Needles and art.

I like one of those things.

But my agent and friend Erik Sheppard likes both of those things because, well, he’s a bit of a freak (not a bad quality in an agent).

You may have heard about Erik’s Don LaFontaine tattoo…well he’s at it…or guess inking it again.

But this time my shy, reticent agent (ha!) got his latest tattoo broadcast on national television (TLC).

I’m not much of a tattoo guy myself but I thought this was kinda cool…especially since it was somebody else getting drilled.

Tags: advertising, announcers, Don LaFontaine, marketing, public relations, silliness, tv, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Having enjoyed the company of Lee Gordon at the beginning of my trip, I was able to close my Boston adventure with the company of the lovely and talented Moe Egan and the Emmy Award winning voice talent Mary C. McKitrick.

Mary has a cool new concept for a direct mail campaign tying in her turn as the narrator of the Emmy Award winning documentary series “Wild View“. And Moe is about to put the finishing touches on her new marketing plan…by July 15th, I’m told.

It was a really great night sitting out near the water having dinner with these talented friends of mine.

Tags: voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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On a windy, damp and foggy evening in Bahsten, I had the good fortune to meet up with my friend and fellow SunSetter Awning voice over talent Lee Gordon for a little dinner and a bunch of voice over talk.

Lee is smart as a whip on the regional radio scene and when you get a couple of old radio guys chatting it up, well you better have the waitress bring another bread basket cause we’re going to be here awhile!

It was a great treat to see Lee who I will see again in September at Faffcon 3.

Tags: radio, travel, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Voice Talents Peter K O'Connell and Natalie Stanfield Thomas

There are many great reasons to go to Faffcon.

The reason I will expound on today is that if you go to Faffcon, you may meet neighbors you never knew you had.

I had known of Natalie Stanfield Thomas via the internet and social media but had not met her and learned about her career until we met at Faffcon and became fast friends.

She lives near Bath, NY which is only about two hours away from my studio and part of a route I’ve been driving for years to see my in-laws near the NY/PA border.

In addition to her long career as a radio talent and voice over talent, she and her husband Ed (who also joined us for our lunch – a very nice fellow as you might expect) work with the Family Life Network. FLN has an impressive network of stations.

I was really appreciative that Natalie and Ed could take time out of their day to visit with me and talk shop.

Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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When a teacher succeeds, it’s because their student’s life has been changed by what that teacher offered. The teacher offered a gift: their knowledge, their ability to communicate that knowledge in a thoughtful way and it blossomed within the student.

I got a note today from voice talent Lisa Biggs who shared a recent experience she had with an experienced voice over pro who is now sharing his gifts as a voice teacher. I’ll let you decide if the lesson had an impact.

After ten years riding the voice over crazy train I still take classes regularly, and work closely and consistently with a handful of professional coaches. Recently I decided to reach out to Rob Paulsen in hopes that I might have the opportunity to learn from him as well. Rob has been a professional voice over actor since the 1980’s having voiced over 2,000 1/2 hour animated episodes to his credit. In 1999 Rob won the daytime Emmy award for “Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program” for his role as the voice of the boisterous and energetic laboratory mouse Pinky in the hit series Pinky and the Brain.

I feel like I’ve grown up with Rob! I remember watching him as Yako on Animaniacs every afternoon, after soccer practice in junior high. So, I was beyond thrilled when he emailed me back to informed me that he’s beginning a new venture as a voice-over coach, he said my timing was “serendipitous”!

One of the things that makes Rob Paulsen’s time and expertise so infinitely valuable is it’s relevancy. He continues to work almost every day! He’s voiced thousands of commercials. He is the voice of “Mr. Opportunity” for Honda, also he works on animated projects on a weekly basis. Rob is the quintessential busy bee and a competitive force in this highly competitive industry. Whether your goal is to learn how to bring absolute believability to a fictional character, or learning to make out of the box choices when auditioning, “Mr. Opportunity” is knocking and you should answer the door. Rob says, ” those gifted with exceptional talent who focus of maximizing their potential by finding their own niche quickly break away from the pack.”

Tags: voice actors, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Sometimes I forget that people actually read this blog.

Saturday night, my agent Erik Sheppard from Voice Talent Productions called me (I was hoping it was for a gig but was pleased to hear from him none the less) about Mary McKitrick’s EMMY-less EMMY win. He read my blog post and it really bugged Erik (as a voice talent and as Mary’s agent too) that she got stiffed on receiving the award with the “Wild View” Regional EMMY win for best audio. Mary, as you’ll recall, was the narrator on that series (a pretty major part of the audio team in my opinion and evidently Erik’s too).

And Dave Courvoisier’s opinion too because Sunday Courvo called me with all sorts of ideas about getting Mary her award and would I help etc. Meanwhile, poor Mary is fairly unaware that all this is brewing save for the supportive calls she’s been getting from her fellow talents and representatives on her win sans award.

So in a democratic society, we did what all people do when they feel wronged – Erik, Dave and I (mostly Dave cause he knows how to push the social media buttons best) started a Facebook page. The purpose of the “Statue for Mary” page is to centrally organize enough on-line support to gain the attention of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences to change the structure of their awards program to include voice actors as awards recipients in some manner…and get Mary her EMMY.

The Facebook page is here. Please “LIKE”, share and comment on it if you are supportive of its objectives which are stated on the Facebook page as follows:

Mary McKitrick, an experienced and talented voice over artist, was recently engaged to serve as narrator in the beautifully produced wild life series “Wild View” (www.wildviewseries.org).

With Mary as one part of a truly talented team of media pros on this series, “Wild View” has received many deserving honors, including the regional Emmy Award for “Best Audio”.

Unfortunately, the Emmy Awards do not recognize the narrator (in this case, Mary) as part of the audio team in spite of a narrator’s significant contribution to project’s like “Wild View” and many series and documentary programs like it.

So the attention getting goals of this page, completely created without Mary McKitrick’s participation, is twofold:

1. Secure for Mary McKitrick her well-deserved EMMY Award as narrator on the “Wild View” EMMY Award winning audio production team

2. Encourage the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences to review and update its award criteria to include either categories for or the inclusion of narrators as EMMY Award recipients in its regional and national awards

Actors get EMMY’s. Voice Actors (narrators) evidently get bupkis. That just seems wrong.

If you agree that these two goals are worth supporting

1. Please add your “LIKE” to this page

2. Please share this information with others who you think would support this page’s goals and ask them to come “LIKE” it too

3. Please also write about this page, it’s goals and your supportive thoughts about this project on your blog, twitter page or any other social media channel you feel worthwhile (links are a good thing)

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