Chris Greene and Tess Spangler take instruction from Toni Silveri at The Western New York Voice Actors Workshop

Performance ruts are the bane of any actor: stage, television or voice.

Yet left to our own devices (and ultimately ALL of us are) we can mindlessly fall into these ruts… a kind of “sameness” in performance that hurts a script, a vocal tic that we ourselves don’t notice, a subtle elocution mistake…or anyone one of a myriad of other problems that a producer might not be bothered by, a client wouldn’t even notice but is stuff that we as performers are responsible (if only to ourselves) for avoiding or fixing.

You might say – ‘well if the producer or the client doesn’t care, why should I?’

My short answer is: because it’s your job as a voice over performer.

My longer answer is: if that’s you’re attitude about your voice over performances, this post and probably this blog are not for you.

Smart performers know that in addition to guts checks and their own eyes/ears, they need omniscient observers. Call them coaches, trainers or whatevers, be it individually or in a group, this resource helps keep performers honest.

My life schedule does not always allow for regular voice acting classes but when it does, I have a wonderful place to go.

The Western New York Voice Actors Workshop is an amazing resource in our area, similar to the many architectural, geological, artistic, historical and human treasures with have in our area (aside from civic pride, there are facts and history on each of those areas to back up the “treasure” claim).

The Workshop exists because of one person but is successful because of many. For me, this is how my journey with the workshop began and how the art of voice acting is reinforced for me.

Toni Silveri, who has held her weekly Workshop for many, many years prior to my involvement, hosted a local workshop starring Pat Fraley some years ago. That was the first time I met her (as well as Pat) and it was also about the time she was starting her voice talent agency, All Coast Talent. At the end of the Fraley seminar, she asked if she could sign me to her agency and I did.

But I didn’t immediately join her classes. Not sure why (probably time constraints) but eventually I did that too. As Robert Frost once wrote “…and that has made all the difference.”

So what’s the difference and why does it benefit me? I’ll gladly tell you but to what effect I don’t know because learning is a deeply personal and individual activity. How this class impacts me might cause a different reaction for you (not better, not worse, just different). You have to find what works for you.

For me, I need the omniscient listener…that’s Toni. Whether I am not delivering on a performance or whether she has a new idea to insert or whether she has just one minor note to give me – it registers. In my head it usually clicks and allows me to both do as she’s asked of me and also make a mental note to hold onto that nugget for another time. Her ability to crystallize her direction for a performer is a gift. By it, Toni is sharing the tools she’s collected over her years of performing and taking stage acting and voice acting classes. As just one example, I find it a bit more credible taking character voice direction from a former Smurf. Yup.

Also of great value are the insights I get from the fellow students. There is an important point to make here – while Toni can bring everyone together, (barring some sort of crazy extreme circumstances – holding a class outside when its -40F, etc.) it’s the students that create the learning environment. They/we do it by our professionalism, our abilities, our willingness to learn, our willingness to support each other and (the big x factor) our personalities. Presently, it’s a joyous mix and Toni is the mixologist.

I sort of feel at the end of a class like it restores my faith in voice acting. It’s not that I’d lost the faith but rather to be around people who understand such a niche area (ever try and talk about voice acting at a cocktail party – blank stares followed by the ever famous “oh, look at the time!”), who have “been there” (are there) and can speak the (albeit somewhat self-fish, poofy and sometimes a bit odd) language that a voice actor needs to hear to get an evocative performance (whether its a :10 second commercial or an hours long audio book) is very helpful to me.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Ultimately, wherever your place in the world, I hope this post incites you to seek out training, to find the individual or group instruction that helps make you a better, stronger performer in your art. Today I have mine and I am grateful for everything it gives me.

My friend, the great Canadian voice talent and singer Jodi Krangle, will lead an all-star group of presenters at the first ever Voices of Vision event for voice actors September 23-25 in Toronto (yes, my favorite city in the world).

Backing up Jodi (who didn’t ask for this star billing but I’m giving it to her anyway and SHE can explain it to her fellow presenters ) are Deb Munro (another of my favorite Canadians – it was at her seminar that Jodi and I first met), M.J. Lallo, Pat Fraley, Bill Holmes. The event will be hosted by Elley-Ray Hennessy.

I hope if you have the chance that you will attend.

Actor James Gammon (photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

Which end?

THE end.

The thought was brought to the fore when I was reading the New York Times obit of actor James Gammon.

Clearly a talented performer what caught my eye was the end of the story when actor and writer Sam Shepard said:

“This was a guy who could act circles around most other actors,” Mr. Shepard said, “and he never pretended to be other than a working kind of actor.”

When “The Late Henry Moss” was first produced at the Magic Theater in San Francisco in 2000, he recalled, it had a starry cast that included Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte and Cheech Marin.

“I mean, a bunch of notoriously famous guys,” Mr. Shepard said. “And every single one of them would come up to me, alone, and say, ‘Who’s that Jim Gammon guy? Where did he come from?’ ”

How is your work and your work ethic viewed by those around you now?

What will be the legacy of your work in the mind of others?

It’s not your primary goal of course (performing, working, paying bills are more immediate concerns) but it does give one pause to reflect.

Now is the time that you are/can shape that legacy.

Maybe I should be more specific.

Two weeks until the end of the world for voice talents who want to enjoy the amazing discount on the FIRST EVER voice over unconference: Faffcon.

Two full days of voice over learning, growing, troubleshooting, connecting, and faffing about for just $149–how awesome is that?

Sure, you can always go next year– but dontcha want to be one of the cool kids who was there at the very first one?

If your not sure what it’s all about, I’ll refer you to this post I wrote about Faffcon a while back. I hope you’ll attend.

Male Voice Talent Michael Minetree

As a world, we seem to be mostly a proud bunch.

But too much pride can be a bad thing. I know because I am better than you – smarter, better looking, more successful – so I know pride can be a bad thing and conceit is even worse.

Wait a minute…

Anyway, I mention this because I got an email blast from Michael Minetree of MineWurx Studio. In addition to voice work, he’s overseeing a myriad of other projects including voice over directories, isdn directories, voice coaching and web hosting.

It was the web hosting part that he was emailing about. I’ll let you read the whole thing because I think it’s a really great example of how to adapt and change in a transparent way that builds credibility.

We all have to change and we all make missteps. How we make ourselves accountable can determine success or failure. I think the way Michael did this was a major success. Really well done.

In this newsletter:

1) A total slash on pricing – things have gotten El Cheapo – like Unlimited Web Hosting for $4.95 a month…

2) A total shift in policy – now we don’t have one.

3) A complete change in our course of business.

4) A total redesign of the site.

Our hosting site, www.artistwebhosting.com, has been made anew.

1) A shift in Pricing: We have completely removed all limitations on the hosting accounts – now everyone can have unlimited disk space and bandwidth for as little as 4.95 a month. On top of that – unlimited emails, databases and FTP accounts. Now – we are just like the big boys – and even better in some instances. Your web hosting has never been any cheaper. Add free setup and free site transfer to that and you’re looking at a winner.

2) A massive shift in Policy: Gone are the setup fees, gone are the account limitations, gone are the confusing “Tiered Hosting” accounts. All of it – GONE. Now – there are just unlimited accounts – with all the backend server features activated for all of them. No more junk. No more clutter. Wide open accounts. Period.

3) A complete change in course: We’re always ready to admit we made a mistake and change things. The first approach was old and out-dated. We goofed on the concept and figured people would have the time to figure it all out. We were wrong. So we changed it. There’s always room for improvement – so we hope that our new course for the future is the right one. We’re certainly convinced that it’s a whole lot better now.

4) A complete redesign of the site: Last week we sat and looked at the site and realized that the original test design was a bust. Too much data, too many choices and much like most of our newsletters – too much information. The whole damn thing was wrong – from top to bottom. So we scrapped it and went to work on making it better. Because we sit and look at data all the time we kind of lose sight of the fact that not everyone else wants to. This led me to make the site WAY too detailed and forced a lot of the important information off to the side. Not any more. All of the important stuff should be there. Right up front.

We encourage you to go by and take the new site for a test drive. Any of your comments and input will be greatly valued, so valued in fact that we’re offering an additional $3.00 per month off any monthly account to any one of our newsletter subscribers who sends us a little note with their feedback about the new site. $3.00 may not seem like much – but in the world of web hosting – it’s absolutely huge.

We look forward to hearing from you. And look forward to your comments about our new course of direction.

Michael Minetree

MineWurx Studio

www.minewurx.com

(blower) 703-293-8906

ISDN 703-766-1048/1049

Find Great Voices at:

www.minewurx.com/voiceovertalent

Find ISDN Voice Talent at:

www.voiceswithisdn.com

Find Great Web Hosting at:

www.artistwebhosting.com

Find Voice Over Coaching at:

www.thevoiceovercoach.com

Keith Carson of Top Hat Productions presenting at VOICE 2010

I am ashamed of myself for the length of time it has taken me to properly thank Keith Carson of Top Hat Productions. Were my dear Mother alive she would rip me a new one for taking so long with a proper thank you. That was always a big deal to her and she was/is right.

Here’s the story:

Thursday at VOICE 2010, I pop into Keith Carson’s presentation “Your Voiceover Demo” which not surprisingly was packed. I was sitting on the floor against the wall in the back of the room listening and working on my laptop (busy day).

He’s talking about some good stuff when Keith holds up a CD (which I couldn’t see cause I was in the back on the floor) and says something to the effect of “what a great example of branding this CD has, this is Peter O’Connell’s.”

My head pops up like a gopher in heat cause I have no idea what CD he’s talking about as I hadn’t sent one out in about 5 years. And yet there was one of my CD’s in Keith’s hand as he continues to say how unified and perfect my branding is.

He held on to it…for years!

So with this gracious public compliment I repay him by waiting over a month to say thank you for the kind words. I’m not worthy but I am grateful and I do want to publicly say thank you to Keith for his compliment and his very generous presentation.

Thank you Keith!

Best always,
- Peter

Some will think this stuff and nonsense but I have been stewing about something for while and it has truly been bugging me.

Facebook Fan Pages.

Specifically, should I have one for my voice over marketing?

I have one for the Voice Over Entrance Exam and I have my own personal Facebook page…but do I need a “Fan” page? Sheesh!

Social Media clearly has a narcissistic component to it. Rarely are you asking people on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn or on your blog how they are doing – more likely you are telling people who, what, when, where and how you are doing.

There is no ME in team but there sure is ME in Social Media.

Yet most of us play the game and often times enjoy it especially when there is give and take, usually always pleasant.

But I guess it’s the term Fan Page that has bothered me (I think Facebook is trying to get everyone to call it a Like Page but you’re basically asking for fans or for people to vote that they like you.)

That’s awkward to ask and seems kinda desperate in appearance when the Fan Page is about me (the e-book is a “thing” and it helps people – I have no problem with a Fan Page there).

I have joined a ton of fan pages for other people and never gave it a second thought. No, I didn’t think they were desperate at all because of their Fan Page.

But I look at myself differently. It feels like I am being egotistical if I do this Fan Page thing. The old comic line “But enough about me, what do YOU think of me?” comes to mind. Again…awkward is the word that keeps coming to mind for me.

From a business stand point, it could help me communicate with people on Facebook who are interested in my voice over business (the same reason I participate on LinkedIn and Twitter). That’s the big “Pro” in the “Pro/Con” debate that’s been raging in my cranium literally for months.

Well, ultimately that was the deciding factor for me and shamefully, I am announcing I have a Facebook Fan Page now (talk about burying the lead). Peter K. O’Connell – Male Voice Over Talent is what its called (for the SEO lovers out there). In this context, it sounds as ridiculous as “Peter K. O’Connell – Male Model” but, in for a penny, in for a pound.

We’ll have to see how long I can stomach this. I make no promises.

Thanks for listening.

Two thoughts before I include a link to Bob Souer’s blog post:

1. When Bob sits down to truly share his thoughts on his blog – it’s always among the most worthwhile stuff on the net to read.

2. For as long as I’ve known Bob (which seems like forever – in a good way- but really isn’t) I can’t ever imagine him being anxious. Obviously he’s human but Bob reminds me more of a duck: gliding seemingly effortlessly across the water but paddling like the dickens under the water.

Now read this.

Thanks.

Courtesy of Doreen Mulman on Facebook, a saw a video featuring interviews with voice talent discussing the challenges of voice actor parts in animation going to celebrity actors and how that impacts their careers.

As I noted recently, sometimes animated movies get picked on for picking celebrities to voice characters primarily because they are marketable celebrities (MJ Lallo offers one funny example). In other cases (I would cite “Toy Story” and “Cars” as two examples) the celebrities chosen to voice are clearly great actors whose transition to voice acting was seamless and superb.

As usual, Pat Fraley offers some really salient insight into the benefits of celebrities working in voice over.

While I applaud the producers desire to tell the story, a little effort properly checking the spelling of the featured actors’ names for the lower third graphics would have gone a long way to making this effort that much more credible.

Stephanie Ciccarelli of Voices.com

Editors Note: When the content merits it (or we’re just feeling too darn lazy to write our own stuff) voxmarketising welcomes guest bloggers. Today we welcome Stephanie Ciccarelli, Co-Founder, and Chief Marketing Officer of Voices.com, who blogs today about how handsome and talented I am.

Social Media for Voice Talent from a Casting Perspective
by Stephanie Ciccarelli

Social media is fun, it’s free and generally the return on investment is exceptional… but what happens when you’re tweeting or updating your status on various properties about auditions, experiences and information that might be considered classified by those in casting circles?

Most of us have pretty good manners and keep details about gigs with non-disclosure agreements off the social media circuit, but what about grey areas such as auditions or jobs before you’ve signed an NDA?

What’s off limits and what isn’t?

Perhaps the thought hasn’t even crossed your mind. For many, it doesn’t. A perfect case in point is when the celebrity cast of a certain animated feature film decided to tweet about their involvement with the project before the PR department at the production house gave the official okay to shout their joyous strains from the rooftops. Needless to say, the cat had been let out of the proverbial bag and the actors were reprimanded in some capacity for tweeting about it.

What are producers doing about this?

According the Hollywood Reporter new artist contracts are now drawn up with special clauses that pertain to social media with the purpose of obtaining a commitment from talent to not leak juicy details or the like when signing on to work with companies such as Disney. Disney’s contract has a clause forbidding confidentiality breaches by way of “interactive media such as Facebook, Twitter, or any other interactive network or personal blog.”

How has this played out in practice? Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers are said to have both signed DreamWorks contracts with anti-Twitter clauses prior to the release of the newest Shrek movie.

While many celebrities declare that their tweeting days are numbered, others opt to honor their contracts and use their Twitter accounts in relation to a given project when and if appropriate.

To ensure you don’t get into a situation, check with the producers you’re working on projects with to see if there are any clauses that might affect your ability to publicize your involvement and or experiences. It also may not hurt to check with those who didn’t make you sign an NDA and see what their preferences are with regard to social media and their project in development.

Although sharing insider information can make you feel like you have a special currency with the public, beware! Releasing behind the scenes features, dev journals and the like usually fall into the realm of the companies themselves. Does this mean you can’t write about or share your own experience? More often than not you’ll meet with a positive reply, but ask before you post, tweet or speak.

About the Author
Stephanie Ciccarelli is one of the most connected people in voice overs, a sought after industry expert and respected blogger. In 2003, she co-founded Voices.com, the voice over marketplace, and has been actively engaged in the voice acting community ever since. Mrs. Ciccarelli graduated with a Bachelor of Musical Arts ‘06 from the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario and is also the author of many eBooks, including the Definitive Guide to Voice Over Success, editor of the VOX Daily Voice Actors Blog and also shares her insights and unique perspectives via podcast.