Down to me and another “Woman”!

So two jobs in the last few weeks have come down to me and another “Woman”.

Which, in my opinion, is fantastic.  If they go guy, it’s me. If they go girl, they go her, and there just isn’t that much I can do about being a woman, except for years of hormone replacement and very costly surgery.

So on one job, they went with the girl, the other me.  50/50?  I can live with that.

What’s more on one of the jobs they told me one of the big reasons I got the job was I was the only one able to say, “Ahhhhhhh” and make it sound believable.

Who knew that skill set would one day pay off?

Tags: actor, voice, Voice over advice, voice over blog, voiceover

“It’s down to you and another guy!”

“It’s down to you and another guy!”

Agents love this!  They love to call you at those times where you think they’re calling about a job.

They don’t want you to get to excited, but they just got a call from the producer and they said they’ve narrowed the massive nationwide search down to you and 5 other guys.  So stay by your phone, cause the call could come at any moment and when they make up their mind they’ll want to record right away!

My advice…Do not stay by your phone!  Do not call your family to tell them “the good news!”!  Do not start thinking about how much money is coming your way!  And do not start spending any of that money!

Do whatever you can to put it in perspective.  Yes, it is an accomplishment.  Yes, you have a much better chance then you did when it was down to you and 1252 auditions via VoiceBank. Yes, you need to be able to record if they do go with you.  And, Yes it could change your life.

Just remember, chances are what they are and the “House always wins in the long run”, and it’s not down between you and another guy, cause they just went with Matt Damon, who’s schedule just cleared up, and who they wanted all along.

One more thing, try to stay positive.

Tags: actor, How to act, Matt Damon, Money, Voice over advice, voiceover

Sometimes They Come Back.

It’s been my experience that when a big account goes, it goes.  You’re the voice, then you’re not, and that’s that.

After all why would they bring back someone they got rid of.  That would be like bringing  back the first Darren Stevens from Bewitched.

The other part of winning a big account is losing a big account.  It is inevitable, at some point, the ride will end, the bars will lift off and some kid with bad acne and no motivation will ask you to exit while someone else takes your seat.

“Easy Come, Easy Go.”

is easy to say when it’s coming.  Try it when it’s going.  That’s the hard part.

I was talking with another Voice Over talent today about “the going” part.  He said that he wished every voice over could get a big account and then lose it.  It provides a perspective that you just don’t get when it’s coming.

The tendency of big accounts is lazy and entitlement.

The hard work somehow doesn’t seem as important and you begin to feel like you deserve the checks.

When that goes, if you’re not in the right place mentally, it can lead into a major downward spiral.  Then you get desperate, and that’s the kiss of death for a read and a career.

I personally have had the big accounts and lost them, and have wrestled with every emotion that comes with that.

Luckily, I’ve now had the experience of having one of those big accounts come back, and having lost with the ability to say “Easy Come Easy Go”, while it was going, I can now fully enjoy the coming (back), with an appreciation and understanding that only comes from losing.

Tags: acting, actor, artist, How to act, Voice over advice, voiceover

The New Year!

2010 will not go down as a banner year.  Unless that banner reads:

“Good Riddance, Thanks for Nothing!”

As we all hope for improved wages, better returns, more jobs… heck, A job, it serves us to take a look back and see what we can learn from last year.

For me 2009 wraps up the decade with the understanding that the Voice Over Biz get harder the older you get.  And most of that can be attributed to the increasing multitude of complexities that come with the adding of years.

These complexities are endless, unavoidable, and unpredictable.  However that doesn’t mean they have to be debilitating.

For me, the loss of income, investments gone wrong, and a little boy on the way (1 month and counting!), could cause fear, anxiety, and bad gas.  And it did! But the key is what I do with it.

To make a positive is the only choice I have, cause the negative just feeds negative.

"Always with the Negative Waves"

So as I begin my goals for 2010.  ( Always a good idea.) I find myself taking that fear and anxiety and parlaying them into focus, renewed work ethic, and a stronger faith in my past.  Meaning I know I’m good at what I do, and the down times are just opportunities to catch up on reading and a litmus that make the up times all that more sweeter.

For me the year was one for introspection and making sure that all the “junk” that happened doesn’t through me off my balance.

So it is with great excitement, feeling as if I’ve found my balance, that I enter this new decade. There will be much work, with no few guarantees.  However, I look forward to looking back at the end of 2010.

Here’s to the next decade in the biz.

Tags: actor, business, voice, Voice over advice, voiceover

Picked Up!

So it is with little fanfare and much hope, that the two shows I’ve voiced “Mall Cops” and “Conveyor Belt Of Love”, have been picked up.

Mall Cops On TLC

“Mall Cops” has had 12 episodes ordered by TLC and should start airing sometime in Spring of 2010.

“Conveyor Belt of Love” will air on Jan 4th on ABC.  If things go well it has a chance of getting picked up for more episodes.

“Conveyor” marks my second foray into the world of Dating Shows, having voiced  750 episodes of “Elimidate”

Conveyor Belt Of Love on ABC Jan 4th. Click Here for Trailer.

Between now and those pay checks anything can happen.  As it did when I was the original voice on “The Simple Life” with Paris Hilton and Nichol Richie.  The producers loved me, but somewhere along the way Fox decided they didn’t.  As my saying de jour goes. “It Is What It Is.”

So really excited about the possibility of these two shows, but reserved as well.

As always never sure that  my voice will end up on the show or that the shows will actually air, and definitely not counting the money until the check has cleared.

And yes… The check hasn’t cleared before!

Tags: artist, Conveyor Belt of Love, Mall Cops, Mall of America, voice, Voice over advice, voiceover

Going Back to School

After many years of resting on my laurels, which at times was very uncomfortable, as it turns out laurels can be quite prickly.  I’ve decided to reinsert my self into the  role of pupil and search for enlightenment.

I was searching for some sort of shaolin monk to teach me “The Path”, but when I found out how much Monk’s were charging these days, I settled on an acting class on Pico Blvd.

The questions are:  Why? Why Know? Why an Acting class?

The answer:  Cause it was time.

I just knew it was time to get back out there, and you know what, I have no purpose other then that.  I have little idea where this is going to lead me and even less expectation.

All I know is I needed artistic stimulation with a little direction thrown in.  You know something to add a little flavor to the soup.

I think that at some point every artist needs some type of class, seminar, or workshop to reawaken vision, or on a less esoteric note, get some blood pumping into stagnant muscles.

Only thing is, that you have to be ready to except it’s consequences.

Side effects can include: Hard Work, Artistic Rebirth, Telepathy Powers, Success.

Tags: acting, actor, artist, How to act, Voice over advice, voiceover

Fingers Crossed

Hoping for two new pilots I just  did to get picked up.  Mall Cops “Mall of America”  a show that picks up where Paul Blart left off, but with less Blart and more officer.  The Pilot aired Thursday October 15th.  The other, as of now has no air date.  It’s called “Conveyor Belt of Love” and is just what it’s name says.  5 Women watch 30 Men come by on a conveyor belt and decide if they’re interested.  I want the show to get picked up simply for the opportunity to get a t-shirt.  Who wouldn’t want a “Conveyor Belt of Love” T-shirt?  Well, maybe my parents.

Just like On Camera actors VO actors have to sweat the networks suits deciding, in their infinite wisdom, whether a show is a GO.  Cool thing about VO actors is they can have multiple shows at the same time.

But just like On Camera actors,  just because you did a show that got picked up or renewed doesn’t mean you can’t be killed off.

Now maybe your character won’t die a tragic death in a freak Tea picking expedition on the tundra in Tibet, but there might be a producer who thinks they can do your job better, and it’s the same end result.

So keep your fingers crossed, have your family and friends praying, knock on wood, send bribes, or carve a tiki.

What ever you do realize it all turns to dust, the flowers die, and shows all get canceled.  

And yes The Simpsons, One day, will get canceled.

Tags: acting, actor, artist, How to act, Mall Cops, Simpsons, voiceover

Back To Work

Talent plus Patience will get you every where in this business.

So you’ve cut 3 strokes off your handicap, you’ve cleaned your entire house with a toothbrush, and learned the life stories of everyone at your local coffee shop.

Such is the life of a Voice Over Actor with no sessions.  Some one looking at your life might say “Sweet! Time to do all those things you ever wanted.”

That same person looking at your bank account might say “Glad I work in Accounting!”

One truth I’ve learned is that those two little things called Patience and Talent always, eventually, demands. “Let my people Work!”

Then the gates are opened and either trickle back in, or sometimes flood in Biblical proportions.

It never fails, they don’t want you,  so you plan a trip, then they all want you at the exact same time, the day after you’re scheduled to leave.

So you’re working again!  So Fricking what!

The money won’t be seen for at least 2 to 3 weeks, and that’s just the session.  Never forget there’s always some jerk face down the line that has no reason to hate your voice, but does, and decides that the play he wrote in college that got picked by his class as most likely to be produced, qualifies Him to do the voice over.

Your first job after your new sessions is to go home cook Ramen noodles, adjust your televisions rabbit ears and watch Full House reruns.

Do Not Spend what you Haven’t Got.

It’s simple really, but somehow slips the minds of the newly working as they’ve suddenly forgotten the unemployment line, and see only fat chunks of residuals piling up in the back of their new Beemer. Bought with the promise of money to come.

Don’t kid yourself, play it safe. Wait for the sessions to pile and the residuals to hit your bank account before picking up the tab at Spago.

The Brain Sweats

The time it took me 30 minutes to say the word Toyota was the worst Brain Sweat I ever head.  The word came out wrong once, the twice, and then my Brain starting Sweating,  Thinking only about saying the word right, and thus assuring that I never would.

Normally a mess up doing Voice Over, is just that, but on occasion it becomes a monster threatening to send you to the Looney Bin.

Your Brain starts to sweat about not getting it right and you cascade into a down word spiral of self doubt and loathing.  You start to think about how dumb you are for not being able to say a stupid word or phrase that a 3 year old could.  in my cause “Toyota”

You start to wonder how stupid everyone listening  thinks you are.  About how stupid you’ll look when your ineptitude makes it onto some famous reel of stupid people.  If fact somehow you’re entire life becomes stupid in the wake of your complete failure to say one stupid, dumb, stupid word.

The question is not so much how you got here, but how you get out.

My advice: Do whatever you can!

Namely remember the song from Sesame Street.  “Oops I made a mistake that’s all.”

It’s life, it happens, and the only real way you’ll leave a lasting “BAD” impression is to panic and start acting like a weirdo.  Make fun of it.  Get goofy.  Breathe.  Think of playing baseball with Kangaroos.  Anything to take your mind off of your Brain Sweats.

Oh, and you probably will find that you actually will begin to sweat for real!

I finally did say Toyota right.  My secret?  I took my  Left Shoe off and waved it in the air while I read the copy.

Seriously !

Whatever it takes.

Tags: acting, actor, artist, business, How to act, voice, Voice over advice, voiceover

Why do Voice Over?

From the outside in, Voice Over is one of the greatest jobs on earth.  (Always: As long as you’re working.)  To be honest from the inside out, it’s even better then that!

I love working in Voice Over and that is why I do it.

Unfortunately  why most people get into it is for the lifestyle and/or the money.

Silly, Silly, People.

"I'm just in it for the Money!"

Though they both may be great products of a successful VO career, they don’t provide the drive for attaining a successful career.

The Hope must be fueled by the right desire.  In my opinion, that desire is the WORK itself.

Money and Lifestyle make for false hope’s that are much easier to disappoint.

Tags: acting, actor, Add new tag, artist, How to act, la, Money, voice, voiceover