Female Voice Talent Gina Tuttle

I don’t know if you caught the 2010 Oscars last night.

I did and I thought it was a pretty good show. I thought it was VERY interesting at the end for best picture how Tom Hanks seemed to walk on stage and just read the winner’s name without any recognition of the 10 nominees (yes they did little BP vignette’s throughout the telecast). But it just seemed like he got told “go out, read the winner and get off…we’re LATE!” Maybe it was just me but I chuckled (been there, done that…just, you know, not on the Oscars).

But to the point of this post, congrats to someone I do not know in this industry (probably there are more I don’t know than I do know) and that would be Gina Tuttle who served as announcer for the 82nd Oscar broadcast. She was an excellent choice to my ear. Congratulations on a job really well done.

Tags: announcers, tv, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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Voice Talent Lee Gordon (I swear it's him)

Last evening I enjoyed two very pleasant phone calls that I thought I would share with you.

First, I got a call from a number I had never seen before – which isn’t that unusual as many new clients call me all the time. But this wasn’t a client, it was my friend and fellow voice talent Lee Gordon (that’s his picture above) who shared with me the fact that he took my advice (yikes…I’d forgotten what I said) and got a cell phone he could use just for his business. This would be his primary business number: 860-805-8100. I was his first call on the new phone, which was a great honor in my mind. I hope if you read this here, you’ll call Lee and congratulate him while simultaneously putting the number in your own database, as I did.

Lee also called to share some other good news: he was cast as the “Sun” in a national commercial for SunSetter Awnings, though our mutual agent and friend (the two aren’t mutually exclusive) Erik Shepard at Voice Talent Productions. I was especially thrilled to hear this because Lee and I had spoken in New York in December about how we were both up for the announcer role for the SunSetter Radio spots, which I was hired for. Let it be known that the FIRST person to congratulate me on that win was Lee Gordon – the very definition of gracious. We both hope somehow our paths will cross on these campaigns and we’ll get to work together.

Later in the evening, about 8:00 p.m., I got a call from the agency president of one of my other agents, Lynne Heyman of Heyman Talent (that’s not her pictured above). She was returning my call, which I advised her automatically puts her in the upper echelon of my agents. But as I also pointed out to her, the dedication she shows to her talents on her roster by following up with a call even at 8:00 at night is very impressive. And as usually, our 5 minute call lasted almost 1/2 an hour and it is always time well spent with her. I just wanted to thank Lynne here for taking the time with me last night.

Tags: announcers, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent by peter o'connell voiceover
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Male Voice Talent Bob Souer

No but he plays Him in an audiobook. (Ba-dum-bump!)

About four years ago my friend, fellow traveler and sometimes dining companion Bob Souer was booked to narrate entire Bible in the “New King James” version.

Let me repeat: the entire Bible – all 700,000 plus words of it. It’s now been released.

Personally, I’ve always felt there was a bit of divine intervention in the booking because you’ll not find a more kind, Christian man with greater voice over talent than Bob.

If you or someone in your family enjoys absorbing Scripture, this would be an awesome gift, written by some awesome people and presented by an awesome guy.

Tags: announcers, audio books, casting, commentary, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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I hope I’ve written something like this before about the voice over industries preeminent e-zine, Voice Over Xtra! but if not, here it is: you darn well better be a subscriber if you are in this industry.

Should you needed any more convincing, look no further than the post its editor and my friend John Florian put up yesterday. He got voice over talent Jennifer Vaughn to write a fascinating article that financially analyzes and compares her 2009 efforts auditioning and securing business on both Voices.com and Voice 123.

As the voice over industry’s two primary pay-to-play sites who together have changed the landscape on how clients and talent get new voice over business (the argument about whether for better or worse will be held over for another time) this is really a great comparison and a startlingly honest report by Vaughn.

Thanks Jennifer for that and thanks John for everything.

Tags: casting, commentary, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog, voices.com by peter o'connell voiceover
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In addition to the discussion on this blog, I have found discussions on VO-BB and Voiceover Universe about the change from Walter Cronkite to Morgan Freeman as the announcer for The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

I was and am not in favor of the change.

As I noted in one of the discussion threads, not a lot of exciting stuff happens in our industry so when something like this comes around, it’s a 7 on the Voiceover Richter Scale…and yeah it’s a little bit pathetic. “More doing and less talk about doing,” you might say and you’d be right.

But one email note on the Voiceover Universe discussion kind of disturbed me and it came from the site’s creator/owner, the fine voice talent Zurek.

His message about the debate there (where I ahem, “shared” my view) was brief: “I never thought one man’s success would (be) a topic for debate.”

That “one man” would be Morgan Freeman and the quote concerns me because of my active participation in this debate.

Let me again say as I thought I have specifically said many times – the focus of my comments are why it is valuable to keep Walter Cronkite’s voice associated with the network’s flagship news program. I really couldn’t care who got the job under the current circumstances which I felt/feel does not merit any change at all.

If CBS’ decision on the announcer is “cast-in-stone-final” and Morgan Freeman is their choice, OK. I have no other horse in this announcing race (which obviously wasn’t much of a race – a compliment by CBS News’ execs to Freeman’s recognized acting abilities). If anyone felt that my comments were a negative reflection on choice of Freeman – that was not my intent and I apologize if I was not clear enough on that point.

It’s whether there is a true need for change in this circumstance that I believe makes the opportunity for debate relevant to the voice over community (and probably very few other people ). And if you have a blog post, no matter the topic, one better expect, nay, hope for a debate. It’s what makes a blog post a true blog post.

Tags: CBS News, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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I’ll be brief.

Tonight, “The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” changed the news program’s opening; the graphics were the same but the voice was different.

The network’s most celebrated anchor (even more than Edward R. Murrow) Walter Cronkite had introduced the network’s flagship broadcast since it began in September of 2006. It was a masterful piece of casting.

Tonight, CBS News President Sean McManus and Executive Producer Rick Kaplan used a new voice to introduce the program, actor Morgan Freeman.

Here is the audio for the new introduction.

Mr. Freeman did a passable job as an announcer and it’s said he’ll voice other CBS News programs as well, adding unity and flexibility to many CBS News broadcasts.

But Freeman is not Walter Cronkite whose voice upon that program bestowed a blessing and implied gravitas the likes of which cannot be measured by anything yet invented. No other network news program had or has anything like it. Suffice it to say Cronkite’s voice over on the program’s open was an invaluable asset.

McManus had indicated the program would lose Cronkite’s voice on the open in 2009 after the anchor man died but the Cronkite family allowed it to be used ever after, which (it was said at the time) made everyone happy at CBS News.

Evidently “everyone” lied.

The stupidest thing The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ever did occurred tonight – it removed a pillar of broadcast journalism as the voice of the network’s primary news program and replaced it with someone else. It is not Freeman’s fault…no one could have replaced Cronkite’s perfect voice over.

No one should have.

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Tags: CBS News, CBS Television Network, announcers, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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