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.
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.
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?
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.
Dan O’Day has released an absolutely briliant MP3 file containing 2 hours and 48 minutes of solid gold about voice acting for advertising from Nancy Wolfson. And if you order during Dan’s 72-Hour special, you’ll be invited to submit your own follow-up question and then receive a free bonus recording of Nancy’s answers to the Top 5 questions asked. Click here and place your order before 11:59 PM Eastern, Friday, January 29, 2010. That would be tonight at one minute to Midnight, Eastern.
Friday, February 19th, 2010 will be a fun night of voiceover training with Pat Fraley. Two hours of:
Pat explains more about this teleseminar in this audio clip:
[audio:http://bit.ly/DrFraleyMP3]You can register as one of the live participants or just to obvserve at this link. This event is sponsored by VoiceOverXtra.
Take a long hard look at your demos with Pat Fraley. Next month. In LA. Details on Pat’s site.
Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino have been doing a superb series of teleseminars for the last 3 years and I’ve been there for every one of them. Each has been worth way more than the price of admission. Now comes an opportunity to dig into the topic of voiceover for animation with not only Nancy and Anna, but also the amazingly talented Richard Horvitz.
One look at his website and you’ll see why Richard is the guy who can give you the no-BS inside Animation scoop. He’s going to answer as many questions as he can in 90 minutes, with a promise to do a Part II in the not so distant future.
Exactly and only the Animation Voice Over info that YOU WANT TO KNOW.
Beware: some unpopular realities (better ya know now).
Behold: lots of encouraging truths!
Some of the great questions all ready submitted:
I do a lot of funny voices, shouldn’t I be doing animation??
Are there really only 10 people who do every animation job out there? I’m really good, so how can I break in??
Do I still need an agent? An animation demo? Improv comedy or acting classes? An interesting voice???
How do I get cast in the next Pixar film when celebrities take all the roles?
Seriously, how much money is there in animation?
This animation thing seems like a tough nut to crack, so tell me the action steps I can take NOW to get my animation career going!
This teleseminar taking place at 6:00 PM Pacific / 9:00 PM Eastern tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27, 2010. Sign up now at Nancy and Anna’s site.
Dan O’Day has released an absolutely briliant MP3 file containing 2 hours and 48 minutes of solid gold about voice acting for advertising from Nancy Wolfson. And if you order during Dan’s 72-Hour special, you’ll be invited to submit your own follow-up question and then receive a free bonus recording of Nancy’s answers to the Top 5 questions asked. Click here and place your order before 11:59 PM Eastern, Friday, January 29, 2010.
My friend Kristine Oller is a genius. About organization. About career. About building relationships. Here is a video with just one of her superb ideas.
“If you have $5 and an hour to devote to your career each week.” What a great idea! There are tons more great ideas on Kristine’s site. Check all of them out. You’ll be glad you did.
As Seth Godin points out brilliantly, your real marketing isn’t the stuff you do to try to grow your voiceover business. It’s what happens in-between and outside the boundaries of what you do that’s the real marketing. This is the stuff that separates those who thrive from those who struggle.
Now, it’s true. There are times we get so sick we can’t talk. In that case you do have to tell your clients that you can’t record for the day (or week or however long it feels), but sometimes it’s worth pushing through the fog of not feeling well. Check out Peter Nevland’s wonderful post for one such example.
My friend Anthony Mendez is quite a few years younger than me, but much of the time he’s way ahead of me on the voiceover maturity scale. As Exhibit A is point you to his recent blog post Don’t Mind Your Business. There’s nothing wrong with being serious about your business as a voice actor, but don’t allow the focus on business to get ahead of being a superb voice actor. You have to be able to deliver the goods once you’ve booked the work.
Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino have been doing a superb series of teleseminars for about 3 years now. I’ve been there for every one of them and each has been worth way more than the price of admission. Now comes an opportunity to dig into the topic of voiceover for animation with not only Nancy and Anna, but alsothe amzingly talented Richard Horvitz.
One look at his website and you’ll see why Richard is the guy who can give you the no-BS inside Animation scoop. He’s going to answer as many questions as he can in 90 minutes, with a promise to do a Part II in the not so distant future.
Exactly and only the Animation Voice Over info that YOU WANT TO KNOW.
Beware: some unpopular realities (better ya know now).
Behold: lots of encouraging truths!
Some of the great questions all ready submitted:
I do a lot of funny voices, shouldn’t I be doing animation??
Are there really only 10 people who do every animation job out there? I’m really good, so how can I break in??
Do I still need an agent? An animation demo? Improv comedy or acting classes? An interesting voice???
How do I get cast in the next Pixar film when celebrities take all the roles?
Seriously, how much money is there in animation?
This animation thing seems like a tough nut to crack, so tell me the action steps I can take NOW to get my animation career going!
This teleseminar taking place at 6:00 PM Pacific / 9:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday, January 27, 2010. Sign up now at Nancy and Anna’s site.
Marice Tobias is holding a workshop which I can’t attend even if I want to. The reason is because only women get to be there. Here are the details, right from Marice. If you’re a working pro voice talent and a woman, consider yourself invited. But decide quickly. This will fill up fast.
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In response to a number of requests, we presenting the first in a few series of seminars that focus specifically on Signature Reads and what gets in the way of playing full out. The unique experience of professional woman in the Industry as well as the Culture is the theme of the weekend, but the perspective of Possibility and Potential sents the tone for what we plan to be a paradign-shifting expereince for all.
New and cogent processes will give attendees tangible tools with which to work and thrive in the increasingly isolating and often anonymous environment of the day-to-day.
The structure of the weekend is a departure. Group sessions will zero in on Point of View and Delivery in a conference-room setting. The timeframe is also different in tha tthere will be an evening session so time can be spent out and about, enjoying or rejuvenating along with some fun surprises!
Saturday and Sunday, February 6 and 7, 2010 (Super Bowl Weekend) in Santa Fe, NM at The Inn on the Alameda. Special group rates of $100 to $150 per night have been arranged. Contact Stacey Stahl at 503-246-2239 or stacey@creativeentertainmentmanagement.com to reserve your place.
Jennifer Vaughn provides a detailed and very specific look at her experiences and income from both Voices.com and Voice123.com last year in an article on VoiceOverXtra. Thank you, John Florian, for emailing me about this well written and insightful article.
With thanks to my friend Andi Arndt for sending me the link, check out the excellent article on a healthy voice at the Theatre Communications Group site. The article is focused on singing, but the tips are valuable for those of us in voice acting, too.
Bob Noble‘s article at VoiceOverXtra on making a New Year’s REVOLUTION is well worth a few minutes of your time. (And thank you John Florian for the email alert about this article.)
A few days ago I was party to a lesson on the difference between persistence, a vitally important characteristic of any successful voice actor, and being stubborn. I had been away from our home in Charlotte for several days and was planning to make my way back home on Saturday, December 19th, the day before my birthday, so that I could celebrate my birthday and then Christmas and New Year’s Eve with my family.
However, I didn’t check with AAA before leaving on my drive toward home. As I started out from Western Pennsylvania I could tell that the roads were not in great shape because snow was falling pretty quickly and the plows weren’t able to keep up. Lots of snow on the roads. Slippery. It’s wasn’t going to be a fun day of driving.
When I got to West Virginia on my drive south things got worse. There were sections of the Interstate that weren’t plowed at all and where the plows had been through the snow was piling up again very quickly. In fact the snow was falling much harder in West Virginia that it was in Pennsylvania. I almost lost control of my car twice while I was driving. Thankfully, having grown up in Minnesota, my old snow-driving habits kicked in and I was able to keep my car on the road each time. Needless to say I was praying fervently as I drove.
Eventually, while I never slid off the road, I did lose traction and couldn’t go forward any more. At the same time, the power steering pump on my car failed. So, it didn’t matter how much I wanted to get home, I was stuck. AAA got there to tow me into the little town of Weston, West Virginia in less than 30 minutes even in the blizzard. They were just amazing. The folks at the Holiday Inn Express were as nice as could be and thankfully had a room for me.
I then learned that the turnpike in West Virginia was closed several miles ahead of where I was. They had received 4 feet of snow in less than 24 hours. I wasn’t going to get through no matter how much I wanted to.
Persistence is an irreplaceable characteristic for a voice actor. The finest performer without persistence isn’t likely to have much success, but someone of modest skills and persistence can be very successful. On the other hand, to insist on following a given path that is completely closed isn’t being persistent, it’s being stupidly stubborn. I could have, after being towed out of my spot at the side of the road, tried again to finish my drive home to Charlotte; but the end result would have been the same or worse. I wasn’t getting through. The roads were closed.
After spending the night in Weston, and taking one more day of waiting, I was eventually able to make my way home to Charlotte.
If your burning desire is to be a voice actor you can get there. Persistence is vital to your eventual success. But, pushing forward on a given path when the road is closed may not always be the wisest path. Sometimes you have to retreat and try again either taking a different path or different timing.
