Archive for juli, 2010
Marketing: The Old Fashioned Way … Face-to-Face Networking & Referrals, by Paul Payton
jul 22nd
"Reading the recent articles and comments about an Internet-based scam makes me glad I work the old-fashioned way, making personal networking contacts either through live contact or referrals from others," says voice talent Paul Payton. Now in his 23rd year in this biz, he shares some networking strategy - and his success with the one time he engaged a client via the net ...
7/21/2010 – Scam Alert #2: ‘Frank Mayfield’ Email Seems Legit, But DELETE Or Frame It, by John Florian
jul 22nd
At least two versions of an alleged scam that involves voice over work to be done for the "High-Breed" energy drink have been poisoning the voice over community recently. One version is described in our report, "Scam Alert: 'Oops ...'," in which a Charles Thamesmead invites talent to voice a 30-sec spot for the product. That gig would pay between $300-$500, he says. But a Frank Mayfield ups the ante. He dangles thousands of dollars for someone to act as "project manager" for the recording of a series of spots for the drink. Here's the scam and full text of Mayfield's email ...
7/21/2010 – Scam Alert: ‘Oops, We Sent You An Overpayment. Please Refund …’ by John Florian
jul 21st
How many times have you won the Nigerian Lottery? Or have you received a voice over job offer from Charles Thamesmead or David Connor? Those names are among what is perhaps a list of alias in an alleged scam making the voice over rounds now. This scheme has a familiar hook at the end: "Oops ... We sent you an overpayment for your services. Please send refund in the amount of ..." Here are recent voice actor experiences with this crew ... Share YOURS, too ...
Creative Screenwriting Ranks Act One Faculty Member in Top 15
jul 21st
Key F. Payton (Act One Faculty Member) was just ranked by Creative Screenwriting magazine as the 14th best script consultant in America-in the “Cream of the Crop” top 25/top eight percent out of more than 200 consultants rated nationwide. Over 900 screenwriters responded to the Creative Screenwriting survey (it ran back in January and February), turning in names and ratings for any professonal script analysts or consultants with whom they had worked. Congratulations, Key!
Voice contact
jul 19th
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.
The right answers
jul 18th
Do you have friends, colleagues and mentors who will tell you the unvarnished truth when you need it? My friend Rowell Gormon blogs about Questions and Answers and it was his thoughts from this weekend prompted this post.
Let’s think about voiceover coaches for a moment. If I ask Nancy Wolfson what she thinks about an audition or a demo, she doesn’t always tell me what I want to hear, but she does always give me an honest answer. I can say exactly the same thing about Marice Tobias. Both of these ladies have taught me a great deal, but the most valuable thing they’ve done is tell me the truth when I need it. If you can’t say that about your voiceover coach, maybe it’s time to re-think things?
Though he’s not been a coach, Dan O’Day has been both a friend and teacher for nearly 15 years. Dan’s another person who unflinchingly tells the truth when I need to hear it.
I have had several mentors who have guided my path through the years, stretching back to the first years of my journey in the early 80s when Armand Ciabattari and Todd Beezley took me under their respective wings. Chuck Wagner and Chuck Gratner both hired me to work for them. Both taught me a great deal. They were, without question, the two best bosses I ever had, at least until I went to work for myself last year. In more recent years, Philip Banks has generously guided me in important ways, in spite of the fact that I annoy him no end now and then.
And there are quite literally too many friends to list them all here, but Rowell and Dan Nachtrab and Janet Ault and Peter O’Connell and Pam Tierney and Frank Frederick and Kara Edwards and (oh boy I really can’t list them all, there are so many more) have each contributed to my life and work in significant ways.
In the days when I was first getting started in voiceover, friendships sprang up in the waiting rooms in casting offices and talent agencies and recording studios. Now, most of my work (like most of yours very likely) takes place in my studio at home. Which is why the VO-BB is such an exceptionally important place for me, the place where I met all but a small handful of my voiceover friends. My favorite spot on the Internet. The place where I know I can find answers, more than a little laughter and a few tears and a lot of love and mutual respect.
You don’t have to join the VO-BB, but I hope you will make sure you don’t allow yourself to get too isolated. We all need people who will tell us the truth.
Audiobooks: Adapting To Digital Age With Price Wars & Multi-Media Options, by James Adams
jul 18th
Audiobooks are adapting to the digital age as eBook readers plummet in price and downloads rise in popularity, notes James Adams, founder and CEO of BeeAudio and a business trends pundit. Looking ahead, Adams offers a 10-point scenario that predicts a collapse of the CD market, and a demand for audiobooks with multi-media options. Actually, it's already happening ...
When disaster strikes
jul 18th
A couple of days ago I had just finished a phone patch session for a television commercial (a hospital in Michigan), said thank you to everyone on the line (2 guys with the production studio and 3 ladies from the hospital), hung up the phone and clicked over to my audio software to get the file saved in the requested format. Initially everything seemed fine, just like always. But then I noticed an odd bit of distortion that seemed to be part of one small bit of the file.
Only, it wasn’t one small bit of the file. In fact, the piece that sounded normal when I first started listening was one of only 3 small sections that were clean. About three-quarters of the audio was unlistenable, filled with horrible, ugly digital distortion. Disaster. (This kind of thing had only happened to me once before about 8 years ago when my workstation had mysteriously dropped out of record a few minutes into a corporate narration session. That was a phone patch, too.)
What did I do?
Well, first I called my agents in Pittsburgh through whom the commercial had been booked to let them know what happened. They sent off a quick email to let the main producer know about the problem. Then, a few minutes later when no reply had come, I called back in to the studio to let them know what had happened. Everyone was very glad I had called back right away and thankfully they all had time to re-record, as soon as they finished their current session. 10 minutes later, I’m back on the phone with them. We record a few more takes. Everyone is happy and this time before I hung up the phone I double-checked to make absolutely sure everything is recorded cleanly. It is!
The moral of this story? One, don’t leave your workstation running for too many days in a row with giving it a chance to cool down for a bit. Two, if the worst happens and you don’t have a clean recording of something, let everyone know right away. We all make mistakes now and then. People will understand. But, any attempt to cover up or “fix” things is going to make for a bigger disaster than whatever the original problem was. Three, tell the truth. Own up to the problem and make it right. It’s the only way to truly recover.
