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You know how new products come out with a new version and say “It’s Better Than Ever!”?

Well, with this year’s unofficial announcer’s audition (faux-dition), it’s true because we have one doozy of a prize for the winner.

GREATEST GAME SHOW EVER
This year, I picked the most amazing announcer supported game show in the history of broadcasting for our unofficial casting call: “The Price Is Right”.

A staple of CBS mornings since the late 1700’s, this perennial ratings winner has had only two daytime host in its modern version (Bob Barker and now Drew Carey) and three announcers: Johnny Olsen (my hero), from Buffalo’s Big 1520 WKBW Rod Roddy and most recently Rich Fields.

But the show has been doing on-air auditions for a new announcer and so it seemed only fair that we collectively throw our fake hat into the ring for this great announcing job.

As always this event is for fun (“this is not a competition, just an exhibition; please, no wagering”.) No one…but NO ONE who enters this phony audition event is in line for the announcing job on “The Price Is Right” and no way is ANYONE associated with “The Price Is Right” endorsing, condoning or otherwise support this annual announcing fantasy. They also own all the copyrights to name, music and everything else to do with the show. I make no money on this but merely am promoting one of the coolest VO jobs in our world. Let’s all dream a little together.

I’ll grab 3 judges and we’ll whittle all the contestants down to 10 finalists and then we will vote (but not until I call the vote).

You as the participating voice over talent are responsible for the mixing and audio quality (which has been a factor in past judging and voting); your audition needs to sound broadcast ready which means the mix should sound as great as your voice. If you want to be a pro you gotta sound like a pro…completely.

Here’s my demo – again just as an example – perform the announce in whatever way you think would be most likely accepted by “The Price Is Right” producers if they were auditioning you as a new announcer (which, as far as I know, they are not).

LISTEN:
[audio:http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/mp3/110103_TPIR_Auditions/OConnell__Unofficial_TPIR_Audition.mp3]

THE PRIZE
But here’s where the NEW & IMPROVED part comes in – the winner by votes will win a grand prize: a complimentary registration to Faffcon 2 Electric Boogaloo – The Voiceover Unconference, taking place in Atlanta, GA from February 25-27, 2011.

This donated prize includes:
* Registration for the Faffcon 2 Conference ($199.00 value)
* A Complimentary Faffcon 2 T-Shirt ($20.00 value)
* A Private Studio Tour of CNN with your fellow Faffers on Friday, February 25, 2011
* A Complimentary Dinner Dinner at Max Lager’s Wood-Fired Grill and Brewery, including tax and tip (beverages not included)
* A one year FREE membership to VoiceTweet! ($75 value)

The winner (who must be 18 years of age or older as of today’s date) is responsible for ALL other expenses involved in their participation in Faffcon 2 including but not limited to travel, lodging, taxes and bail money – in case you enjoy yourself too much in Atlanta.

The idea with this prize is if you’re great enough to be judged to be the best in this forum, you should have the opportunity to learn with and among the best in our industry at Faffcon.

There were a bunch of people who chipped in to support Faffcon and the spirit of this annual unofficial casting call and I am truly appreciative of help in creating a complimentary Faffcon registration including but not limited to (and in no particular order) Bob Souer, Liz de Nesnera, Dave Courvoisier, Diane Maggipinto, Melissa Exelberth, Trish Basanyi, Natalie Stanfield Thomas, Amy Snively, Pam Tierney & Todd Ellis. If I have forgotten anyone…please ping me.

THE SPECS
Remember – although it is not – treat this like a real audition. Give us your best performance.

>> Here is the script – do NOT deviate from the script – enhance it vocally as you wish (that’s the fun) but stick to the copy:

Here it comes!

(Pause)

From the Bob Barker Studio at CBS in Hollywood! It’s The Price is Right!

Mary Thomas! Come on down!

Hugh Merriweather! Come on down!

Clara Jones! Come on down!

And Ben Smith! Come on down!

You are the first four contestants on The Price Is Right!

And now, here’s your host, Drew Carey!!!!!

HERE is your music and sound effects bed (right click on the link and click “Save Link As” to save it to your computer).

Do NOT deviate from this bed, do not create your own and do not substitute another version of music or sound effects. There will be a lot of entries and the judges can’t listen to auditions of varying lengths because you think you can produce a better bed.

Email your audition to peter at audioconnell dot com. MP3 file only.

File name: YOURLASTNAME_Unofficial_TPIR_Audition

LISTEN TO ENTRIES HERE.

I’ll allow submissions until it becomes tedious or boring so stay tuned. Only one entry per voice talent, please. Have fun and enjoy the ride.

P.S. The script has been altered from its original form. This now contains the most updated script.

Tags: announcers, CBS Television Network, commentary, faffcon, fauxdition, unofficial audition, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
14 Comments »

OK look, every since we had kids, I have been a coupon slave. When I was single, I was careless about such things but when you have kids you start seeing this free money via discounts and you realize you’d be NUTS to ignore it since it was something I was GOING TO BUY LATER ANYWAYS.

So the Faffcon2 early bird discount is $169 until midnight, December 31, 2010 – meaning on January 1, 2011 the price will be $199.00.

Using both my toes AND fingers (with a little abacus help) I see that means you can save $30 on your Faffcon registration fee until midnight tonight.

$30 dollars! FREE.

If I put three ten dollar bills in front of you right now and said “take them, they’re free” you’d be pretty happy.

Well that’s what Amy has done. I took advantage of the discount and I didn’t even need a coupon.

I hope you’ll sign up for Faffcon today and join your talented peers (with one notable exception, ahem)

Please understand, I’ve got no financial stake in this event…none of the attending voice talents do…we just believe in the event and know its success is based on having the brightest, most talent professionals in our industry attend and most importantly participate.

The sharing of knowledge, insight and experience, as Doug Turkel has wisely noted, is the very reason for this unconference.

You absolutely can sign up for Faffcon after today and you’ll be very glad you did, but the price goes up.

As the ad slogan once said: “you could pay more, but why?”

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

But please don’t let that deter you from registering as well. 🙂

And the Early Bird Registration (read DISCOUNT!!!) ENDS AT 23:59 hrs ON DECEMBER 31, 2010 (which I’m guessing is Pacific Time cause that’s Faffcon founder Amy Snivley’s time zone).

If you are an experienced, professional voice over talent and want to attend a conference that will provide you with unlimited access to the incredible knowledge bank that is your fellow, widely experienced voice talents, you need to attend Faffcon 2.

If you want to attend a conference where no one is trying to sell you anything but rather where your peers freely share information in a comfortable, intelligent environment, you must attend Faffcon 2.

If you feel your career is a bit adrift or you need some nuggets of information to take you to the next level of your professional voice over career, you need to get your sorry ass to Faffcon 2!

Make every excuse to world why you can’t go to Faffcon 2 but for goodness sake don’t lie to yourself. From many folks, it’s not a “can’t”, it’s a “won’t” and their reticence is too bad for them.

Faffcon is low cost with a minimal time commitment and the opportunity to learn as much as you will allow yourself to learn.

I hope you’ll join us in Atlanta. You’ll miss us if you’re not there.

Tags: commentary, faffcon, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
5 Comments »

Here’s is the NEW Faffcon 2 promo video featuring the voice talents of Bruce Miles, Philip Banks, Peter K. O’Connell, Anthony Mendez, Bob Souer and Diane Maggipinto.

Look, this is geeky of me I’ll grant you, but I think it’s cool that I edited most of this video and then uploaded it on to You Tube from my airline seat flying at 36,000 feet. Oh by the way, this blog post is coming to you from that very same altitude and seat.

Fair warning, I will be at this Faffcon…I guess I can register from my seat too. I hope you will come…it’s gonna be big.

Please promote the heck outta this video. Thanks.

Tags: faffcon, video, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
3 Comments »

February 25, 26 & 27 in Atlanta.

Save the dates…details coming soon

Oh, did you see Courvo’s Faffcon video?

Tags: commentary, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on faffcon 2 is coming

September is National Voice Over Month

Unfortunately for my pal Dave Courvoisier, he answered the phone last week.

I happened to be on the other end because I had an idea which involved his baby – National Voiceover Month. It struck me that with all the things that went on in the voice over world in September, maybe a video should be created to at least attempt to capture the sense of the month.

That was the entire sum of the idea and Dave was all for it. He helped me gather the pictures and I slapped this puppy together.

My thanks to everyone who provided pictures and my apologies if we somehow omitted your event. No slight was intended.

Voice Over Talents who shared their skills in the videos opening montage include Doug Turkel, Peter K. O’Connell, Mike Coon, Bobbin Beam, Dave Courvoisier, Diane Maggipinto, Stefania Lintonbon, Cira Larkin, Scott Nilsen, Liz de Nesnera and Adam Behr.

Some of the activities included “That’s Voiceover!” in New York City; Faffcon – The Voiceover Unconference held in Portland, OR; Voices of Vision in Toronto, Ontario Canada; Bob Bergen’s Voiceover Workshop held in Chicago, IL; the Marice Tobias Voiceover Workshop held in Las Vegas, NV; Bettye Zoller’s Voiceover Workshop held in Dallas, TX; and the Western New York Voice Over Meet-up held in Buffalo, NY.

Tags: commentary, community, faffcon, peter o'connell, video, video production, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voices of vision by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
23 Comments »