Firm sees untapped overseas market for Filipino voice talent

Firm sees untapped overseas market for Filipino voice talent

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net

Posted date: February 18, 2007

A PHILIPPINE company sees a largely untapped global outsourcing market for Filipino voice talents given the increasing demand from the podcasting, animation, and computer gaming industries, to name a few. Having bagged deals in and out of the country, Creativoices Productions chief executive officer Pocholo Gonzales says the outsourcing market for Filipino voice talents has great potential. What the country lacks, however, are professionals who can help local voice talents find better deals, he said. "Our main goal is to make the Philippines a global center for voice talents. Voice talents abound in the country. But we need to professionalize this industry," added the young executive who can simulate the voices of the country's former presidents. Voice talents are not only limited to doing commercials or "AVPs"--audio-visual presentations. Their talents are also being recruited to do voices for animation, audio books, computer games, and recently podcasts, audio files downloaded or delivered via subscription, which has been likened to radio shows on the Internet. Gonzales said Creativoices had done voices for a Filipino-developed PC game called Terra Wars: NY Invasion developed by LadyLuck Digital Media. Recently, the company was also tapped to provide the voices for an independent animation production called "Tuldok." The company also provides technical services for the recently launched podcasts of INQUIRER.net. Creativoices has established a center that currently trains more local voice talents to become professionals and has graduated about 20, added Gonzales. "It took me five years to become a professional voice talent. What we want to do is teach them not to think this is work but an art," the executive said, noting that the company is in discussions with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. Brian Ligsay, marketing director and chief operating officer of the company, added that most voice talents land deals through referrals; so people who have fewer connections end up getting fewer projects. But among the known voice talents, one could earn "as much as a general manager's wage for three months," he added. Although the majority of Creativoices' market is local, it has already been finding projects in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.