Released just a few days ago is a pointed video about the life of an actor called Skipper Dan. (Embedding is disabled on this one so to see it you’ll need to click through on the link.)
Blog
Rest in Peace, Dallas McKennon
I just learned through a posting on the VO-BB by my friend Justin Barrett that Dallas McKennon has died.
Inside Seth’s blogging
Josh Bernoff interviews Seth Godin about his blogging in an article published on the Ad Age site. If you would like to know how to blog better, you might want to click through and read the interview. On the other hand, if you only want to know how to build a better relationship with you clients, you might want to click through and read the interview. Or not, it’s your call.
My thanks to my friend Pam Tierney for sending me the link to this interview today.
Joe Cipriano, Zurek and George Whittam webcast
Last night Joe Cipriano, Zurek and George Whittam did a live webcast last night. The video is now posted at Voiceover Universe, in case you can’t see the video here.
My thanks to Justin Kaiser for providing me with the link.
Free Voice Acting Academy tele-seminar
James Alburger and Penny Abshire email with news about a free tele-seminar they’re holding on this Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 3:00 PM Eastern/ 12 Noon Pacific. My friend Dave Courvoisier is the featured guest. Details are on the VoiceActing Academy website.
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A comparion of the U87 and TLM103
On the ProComm Studio Services blog you’ll find a well-written article comparing these two Neumann microphones. My thanks to my friend David Houston for tweeting the link.
How to use Twitter
With my thanks to Kat Keesling for posting the link to this video on Facebook, I thought this video by Andy Lopata was the clearest explanation of how to use Twitter that I’ve seen.
If you like this video by Andy, you might also want to check out his blog.
Get out of your comfort zone
When I’m really honest with myself I know that one of my great weaknesses as a voice actor is that I tend to stick pretty close to my comfort zone. Now, there’s a strong argument in favor of this plan. After all, the things that I do best are the things I’m most likely to book. And if I don’t work, well, it’s not a pretty picture. The same is true for you, no matter where you are with your own business. I don’t need to spell out all the details.
But, if we stick too close to our comfort zone to much of the time, we start to get, that’s right, comfortable. You know what another word for comfortable is? At least for those of us who are preformers of one kind or another? Boring. You know how much work boring books? Exactly.
So, a couple of days ago I had one of those moments that jolted me awake to the fact that I must work outside my comfort zone more often. I’d received an audition from my agents in Portland, In Both Ears. The audition had 2 male characters, one a sort of archtypical announcer guy and the other one of the fast-talking “disclaimer” guys. While I can talk quickly enough, I tend to stay away from the disclaimer stuff because, you guessed it, it’s not in my comfort zone. The announcer thing, while I don’t do a ton of that kind of thing any more, was familiar. So I sent in an audition for only the announcer guy.
Fortunately for me, the client liked what I sent enough to ask my agent to have me read for the disclaimer part. I say fortunately because once I’d sent along the audtion for that part too, it was only about 3 hours later In Both Ears called to say that I’d booked … the disclaimer guy.
So, what’s it going to be? Stick in the comfort zone all the time and grown more and more boring with each passing month? Or, step out of the comfort zone and find a way to be interesting again? Maybe even find a way to be more interesting when working in the comfort zone?
Just do it
A famous slogan from a famous company and also very good advice for all who have their own business. As Jay H. Heyman points out, if you wait long enough, it won’t matter any more whether you do or don’t do whatever it was that you were thinking about. So, even if it seems like a stupid idea, just get in motion and do the thing that’s in front of you.
Steve Stone featured in Ryan Drean’s podcast
Steve Stone, one of the rising stars in the voiceover world, is the featured guest on Ryan Drean’s The Producers podcast.
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Raging Bob
As you’ll see, the Bob in question isn’t me. But it’s a very funny video that I ran across thanks to the SunSpots blog and my friend Jane Ingalls.
Too busy to blog?
Should you have a blog? We both know that I can’t answer that question for you, but if you seriously want to have a blog, you need to take it seriously. Here are 10 solid suggestions you can use to help you focus on what’s important to you from a professional photographer named Jen O’Sullivan. The application to your voiceover business shouldn’t be difficult.
My thanks to Lee Plaud for emailing me this link.
Straight shootin’ from Ed Victor
Ed Victor offers his thoughts and opinions about the so called “pay to play” sites as a demo of his new series of webisodes.
Nice work, Ed. I look forward to seeing more of your webisodes.
Audiobook insights from a publisher
Tracy Pattin has just posted part one of an interview with Ali Muirden and Lorelei King of Creative Content, an audiobook publishing company based in the UK.
Please take a moment to watch this
Terry Daniel and I have a mutual agent in Atlanta, Julie Martin, who has asked for our help because a family member is missing. Terry has posted a video on YouTube with the details.
The look of a voiceover artist
David Goldberg of Edge Studio offers some excellent thoughts about voice actors and their marketing in an article published at VoiceOverXtra today.(My thanks to my friend Mike Cooper for tweeting the link.)
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Anthony shines
My friend Anthony Mendez is doing some really great work these days. Click through to his site to see the trailer for IFC Film’s The Disappeared.
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Celebrity voice casting tide changing?
My friend Craig Crumpton posted an interesting piece about the changing tides in the casting of animated films. My thanks to another friend, Kat Keesling, for re-tweeting Kyle Hebert‘s original about the post, thus bringing it to my attention.
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An example of courage
My friend Kat Keesling tweeted early this morning about her very first video post to YouTube.
Bravo for you, Kat!
They are nice in Chicago and Indianapolis, too
During our recent travels as a family we had a chance to get together with Pam Tierney and Justin Kaiser and then as I noted previously, Pam, Eric and I walked over to Wrigley Field for the Cubs game.
Eric Souer, Pam Tierney and me in the stands at Wrigley.
After the game, we walked out under the famous sign where Pam took at shot of Eric and me.
The following day the whole family stopped to visit with Amanda Fellows, a voice talent in Indianapolis.
Here is the family with Amanda. We had a very nice visit with her and then got back on the road toward home.