SAG-AFTRA union members are striking against all video game companies signed to the Interactive Media Agreement, as of Friday, July 26, 2024.

This strike does not include non-union performers (voiceover and motion capture) or video game companies not signed to the Agreement.

The video game companies (including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co.) and the performers’ union have not reached a deal after more than a year and a half of negotiations.

The major sticking point seems to be over artificial intelligence (AI) protections for voice-actor and motion-capture union performers.

The union says the video game companies refuse to agree to contract language that protects all union performers covered by a new contract, regarding the use of AI.

The studios’ definition of which union performers constitute a “performer” (and thus are entitled to protection) in the new agreement would then be at the heart of the conflict.

I’m a non-union voice actor who doesn’t do too many video games.

So why do I think this is strike important to me and many others?

Simple, really.

1.   At this moment, artificial intelligence (AI) can allow almost anyone to credibly re-create and manipulate almost every video file and sound file in any matter they choose (for good or evil), without any kind dependable controls or barriers of distribution (copyright lawyers cannot keep up, the AI horse has long escaped the barn).

2.   This very unpleasant and dangerous truth impacts every single individual on the planet, from a new born baby to a world leader. This means you too, whether or not you are a performer.

For the moment, let’s set aside that harsh reality for all of us and focus on the strike.

3.   From a media production standpoint (TV shows, radio shows, streaming programs, video games, podcasts, etc), unprotected performers will be at a severe disadvantage in their careers (on-going payment, residuals, future work)  if current or future companies can take past paid work and manipulate it via AI into NEW projects without compensating the performers. Not only CAN it happen in the future, it HAS happened already in the past and currently. That AI abuse is what SAG-AFTRA is fighting against, on behalf of its members, with this strike.

4.   A successful outcome for SAG-AFTRA performers within a new video game agreement would hopefully provide a pro-performer template for future union agreements and even non-union agreements.

Like in most companies, salaries are often the biggest expense item for media employers – most media companies would have no compunction about cutting expenses (i.e. performers) to increase profit while garnering the same beloved audience products that AI can manufacture (and in many cases, create anew) for them, based on work recently or long-ago performed.

I see AI as extremely dangerous for the media industry and our society as a whole.  It is not the panacea that people would like it to be — or that AI companies would like you to believe it is (ChatGPT and it’s ilk are not your friends).

People lulled into a faster, cheaper, lazier culture will too soon come to realize that the next job, that is no longer needed as a result of unregulated, uncontrolled AI, will be theirs.

Please at least pay attention to how this all plays out.

Tags: AI, artificial intellgence, commentary, unions by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I really like media and I really like voiceover and I really like audio production and I really like video and film.

But the part I like about all those things the most is the behind the scenes part of it. Most of the time nobody sees you ‘doing the making’.

Hence my on-going love affair with voice acting and deep attraction to radio.

This would also help explain why I have never been a fan of me doing on-camera work. I don’t want to do on-camera acting because I’m not a big fan of me on-camera.

Now I will make silly videos for my YouTube channel (which all the 7 people in remote jungles will ever see) but nothing like proper acting, or spokesperson stuff.

Voice actors should be heard and not seen. And I love that.

Voice actor Peter K. O’Connell from audio’connell Voiceover Talent, July 2024

Which brings me to social media and these stupid profile pictures we have to post of ourselves. To me, they feel like a lot of work.

In the profile pic I want to look like my normal fun self but also respectable. Nice but not formal. Me but not me.

Relaxed and improvised but completely planned, posed and well lit with 7 filters.

In other words, BS. I’m ridiculous! 🙂

Anyway, the other day a picture got took of me (yes I am aware of the bad grammar, intentional for humor) that I thought looked OK except for the background.

Darn!

Then I found a free background remover. Magic!

Now what? I needed a background for the photo. What to do, what to do??

I decided to plow through the likely hundreds (at this point) of background images I have on this computer and I found some great video color bars.

Oooh fun (I thought), I can use them! It will convey my bright, fun personality (ha!) and subtly reference video and television production (for which I often provide my voiceover services). All that will also be slightly creativity (which, when it comes to me and anything visual, “slightly” is the best I can ever hope for).

Reading that now, I am unsure whether that all shows thoughtful creativity on my part or my narcissistic self-absorption on a level previously not seen.

Am I over thinking my profile pics?

They *do* represent my brand to my business audience…but that brand is basically me, who does NOT want to be in the forefront. Oy!

Back to my photo idea — turns out just slapping color bars behind my head just ended up looking like a vertical rainbow (and not a very impressive one at that).

So I thought, maybe a collage of color bars? Ok, it needs something else

At this point in the creation process, I was starting to take *me* out of the design process and look at this design as sort of 3rd party omniscient. Made me feel less self-conscious.

Ok, (methinks to meself) what about including the word “voiceover” to make it look a little modern, a tad artsy and make it clear to the viewer who this idiot in the Bills cap thinks he is?

Alrighty then, that works.

Thus it was born…a new head shot.

One morning soon, I will wake up and feel this picture is ill-conceived (which was my polite synonym for stupid). Maybe this blog post is too. But I can’t think I’m the only VO who feels this way.

Anyway, for the moment, I don’t hate this new profile pic and it solves the Social Media profile picture issue.

For the moment. 🙂

Tags: commentary, marketing, social media by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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The following is an opinionated media observation, not a political statement, endorsement or position.

Media here, not politics; got it?

Here we go…

I fully understand the awful challenges of operating a newspaper today and how so many newspapers have gone under because of those obstacles.

I respect that the talented people working at newspapers and even owning newspapers are also frustrated by the operational constraints forced upon them by plunging readership and ad revenues.

However, the fact remains that a newspaper’s primary goal is to report the news of the day, without bias.

I’ll make that goal even shorter: report the news.

On the early evening of Saturday, July 13, former United States President (and current Republican nominee for President) Donald Trump was shot by an attempted assassin in Pennsylvania. Trump was hit by a bullet but has recovered from the wound.

It is a big story in America when anyone tries to assassinate a presidential candidate (or worse, succeeds)…but this candidate was also a former President. As far as news stories go…you really don’t get much bigger.

And for a Sunday newspaper edition – often a newspaper’s biggest circulation day- there will be a LOT of people who will be searching for the in-depth reporting that is the key point of difference a newspaper offers the media consuming public.

There was a time in the newspaper industry when publishers would have stopped the presses and redesigned the front page (even deliver the papers late) to make sure they got the FULL story into the hands of readers.

A political assassination attempt (regardless of political party) IS front page news…unless you are The Buffalo News in Buffalo, New York.

Not unlike some other newspapers in America, The Buffalo News seems to pre-set its Sunday edition front page section – well in advance of publication – to…save money, I suppose. If there is a breaking news story, I guess they could run it in an inner section?

As you can see from the graphic on this blog, The Buffalo News – the newspaper of my hometown – did not redesign the front page to carry the assassination story. They missed the story completely on their front page. There was not a story ANYWHERE in The Buffalo News Sunday, July 14th edition (that I saw) about the attempted murder of President Trump on July 13th.

An attempted presidential assassination omitted from the front page of a U.S. newspaper. Wow.

While all of what I have written here is opinion – what I am about to say is especially opinion, as I have no facts to back this up, save for having some personal knowledge about media professionals taking pride in their jobs: somebody or many somebodies on the Editorial side working Saturday at The Buffalo News very likely screamed their fool heads off to get that story in print for Sunday’s run. I have faith they tried but were foiled one way or another, probably by accountants.

And no, I don’t think this story’s omission was for any kind of political reason or bias. This was financial, all the way…in my opinion.

BTW, some years ago while I was inside The Buffalo News offices in downtown Buffalo, I saw the company proudly hung history making front pages of their newspaper on their walls – including, as I recall, the death of President John F. Kennedy by an assassin’s bullet.

There will not be a page hung on the wall for July 14, 2024.

If there hasn’t been already, there will be excuses proffered and reasons given by the newspaper as to why The Buffalo News omitted the story. They are just excuses and are, in fact, inexcusable if your primary purpose is to report the news.

The exclusion would be tragic if it wasn’t so pathetic. Or worse, maybe I am one of only a few who noticed or even cared.

Irresponsible omissions of professional journalism like this allow newspapers to prove their own irrelevance. Certainly The Buffalo News has done that here.

If the Buffalo Bills are more front page worthy in July, the day after some tried to kill a U.S. President, just reformat the News to a sports tabloid and call it a day. What about Digital? Local newspapers have already lost that space to more talented digital news services. For the most part, it seems local newspapers can’t win there. For the most part, local newspapers are not winning there.

While all of what I have written here is opinion – what I am about to say is especially opinion, as I have no facts to back this up, save for having some personal knowledge about media professionals taking pride in their jobs: somebody or many somebodies on the Editorial side working Saturday at The Buffalo News very likely screamed their fool heads off to get that story in print for Sunday’s run. I have faith they tried but were foiled one way or another, probably by accountants.

It’s over for newspapers and those involved in their publication.

It’s truly sad, heartbreaking, to witness the newspaper industry’s slow suicide.

Tags: commentary, newspapers by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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When other voice talents call me about their marketing or how to do marketing, there are many things I try and remind them.

Yes, I hammer on the importance of database and ALL that entails. Marketing plans too. And in reality, the anxiety and eye rolling that these points cause for many voice talents lets me know quickly that they really aren’t cut out for small business or micro business ownership.

But for those who still seem engaged after those two previous points, for those that want to learn more, I try and focus on two more things: be adaptable to change (change is OK) and know that you will make marketing mistakes (and don’t spend the emotional effort beating yourself up about your mistakes).

In my conversations with people, they can really be hard on themselves and feel like they’re failing. They feel like they have to get everything right…folks, it’s not going to happen.

So if you are one of those people, let me share with you the insignificant but maybe helpful (for you) story of my voiceover email signature.

At the beginning of 2024 I did a couple of things for my voiceover business:

1. I created a new logo for my voice acting business that better reflected my voiceover brand in many ways
2. I dropped my paid voice talent email signature tool (it felt like money wasted) and opted for a static design that I created for free from the templates available in Canva (my Canva signature is living proof that such templates make design like this idiot proof — says the idiot)

What you see in the graphic is the email signature that I created in February 2024 and then in July 2024…so 5 months.

Within that 5 months (again, just 5 months)….this Certified Marketing Executive and business owner for 40+ years made the following changes to the tool that is my email signature:

1. I took the logo design that I created (shown in February) over to my graphic designer and I think you can clearly see why it’s worthwhile to hire a professional (so the signature has an updated logo) — that’s the CHANGE
2. In my information ON my email signature in July, you’ll notice there is an additional line of information that was OMITTED, LEFT OUT and FORGOTTEN in the February email signature design – my voiceover credits (that’s the MISTAKE)

This last part is a significant omission/mistake because many media producers – whether they like to admit it or not – prefer to work with voice actors with national brand credits. It’s not that Chico’s Bail Bonds is not a respectable account (and I have voiced for many smaller brands) but if you have those recognizable credits, it gives you a leg up in the eyes of some hiring producers.

But this experienced marketer, this “certified wizard of marketing” (I just made that up), this guy WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER left off the V.O. credits line from a marketing tool that is easily one of the most visible in my marketing arsenal.

How could I make such a mistake??

Because I was recording voiceover work, because I was producing audio, because I was fielding client calls, because I was sending out emails…because I was and am overwhelmed and I-made-a-mistake.

It’s going to happen and I am truly not beating myself up over it. You should not either – but I KNOW many of you are…knock it off! 🙂

So to summarize:

Yes you can and occasionally should (if warranted) make changes to your marketing – even if it’s only 5 months old – be open (but not a slave) to change.

You are also going to make errors in your marketing…some may even cost you money. Whether they do or not, stop the self-loathing and negative talk. Every darn body makes mistakes.

You. Are. OK.

Hope this helps.

Tags: voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

There is no way for me to justify my 6,000 tweet – which I am sure is just as meaningless as the 1st tweet was 17 years ago. And yet when I was updating my profile today — there it was: 6,000 posts.

I can’t say that anything I’ve offered on the platform was terribly worthwhile and (aside from catching a few breaking news stories) I’ve not read that much that was interesting (but it helped pass the time).

What this…I don’t what you call 6,000 tweets…a signpost? A waste of time and effort?

What this “thing” did remind me of was when I first really focused on Twitter.

My recollection was I was at Podcamp Toronto in 2007 – social media was kinda just coming into it’s own and Twitter was barely a year old. But there were a couple of thought leaders who I heard in the hallways of the Podcamp chatting about Twitter.

I think within a month I had set up my account — having NO idea what I was supposed to say or do with it (much like the rest of the world then AND now.

And I think it can only be my 17 year longevity on Twitter or X that explains how I have over 3,800 followers. At one point I had 4,000 followers but I must have said something that pissed some-200 -bodies off and that 3,800 count is where my follower count has been for a while.

If you are a follower, thanks. If you want to be a follower, thanks. If you don’t want to follow me, thanks.

There is a Science to social media and I was more of an English and History guy myself.

Let’s try not to take ourselves too seriously out that. Thanks.

Tags: commentary, social media, social networking, twitter, X by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT….in my voiceover career 😉  – I’ve learned from many great voice acting teachers but I also feel some of my best professional learnings have come from my fellow voice actors during workshops and discussions.

One of the best examples of that for me was the FaffCon unconference events. They were awesome but FaffCon – with its wonderful uniqueness – is not coming back.

However, the unconference format (which FaffCon founder and fellow voice actor Amy Snively adopted) is about to make a major comeback in the voiceover industry and I am here for it.

World Voices (WOVO) board member George Washington, III met with Amy some months ago and Amy agreed to train George in the unconference format. While Amy will not be part of the event, WOVOCON (WOVO’s annual member conference) will adopt the unconference format in 2024.

This is not Faffcon redux – this will be its own event within the walls of a very popular and well proven voiceover conference format.

FaffCon 8 Emcee and Voice Talent Peter K. O’Connell

MY big news is that, similar to the role I had at FaffCon, World Voices President Dan Lenard has asked that I join George Washington as co-host the WOVOCON Unconference in Chicago on October 18-20, 2024.

A very nice honor indeed and I appreciate it.

Why does the unconference meeting model make me so excited for the 8^th WOVOCON in Chicago?

I am happy because the WOVOCON Unconference format is 180^° different from all the other voiceover conferences out there, both in presentation and spirit.

Does that mean the other conferences are bad? Nope, they are, generally, just not for me for — so many reasons, on so many levels.

The WOVOCON Unconference has nothing BUT fresh perspectives, discussions and topics. You pay one fee and that covers all your learning from association members. Simple, clean, effective.

I think this new opportunity wrapped up within the WOVOCON Unconference is a great gift to all the members of World Voices. I hope you’ll join us.

Tags: voice actors, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, WOVOCON by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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