It’s the 5th birthday of the VO-BB today, my favorite virtual gathering spot of voice actors in the entire world.
Happy Birthday VO-BB
General
New York Voiceover Mixer
The Second Annual New York Voiceover Mixer is planned for December 5, 2009 from 6:00 to 10:00 PM at the White Rabbit in Manhattan. All details are at the Voice Talent Productions site, including the fact that admission is free. I don’t know that I’ll be able to get there, but I sure would like to if I can.
How to Book More Voiceover Auditions
Voiceover coach Nancy Wolfson did a teleseminar just the other day on the subject How to Book More Voiceover Auditions. While it’s not possible to transport yourself into the past so you can listen to the teleseminar live, you can still experience the call through the 2 hour and 24 minute MP3 that’s available for less than a week.
A webinar on the business of voiceover
Bettye Zoller will be holding a live webinar in conjunction with VoiceOverXtra on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 6:00 PM Pacific/9:00 PM Eastern on The Business of Voiceovers, subtitled Getting Starting and Growing Your Career. Tuition is a very reasonable $39.95. Click through for all the details including registration information.
Trust Manifesto
This superb blog post, The Trust Manifesto, from the Fame Foundry blog speaks volumes about what’s wrong and what can be right about marketing. My thanks to my friend Ken Vuncannon for sending me the link.
Sorry for the spam today
The voices of Bambi
With thanks to my friend and mentor Philip Banks for posting the link to this video on the VO-BB, here is a wonderful interview feature on the adults, when they were children, provided many of the voices for the Disney classic “Bambi.”
Anthony's Situation Room
A quote for today
From my manager and friend Stacey Stahl comes this quote this morning.
The best index to a person’s character is . . . how he treats people who can’t do him any good.
      — Abigail Van Buren
Happy Birthday Jim
The wonderfully talented Jim Cummings celebrates his birthday today, November 3rd. Happy Birthday, sir. Mythanks to Craig Crumpton and his Voice Actor Appreciation Society for the link and notice about Jim’s birthday.
Pat Fraley posts some very sad news on the VO-BB
My friend, mentor and teacher Pat Fraley posted some deeply sad news on the VO-BB this evening. If you believe in prayer, as I do, I hope you will pray for Pat, Renee and their boys during what will certainly be some difficult days ahead.
Actors Tool-Kit #26
From time to time, and with his permission, I’ve been re-publishing a series of columns from Bob Fraser for actors … concentrating on those that are of most value to those of us who are focused on voice acting. Today Bob quotes himself, sort of.
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ACTOR’S TOOL-KIT #26
BOB QUOTES HIMSELF – SORTA
by Bob Fraser
I thought I’d do another set of great quotes and I was hard at work, doing research (finding quotes that are applicable to acting is not like finding pebbles on the beach, believe me) and sweating my self-imposed deadline, when I came across this oldie but goodie:
“The immature writer suffers, the mature writer steals.”
Actually that’s not an accurate quote, but it fits with the theme, today. I’ve decided to indulge in a little unabashed plagiarism.
And so, I offer you my “rewrites” of some classic and not so classic quotations — slanted, naturally, to our narrow show biz interests.
“Pursuing success in show business is like boxing … talent is a left jab – but character, persistence, hard work and good planning are the knock-out punches. Being likable is the fancy footwork.” Bob Fraser
“Acting is not emotional. It is the ability to re-create the emotion in the audience’s heart that defines the craft.” Bob Fraser
“The most encouraging thing about show business is to see folks not as talented as yourself, who have gotten to the top through conscious endeavor.” Bob Fraser
“Happiness is not a red-carpet you are going to arrive at someday. It’s a way of making the trip.” Bob Fraser
“There is nothing new in show business — except talent.” Bob Fraser
“It’s impossible to become a movie star. Which is why so few people try it.” Bob Fraser
“The secret to popularity in show business is just this; be very nice to everyone before lunch. The rest of the day will take care of itself.” Bob Fraser
“The first a greatest law of show business is: Don’t let them scare you.” Bob Fraser
“Success in show business is not so much a matter of what cards you’ve been dealt as it is playing them like a Royal Flush.” Bob Fraser
“Happiness is doing what you like and making a fortune.” Bob Fraser
“There is nothing more irritating than a person with less talent and more success than we have.” Bob Fraser
“Fraser’s Theory – If you pay attention, you can observe a lot just by looking.”
“Stardom is all a matter of luck. Ask any extra.” Bob Fraser
“The 7 essential ingredients of success in show business are; sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom and charity. Wait that’s only 6. Oh, right … tenacity and humor. Hmm. 8. Let’s face it, there are a lot of essential ingredients… like an innate desire to tell stories and … er … Aw, make up your own darn quote!” Bob Fraser
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PERMISSION TO REPRINT: You may reprint articles from Actor’s Tool-Kit, on your website or electronic newsletter. However, in order to comply with my copyright, you must also include the following paragraph with your reprint:
“Reprinted from ACTOR’S TOOL KIT, the email course just for subscribers of Show Biz How-To — The Free Actor’s Monthly. Get your own free subscription by going to: showbizhowto.com Copyright © 2006 Bob Fraser Productions All Rights Reserved”
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PRIVACY STATEMENT: Bob Fraser Productions will NEVER share your personal information with anyone. Ever. Period.
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Straws and voiceover
Tom Asacker’s insights about branding are published in books, white papers and (my favorite) his blog called a clear eye. A few days ago he made an extremely cogent observation about the straw. A straw is a luxury item.
What I sell (doing voiceovers for people, telling their stories) is also a luxury. My clients don’t have to hire me. After all, just about everyone can read and speak. But, just as drinking a milkshake with a straw is a more pleasant and satisfying experience than drinking the shake directly from the glass, so is hiring me to do your voiceover a more pleasant experience than doing it yourself. Sometimes, it’s even less expensive; in which case it’s not only a luxury, it’s a bargain at the same time.
Bruce’s award winning tease
My friend Bruce Miles has just received an award for a web video he wrote and produced for an ad agency in Dover, New Hampshire.
Very nice work, Bruce. Kudos on the award.
Who will be speaking at VOICE 2010?
I attended both VOICE 2007 in Las Vegas and VOICE 2008 in Los Angeles. I enjoyed both a great deal. VOICE 2010 will be the 2nd through the 5th of June, 2010 and will again be in Los Angeles, CA. If you’ve been holding off registering until you knew more about the presenters, then click through on the Conference Schedule and check out the names.
Early-Bird registration savings of $150 ends the 31st of January 2010.
Dave’s in the spotlight today
Make it personal
My friend Peter O’Connell understands marketing. I always gain something of value when I learn from him, and yesterday’s blog post “Take the time to make it personal” is well worth a couple of minutes of your time. It will be worth even more if you take his suggestions to heart and start doing them.
The importance of unimportance
Some weeks ago my friend Pam Tierney pointed me in the direction of The Simple Dollar, a blog about living more frugally. I’ve enjoyed reading Trent’s articles, but this post from yesterday is so good I just had to share it with you.
Keep repeating, “It’s not about me” and this urge to think of yourself and your job more highly than you should will pass. The essense of our work is to tell the story our client needs to have told. It might be only a few words. It might be hundreds of pages. Whatever the case, it’s their story. They need someone to tell that story for them. That’s where your work opportunities, and mine, come from.
OK, sure, my branding and focus is on storytelling, as you can tell from just looking around here for a few minutes, so of course I’m going to frame the work that way. How else are you going to describe it? Find a way that works for you and think of it that way. Just remember, it’s not about you. It’s about your client and what he or she needs.
How do you say?
Ever run into a word in a voiceover script and not know how to pronounce it? With my thanks to my friend Stefania, who posted the link to this site on the VO-BB, here is a site called howjsay.com.
The man behind the voice
Jude Corbett is a voice actor featured in an article this month in The Brown Daily Herald. My thanks to Steve Spector for posting the link to this article on LinkedIn.
