Editor’s note: Often times I get asked by both new and experienced voiceover talent “how do you get a voiceover agent?” Or “how did you get signed with a specific voice talent agency?” It occurred to me recently that there are some interesting and fun stories about how I have partnered with my voiceover agents. Everybody likes a good story so I thought I would share a few of them in something I’ve entitled “the voiceover agent series”.

It is my personal opinion that Erik Sheppard of The Sheppard Agency (formerly Voice Talent Productions) was a grumpy old man by his early teens. Young as he is today, he still has that hilarious grumpy old man persona.

He, of course, is a perfectly nice, smart guy, a family man (lovely wife -also a voice talent– , son and now a toddler daughter), a business owner (Sheppard Agency) and an advocate for the voiceover industry (VO Agent Alliance).

In my professional voiceover career, Erik is one of those people who seem like they have always been a part of it. I was trying to figure out exactly what year he called (or maybe emailed, I really can’t remember) to ask me to be a voice talent on Voice Talent Productions. I do recall him saying something about it just getting started and would I join etc. That maybe 2006 or 2007. The first email I could find from him (of easily over 600 emails) was 2008.

Point being, we’ve been together in this business a long time. I also believe him to be one of the hardest working agents I know of…auditions coming through to me constantly…on top of bookings and all over payments. The total package you want in a voiceover agent.

His Voice Talent Productions holiday parties were the stuff of legend…so much fun. All the VO talent from around the country would fly into New York City for the weekend and the parties were a blast. Seeing old friends and meeting new ones…all voice talents. Erik and Lindsay even got engaged at one of the parties.

I remember at the after-party for one VTP Holiday Party — it was a cold December night. Erik and I were talking outside because he was having another cigarette. We were talking about the voice acting talent at the party and I said that he really needed to take a listen to a somewhat (at that time) known female voice talent named Mara Junot. I think I had met Mara previously at a FaffCon – but her voice then as now was uh-mazing.

I said Erik, ‘you’ve got to sign her’. He said ‘you’re like the fifth person who has said that to me tonight’. I said ‘that’s part of the point of this party…discovering new voice actors…they show up, the other talents know them, hear them and make an introduction for them.’ Not because of me, but Erik did sign her and I think the Sheppards bought a boat, three cars and a summer home in Nantucket off commissions from the work Mara has booked.

From my commissions, the Sheppards’ were able to buy not one but two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Thin Mints, no less. So there’s that.

However, the greatest part of working with Erik are his audition notes…specifically when the rates or usage were ridiculously stupid. None of these note are printable (expletives deleted..and then there’s not much else to read) but trust me they are laugh out loud hysterical… day makers, when you read them.

He is iconic in his VO persona and legendary in his work ethic on behalf of his voice actors. Erik Sheppard is the guy you want in your corner when the VO battles rage.

Tags: #voicestrong, agents by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Editor’s note: Often times I get asked by both new and experienced voiceover talent “how do you get a voiceover agent?” Or “how did you get signed with a specific voice talent agency?” It occurred to me recently that there are some interesting and fun stories about how I have partnered with my voiceover agents. Everybody likes a good story so I thought I would share a few of them in something I’ve entitled “the voiceover agent series”.

It is my recollection that an initial conversation I had with Lynne Heyman going back to at least 2007 (maybe 2006) was the discussion that was the foundation of my 12 year voiceover talent – voiceover agency relationship with Heyman Talent.

The call was me calling her about voiceover representation. She didn’t know who I was. I’m not sure I knew who I was…a question still pondered today 🙂

I was focused on Cincinnati for no better reason than it was about an hour away from Dayton, OH, where I had spent my formative college years at the University of Dayton in the mid-80’s. I had been to Cincinnati a few times and like it there. Also, I grew up a Reds fan of the Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and Joe Morgan era. The Big Red Machine.

Lynne was one of those folks who you immediately trusted when you were on the phone with her. She liked my demos and enjoyed talking about my perspective about the voiceover industry…she’d seen my social media posts, read my blog and could tell I was very involved and knew many folks in and around the voiceover business nationally. We talked then and later about women in VO, foreign voice talents and how to access them as well as the state of the industry.

Some years ago, Lynne wanted Laura VonHolle to take a lead role in the agency…which I think was a very smart business succession decision.

Laura, like her predecessor, was/is very talent centered, doing all she can for the talent but also holding the talent accountable. I’ve enjoyed a few conversations with Laura about how the business has changed in the past 5 years and it was great to get an agent’s in-depth perspective. Heyman handles print and on-camera – even more than VO – but listening to how the changes to the VO landscape impacted the agency side of the business was sobering. Of course, they have weathered it masterfully- and I am glad to be on the same team.

Athough I don’t think Laura ever forgave me for coming into to visit the agency on my way to a Reds game a few years back (the Red’s stadium is right down the street from the Heyman offices). I was going to the game and I didn’t have tickets for her (a big Reds fan). I briefly got the girlfriend/wife/mother stink eye from my agent. I now know that if I show up again at the agency on game day/night, I better have tickets for her.

And I will.

Tags: agents, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Editor’s note: Often times I get asked by both new and experienced voiceover talent “how do you get a voiceover agent?” Or “how did you get signed with a specific voice talent agency?” It occurred to me recently that there are some interesting and fun stories about how I have partnered with my voiceover agents. Everybody likes a good story so I thought I would share a few of them in something I’ve entitled “the voiceover agent series”.

Because of a voiceover car trip from Ventura Beach, California to Los Angeles, I joined the voiceover talent agency roster of Umberger Agency in Atlanta, GA.

Yes, I would agree, that is some wacked out geographic math on the way to securing voiceover representation but my voiceover journey has never included a lot of straight lines. In fact, if my heritage were Indian instead of Irish, I feel strongly my Indian voiceover name would have been Circuitous.

I had a rental car that I had driven from LAX to the Marriott in Ventura where Amy Snively was hosting FaffCon 4. This was the infamous FaffCon where we all went out on a three-hour whale watching expedition — where people saw ZERO whales but did see dozens of people from the conference throwing up over the side of the boat.

‘Oh, you’re prone to sea sickness? You should definetly go on a three hour ocean cruise. What could possibly go wrong??’ 🙂

The event itself was awesome (I had a great time on the boat but I don’t get sea sick. And I met Lauren McCullough (winning!)!!!).

As I was leaving at the end of FaffCon 4, I asked if anybody else needed a lift to LAX as it was just me in the car. I was leaving the next day and was staying overnight at LAX to catch an early morning flight.

Why, yes, there were some folks who needed a ride. If memory serves, it was Doug Turkel, Sean Caldwell (who I met for the first time –I think– at this FaffCon), Amanda Fellows and Kelley Buttrick.

Now normally, you might think a car ride from Ventura to LAX with these fine folks would be a plenty good story in and of itself. Or you might say that a highway trip that involved these folks and then also driving behind a trailer filled with port-a-potties with yards of toilet paper spewing out from inside them and unspooling across the highway — for miles —- would be story enough!

But no, there was more to this 2012 story.

As happens when you get 5 voice talents in a car for an hour coming from a terrific voiceover conference — voiceover will be discussed. Often multiple conversations as once.

During the discussion, we were speaking about our agents and Atlanta’s Jeffrey Umberger came up. I believe Doug and Kelley were on his agency roster already.

I was on the roster of another voiceover agent in Atlanta – who I’ve long since fired – and who I believe may be a voiceover agent part time between selling Mary Kay Cosmetics, Amway and picking up children from school. This guy was not terribly focused on the voiceover agency business, which not surprisingly, there wasn’t much of for him.

Voice Talent Peter K. O’Connell and Voiceover Agent Jeffrey Umberger in Atlanta, 2016

As Kelley and Doug were singing Jeffrey’s praises, I said I would have to introduce myself to him. To which Kelley responded “Oh you HAVE to be on Jeffrey’s roster! I will call him this week!” Which I thought was very kind of her, yet I remember thinking ‘well…people get busy and forget’.

Not Buttrick!

BOOM! She’s on the phone to Umberger. BOOM! (well a little later Boom, but still a Boom) Umberger calls me and says ‘If you don’t join my voiceover agency’s roster, Kelley Buttrick has threatened to slash my tires and I just bought a whole new set of really expensive tires!!’

No she never really made that threat (it’s a joke!).

But Jeffrey did ask me to join his VO roster and we have been partners in voiceover…and friends…ever since.

Tags: agents, commentary, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Editor’s note: Often times I get asked by both new and experienced voiceover talent “how do you get a voiceover agent?” Or “how did you get signed with a specific voice talent agency?” It occurred to me recently that there are some interesting and fun stories about how I have partnered with my voiceover agents. Everybody likes a good story so I thought I would share a few of them in something I’ve entitled “the voiceover agent series”.

As of this writing, Big Mouth Talent is actually my newest agent. And it maybe one of my favorite agent stories because getting a new agent wasn’t even on my mind.

I was looking for a recording studio…and some heat.

Back in February of this year, you may recall that Chicago, IL had a cold spell of record breaking proportions. -23 degrees Fahrenheit (not counting the wind – in the “Windy City” – so the “real feel” was waaay colder than that by like double). Really unpleasant weather.

So naturally, I was IN CHICAGO during those exact days…and I needed a recording studio because an overseas voiceover client required some fast turnover.

I did “the Google” to search for a voiceover recording studio. In my search I wasn’t so much concerned with price as I was with distance. I was fortunate enough to be at a hotel in downtown Chicago but I wanted something within walking distance…even though with the cold, no matter where I walked, it was going to be OMG cold even for a Buffalonian.

I found within 3-4 blocks of my hotel there was a voiceover studio called Chicago Recording Company…fairly priced and they had a studio available that evening.

This was not the coldest evening of my stay but it was a pretty miserable evening to be going for a walk in downtown Chicago. Yet I pressed on (doesn’t that sound dramatic…I’m such a baby! I was fine.)

I had no idea just how many studios CRC had but it was a big and bustling place, even late in the day. It was, though, like a very efficient doctor’s office where I completed some paperwork, sat down and was escorted to my studio in short order.

The recording facilities were very nice and I was done with my narration in a half hour. They were very complimentary about my work, which they certainly didn’t have to be. That was a nice plus.

On the way out, I asked the studio manager if they had a voiceover roster. He said they primarily used a Chicago voiceover agency for casting, Big Mouth Talent. He encouraged me to speak with them.

I emailed VO Agent Kelly Wilkening there sometime later about the advice I was given by CRC and she asked for some of my voiceover demos. About a week later, we were working together and it’s been pretty terrific.

All because I was willing (and needed) to take a short but very cold walk in downtown Chicago.

So you can keep your portable rigs (there’s value there). But I think you cannot go wrong working with local recording studios folks, making connections and having the opportunity for something unexpectedly good to happen.

Tags: agents, commentary by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Editor’s note: Often times I get asked by both new and experienced voiceover talent “how do you get a voiceover agent?” Or “how did you get signed with a specific voice talent agency?” It occurred to me recently that there are some interesting and fun stories about how I have partnered with my voiceover agents. Everybody likes a good story so I thought I would share a few of them in something I’ve entitled “the voiceover agent series”.

For as long as I lived in Buffalo, NY, for a long while I wasn’t really part of the voiceover scene. I would occassionally do some local spots but I was mostly doing stuff elsewhere. Buffalo also suffers (current tense because it hasn’t stopped) from that fairly common media/advertising producer’s attitude prevalent around the country that ‘if you’re from here, you can’t be any good’.

But Buffalo did have a smaller voiceover community – outside of the radio people often called upon to do spots (and some of those radio people were/are amazing voice talents).

I think the real boom of voice talents in Western New York took off, however, when Toni Silveri and her family came back to Buffalo from LA.

Toni was a Smurf.

That’s right, she was one of the original voice talents on the NBC Saturday morning Smurfs. Of course she did other stuff as well while in LA. A long time singer and actress, she has been performing across the U.S. But Buffalo was home and so she returned when she had had enough of LA.

However, Toni brought back with her a new perspective — in addition to her new Hollywood contacts and friends. Many things made an impression on Toni while in LA. One big thing, I think anyway, was attending the voiceover classes held over at Daws Butler’s house.

Daws was to Hanna-Barbera animation what Mel Blanc was to Warner Bros. animation. In other words…holy cow talented. To say Daws was only a character voice actor would be unfair…but he WAS an uncommonly talented character voice actor. He used to host VO workshops at his house for working LA voice actors and Toni often attended them…with Daws soon becoming a Silveri family friend.

I say this made a big impression because when Toni came back from LA, SHE started hosting these same kinds of workshops in her home. The Western New York Voice Actors Workshop was born.

My inculcation within the Workshop was not immediate. I knew of it but didn’t get involved until one weekend when Toni hosted among the first of her many Pat Fraley workshops at her house (and then later at local recording studios). Pat is a well known and beloved voice actor in his own right but also, in my opinion,  Pat is one of the best straight out teachers of voiceover – especially character voice – in the world. His handouts alone are worth the price of admission because he is so well thought out in his presentation, so organized and so engaging. Oh, and Pat was also a Smurf which I believe is where he really got to know Toni.

So I show up at this Fraley workshop in Toni’s backyard, fairly unknown to these folks. Pat of course is amazing. I guess I made a good impression with my work there because Toni pulls me aside and says “I’m starting up a voiceover agency and I would like to represent you.”

This was not a blanket offer to all workshop participants.

I couldn’t see how it would hurt as up to that point and even today, there isn’t another VO agent in Buffalo.

But she quickly went from local to national and hasn’t stopped. She’s the real deal. All Coast Talent was born and I’ve been there since the beginning.

It was a unique position for this local boy when my voiceover friends from around the country would call me and ask about this voiceover agent in Buffalo. ‘Buffalo, really?’ they would say. ‘Oh yes really,’ I would answer.

‘Can you help get me on her roster?’ I would just smile.

Proving yet again, it’s NOT the address that matters, it’s all about the person who lives there.

Tags: agents, commentary, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Editor’s note: Often times I get asked by both new and experienced voiceover talent “how do you get a voiceover agent?” Or “how did you get signed with a specific voice talent agency?” It occurred to me recently that there are some interesting and fun stories about how I have partnered with my voiceover agents. Everybody likes a good story so I thought I would share a few of them in something I’ve entitled “the voiceover agent series”.

If you haven’t met Scott Burns, Seattle, WA voice talent extraordinaire, well you’re kinda missing out.

As with many voice talents, including yours truly, Scott started out in radio and just has the most creative mind for broadcasting and voiceover scripts that you’ll find anywhere. He co-hosted a very successful radio show in the NW for many years and it is radio’s loss that they don’t have him waking people up in some amazing city somewhere.

I don’t know how many years I’ve known Scott but I do recall meeting him for the first time in Amy Snively’s bedroom at Faffcon.

I should explain that last sentence…but I don’t think I will. Though nothing even remotely improper took place, I want to be included in a salacious rumor that something naughty did take place and that I was somehow a part of it.

Yes, my life IS that boring! 🙂

Anyway, it was some years after the naughtiness that was not at Faffcon (around 2014) that Scott and I were speaking on the phone. I can’t remember the specifics of the call – because between meetings and phone calls, we’ve chatted a fair amount over the years.

But at some point in the conversation he mentioned Lena Morgan, the owner/agent at Rockstar Entertainment. Well, he didn’t mention her so much as he shouted her name from the rooftops (as Scott is sometimes wont to do). He couldn’t be more effusive about Lena, how she was at IDIOM Agency and went out on her own and how great she was at getting her work and managing each deal and on and on. Summing it up, Scott adores Lena as an agent and a person.

But then again, Scott likes me too, so his judgement is clearly askew.

Nonetheless, I took Scott at his word and after our call, I sent a quick email to Lena letting her know how beloved by Scott she was. Then SHE starts in on how great Scott is and his talent and on and on. Meanwhile I’m trying to figure out what kind of vortex of sincere, happy compliments I’ve suddenly dropped into. It was a surprisingly pleasant place.

Then, in the email, she asked for my demos. I sent. She liked. We partnered. Simple as that. I’ve been on Lena’s voiceover roster ever since.

Tags: agents, commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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