One of the highlights of the 2010 edition of the Dan O’Day Summit was the workshop by Richard Horvitz on the first of the two days. It was simply amazing. Worth the price of the entire weekend. So, please take that as my personal ringing endorsement to check out this PDF with details about Richard’s upcoming weekend in New York City. It should be a truly wonderful time. I truly wish I could be there.
Faffcon, the unconference (yes, I said UNconference) for voiceover pros still has room for you. And if you book your hotel room by Monday, you can still get the special unconference rate.
I do so hope you can be there. And as you can tell from the video, I most certainly don’t belong in front of a camera; but I just had to take part helping to publicize this event.
Kristine Oller has created The Actor’s Library as a resource for smart actors (including voice actors) who are serious about career success. One of the great benefits of joining The Actor’s Library is that you get dozens of Coffee Dates that Kristine has recorded with talented people from all across the performing spectrum, including me, as part of the deal.
However, the Coffee Dates can now be purchased separately, too, on this page.
On her blog today, my friend Pam Tierney provides a great follow-up to Maxine Dunn‘s excellent article on cold calling from the other day. Now that you know how to cold call, Pam provides you with one really powerful reason why.
My friend Maxine Dunn has written a brilliant piece on cold calling and voiceover that was originally only available to her newsletter subscribers, but has now been published on VoiceOverXtra. If you’d like to subscribe to her newsletter (something I highly recommend you do) click through and sign up via the link on her site.
Dan O’Day has just released a wonderful new audio seminar by Pat Fraley “GETTING FUNNY FAST: The Arts of Voice Over Comedy.”
It’s a bargain at the regular price, but if you order by Friday of this week you’ll get an instant 20% discount. You’ll find all the information here.
My friend Moe Egan offers some cogent thoughts about your voiceover business at VoiceOverXtra today. Well worth a few minutes of your time.
There are lots of folks who think that voiceover work is all about the voice. Sure, there’s an element of truth in that idea. When we audition, many times the final choice the client makes is based on whose voice most closely matches what they’re looking for; but be careful how far you carry this idea.
To think that a specific kind of voice is the “perfect” voice for our work is just silly. People with all sorts of voices are doing well. Small voices. Big voices. Deep voices. High voices. Smooth voices. Squeaky voices. Voices that rasp. Voices that sparkle. When I meet someone new, someone who isn’t involved in voiceover work, he or she will often say “you have a perfect voice for that kind of work.” Which is really nice, but not really true. In fact, with the kinds of things I see on many auditions these days, mine is exactly the opposite of the kind of voice they’re looking for.
It happened just the other day when I went to the first audition I’d done outside my home studio in 9 years. The director at the audition session said “Nice voice, but you sound kind of announcer-ish. Can you be more conversational?” I did my best, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t exactly what they were looking for, especially since I didn’t book the job.
However, as with most things, there’s good news with the bad. Sure, lots of people aren’t looking for my voice, but some people are. Enough people are. (And really, I couldn’t do all the voiceover work in the entire world. I don’t know all the languages. And again even if I did, I’d never get any sleep.)
I love working with every one of my clients. I love telling their stories. Some are short. Some are long. Some pay lots of money. Some pay less. But every one is fulfilling and interesting and I can hardly believe I get to do this work for people. It’s so much better than working for a living. If you are one of my clients, please know that I’m not kidding when I say I love working for you. And I love hearing from you, including the times (as just happened the other day) when you have to tell me your clients went with someone else. That’s all right. We’ll work on something else, soon enough.
And if you’re a voiceover talent reading this, then know that even though you’re not right for every job, you will be right for some of them. Enough of them. If you need more training to be right for enough to make a living, then get more training. If you just need to practice more to get to that level, then practice more. Keep pushing forward, one little bit at a time, every day. You’ll get there.
And remember, it’s not about your voice, it’s about the story your client needs you to tell. Keep your focus on the story, on what your client needs. The rest will take care of itself.
The Actor’s Library, a wonderful resource born from the creative genius of Kristine Oller, is now open for business. It’s a fabulous resource for anyone in the entertainment business, including us in voiceover. And Kristine is giving a substantial discount to those who join these first several days that the virtual doors are open. So, if you’re thinking about joining The Actor’s Library, be sure you do it before Midnight (Eastern) tomorrow (Friday, 25th of June, 2010).
By the way, I get no commissions or any other kind of compensation for sending you Kristine’s way; just the satisfaction of knowing that I’ve helped you make a giant leap forward in your own progress. How do I know that? Because I’ve been in Kristine’s orbit since 2006. I know what hanging around her will do to help you.
My friend and mentor Kristine Oller has created The Actor’s Library for people like us, folks who are who are working toward the goal or are actively living their dreams as a performer. The doors officially opened just a couple of minutes ago. Stop over and Kristine will take you on a tour of the place.
My friend and mentor Kristine Oller has been mentioned a number of times here. Every time it’s because she’s written or done something well worth your time. Today she republished an article that is going to take you several minutes to read, but truly is worth every one of those minutes. Especially if you are serious about pursuing your dream of working in voiceover.
Or perhaps more to the point, there is no single map everyone can follow to get to a successful voiceover business. You could do everything I’ve done for the last 27 years and you might be wildly more successful than me, or you might bomb completely. But since you can’t transport yourself back 27 years into the past, you can’t follow my exact path. The same is true for every other success you know in voiceover.
There are foundational things. Like getting the training you need to operate at a professional level. Making sure your demos are first class. Always being on time. Always performing at your highest level. But, there’s no map.
Now, you can take this news one of two ways, and here’s part of what I promised when I said I was going to write more about anxiety and fear. You see, I allowed my own anxieties and “what if” fears to keep me from moving forward full speed many times during those last 27 years. If you’re inclined in that same direction, that not having a map is bad news. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just take a class, or a series of classes, learn everything you need to know to be successful in voiceover and then just become successful because you do what you learned?
Actually, I don’t think that would be wonderful at all. That would be like working at a drudge job in a factory. One step, followed by another step. And another. And another. On and on. You see, not having a map means you get to make your own road. You get to draw your own map. I think that’s really good news. I hope you do too.
One of the people I most respect is Kristine Oller. Not only is she brilliantly talented at both physical and business organization, but she’s also a super nice lady. What’s more, she’s always working on something that provides real value to performers, including voiceover people like you and me; which leads me to The Actor’s Library. I’ve signed up. I hope you will, too. I think you’ll be very glad you did.
At VOICE2010, my friends Dave Courvoisier and Terry Daniel presented a ton of excellent material about social media and voiceover. I missed a large chunk of it because I was doing a voiceover session; but what I saw was superb. One thing I was there for was the announcement of a new website called Social Media VO. I’ve just added that site to my blogroll. I hope you’ll visit often.
The term “voiceoverist” may or may not be familiar to you. It’s an invention of my friend Philip Banks. However, the real point I’m making here is that my friend Mahmoud Taji has written an excellent eBook for anyone wishing to learn more about working in voiceover in today’s connected world. I think it’s well worth your time to download and read.
If you’ll be at Promax BDA 2010 in LA, don’t miss the Marice Tobias workshop “Directing Voice Talent” while you’re there. Marice will present twice, at the main conference on Wednesday, June 23 at 3:30 PM and again at Bootcamp on Thursday, June 24 at 2:00 PM. By the way, Marice is holding her annual post-Promax workshop in LA the Saturday and Sunday following (June 26 and 27, 2010). I think it may be sold out all ready, but if you’re going I look forward to seeing you there.
Since 1997, the second year it was held, I have attended every International Radio Creative and Production Summit. It has not only been a great experience every year, it’s been a time of learning and growing. This has been especially true since I stopped working at radio stations in 2001. There are always parts of the Summit that are most valuable for writers, parts that are most valuable for producers and parts that are most valuable for voice talent; but it’s the mix of all of these elements and the way they play off one another that really takes the learning through the roof.
This year Dan O’Day has assembled a terrific group of guest speakers. John Frost, radio imaging and production genius. Voice actor and coach Richard Horvitz and voiceover and branding coach Nancy Wolfson. Oh, and Dan will be presenting a couple of things too.
Registration is limited to 100. I just finished signing up (roughly 2 and a half minutes after seeing Dan’s email that registration is open this morning) and I hope you will decide to go too. Dan has negotiated an excellent rate for the hotel, the LAX Hilton. I’ve paid my own way the last several years. Every time it has been more than worth it.
By the way, there is a comment box at the bottom of the registration page on Dan’s site. If you mention in that comment box that you decided to attend for the first time because you read about it here, I will get a commission from Dan. Your registration price is the same whether you mention my name or not, so if you don’t want me to get the commission, don’t say anything; but I would be grateful if you did identify me as the reason you’ve decided to attend.
With thanks to my friend Jane Ingalls for sending me the link, check out this excellent article Networking Without Looking Desperate: 5 Rules on the CBS Moneywatch site.
With thanks to my friends Dave White and Dan Nachtrab for passing this link along to me, check out the superb article 20 Important Lessons I Learned from My Marketing Mentor.
