  Jeff Ornstein: Cathartic and scary.
• 7:57
  Jeff Ornstein: Okay, so you slowly started making this transition from acting to the voiceovers, and they were equally rewarding for you to do them.
• 8:05
  Jeff Ornstein: How did you find that work?
• 8:07
  Jeff Ornstein: Because you uh I was looking through your CV.
• 8:09
  Jeff Ornstein: I mean, you've got so many different varieties of voiceover jobs.
• 8:14
  Jeff Ornstein: I mean, how did those all come to you or did you find them?
• 8:16
  Jeff Ornstein: How does that go down?
• 8:17
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, it was a mixture of things.
• 8:19
  Michelle Falanga: Well, first of all, I always had a full-time job and I kind of did, you know, a few voiceovers a year where at the at that point in time I was going into a studio.
• 8:27
  Michelle Falanga: I didn't have like a whole setup.
• 8:29
  Michelle Falanga: And then in uh, I think it was 2013, I was laid off from that job.
• 8:35
  Michelle Falanga: And my husband, you know, he encouraged me to try this full time.
• 8:39
  Michelle Falanga: I don't think I would have had the guts to do that.
• 8:41
  Michelle Falanga: Like I I don't know how I did, to be honest.
• 8:43
  Michelle Falanga: I'm like, I need health insurance, I need, you know, I need a regular paycheck.
• 8:46
  Michelle Falanga: Like, I'm I'm not, I didn't never thought of myself as like the freelance kind of girl or like, you know, self-employed kind of girl.
• 8:52
  Michelle Falanga: But because I had that support, which is such a blessing, he had a job and he had insurance.
• 8:57
  Michelle Falanga: Because honestly, the first five years, it took me five years building a business, doing it full time to start making what I was making as a manager at my job.
• 9:08
  Michelle Falanga: No, because that's what they say.
• 9:10
  Jeff Ornstein: Building business takes five years any business.
• 9:13
  Jeff Ornstein: It takes five years before you know if it's gonna succeed or fail.
• 9:16
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 9:16
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, I always had a I never had a loss, so that was good.
• 9:19
  Michelle Falanga: But I, you know, because some people, what do they say?
• 9:22
  Michelle Falanga: Like the IRS is like, if for three years you have a loss, maybe it's a hobby.
• 9:26
  Michelle Falanga: It's not really a job.
• 9:28
  Michelle Falanga: I'm like, that's fair.
• 9:29
  Michelle Falanga: But no, I never had a loss.
• 9:31
  Michelle Falanga: But I but I didn't, you know, it built like it first year and then was like scary.
• 9:36
  Michelle Falanga: The second year I doubled that and you know, kind of it was incremental.
• 9:39
  Michelle Falanga: But then, yeah, I mean, honestly, after I was started making what I made at my full-time job before, before I got laid off, that next year was like crazy.
• 9:50
  Michelle Falanga: Like it just like it like snowballed.
• 9:52
  Michelle Falanga: And then I ended up um, I think that was the year that I won the Emmy.
• 9:57
  Michelle Falanga: I think that was the year I hit like like a goal I never thought I would ever make.
• 10:02
  Michelle Falanga: I ended up paying off my house.
• 10:03
  Michelle Falanga: Like it was such a blessing.
• 10:04
  Michelle Falanga: I know.
• 10:05
  Jeff Ornstein: Wait, wait, wait.
• 10:06
  Jeff Ornstein: We got we we can't just mention Emmy and move on.
• 10:08
  Jeff Ornstein: So tell tell everybody about the Emmy.
• 10:10
  Jeff Ornstein: I'm dying to know because I don't know very much about it.
• 10:13
  Michelle Falanga: Well, it was like, honestly, in voiceover, it's it's kind of rare because generally speaking, you know, producers and writer, they, you know, they're all listed on the the people when they when they submit for an Emmy, they're all kind of listed.
• 10:27
  Michelle Falanga: And the voiceover is generally not part of that creative team, which is kind of crazy because they are, you know, I would think they're just as much as the writer and the you know video, you know, all that.
• 10:37
  Michelle Falanga: But a lot of times they're not listed.
• 10:40
  Michelle Falanga: And this particular client, he he, I guess the year before he won one and it was my voice, and he was like, I don't know why I didn't list you.
• 10:48
  Michelle Falanga: Like, so I couldn't get the statue, but he still says, like, I still won it.
• 10:52
  Michelle Falanga: So, like, theory, I won two, but let's just say, but I have the one the next year, I think it was the next year or two years later, he submitted and one of the pieces that we did won.
• 11:01
  Michelle Falanga: I remember because it was during COVID, so I didn't go to the ceremony, but we I watched it online, and I remember they nay they said my name, they played a little clip from it, and it filled the room.
• 11:13
  Michelle Falanga: So that was pretty surreal and yeah, very cool.
• 11:16
  Michelle Falanga: Such a blessing.
• 11:17
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:18
  Jeff Ornstein: Just briefly, like what was the story and what was your role?
• 11:21
  Michelle Falanga: I'm trying to think.
• 11:22
  Michelle Falanga: It was a commercial.
• 11:23
  Michelle Falanga: I I have it here because I never can remember.
• 11:25
  Michelle Falanga: I usually have it out there, but um, not in my studio.
• 11:28
  Michelle Falanga: There's nowhere to hang anything here.
• 11:30
  Michelle Falanga: But um, it was for a commercial called The Legend.
• 11:34
  Michelle Falanga: And um, you know, it has my name on it and everything because I was very cool.
• 11:37
  Michelle Falanga: I'm very heavy.
• 11:39
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:40
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, it was a bucket list.
• 11:41
  Michelle Falanga: I actually I'm such a dork.
• 11:43
  Michelle Falanga: I actually put a picture of myself, I should say a picture of an Emmy winner.
• 11:47
  Michelle Falanga: I think it was Kate Winslett, and I put a picture of my head on her body where she's holding the Emmy, and I put it up on my dream board.
• 11:55
  Michelle Falanga: Good and good.
• 11:57
  Jeff Ornstein: Yeah.
• 11:57
  Jeff Ornstein: Motivation.
• 11:58
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, what's nice also about it is your your director felt strongly about it, and the people who were reviewed and awarded the Emmy felt strongly about it.
• 12:06
  Jeff Ornstein: So congratulations.
• 12:08
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, he was so kind.
• 12:09
  Michelle Falanga: He was just like, I don't know why I didn't do that the two years before.
• 12:12
  Michelle Falanga: He's like, Your your voice is part of why we won.
• 12:14
  Michelle Falanga: So I mean, I'm still very friendly with him.
• 12:17
  Michelle Falanga: He's wonderful.
• 12:18
  Michelle Falanga: He's a great producer that I work with.
• 12:20
  Jeff Ornstein: So well, as I mentioned, I was really struck on how compelling your voice was.
• 12:24
  Jeff Ornstein: And I heard very different kinds of commercials or voiceovers that you had done in a little bit of my lead up to the research years.
• 12:30
  Jeff Ornstein: And I was really struck on how they they're they're a very vital component of the story, the visual and acoustical story.
• 12:36
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 12:36
  Michelle Falanga: So when it all comes together, that's the magic, the music, the writing, the Exactly.
• 12:41
  Jeff Ornstein: That's the magic.
• 12:42
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 12:43
  Jeff Ornstein: So you gotta explain to the listeners about the drum core.
• 12:48
  Michelle Falanga: Okay.
• 12:49
  Michelle Falanga: That was such a cool genre genre that a lot of voice talent don't know about.
• 12:54
  Michelle Falanga: It's not like mainstream like commercial and you know, narration or explainer videos or promo or whatever.
• 13:00
  Michelle Falanga: It's lesser known and it, you know, doesn't pay a ton, but it's the coolest thing in the world.
• 13:06
  Michelle Falanga: And I've become a huge fan of drumcore.
• 13:09
  Michelle Falanga: So it's basically, and again, people that know drumcore know it.
• 13:14
  Michelle Falanga: And I've become like a big fan of drumcore, but before that, I didn't know what that was.
• 13:17
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, I wasn't even in band or anything like that.
• 13:20
  Michelle Falanga: I couldn't, I tried to play the clarinet.
• 13:22
  Michelle Falanga: It was a disaster.
• 13:22
  Michelle Falanga: I should not do that.
• 13:23
  Michelle Falanga: But I like people that I do want to be a drummer though, that would be cool.
• 13:27
  Michelle Falanga: But they, you know, they have like the multiple drums and the, you know, the whole thing, and then they do choreography, and there's a mu usually a musical director, and it's like a whole thing.
• 13:36
  Michelle Falanga: Apparently, it's a whole there's like a whole subculture of people that like are obsessed with drum core, and they have these competitions and some big ones.
• 13:45
  Michelle Falanga: Like there's different levels.
• 13:46
  Michelle Falanga: I think it's WGI.
• 13:48
  Michelle Falanga: I'm gonna say that wrong.
• 13:49
  Michelle Falanga: I'm so bad at names, but um, it's like uh it's like this huge competition.
• 13:54
  Michelle Falanga: And the first one I did, I remember it was 2014, so it was like a year in to to doing this.
• 13:59
  Michelle Falanga: And to this day, I still get work from that one.
• 14:01
  Michelle Falanga: People reach out and they're like, I knew you were the voice of that one.
• 14:04
  Michelle Falanga: And it was with a group called, yeah, group called the Blue Knights.
• 14:08
  Michelle Falanga: It was like uh, they're always like a story, and there's original music always made and original choreography, and then you're you know, the voice again, all the things coming together.
• 14:17
  Michelle Falanga: But that one was called That One Second, I think.
• 14:20
  Michelle Falanga: And it was, I think it won, or it was definitely in the top three, and it it was so cool because you could see like it was at a world competition.
• 14:27
  Michelle Falanga: It was in a s like a football stadium, and you could at one point you could see they panned out to an audience member, and he had like tears in his eyes.
• 14:35
  Michelle Falanga: Oh wow.
• 14:35
  Michelle Falanga: It was like an emo like goosebumps.
• 14:37
  Michelle Falanga: Like I remember feeling like I got goosebumps just like watching this like very emotional.
• 14:44
  Michelle Falanga: It was about it's it's the monologue from I think the movie American Beauty, which is at the end, he talks about the last second of his life.
• 14:51
  Jeff Ornstein: Right, I agree.
• 14:52
  Michelle Falanga: And like what flashes in front of him.
• 14:54
  Michelle Falanga: And it's you know, it ends with you probably don't know what I'm talking about, but don't worry, you will someday.
• 14:59
  Michelle Falanga: You know, just this like, you know, but like all you can feel is gratitude for every moment.
• 15:04
  Michelle Falanga: Like you could feel everything about that was just perfect.
• 15:07
  Michelle Falanga: And so that was the first one I did.
• 15:09
  Michelle Falanga: And then over the years, I've done like 30 of them, or maybe more than that.
• 15:13
  Michelle Falanga: Just different troops, like higher level and then lower level, more like high school, you know, college, and then like professional, different, yeah.
• 15:21
  Jeff Ornstein: I saw the one the aliens learning how to be earthlings.
• 15:24
  Jeff Ornstein: That was very cool.
• 15:25
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, and that's kind of where I got my like robotic voice that I can do for things.
• 15:29
  Michelle Falanga: Right.
• 15:29
  Michelle Falanga: Not AI, which is a whole nother story, but like actually modulating your voice to sound like you are uh like AI.
• 15:37
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, we got to talk about AI, especially with all the voices coming out, how this is gonna jeopardize actors' careers and such.
• 15:43
  Jeff Ornstein: So, do you have an opportunity to protect your voice and your sound?
• 15:48
  Jeff Ornstein: How does that work?
• 15:50
  Michelle Falanga: I don't know, Jeff.
• 15:51
  Michelle Falanga: It's like, I mean, it's definitely hitting our industry.
• 15:54
  Michelle Falanga: That's obviously a big fear of myself and colleagues.
• 15:57
  Michelle Falanga: And I know a lot of people that hire me, a lot of videographers, a lot of you know, producers there.
• 16:01
  Michelle Falanga: I notice a lot of them are looking for work.
• 16:04
  Michelle Falanga: And I know it's infiltrating in our industry and all the creative industries, which is really sad to me, because to me the whole beauty is like the real human story.
• 16:13
  Michelle Falanga: But and I know there's definitely value in using it for I'd like to use it for the things we don't want to do, like our laundry, you know, versus like taking away a creative storyteller, right?
• 16:23
  Michelle Falanga: Right.
• 16:24
  Michelle Falanga: But I don't know.
• 16:25
  Michelle Falanga: I have had a few clients who I used to work with um like on a regular, and I've reached out, you know, hey, I haven't we haven't worked together in a while.
• 16:33
  Michelle Falanga: Like, is everything okay?
• 16:34
  Michelle Falanga: Because I, you know, my clients, I have a lot of repeat clients because I take really good care of my clients.
• 16:39
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, they're everything to me.
• 16:41
  Michelle Falanga: And they said, Oh yeah, Michelle, we if we could hire human, we would immediately call you.
• 16:46
  Michelle Falanga: But we've actually switched over to all AI voices for all of our projects.
• 16:51
  Jeff Ornstein: Wow.
• 16:51
  Jeff Ornstein: So yeah, you know, that's interesting.
• 16:53
  Jeff Ornstein: It's it's very uh candid and honest, yet it's also like you said, it's disappointing.
• 16:58
  Jeff Ornstein: You know, or it's one thing if you want to get the whitest laundry on the block, like you say.
• 17:03
  Jeff Ornstein: But if it's the pointed story of like uh the blue wave marching band, you know, telling this poetic, you know.
• 17:10
  Michelle Falanga: Blue nights, yeah.
• 17:11
  Jeff Ornstein: Yeah.
• 17:11
  Jeff Ornstein: So wow.
• 17:13
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah.
• 17:13
  Michelle Falanga: I mean, I I I'd like to think that and I and who knows, AI has gotten really good, but that AI cannot cause an emotional response to people yet.
• 17:22
  Michelle Falanga: And that's what I'm the best at is like affecting people on an emotional level, on a vulnerable and real, authentic level.
• 17:30
  Michelle Falanga: But I don't know.
• 17:31
  Michelle Falanga: They're definitely getting better and better.
• 17:33
  Michelle Falanga: So I mean I don't know.
• 17:34
  Jeff Ornstein: You know what?
• 17:35
  Jeff Ornstein: Stick to your craft.
• 17:36
  Jeff Ornstein: There'll be changes in the industry, but there's I think there's always room for a true talent.
• 17:40
  Jeff Ornstein: And clearly you've built a pretty solid career.
• 17:43
  Michelle Falanga: Fingers crossed on that.
• 17:44
  Jeff Ornstein: We are at our time limit, but I just I want also, I always like to give a guess is there's something that we didn't talk about that you would want to share with folks about voiceovers or about your interesting path to get to where you are, where you built a career really from happenstance, you know?
• 17:59
  Michelle Falanga: From like accident, yeah.
• 18:01
  Michelle Falanga: Um no, I mean, I guess I would say that I get reached out to a lot, and I I believe in paying it forward.
• 18:08
  Michelle Falanga: People helped me along the way when I was first starting out, and so I'll meet with people.
• 18:11
  Michelle Falanga: And I think a lot of people think, oh, it's just talking into a microphone.
• 18:15
  Michelle Falanga: And it's so not that.
• 18:16
  Michelle Falanga: And in fact, you are everything.
• 18:18
  Michelle Falanga: What people don't realize is for like 10% of the time you're recording, 90% of the time you're doing everything else.
• 18:25
  Michelle Falanga: You know what I mean?
• 18:26
  Michelle Falanga: It's so much you're an audio engineer, you're, you know, marketing, your, you know, your sales.
• 18:31
  Michelle Falanga: You have to do everything.
• 18:32
  Michelle Falanga: Right.
• 18:33
  Michelle Falanga: Your accounting, your, you know what I mean?
• 18:34
  Michelle Falanga: You you literally are running an entire business, and it's not just like this glamorous.
• 18:41
  Jeff Ornstein: You're an actor too.
• 18:42
  Jeff Ornstein: Yeah.
• 18:42
  Michelle Falanga: You're you're a self-director.
• 18:44
  Michelle Falanga: Yeah, you're all the things.
• 18:45
  Michelle Falanga: Right.
• 18:45
  Michelle Falanga: And people, I think there's a lot of misconception that it's just you know, how hard could it be?
• 18:51
  Michelle Falanga: Turn it on.
• 18:51
  Michelle Falanga: Just talking to a microphone.
• 18:53
  Jeff Ornstein: So, Michelle, it was a joy and a pleasure meeting you and having you on.
• 18:57
  Jeff Ornstein: And I I did get to hear several of your projects, but I I I did not get to the blue line yet, only because there's so much marketing material online.
• 19:08
  Jeff Ornstein: I think that's why it took me a while.
• 19:09
  Jeff Ornstein: I I couldn't navigate to it.
• 19:11
  Jeff Ornstein: But I am gonna want to get down and hear what you do for foreign culture too.
• 19:15
  Jeff Ornstein: I think that's fascinating.
• 19:17
  Michelle Falanga: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 19:17
  Michelle Falanga: I do a lot of international work, which is really cool too.
• 19:21
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, that's fantastic.
• 19:22
  Jeff Ornstein: Thanks again for joining us.
• 19:23
  Jeff Ornstein: Have a wonderful day and evening, and I can't wait to get this uh online for our listeners.
• 19:29
  Michelle Falanga: Thank you for having me.
• 19:30
  Michelle Falanga: Really nice to be here.
• 19:32
  Jeff Ornstein: Thanks for tuning in to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein.
• 19:35
  Jeff Ornstein: Follow, subscribe, and stay connected to your favorite socials at www.nextdackpodcast.com.
• 19:42
  Jeff Ornstein: Keep chasing your next act.
• 19:44
  Jeff Ornstein: The best is yet to come.