Happy Super Bowl Week! Go Steelers! They're my favorite AFC team and the Cardinals used to be in the NFC East and a hated rival of the Giants, so there you go.
(as I was typing that I accidentally wrote "Super Bowel Week". I don't know what that means and I certainly don't wish it upon any of you. And if you do need super bowels, well, you're on your own. Good luck.)
Anyway, last week was another fun & busy one!
Tuesday was nuts! I had a VO audition for Qdoba at Acting Management in NYC courtesy of IFM (BTW Qdoba makes the best burritos EVER). Then I walked three blocks to CKP Media to record one page of copy the Nestle people forgot to send from last week. The gig so nice they paid me twice! Then I hopped on the 1 train to Full House for a Cornelson ESL recording session. There I got to work fellow GKN member and one of my favorite people, Nancy Wu! Nancy just got back from Thailand teaching children to read.
On Thursday I had two recording sessions for ETS down in Princeton. There I got to chat with fellow GKN member and another one of my favorite people Paul Payton! BTW Paul, I ran into a VO talent who also hails from Chatham. His name is Tim Crow and he's a real nice guy. Do you know him?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Women are like tea bags: you don’t know how strong they are until they get in hot water. Eleanor Roosevelt
TIP OF THE WEEK: I'll get back to focusing on the five aspects of success next week. Today I want to share something I learned very recently...
Remember a few months ago when I was on the set of 30 Rock and Alec Baldwin said to someone, "Don't make your problem my problem!"? Well, it took three different people almost a month to get back to me concerning a particular subject. I was pissed and came up with all these silly reasons why they took so damn long. As it turns out, they were just busy. I shared this with a friend who said "Why would you make their problems your problem?". A very good question, indeed.
What I mean to say is this: when somebody does something mean, stupid, or inconsiderate, 99% of the time it's not about you. It's about them! So don't take things so damn personally, people.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: How many of your problems exist in your head? Do you project negative outcomes that never happen?
Have a great week!
The Good Karma Network is an entertainment industry support group. We're here to help each other cast projects, get cast in projects, advertise the projects we get cast in, and share tips and tricks to succeeding in our field.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
GKN Weekly Update 1/19/09
Hello my fellow freezing dudes & dudettes (except for you lucky GKN'ers out in LA!),
Well, my annual cold has arrived. I'm officially in "fishbowl head" mode and I had to bow out of an audition in NYC today. I hate when that happens! Allow me to hearken back to a time when I was filled with merriment, mirth, and no phlegm: last week!
I had a wonderful albeit challenging two-day recording session for Nestle Nespresso's European branch. I narrated about 125 pages of copy rolling out new packaging, sanitary guidelines, and models of espresso machines. The difficulty was slogging my way through a script that was translated into English by a non-native English speaker. That and the fact I had to pronounce German, French, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese terms as well as medical terms with no pronunciation guide. Yikes! Herbie and Tony at CKP Media in NYC were a pleasure to work with and I send my heartfelt thanks for recommending me for the project.
Fellow GKN member Angelo Panetta will soon release his latest sci-fi radio drama "Anne Manx and the Empress Blair Project". You can see the cover art on the Radio Repertory company of America website. I have about half a dozen small roles on this one. My favorite is the Amoeba Dome announcer commenting on a single-cell organism race! A big thanks to Angelo for letting me be a part of yet another wonderful project.
Speaking of radio dramas, Angelo found a great forum called Audio Drama Talk. If you're an aspiring VO talent looking to get some (non-paying) work and develop your portfolio, I strongly recommend you join up and say hi to the folks there.
TIP OF THE WEEK: Today we're gonna talk about Technique, one of the five areas of success in our industry. Good Technique is critical! It's the number one tool in your toolbox. I'm not just talking about your instrument. I'm also talking about understanding the industry, it's trends, important news, etc. Here's a list of websites you should check out on a regular basis:
www.aftra.org
www.backstage.com
www.hollywoodreporter.com
www.sag.org
www.variety.com
www.voiceoverpodcasts.com
www.voiceoverunlimited.com
These will help you develop your Technique:
I.D.E.A. http://web.ku.edu/idea
Speech Accent Archive http://accent.gmu.edu
VOA Pronunciation Guide http://names.voa.gov/index.cfm
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: You know, people always talk about rights in this country. I wish we had a bill of responsibilities. Dean Kamen, inventor
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: How do you develop your Technique every week? How much do you do research on your industry?
Have a great week!
Well, my annual cold has arrived. I'm officially in "fishbowl head" mode and I had to bow out of an audition in NYC today. I hate when that happens! Allow me to hearken back to a time when I was filled with merriment, mirth, and no phlegm: last week!
I had a wonderful albeit challenging two-day recording session for Nestle Nespresso's European branch. I narrated about 125 pages of copy rolling out new packaging, sanitary guidelines, and models of espresso machines. The difficulty was slogging my way through a script that was translated into English by a non-native English speaker. That and the fact I had to pronounce German, French, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese terms as well as medical terms with no pronunciation guide. Yikes! Herbie and Tony at CKP Media in NYC were a pleasure to work with and I send my heartfelt thanks for recommending me for the project.
Fellow GKN member Angelo Panetta will soon release his latest sci-fi radio drama "Anne Manx and the Empress Blair Project". You can see the cover art on the Radio Repertory company of America website. I have about half a dozen small roles on this one. My favorite is the Amoeba Dome announcer commenting on a single-cell organism race! A big thanks to Angelo for letting me be a part of yet another wonderful project.
Speaking of radio dramas, Angelo found a great forum called Audio Drama Talk. If you're an aspiring VO talent looking to get some (non-paying) work and develop your portfolio, I strongly recommend you join up and say hi to the folks there.
TIP OF THE WEEK: Today we're gonna talk about Technique, one of the five areas of success in our industry. Good Technique is critical! It's the number one tool in your toolbox. I'm not just talking about your instrument. I'm also talking about understanding the industry, it's trends, important news, etc. Here's a list of websites you should check out on a regular basis:
www.aftra.org
www.backstage.com
www.hollywoodreporter.com
www.sag.org
www.variety.com
www.voiceoverpodcasts.com
www.voiceoverunlimited.com
These will help you develop your Technique:
I.D.E.A. http://web.ku.edu/idea
Speech Accent Archive http://accent.gmu.edu
VOA Pronunciation Guide http://names.voa.gov/index.cfm
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: You know, people always talk about rights in this country. I wish we had a bill of responsibilities. Dean Kamen, inventor
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: How do you develop your Technique every week? How much do you do research on your industry?
Have a great week!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
GKN Weekly Update 1/14/09
Howdy!
Sorry for the late post but I was recording all day for the past two days. I'll tell you about it next week. This week I tell you about what happened last week and next week I tell about what happened this week. How did I get into that rut? Should I start posting on Fridays and sum up the week? Hmm...
Anyway, I have a bunch of goodies for you!
In case you don't remember, I’ve been hired as a host for Comic Book Mania (www.cbmania.com). I write reviews of comics books, movies, video games, and anime. Then I record them and send them to CBM and they post it on their website. Soon I’ll also do phone and in-person interviews, like you’ll see the girl “Militia” doing on the link to my first show…
http://www.cbmania.com/Show7.html (my stuff starts about 2:40 in if you wanna skip Militia interviewing the anime geeks). My stuff in this episode is VO only, BTW.
I’ll be working the NY Comic Con next month so that should be a blast. It’s amazing how a hobby can turn into a career!
For those of you on the GKN Yahoo Group, I added some new applications that you may enjoy: Address Book and Birthdays. You can find them on the left column of the home page. Feel free to use them. There are a bunch of other apps I can add, if you'd like. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Check out this new picture of Agent 122!
Teddy has done it again! She should have a full-body image pretty soon. Thanks Teddy!
TIP OF THE WEEK: Let's continue our exploration of the five areas of our business that we should focus on every day. They are: Finances, Technique, Tools, Marketing, and Health. Staying on the subject of Finances, the Internet is an invaluable tool to help you find work in our industry. Here are the work sites I discovered in 2008:
www.castingnewyork.com
www.craigshelper.com
www.crazedlist.org
www.elance.com
www.gigslist.org
newyork.kijiji.com
www.myactingagent.com
www.simplyhired.com
I check them out every day in hopes of finding work. Some of them are great, some are meh. Check them out!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: I think work and business can be creative and exciting. A hoot. A growth experience. A journey of lifelong learning and constant surprise. Tom Peters
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What websites do you use to seek work, if any? How did you find them? Please share!
Have a great week!
Sorry for the late post but I was recording all day for the past two days. I'll tell you about it next week. This week I tell you about what happened last week and next week I tell about what happened this week. How did I get into that rut? Should I start posting on Fridays and sum up the week? Hmm...
Anyway, I have a bunch of goodies for you!
In case you don't remember, I’ve been hired as a host for Comic Book Mania (www.cbmania.com). I write reviews of comics books, movies, video games, and anime. Then I record them and send them to CBM and they post it on their website. Soon I’ll also do phone and in-person interviews, like you’ll see the girl “Militia” doing on the link to my first show…
http://www.cbmania.com/Show7.html (my stuff starts about 2:40 in if you wanna skip Militia interviewing the anime geeks). My stuff in this episode is VO only, BTW.
I’ll be working the NY Comic Con next month so that should be a blast. It’s amazing how a hobby can turn into a career!
For those of you on the GKN Yahoo Group, I added some new applications that you may enjoy: Address Book and Birthdays. You can find them on the left column of the home page. Feel free to use them. There are a bunch of other apps I can add, if you'd like. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Check out this new picture of Agent 122!
Teddy has done it again! She should have a full-body image pretty soon. Thanks Teddy!
TIP OF THE WEEK: Let's continue our exploration of the five areas of our business that we should focus on every day. They are: Finances, Technique, Tools, Marketing, and Health. Staying on the subject of Finances, the Internet is an invaluable tool to help you find work in our industry. Here are the work sites I discovered in 2008:
www.castingnewyork.com
www.craigshelper.com
www.crazedlist.org
www.elance.com
www.gigslist.org
newyork.kijiji.com
www.myactingagent.com
www.simplyhired.com
I check them out every day in hopes of finding work. Some of them are great, some are meh. Check them out!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: I think work and business can be creative and exciting. A hoot. A growth experience. A journey of lifelong learning and constant surprise. Tom Peters
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What websites do you use to seek work, if any? How did you find them? Please share!
Have a great week!
Monday, January 5, 2009
GKN Weekly Update 1/05/09
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I hope everyone had a safe and fun time. I was at my friend Jim's house and we had a blast!
My friend David Cicarelli at Voices.com just released "The Report on the Voice Over Industry 2009". You can download it here. This is a great read! It breaks down the voiceover industry in a detailed, thoughtful way and provides many fascinating statistics. David asked me to share my thoughts about 2009. So, here we go...
2009 will be a very challenging year for many of us in the voiceover industry. With our economy the way it is, many of those smaller companies that provide talents like me with that "fill in the gap" income will tighten the belt, which means less opportunities for work. What to do? It's the same answer I always give: network, network, network! Become more active on those networking sites. Make more cold calls. Attend networking events like MCA-I or that great VO Mixer Erik & September organized last month. Search the internet for places to submit your demo. Join great sites like Voices.com. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please share!
My friend Mike Root asked me to announce a charity event his store is hosting. I work & play there and this is a great cause! Please pass it along...
All In One Collectibles, located at 490 East Main St. in Denville, NJ, will host a Charity Events Weekend Jan 16th-18th, 2009 to benefit Congenital Heart Defects. We will be having tons of events for the following games: Heroclix, World of Warcraft card game and miniatures game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Advanced Format, Guitar Hero World Tour and Smash Bros Brawl. For more information, go to: http://allinonecollectibles.com/dchecrre2.html. There will be tons of prizes and FREE food for all participants. Come on out and play the games you love for a great cause. Contact us with any questions (973)664-0912.
TIP OF THE WEEK: Every year I like to talk about the five areas of our business that we should focus on every day. They are: Finances, Technique, Tools, Marketing, and Health. Today we'll start with Finances...
Tax time is quickly approaching and there's an extra layer of fun for us actors, dancers, VO talents, etc. Remember to track your mileage, tolls, parking fees, office supplies, postage, and even your PayPal fees. These are all tax deductible! Did you know you can deduct a portion of your rent if you have a home office? If any of you have tax-related questions or suggestions, please share!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Yesterday, I checked into a motel room and said to the receptionist, "I hope the porn channel in my room is disabled." "No," she said, "It's regular porn, you sicko." Don Berns
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What are your goals for 2009? Did you write them down?
Have a great week and an even greater 2009!!!
I hope everyone had a safe and fun time. I was at my friend Jim's house and we had a blast!
My friend David Cicarelli at Voices.com just released "The Report on the Voice Over Industry 2009". You can download it here. This is a great read! It breaks down the voiceover industry in a detailed, thoughtful way and provides many fascinating statistics. David asked me to share my thoughts about 2009. So, here we go...
2009 will be a very challenging year for many of us in the voiceover industry. With our economy the way it is, many of those smaller companies that provide talents like me with that "fill in the gap" income will tighten the belt, which means less opportunities for work. What to do? It's the same answer I always give: network, network, network! Become more active on those networking sites. Make more cold calls. Attend networking events like MCA-I or that great VO Mixer Erik & September organized last month. Search the internet for places to submit your demo. Join great sites like Voices.com. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please share!
My friend Mike Root asked me to announce a charity event his store is hosting. I work & play there and this is a great cause! Please pass it along...
All In One Collectibles, located at 490 East Main St. in Denville, NJ, will host a Charity Events Weekend Jan 16th-18th, 2009 to benefit Congenital Heart Defects. We will be having tons of events for the following games: Heroclix, World of Warcraft card game and miniatures game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Advanced Format, Guitar Hero World Tour and Smash Bros Brawl. For more information, go to: http://allinonecollectibles.com/dchecrre2.html. There will be tons of prizes and FREE food for all participants. Come on out and play the games you love for a great cause. Contact us with any questions (973)664-0912.
TIP OF THE WEEK: Every year I like to talk about the five areas of our business that we should focus on every day. They are: Finances, Technique, Tools, Marketing, and Health. Today we'll start with Finances...
Tax time is quickly approaching and there's an extra layer of fun for us actors, dancers, VO talents, etc. Remember to track your mileage, tolls, parking fees, office supplies, postage, and even your PayPal fees. These are all tax deductible! Did you know you can deduct a portion of your rent if you have a home office? If any of you have tax-related questions or suggestions, please share!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Yesterday, I checked into a motel room and said to the receptionist, "I hope the porn channel in my room is disabled." "No," she said, "It's regular porn, you sicko." Don Berns
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What are your goals for 2009? Did you write them down?
Have a great week and an even greater 2009!!!
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