There’s a wonderful article in the OC Register on voice actor Scott Rummell. My thanks to my friend Dave Spiker for sending me the link.
UPDATE: I just noticed the article includes this video.
A day in Scott Rummell’s life
Blog
Something fun I got to do
Here’s a little something I worked on recently.
Just a little light entertainment, or something like that anyway.
UPDATE: Check out the cool coverage of this trailer and the webcomic over at Comics Alliance.
It’s the least I could do
Seth Godin offers some powerfully cogent observations about two ways to run a successful business. Take a moment to read his blog post from the other day. Then take several more minutes to think about how to put into practice a few of the ideas that just popped into your head. They could be the most important minutes you spend on your business today. On second thought, the most important minutes will be the ones you spend actually putting them into practice.
Doug’s monster job
Take a few minutes to pop over to Taji’s Voice Emporium where you’ll get to see a side of voice actor Doug de Nance that’s more Monster than actor.
Home Studio troubleshooting
Dan Lenard, the Home Studio Master, offers solid advice and answers questions at VoiceOverXtra.
How far will you go?
If we’re going to be successful voice actors we have several paths we can take, I suppose. Some concentrate on audiobooks. Others on promos. Trailers. Corporate narrations. Commercials. Some of us do lots of different things. Some just a few. But, for every one of us, having clients who come back again and again with work is a great blessing. If we have enough clients who hire us repeatedly, success is guaranteed.
So, Monday of this week was one of those days when I was faced with a few obstacles and here’s how we handled things. I had been away from my home studio for a few days and as I was driving home I received a call from my agent Doug at The Talent Group in Cleveland. A very frequent client, who had booked me for work the previous week, needed 2 lines of revisions. I explained that I was driving and that I should be home before 4:30 that afternoon. We set the phone patch session for the revisions for 4:30. We actually got to the house a little early, but that’s when it became clear there were a few obstacles to overcome.
Obstacle number one: while I was gone 2 feet of snow had fallen on my home. This, of course, included the driveway. When I got to the house, I couldn’t get the front wheels onto my driveway, much less the entire car.
Obstacle number two: I didn’t have a snow-blower anymore, having given it to one of my brothers when I thought I was moving to North Carolina permanently.
Obstacle number three: I didn’t even have a snow shovel anymore, at least not with me. It was back in the garage of the house in North Carolina buried behind a whole lot of other stuff.
Obstacle number four: my snow boots and winter coat were in the coat closet in the house, up the 75 foot driveway that was now buried in 2 feet of snow.
So, I called my agent back and asked if we could move the session to 4:45 PM. Then, I found a spot across the road that was cleared of snow enough that I could get my car off the road and then tramped through the snow in my dress shoes. (My son Eric had it worse. He was wearing shorts!) Fired up my workstation. Got the phone patch set. Caught my breath and did the session at 4:45. Delivered the audio just a few minutes after the brief session was done. Took care of a couple of other quick lines another client needed and then kicked the heat up for the house. Pulled on my snow boots and winter coat and headed back out through the snow to see if I could find a snow blower or at the very least a couple of snow shovels.
Thankfully, Eric was with me, so, even though all the snow blowers were gone we did find a couple of shovels and after a day and a half of shoveling we got the driveway cleared and the car into the garage. Neither of us missed any sessions and we got a great workout together.
Update: I realized this morning that I have a photo of the house that gives you some idea of what things looked like not long after we started shoveling.
UPDATE: John Florian has re-published this article on VoiceOverXtra. Thank you, John.
The Billion $ Read
Pat Fraley has another fabulous audiobook workshop coming up in Los Angeles, March 6 and 7, 2010. A few years ago I took this class and learned everything I needed to know to get working in audiobooks. I’ve done several every year since. In fact, every time someone asks me “how can I get started doing audiobooks, too?” my answer is always the same: Take Pat Fraley’s audiobook workshop.
Spotlight on Rob
My friend Rob Actis stars in this promo for CBS News in Phoenix.
Nice work, Rob. Uh. Yeah. Nice work.
Check out the new Porta-Booth
Harlan Hogan has announced the Porta-Booth Pro (r). You can see a preview and place a pre-order at this page on Harlan’s site.
If you haven’t started yet, you will soon
My friend Connie Terwilliger reminds us that it’s tax season, and if you’ve been working in the past year, chances are there are a bunch of tax forms that have arrived over the last few weeks. It’s critically important that you keep track of these forms and double-check them to make sure they match your own records. For union work, you’ll be getting a bunch of W-2s and for non-union work a bunch of 1099-MISCs. It’s a very good idea to get an early start on your taxes, whether you have someone do them for you or whether you do them yourself. The sooner you know how things look, the better you’ll be able to prepare to deal with your situation. Good, bad or indifferent.
Playing the Pro Game with Marice
Marice Tobias announces that she is coming to Chicago the weekend of March 20 and 21, 2010 for two days called 2010: The Pro Game. The following is verbatim from her press release:
Yes, it’s harder to build, maintain and grow the professional voiceover career than ever before. And yes, more people are competing for the work than ever before. Not exactly news, huh? So what is?
The Shift.
The shift is one of the reasons why a lot of solid careers are not as solid as they once were. The shift is the change that began sweeping through the industry last fall. But, here’s the crazy making part. It isn’t totally replacing reads many producers still seek. So how do you know what to bring to the booth?
And how does this jibe with the emphasis we have placed on The Signature Read since we started focusing on voiceover? This is the challenge of the pro game. More complicated, more competetive and way faster.
Join us for two days of rapid fire rounds, in depth insights and a sobering, stakes-raising reality check for playing today’s pro game full-out.
You in?
Chicago ARU (Audio Recording Unlimited) is the location with just 12 participants. $775 for new clients. $650 for returning. Established talent travel from all over the US, Canada and overseas to attend Tobias Entertainment Group events so please book ASAP to ensure your place.
Contact Stacey Stahl at Creative Entertainment Management. 503-246-2239.
A relief benefit for Haiti tele-event
February 10, 2010 you have an opportunity to learn from some top audiobook narrators and help the relief efforts in Haiti. Details are at VoiceOverXtra.
How do you connect a phone patch?
George Whittam has prepared an excellent post with the scoop on how to connect your phone hybrid/phone patch to your mixer.
Seth Godin on the way the voiceover business is changing
Well, to be completely accurate, Seth Godin doesn’t specifically mention the voiceover business in his blog post today, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s writing about it. Because it’s not just book publishing and newspapers that have changed dramatically in the last decade. THe voiceover business has too. Yes, we don’t spend as much time in studios other than our own, but that’s really only a cosmetic change. The really big differences are in where the business comes from and where our voices are used.
So, are you going to expend your energy in trying to “save” your voiceover business? Or, are you going to adapt and survive, or maybe even thrive?
A quote for today
From my friend and manager, Stacey Stahl today:
The only thing more powerful than walking your talk isÂ
walking your walk without having to talk the talk.
      — Alan Cohen
A spotlight on Dan
My friend Dan Nachtrab is all over the broadcast airwaves these days in this PSA.
Mighty nice work, Dan.
People skills
A Jamie Kennedy voice session
The ultimate hidden camera prank voiceover session, thanks to Jamie Kennedy.
This is from 2002, but I only ran across it today thanks to my friend and mentor Philip Banks and his VO-BB post.
No such thing as a stupid question
My friend and mentor Philip Banks has posted a new, well written, bit of solid thinking on Voiceover Universe. If you can’t see it there, you certainly can on the VO-BB. Well worth a few minutes of your time.
The early bird discount for VOICE 2010 ends tonight
The early bird discount for VOICE 2010 ends at midnight, tonight, the 31st of January 2010. If you’re planning to go, you’ll save a $100 off the registration price if you sign up in the remaining hours today.
