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Voice Actors in the News

General

Craig Crumpton, founder of The Voice Actor Appreciation Society, has started a new blog called Voice Actors in the News. According to the blog’s about page, Voice Actors in the News (or The VAN) is a new electronic format of a newsletter that started in 1999 as a print publication.

Just in the last couple of days, Craig has highlighted a plethora of interviews with the people behind and in front of the microphones on the new Wonder Woman animated film, provided some background information on the future of Futerama, and let us know that June Foray is going to be signing books next month in Woodland Hills, California.

Wild and wonderful

General

There’s some very nice voiceover work done on this site, but the main reason I think you should visit is because it’s so amazingly well done. Be sure to explore everything. The Pomegranate, the ultimate smart phone.

Great job of marketing, my Canadian friends!

Shotgun

Career Advice, General

No, this isn’t a blog post about microphones. I want to call your attention to some cogent and thoughtful words from David over at the Voice Coaches blog. Here’s one key paragraph.

When it comes to pursuing the things that we really want to do, the things we imagine we would enjoy, the things we secretly know we could be really good at, most folks choose to remain in the passengers seat. In effect, they are actually calling shotgun on their lives.

I hope you’ll take a moment to read the whole thing.

Speaking of Marice Tobias and New York …

Career Advice, General

There are a few seats left for the Better, Faster, Now master class that Marice is teaching in New York City the weekend of March 28 and 29, 2009. Here’s the gist.

The Voiceover Master Intensive for Established Talent. Focus: Promo/Trailer/Commercial/Narration

Agents, managers and producers tell us: “Staying in the game means upping your game, being able to shift gears on a dime, nail the read with your own spin and know the current trends.” The more chips you have on the table, the more chances you have to win.

Limited to 12 participants. Price is $775. Check to: Tobias Entertainment Group, PO Box 15396, Beverly Hills, CA 90209 or PayPal to: tobiasent@tobiasent.com

Voiceover Broadway and Beyond

Career Advice, General, People

This message came in my email this evening and if you’re in New York, you just might want to take a few minutes to read this.

The Good News:

Voiceover is the perfect companion/transition career for the Performing Artist.

The Bad News:

Voiceover is the perfect companion/transition career for the Performing Artist.

The Good News & The Bad News:

Voiceover is the single most sought after, auditioned for and potentially lucrative career in entertainment and broadcasting. If you go about it correctly, it can be very good news.If not, it can eat up a lot of your precious time, effort and resources.

And you would be?

Tobias Entertainment Group. We are the pre-eminent training, consulting and producing resource for the established, ongoing voiceover career. Marice Tobias is affectionately known as “The Voice Whisperer”.

We are offering this evening as a reality check – an opportunity to learn about the biz before you jump in. It’s your choice. Get the information, do your research and establish a solid foundation, just as you have with your primary career. Or run out, take a class, record a demo, send it out, and wait for the phone not to ring.

We will cover it all: What it takes to make it in each of the areas of VO: agents, getting & doing the work, auditioning, home studios, marketing, the net, your website and sufficient time for Q&A. There will be representatives from the agent community and established VO talent on hand as well.

Since this is an information-only evening, no microphone or recording will happen, nor will demos be accepted.

Attendance is via payment in advance. No walk-ins. Check or Paypal: $125.00. Call or e-mail Stacey Stahl at CEM for further details at (503) 246-2239.

RIP Paul Harvey

General, People

One of the legendary voices of our age has been silenced. Bob Greene offers a moving tribute that is well worth a few minutes of your time. If you listened to Paul Harvey, Bob’s comments will make you nod in recognition, several times I imagine. If you don’t know who Paul Harvey was, you’ll get to know him in Bob’s story. Either way, I hope you’ll read the whole thing.

Good day, Mr. Harvey. May you read in peace, once again in the company of your beloved Angel.

(My thanks to my friend Charlie Glaize for sending me the link to this story this morning.)

I offer my thanks to my friend and mentor Roy H. Williams for the link to this video at the end of his Rabbit Hole this week. Roy also linked to this wonderful news story about Paul Harvey.

Putting into practice what you learn

General

I strongly believe in the value of on-going learning, training and coaching. I’ve seen how beneficial it has been in my own voiceover business many times in the last few years. That value was underscored this past week in a big way. During a recent teleseminar, Nancy Wolfson talked about how to interpret the common direction to “be more warm” or “warm it up a bit.” I thought her advice was excellent. Little did I know how excellent.

Less than 24 hours later I was in a recording session with a director with whom I hadn’t previously worked. His direction after our first pass through the copy? “Make it warmer.” That’s right. And, putting into practice what I’d just learned the previous evening, the session ended up going very well. The director was pleased with how quickly we were able to narrow in on exactly what he wanted. Naturally I was pleased because the fee for that session was multiples more than the price of the teleseminar.

Have you had a similar experience of confidently being able to put into practice something you’ve learned? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear about it.