Caitlin Sanchez - Voice of Dora The Explorer; Photo courtesy of Nickelodeon-AP

This is not the first voiceover contract battle nor will it likely be the last but Caitlin Sanchez family’s lawsuit now filed against defendants Nickelodeon, MTV Networks and Viacom International is a bit more high profile than most.

It pits Viacom, one of the world’s largest communication companies and owner of many media properties including MTV as well as Nickelodeon against the plaintiff Sanchez (and her family) who was hired in 2007 as the voice of Dora the Explorer for the wildly popular and profitable cartoon series of the same name. The family

According to the article in the New York Daily News, the suit claims “Defendants used Caitlin, unjustly enriching themselves of millions of dollars in profits from the series and branded products, which Caitlin preformed and promoted,” and that Sanchez’ Dora deal promised her more than $5,000 an episode and compensation in residuals and merchandising.

After negotiations between the parties failed the lawsuit, which the defendant’s attorney claim is “without merit”, was filed.

My take on these suits is always “we’ll see”.

Tags: animation, casting, character voices, commentary, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on the voiceover fight is on: “dora the explorer” vs. viacom

He’s performed hundreds of different characters in commercials, cartoons, and video games, but now Wally Wingert has hit the big time as the voice of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The South Dakota native was recently interviewed on a trip back home.

Tags: announcers, character voices, NBC Television Network, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

Toy Story 3 comes out tomorrow. The voice actor who plays Andy, the owner of all the toys like ‘Woody’ and ‘Buzz Lightyear’ has provide the character’s voice in all 3 films.

He started when he was 7, the next movie was made when he was in his teens and now, in his mid-twenties, he’s voiced Andy for the 3rd time.

Here’s an interesting interview with voice actor John Morris.

Tags: animation, character voices, commentary, video, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on voice actor john morris of toy story 3

Voice Actor & Teacher Bob Bergen

I believe it was my friend and voiceover compatriot Liz de Nesnera who posted a notice in social media circles about an upcoming Bob Bergen Voice Over Workshop that will teach you how to buy foreclosed homes for pennies on the dollar and become rich, rich, rich!

Um wait, that might be wrong.

Actually, Bob’s hosting a “2-Day ADVANCED Animation Voice-over Workshop” December 5-6, 2009 in New York City, (“Advanced” meaning you must have previous animation voice-over technique training or experience).

Eschewing the hype found in many one-sheets for workshops (har-har), this workshop’s flyer promises the following:

This work shop takes you through the entire process of what it’s like to audition and record a cartoon! Each student will have the opportunity to “audition” for up to 15 characters . Based on their” auditions” Bob will then cast and record an episode of the cartoon.! Each student will receive an audio copy of the finished product! This is a great opportunity to know what it’s like to actually work as a voice-over artist in an animated film.

I have not trained with Bob but that only means he’s selective about who he teaches and he has good taste – I’m kidding! All the people I know who have trained with Bob speak very, very well of the experience and if they didn’t you wouldn’t be reading about this workshop here. If you’d like more information, you can find it here.

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

Today I came across another valuable article from my Google Alerts. If there are topics of interest to you professionally or personally, I hope you take advantage of this free service.

This Google Alert came under the term voice over and it let me to an article in Animation World Magazine, part of the Animation News Network. The article, written by animation casting director Mark Simon, discussed how he has started to use video cameras (computer cameras) via Skype as part of his ISDN sessions with animation voice actors. It was entitled “Seeing Voice-Overs”.

If this doesn’t start happening in a lot more ISDN sessions for animation, commercials or anything else, I’d be really surprised. A great idea and article from Mark.

Tags: animation, character voices, commentary, isdn, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

With thanks to David Houston’s blog for the head-ups, major kudos to male voice talent Joe Rodriguez for a terrific audio book debut in the book Ten Mile River. The link features and audio cut of Joe’s work which I thought was really terrific…great character voices! Please take a listen.

I remember Joe writing about this session, his first audio book, on his blog a while back and recall that he was a bit nervous.

No nerves in the performance I heard. All I heard was a great story from a guy who’s developing into a great storyteller.

And should you need a great male Spanish Voice Talent, well there’s a guy name Joe on the International Voice Talent’s page that I could direct you to…

Tags: audio books, blogs, character voices, commentary, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »