1. Space Weather explained

    Posted December 12, 2007 by Bob

    My friend CC Petersen is featured in the exceptional video featured on this page from the MIT/Haystack Observatory. It’s a really cool piece. I hope you enjoy.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  2. A job of Biblical proportions

    Posted December 11, 2007 by Bob

    As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m working on narrating the entire Bible for eventual distribution as a podcast by Thomas Nelson Publishers. The job was cast through Voices.com so Stephanie Ciccarelli recently interviewed me about the project on the Vox Daily blog.

    Category: General | Comments (3)

  3. Getting in on the ground floor

    Posted December 10, 2007 by Bob

    The best way to do well with any business opportunity is to get in on the ground floor. My friend Avi Melman may be able to provide you with just such an opportunity with an animation project on which he’s working. I don’t have a lot of details to post for you beyond this very sketchy outline. This is an opportunity only for those who are willing and able to invest in this project in return for some of the equity points in this new action/adventure series.

    If you are serious about this opportunity, you’ll find Avi’s contact information on his website. The time to act on this opportunity is now.

    (Edited to clarify one statement.)

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (0)

  4. Kara Edwards talks real good

    Posted by Bob

    With thanks to my friend Joe Rodriguez for posting a link to this video on the VO-BB, here’s a really excellent video interview with Kara Edwards and Kyle Hebert.

    Great fun and lots of interesting background information, especially about the Dragonball Z story.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  5. Building traffic to your blog

    Posted December 8, 2007 by Bob

    While reading Peter O’Connell’s voiceover blog today, and specifically his post about his trials in getting to a family Thanksgiving celebration in Atlanta, I clicked through to some excellent advice on the Copywriting.com site titled Top 10 ways to drive traffic to a new blog. Excellent material that applies to every blogger, not just those who are new.

    Category: Blogging, General | Comments (0)

  6. Thinking about goals

    Posted December 7, 2007 by Bob

    My fellow voiceover talent, Tim McLaughlin has posted some very cogent thoughts about the value of setting goals and building plans for reaching those goals on this voiceover blog.

    And for more insights on this process, because while having goals are good, developing a plan for reaching those goals is also vital, be sure to read Peter O’Connell’s post prompted by Tim’s original post.

    Excellent stuff, Tim and Peter. Thank you for the kicks-in-the-pants.

    (edited and updated)

    Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (2)

  7. 3 Movie Voices?

    Posted December 6, 2007 by Bob

    From the new Frank TV show on TBS, a movie trailer concert a la The 3 Tenors, featuring Frank Caliendo, Pablo Francisco, and Don LaFontaine.

    Great fun. My thanks to Michael Valentin for posting the link to this on the Yahoo! Voiceover Group.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  8. It’s a glamorous business

    Posted by Bob

    Working as a voiceover artist is a lot different today than it was 25 years ago. On her new voiceover blog, Melanie Haynes offers some excellent thoughts about the way things have changed and what it takes today to keep moving forward.

    Good stuff, Melanie. You’re right. It is a glamorous business…just not in the way most people think. As I’ve said else where on the blog, I think it’s the best job in the world.

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover | Comments (0)

  9. You can’t hide

    Posted December 5, 2007 by Bob

    When we think about marketing, most of the time we think about ways to connect with people, especially people who are looking for what we have to sell. In my case, and the case of my brothers and sisters in the voiceover profession, what we’re selling is our ability to tell stories, to communicate, to read in a way that brings a script to life.

    But, Tom Asacker points out that there’s another side of marketing. Maybe one you haven’t thought much about. Here’s a key thought from his post…

    The Internet is one humongous story exposure machine. Whether you like it or not, people can now dig and dig and dig and get to the essence of your brand . . . any brand.

    What will turn up when folks dig into your brand? Those hastily written posts on someone’s bulletin board, back when you just had to get something off your chest? Or multiple examples of how you lack command of the English language? Snarky product or service reviews?

    If there are some cyber-skeletons in your closet, there’s not much you can do about them, thanks to the massive cache servers all over the Internet. Indeed, trying to do something about them could expose you to much more bad publicity that you could possibly want. Transparency isn’t just a marketing buzzword. It’s a fact. There’s no better time than right now to start paying more attention to what, when and how you present yourself.

    (edited to fix typo)

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover | Tags: | Comments (4)

  10. The Santa Sessions

    Posted December 4, 2007 by Bob

    Santa gets grilled in the voiceover booth.

    Thankfully, very few of my voiceover sessions have gone like this! My thanks to Nancy Wolfson to sending along this link.

    Category: General | Comments (4)

  11. No off switch

    Posted December 3, 2007 by Bob

    Have you ever been in a large meeting where at least one of those speaking is wearing a wireless lavaliere microphone? Sometimes that person will neglect to turn off the microphone, resulting in all kinds of embarrassing or distracting sounds echoing through the meeting room. The solution to this little problem is, of course, to always check to be sure the microphone is turned off except when it’s needed.

    Life, on the other hand, doesn’t come with an off switch. Seth Godin offers a vivid illustration of this point on his blog, as he reminds us that we are always marketing, even when we think we’re not.

    My thanks to Stu Gray and Joe Szymanski for leading me to this post through links on their blogs.

    Category: Career Advice, General, People | Comments (2)

  12. True greatness…

    Posted December 2, 2007 by Bob

    Is self-evident. Keep some tissues handy.

    If you’d like to read just a bit more, check out these comments from Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated. I know what you mean, Rick. I know what you mean.

    Category: General, People | Comments (6)

  13. On the writer’s strike

    Posted December 1, 2007 by Bob

    In the last several months, and with his permission, I’ve re-printed a number of articles written by Bob Fraser on acting and business. I received a very interesting email today from Bob in which he offers the following comments about the writer’s strike. I asked his permission to post them here, because I think there’s much of value for us who are and who hire voice talent.

    Word around town is that the companies have no intention of settling the strike before mid-December and that the recent meetings were an attempt to ‘soften up’ the guild.

    My take on the situation is that this may turn out to be one of the longest strikes we’ve ever seen in LaLaLand – because what the writers are asking for is a piece of the fast-growing internet pie – and a fair share of the DVD profits. The current contract is not very fair – as I said at the meetings of the Guild, during the ’88 strike.

    Now, as a member of six entertainment unions, I’ve gone on strike many times in my career. I’ve been there, done that, and gotten the free t-shirts — and I know that for many actors this current strike causes large worries about work, career progress, and how long the financial stresses are going to last.

    While there is little I (or anyone) can do to relieve your natural anxiety about the situation – I do have a few suggestions about how to spend your time more effectively … for as long as this first strike goes on. (I’m pretty sure the Screen Actors Guild is going to have to engage in a work stoppage as well, when their contract is up in June, to get a fair share of the DVD and internet monies.)

    Anyway – how to make the best use of this ‘down’ time:

    First, make a commitment to use this time to work at improving your business. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this is a good time to relax or chill. There are several elements involved in the process of improving your business, including product research and development, strategic planning, marketing improvements and further education.

    Product research and development is essentially about sitting down and doing an assessment of precisely what it is that you are trying to sell to the industry. As I have mentioned more than once, selling a generic product is a very bad tactic in a business where brand names and recognizable faces bring in the big bucks.

    A good place to start making specific changes is by going over my Unique Character Presentation idea. The UCP is a way of starting to brand your acting business with your own personality. But it’s only a start. There is a lot of work to do, in order to really separate yourself from the great mass of actors.

    (You’ll find Bob’s UCP idea detailed in an earlier post on this blog called Actor’s Tool-Kit #15.)

    Once you have decided on a unique brand, that is both consistent and congruent with the sort of actor you are, your next step is developing a strategy for marketing this specific product to the buyers (producers) and the buyers representatives (casting directors).

    This, naturally, starts with your headshot.

    Now, a lot of people will tell you that your headshot is your business card and although it seems ‘right’ – I just don’t happen to agree with the analogy. Your headshot is much more like those pizza shop door hangers we all find on our front doors, almost every day.

    Joe, the pizza shop owner, knows perfectly well that most of us will toss his expensive cardboard advertising in the trash. But he also knows that on that day when you have a yen for pizza, his regular and consistent advertising will be there — to remind you to buy from him.

    Of course, the slicker and more appetizing the picture of the pizza happens to be, the more likely you are to salivate a little.

    This is precisely the goal of your headshots, postcards, zedcards, business cards and now, your website – to be on their ‘front door’ when they are looking for your kind of product – and make sure your advertising is designed to get the buyers’ juices going.

    So, use this ‘break’ to assess and replace (if necessary) your marketing tools. Yeah, I’m suggesting that you get new headshots, postcards, etc … and do a ‘make-over’ of your website. What’s that you say? You don’t have your own website.

    Then that’s a project you must get started on immediately. I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise to you that this is 2007 and a website is a necessity for every actor. The best thing about a website is that it’s an excellent place to do some actual selling.

    A well thought out site can communicate volumes more about your brand, your commitment, your professionalism and your ‘rightness’ – than your headshot could ever do … and at about the same yearly cost.

    Don’t know anything about getting a website up and running? Then it’s time for more research and development.

    If stars are convinced that they need a website – then you probably need one too.

    You’ve probably realized by now that all of this ‘work’ implies a great deal of planning – and if you’re anything like me, the idea of sitting down and writing out a plan is about as appetizing as a mimeographed pizza flyer.

    But planning your business is the only way to improve your business – and putting up with the drudgery and labor of making that plan is the price you must pay to get it done. There’s just no question about it … a plan makes life (and career) so much more rewarding.

    “Even a bad plan, vigorously executed, is better than no plan at all.” ~ Patton (The general, not the actor.)

    So, stop kvetching about the strike and use your ‘free’ time to really get down to planning your business – and executing your plan.

    A few months from now you may find that this strike is the best thing that ever happened to your acting career. Or, you could let it slide – and look into the thrilling possibilities of delivering pizzas for Joe. He’s got more business than he can handle – and he never goes on strike.

    Now, if you don’t do on camera work, a headshot isn’t going to be part of your package. But, the same advice Bob’s given here applies to your voice demos.

    For more about Bob Fraser, get a free subscription to his Show Biz How To, check out ACTION! The Professional Actor’s Workbook and Planner, as well as You Must Act! The #1 Virtual Acting CAREER Course.

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover | Comments (0)

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