Doing this job makes me cry
This job often moves me to tears.
Some of the ads I’m asked to record are genuinely upsetting – tackling serious issues like drink-driving, drug abuse, domestic violence, grief. And in these commercials, I have to cry.
The thing with crying to order is that it must sound genuine. It’s gotta be real otherwise it’s just embarrassing. Now as many of my friends will tell you, I’m one of the most miserable people in the world so plumbing the labyrinthine depths of my own existential desolation is something that comes very easily.
For any performer to cry authentically, they have to use their own emotional memory, their empathy. Fortunately, my life experience has offered many opportunities for me to hone this skill and all I have to do is flip through the mental Rolodex of awfulness and I’m blubbing like a baby.
The biggest challenge is knowing how to stop. When the producer says: “Do you need to take a minute, Emma? I mean…do you want me to call someone?” you know it’s time to get a grip.
So here’s a selection of my weepiest tear-jerkers.
To learn more about why we cry, read this article.
This pic at the top is from this blog.
