General
RIP Beverly
Today is the wake and tomorrow is the funeral for a lady you almost certainly don’t know personally. She wasn’t a big star. She wasn’t famous. She did have quite a few friends and I’m grateful to have been one of them.
Beverly Joy Brennan and I worked together at a radio station in the Chicago suburbs from 1980 to 1982. That’s when our friendship began. It continued in the next several years when she was working at a boutique advertising agency in Chicago. She hired me several times for commercial campaigns, giving me my first professional commercial sessions.
In the years that followed, after I’d moved away from Chicago, we corresponded, writing letters to one another until the Internet grew. Then emails. A phone call now and then. Sometimes when I was in Chicago or she was in whatever city I was living in at the time we would get together for an in-person visit. I didn’t know it at the time, but the final one of those was last summer.
Bev was 3 years younger than me. It’s quite startling when someone younger than you dies. More significant of course, it’s really startling when someone you’ve known for such a long time dies.
She did have quite a few friends. There were also those not so fond of her, because Bev was a bright, articulate woman who wasn’t afraid to say what she thought. Not everyone agreed with her. But, her faith, her politics, her home, her family and her friends were all deeply held values.
One of my fondest memories was when my wife Cinda and I sang at her wedding. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful ceremony. I’m glad we were able to be a part of it.
Bev also had one of the best marketing minds I’ve known. I’m going to miss being able to call or email to ask for her thoughts and insights.
Rest in peace, dear Beverly. I pray for the peace that passes understanding to cover your family in the days ahead.
Talking to one person
A bit of conventional wisdom you’ll often hear about how to be more conversational or more “real” in your voiceover work is to “just talk to one person.” But, as my friend Juan Carlos Bagnell (also known as Some Audio Guy) points out in his recent blog post Stop Talking to One Person, there’s a lot more to doing a good voiceover than applying that one bit of conventional wisdom.
The Lorax
With thanks to my friend Bruce Miles for posting the link to this video on the VO-BB, here’s is a behind-the-scenes trailer for the new animated Dr. Suess movie The Lorax.
Mentoring
My friend Karen Commins asked me the other day to offer some thoughts about being a mentor to other voiceover people. She also asked my permission to use those comments in a blog post she was preparing, permission I gladly gave. Karen’s blog post is Are you looking for a mentor in voiceover? Like all of Karen’s blog posts, it’s thoughtful and well-written and is well worth your time.
Advice for those just getting started
My friend Corey Snow has prepared a video filled with cogent advice for anyone just getting started in voiceover. If that’s you, Corey’s video blog post So, You Want To Be A Voice Actor is well worth a few minutes of your time.
Stop looking for the map to success
You may think there is a map to success in voiceover. And there may even be people telling you they have the map and are willing to share it with you. At a price. The price, of course, might be money; but it might be other stuff, too.
But, as Seth Godin describes in his blog post today The map has been replaced by the compass, the map is less and less important all the time. The map, even if it does lead to success in voiceover (or whatever other enterprise you’re pursuing) leads to yesterday’s success. Not today’s. And certainly not tomorrow’s.
Calibrate your compass. Make sure you know what direction you want to go. Make wise choices, but keep going in that direction. You’ll get there eventually.
Have you lost clients?
Edge Studio has published an interesting article titled 4 Reasons Why Voice Actors Lose Clients that’s well worth a few minutes of your time.
Quote of the day
Freerice
With my thanks to The Simple Dollar for posting the link to Freerice. Freerice is a site that’s a true win-win for those of us in the voiceover work. Build your vocabulary and at the same time donate food to those who are hungry and in need.
Strategy
Quote for the day
How well do you impute?
Tom Asacker offers some excellent insights into brands in the recent post on his blog Does your brand impute? Well worth a few minutes of your time to read and then several more to think about how Tom’s thoughts apply to you.
What about me?
As you scroll through the tweets and Facebook updates from your friends in the voiceover business, you might be tempted to despair because it seems like everyone else is getting lots of work and you aren’t. A check of objective reality would quickly demonstrate that things are not always what they seem.
Now, I’m not running down anyone who excitedly posts about something they’ve recently booked or accomplished. I genuinely love seeing my friends do well. I’m just trying to say that comparing what you are doing by yourself with what 100 of your friends are doing in the aggregate isn’t an accurate or fair comparison. At any given moment someone else is always going to be a bit busier than you are. By the same token, at any given moment you are more busy that some others are.
What I’m leading up to with the above, is to revisit a point I’ve made previously about the value of generosity or selflessness. Seth Godin has written brilliantly about this subject in his recent post titled The sad irony of selfishness. Do not fear being generous. While you may seem to fall behind now and then as you pass along to others what you cannot or should not do yourself, in the long run you will gain more than you give. No, as Seth points out in his blog post, this isn’t guaranteed. But, isn’t all of life full of risks? And aren’t those who win big always those who also risk big?
(edited to fix typo)
New article at VoiceOverXtra
John Florian has just published an article I wrote called The Secrets To Becoming Exceptional for his excellent VoiceOverXtra site.
Spotlight on Kara
My wonderfully talented friend Kara Edwards is the voice for this commercial.
Fabulous work, Kara!
Harlan Hogan and Elaine Clark in NYC
You have an opportunity for an intensive 2-day voiceover workshop in New York with Harlan Hogan and Elaine Clark. Polish your performance skills with Elaine. Raise your business skillls with Harlan. Details are available on Erik Sheppard’s Voice Talent Productions blog.
Spotlight on Ed
Quote for the day
This was forwarded to me today by my friend and manager, Stacey Stahl.
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.”
— Publilius Syrus
SAG Foundation Voice-over Summit 2012
The SAG Foundation presents an event benefiting the Don LaFontaine Voice-over Lab. The series of discussions on the art and future of voicever is broken down into two sessions. Each session is presented over 4 different days, starting February 21st. All the details are available at this special page of the SAG Foundation site.