Rob Sciglimpaglia Jr

Of course whilst [...]]]>

I have never seen the Super Bowl, and have to be honest wasn’t even 100% certain which sport it represented. However my interest was recently piqued by the news that one of the stars of this years event will be our voice over friend Rob Sciglimpaglia Jr.

Rob Sciglimpaglia Jr

Of course whilst I’ve timed this blog to coincide with the Super Bowl itself – hoping that a few of the 100,000,000 watching will want to get another view of the star himself – that also means that there’s nothing much which hasn’t already been posted on the matter in the past couple of weeks.

I’m immensely grateful to Rob that he’s given me a reason to be interested in the event, and congratulate him on his success. However, although he has said he got the role quite by chance, in fact I am 100% certain (this time) that it’s the fruit of tremendous hard work, creating the environment for opportunity to come his way – being the right actor for the role notwithstanding. John Florian, in the Voiceoverxtra.com article “Laugh & Send Rob Sciglimpaglia’s New Chevy Ad To The Super Bowl”, describes Rob as “our busy pal, voice actor / actor / writer / attorney”. In fact he is also on the Advisory Board of Savoa (the Society of Accredited VoiceOver Artists) and the owner of All in One Voice, LLC, a company that helps beginning and advanced voiceover artists and actors with business and legal issues.

From initial analysis, it appears that the sport of the Super Bowl is the promotion of TV commercials. As the title of John’s aforementioned article suggests, Rob plays one of the characters in a Chevy ad to be aired at the event. Curiously I’d be surprised if anyone reading this hasn’t already seen it, and it’s fascinating from where I sit (in Istanbul, Turkey) to note that this is the culmination of an international film campaign. The Chevrolet website explains that in the “Route 66 contest”, “filmmakers from 32 countries entered, hoping that their film would be the one selected to air during the telecast of Super Bowl XLVI. Some were funny, some were emotional and others were just plain entertaining.”

After narrowing down the films to 35 finalists, Zach Borst’s film “Chevy Happy Grad” was selected as the winner and will be seen by an estimated 100 million plus viewers during the telecast of Super Bowl XLVI.

And here is that winning film which “shows how graduation day is a time full of memories, friends and lots and lots of gifts. For this happy grad, the gift from his parents is far from what he expected.”

For the full story, check out the Voiceoverxtra.com sequel, “Rob Sciglimpaglia’s ‘Dad’ Performance In New Chevy Ad Rides To Super Bowl” in which John Florian talks of Rob’s key role in that ad, as the deadpan, clear-headed “Dad.”

And thanks to John Taylor, here’s a brief interview with Rob himself giving the lowdown on how it all came about… it’s not every day one gets to use the words “humbling” and “awesome” in the same sentence…

Rob and Andy

The final word here should come from a conversation I had the other day with Rob himself…

Andy: it’s the first time I’ve had any interest in the Super Bowl … Congrats

Rob: THANKS ANDY!! Glad I could get you interested in American Football

Andy: No… just the ad – lol!!!

Rob: LOL! I figured that.

…. must have been his lawyerly instincts! Anyway, at least he taught me the true disambiguation of Super Bowl. It’s not just the ads – and here I turned to Wikipedia for the really final word – “watching and discussing the broadcast’s commercials has become a significant aspect of the event.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl

Which ever your team – Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, GoDaddy or another enjoy the Super Bowl. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, for the first time I’ll be able to tune in too – looks like I can catch a good chunk of it here already.

And for those who’d like a quick summary of how this came to pass, as well as a speedy review of this year’s sports “coverage” follow this link for a great review brought to you from Yahoo!

Links

Rob Sciglimpaglia Jr – Personal website

Rob Sciglimpaglia Jr – IMDb listing

All in One Voice, LLC – business and legal advice for voiceover artists and actors

Chevrolet Route 66 contest

Voiceoverxtra.com

John Florian – “The Person Behind the Voice” interview

John Taylor – Personal Website

VOICE 2012 – convention website

NFL’s official site of Super Bowl XLVI – official site

Fortunately the confusion about whether [...]]]>

Creative view points and exploring tangents. Some call it thinking outside the box… for me it’s a great way to keep moving forward. The recently created team at Voxyladies.com is a great example of this and here’s an example inspired by their recent blog article “Guerillas & Purple Cows”…

Fortunately the confusion about whether primates had a special form of advertising technique had been cleared up before this blog was published, this comes as a welcome reminded that the face of marketing is constantly changing. Only in reading the blog did I appreciate that my own method of visiting studios and production offices is itself an example of this form of marketing – I thought I was just out there networking!

To quote VoxyLady, Lisa Biggs, quoting Seth Godin, “Today the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable.”

I’d certainly encourage all to find their unique way of making connections, because surely that’s what’s going to count in the long term. Chasing a recording spot isn’t going to lead anywhere – chances are it’ll either just be a one off, or canned just when you least expect it. I believe we must invest in people, so they might consider investing in us as individuals.

The tangent is kind of fun here, and segues nicely to the fact that I’m excited to have been invited to organise and moderate the “International VoiceOvers Panel” at VOICE 2012.

Keep an eye out over the coming months for news about how that’s developing, and make sure you’ve registered to come to the VOICE 2012 convention in Disneyland 13-16 June, 2012. We have some great panellists ready to share their experiences and insights, and answer your questions, so let us know what you want to learn about the global voiceover business.

That was a bonus tangent!

After reading the “Guerillas & Purple Cows” article I realised there had recently been a funny advert on Turkish television. A quick query on WhatsApp to my local Turkish panellist, Mehmet Onur, established that the ad was for Milka. And here it is: (please note due to embedding restrictions this will open in a separate window)…

To be honest, although my Turkish is şöyle, böyle (Comme Ci, Comme Ça… not too bad!), at this stage I didn’t have a clue how to translate the text easily should someone ask (as I wanted to share this, as indeed I’m now doing) so I had to look for an English version of this!

Here it is in French! (please note due to embedding restrictions this will open in a separate window)…

and German

Bulgarian – where is the English???

AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just when I was about to give up with the Slovakian version, I found the ad agency’s website (themill.com)!!!
The English version is on this page – no translator needed!!!

and from there it was easy to find in English

However, I was learning a few tricks about language recognition with the help of Google Translate, and realising that Slovakian doesn’t actually exist as a language – see Slovak, below – I just had to continue…

Hungarian

Russian

Slovak

Slovenian

So what’s the point?

Lots of the same video… Well apart from the fact that I discovered how to identify the language of a text with Google Translate (please translators do not use this when preparing scripts for me to record!), and brushed up a little geography, it reminded me of one of the roles of international voiceover. Preparation of audio for local markets.

In fact this is something many of us are already involved in. Much of my work is being produced in Turkish in addition to the English read which I perform. It was amusing recently to be in a studio recording a very serious e-learning project while being able to overhear the howls and screams from the nextdoor studio dubbing Looney Tunes cartoons (I’m sure the likes of Bob Bergen have more fun recording the original!)

You two-fold challenge is to find and inform me of more versions of the Milka ad, and to let me know what questions and issues you’d like to hear about at the VOICE 2012 International VoiceOver Panel.

It’s tempting to do [...]]]>

The past year seems to have disappeared in a flash, as I look back at the videos I shared this time last year in my post “It’s the way that you say it: Happy Christmas” these are so fresh in my memory I just don’t know where time has gone!

It’s tempting to do a brief review of the year, but suffice to say I’m proud of William and all he’s achieved – 24,000+ views of his Teletubbies “audiobook” notwithsatnding (OK: see Audiobook Stars Hail New Reader). He’s also now on Facebook, and the domain name is ready for his own website – watch this space. To finish this year, and bring us back to the season’s Holiday Magic, William played his first character voice on Jeff Gelder’s 2012: Holiday Magic Children’s CD, which has been distributed to 5000 children spending Christmas and New Year in hospital.

Holiday Magic CD

Thanks to Connie Mustang for inviting William to be the Christmas Mouse in her “Reel Mustang’s” story. Andy Boyns also joins in the fun of Croc Christmas, as well as narrating the story “Let’s Go Home Little Bear”, produced by the maestro himself, James Alburger.

This has been a great year for voiceovers, and now Andy is solely working freelance a whole wealth of possibilities and opportunities has exploded. From being part of the team at 6News – gaining valuable writing and production experience; to narrating documentaries for CNN, TRT, and Turkish Airlines; numerous company and training videos; even filming and dubbing on-camera productions… the list goes on!

Thus it’s an appropriate time to herald in the annual “holiday message” from international voiceover artists, produced by the indefatigable Terry Daniel. Let’s see if we can raise the number of hits to this 10 minute compilation to over a thousand before the New Year!

Second Annual VO Holiday Greeting by voiceoversbyterrydaniel

For those of you who prefer to cut to the chase, here’s the segment Mehmet Onur and I recorded – lots of fun!

Ho Ho Ho: Andy Boyns & Mehmet Onur by andyboyns

A remarkable year is coming to a close with great excitements around the corner… keep an eye out for details of my role as VIP Presenter at VOICE 2012, as I moderate the “International Voiceovers” panel. What else will the next 12 months have in store. If this year is anything to go by, I’d be sure to subscribe to this blog so as not to miss anything in the coming year!

And by way of a very special Christmas present – here’s a short video of William hanging decorations on the tree. Enjoy!

And because I can’t resist a creative use of video take a look at this:

And finally, two pics…

Ayşegül, William, and Andy Boyns

William: "Please don't eat me! Christmas needs me. I am the Christmas Mouse!"

Links:

VOICEconvention.com – the official home of VOICE 2012

Holiday Magic CD – don’t forget to make a donation!

William Boyns on Facebook

Addendum

Pleased to be able to add this little peom, by my voiceover and cartoonist friend Jeffrey Kafer (see also Voice-overload.com)

Status update

By Jeffrey Kafer

Twas the night before Christmas

And Santa was up late,

For he was searching for something

To replace the misery and hate.

He clicked and he searched

but stumped by the equation.

He needed the perfect gift

For this momentous occasion.

He used Google and Bing,

even Yahoo, too.

He put his brightest coders to work

But figure it out, they couldn’t do.

As the clock wore on,

he worried with fret.

He’d never make his deadline

This you can bet.

But then, a breakthrough,

As if by plan!

He’d found the perfect gift:

Peace on Earth! Goodwill toward man!

He danced and he celebrated

How technology had him wired!

And on the computer screen it blinked

“Some assembly required.”

Download Podcast: Conversation with Kurt Kelly (right click “…save target as…”)

[podcast]http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/11/24/2662799/acaba17_Kurt_Kelly.mp3[/podcast]

Kurt Kelly

Andy: OK. We’re back [...]]]>

“Voice of Experience”, Kurt Kelly gives an enjoyable insight into the person behind the voice in this interview recorded during his visit to Istanbul, Turkey earlier this summer.

Download Podcast: Conversation with Kurt Kelly (right click “…save target as…”)

[podcast]http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/11/24/2662799/acaba17_Kurt_Kelly.mp3[/podcast]

Transcript of conversation with Kurt Kelly

Kurt Kelly

Andy: OK. We’re back in Istanbul, and yet another guest has come over specially to talk with me…

Kurt: Exactly!

Andy: …and sitting with me here is Kurt Kelly, who’s come over from to Istanbul for the week from Los Angeles. Welcome, Kurt.

Kurt: Thank you. Now is… Quick trivia question, and I know this is a complete diversion from whatever you had planned as an itinerary, but I have a tendency to do that sometimes…

Andy: That’s great.

Kurt: I have been begging some people who we both know to take me to a pool, or anywhere to swim, and I was told there is nowhere safe to swim here. Is that because the person is so sweet that I’m with that they are afraid of melting, or is it really there’s no place safe to swim?

Andy: There are some pools in Istanbul, but…

Kurt: Like this one?

Andy: Like this one just here, yeah, and I should add we’re at the…

Kurt: This one. Right here, the 6News pool…

Andy: I guessed.

Kurt: I’m talking about Cemile, our camera person.

Andy: Yes, we’re going off camera, as well. Actually we’re in… right now we’re at 6News, which is one of my haunts.

Kurt: Now, what do you do here at Six?

Andy: What I do, I’m producing some programmes about Istanbul, and doing voiceovers for news programmes.

Kurt: Wow. Impressive… and teaching English?

Andy: And teaching English, as well.

Kurt: Now, you and I met in Los Angeles, but you have no recollection of this. I’m just curious, do I have that type of presence that I’m forgettable that easily? Or were there other altering conditions, with so many people you were meeting?

Andy: Well, I was obviously… so… knocked out… on the occasion…

Kurt: OK. Well that jet lag from coming across a couple of ponds.

Andy: That’s right, and the 30 hour… I think it took me 35 hours to get across.

Kurt: What?!

Andy: Yes.

Kurt: I saw that flight where they  give you, like, the 15 hour layover somewhere, and I said, “No way! I’m not doing that!” Because I left at, like 5 o’clock, on Sunday, and got here at 11 o’clock on Monday.

Andy Boyns and Kurt Kelly

Andy: Was that the direct flight?

Kurt: No… it was a two hour stop in Munich.

Andy: Because there is now a direct flight from Istanbul to LA, with Turkish Airlines… with extra bonus that you can listen to my documentaries as you are flying over.

Kurt: You’re telling me now?

Andy: Yes, I am.

Kurt: Thanks. Thanks. I’ll make sure next time I’m coming over to do that. Yes. Thank you. Get it on Lufthansa, too, so I can get it on the way back.

Andy: Lufthansa’s got nice food, though.

Kurt: They do. I was impressed with their flights.

Andy: Do you think they can sponsor this programme?

Kurt: I think they should sponsor this programme. I think, maybe, we could do a new programme for them – are you listening guys? – we could call it “Four Corners”, and we could take turns doing segments about the four corners of the world you could fly to, in the world of Lufthansa.

Andy: OK.

Kurt: Because they’re in 324 countries, or something like that. So…

Andy: Now this actually brings us into an interesting point about you, in that you are always looking out for opportunities, aren’t you?

Kurt: Wow! That’s a diplomatic way of putting it. Yes… Since childhood I have been blessed with an amazing life, and an amazing career. And part of that was inspired by John Gehron – I don’t know if you know John?

Andy: I don’t…

Kurt: He – sixteen centuries ago – was the programme director for ABC in Los Angeles, and I was growing up in northern Michigan in a very small town where there were more trees than people, and at age ten I started in broadcasting, because I was terrifying people when I was three, going, “Could I have a cookie?” and they were, like, looking around for who was this person with this voice, because I haven’t gone through puberty yet. And so I used to send John tapes, and said to John… one day I called him up, out of the blue at age sixteen, because I was ready to save the world, and said, “John, I’m going to be in Chicago, can I stop in and see you?”. And he granted me an appointment. We went in, and I was playing him my tape, and he was listening. I thought I had John Gehron’s job, that day. And he said, “Kurt, I love you work. I’m not going to hire you today.”. That’s, you know, when you’re coming up in the industry a shot in the heart, when you take that first big rejection. But he said, “I’m going to do something for you. If you keep sending me your tapes, and you listen to direction, and you keep improving, someday I’m going to hire you”. I’m like “Great!”. And he said, “But I need you to do one thing”. I’m like “OK. Whatever! Anything!”. And he said, “If you will promise to always keep your mind open, and when you see other people with talent, try and open the door. Don’t push anybody through, but try and open the door, and be there. And it has nothing to do with you and what you can get out of the deal. If you’ll do that, then I’ll keep working with you”. Easy request. Especially at age sixteen. And so John kept his promise. John hired me at ABC in Dallas, ABC in Chicago, ABC in Los Angeles, CBS… John got me hired in probably over half a dozen jobs that I know of, and who knows how many others. And so it’s been a blessed career that I’ve been able to expand beyond just doing entertainment. I now consult business around the planet, in numerous industries, and because I’ve always been out there being a self-promoter, if you will, I’ve been able to meet people in every walk of life. And have been blessed to asked to  be part of consulting, or marketing, or whatever. So, yeah, I do look for business opportunities, and a lot of times I’m even more blessed that they find me. So, I think part of that’s just being open.

Andy: That’s very interesting because a couple of recurring themes seem to be coming up in these conversations that I’m having with different voice artists.

Kurt: Really? Enlighten me.

Andy: One is that there’s very often someone, either a mentor or it’s a parent who has encouraged the individual in the early years, and the other one is one that there’s been a person in their life that has been showing them the way or encouraging them, and the other one is that people have gone out looking for opportunities, and made it happen… and I guess…

Kurt: I think both are true. And maybe even a third one. I have been very blessed that a lot of people who saw something in me gave me the opportunity and have opened doors for me, and continue to open doors. I also have been a really big self promoter. Some people say to a fault… I don’t necessarily agree with that, and am not losing a lot of sleep over that. certainly they at least still remember how to spell my name when they write a cheque, or send a nasty email – which I don’t get a lot of those, actually, now I think about it. But also Michael Jackson was amazingly talented. However the reason he was so good was he did it all the time. Over and over and over again. Take a look at anybody. Tennis sports, guitar players, Aerosmith, Steven Tyler… amazing! Now he’s also a judge on American Idol, but he didn’t get to American Idol by just one day breezing in in a limousine. He played, he rehearsed. He had his days when he really struggled, as anyone does in the entertainment industry. Don’t give up before the miracle happens. Because if you really stick to it, and you believe in it, no matter how many “no”s you get, that’s one step closer to a “yes”. I mean look a Colonel Sanders… there would never have been a Kentucky Fried Chicken – and some health people would say, “That’s probably a good idea!” – but there wouldn’t have been a Kentucky Fried Chicken if he had taken “no”. he took, like 999 “no”s before someone finally said, “That’s a good idea. Yeah I’ll put the money up for that”. Would you be right now where you’re sitting right now, talking with me had you listened to one of those “no”s along the way?

Andy: Absolutely not.

Kurt: You’re obviously driven to go to a foreign country, to be a teacher, to be doing news stories, to be doing voiceover…

Andy: I would like to say I see some similarities in maybe a…. not as well accomplished as yourself, but I like to chase…

Kurt: Oh… Don’t go that far…

Andy: I try and chase opportunities, and I’m sitting here… we’re at 6News today…

Kurt: Yes, we are… and thank you for the invitation here today. It’s such an honour.

Andy: …It’s a pleasure to also be able to help one of my colleagues here… It’s a sector where we’re helping each other, and so my colleague who will be speaking with you a little bit later, I’ve done her a favour, somebody will do me a favour in return another time…

Kurt: Sometimes the beauty of it is not about what we get out of it…

Andy: No. It’s sharing, isn’t it?

Kurt: It’s what we can give, because in giving, we do receive. At least I do. If I can help someone out, there are many times I will do something for charity, or for other people getting started, or for small businesses, and it’s never about the money. It really isn’t. Sometimes it’s about the principle.

Andy: If you focus on the money, then you get upset about it.

Kurt: Money comes, and money goes! People come and people go… If you’re hung up in the details – we had this conversation at dinner last night – it’s all… don’t get hung up in the details. They are only details. If you get all wrapped up in that emotion, life can be really a rough roller coaster. This can be a beautiful place on earth, or it can be a living hell. It’s what we make of it. We make our own opportunities – whether we want to believe that or not. We make our own disasters – whether we want to believe it or not. No… we have help! There are people who will be there to aid in our demise, and our success.

Andy: Give us a little shove, and we fall in the pool!

Kurt: Yeah, I mean, that can happen! However, it’s how you get dried off when you do have those rainy days. It’s how you recover when you get sand in your eyes, or you trip and stumble. Do you get back up again? Or do you lay there and wallow in, “Oh I landed in this horse… stuff… and it’s an uncomfortable place.

Andy: Yes, we don’t say “shit” on my…

Kurt: Really?

Andy: No we don’t.

Kurt: Oh! Dang!

Andy: I’d have to edit it.

Kurt: I was going to say “manure”, but I didn’t know if I could even go that far.

Andy: I may be English, but…

Kurt: No shit? I’m sorry! Where did that come from. I’m sorry! These voices in my head! That’s a beautiful thing, also… is don’t limit yourself. I think a lot of times we have these… like the old days of broadcasting, where you took out the razor blade, and you would cut the tape to edit things. We do this in our own minds, whether we realise it or not. We have a lot of self-editing. And then we also have everybody else’s voice that’s doing editing, and it’s not a civil thing, it’s a thing we allow to happen. And there are times when I will stop people – not to be rude – but when they say something really negative to me, I’ll say, “No, that maybe your stıry, but that’s not mine”. I don’t need to take on someone else’s anger, or their negative energy. However, you do need to know where to draw the line from are you being abused in a situation. No, I really don’t want to do something that you’re going to make $40 million on for fifty cents. I don’t know why, but I think they eliminated slavery – at least where I live now. But some people are so desperate they will do that. There is no need to be desperate. Everything will happen in its own time, whether you believe it or not. It does.

Andy: So… I guess like me you’re following things on… the conversations on… the many voice over conversations on the internet – on the Facebook groups…

Kurt: There are?

Andy: …and Voiceover Universe. You’re not seeing them?

Kurt: Sure. They are. I’ve got to be honest… I am so busy

Andy: You’re cutting yourself away from that?

Kurt: No. It’s not even that I’m cutting myself away. I just… there’s only so much bandwidth in a day, and you know, I probably right now have emails that I need to get caught up on. Only 3000 pieces behind today – and that’s not an exaggeration, so anybody who’s listening, and going, “Oh! He had time for that interview, but he couldn’t answer my email!”… there’s only so much time in a day. So I prioritise and I talk to people. I would rather talk than sit there and read a blog or whatever, and that works for a lot of people. For me, I really… the quickest way to get my attention is a phone call. Text message is, like, really low down, and for  some people ı see them sitting in restaurants, whatever, and they’re sitting with other people and busy texting, they’re not even talking. It’s like we’re losing the art of communication.

Kurt's typewriter

Andy: That’s a big problem in Istanbul…

Kurt: Everywhere! Los Angeles… They’re going to get doctors who are going to get whole new jobs because of carpal tunnel, from people who are just using their thumbs to type. I remember when we used to type with all our fingers. Now people are, because the keyboards are so small, just typing with their thumbs. We can’t lose the art of communication. Now with TiVo we can fast forward through commercials. OK, maybe you like commercials, maybe you don’t. We actually make our money doing them, so please listen to a few of them. Our advertisers like them, and so do we! I got to be honest, thank God for PlayStation. I remember sitting in the people from Deutsch – Jason Elm, and those guys… beautiful people, brilliant writers, and I had to say “Rated T for Teen”, I think about 89 times. But you know what? For the amount of money I got paid for that 30 minutes, it was worth every time I said it, and if they needed another 89 today, I would crank them out. Because sometimes it’s about just going the extra step, the extra mile, and communicating, and how they did that, I put it up on YouTube, and those commercials have gotten tens of thousands of hits. Now, some of it is because of the novelty of PlayStation. Absolutely. But it’s also the art about how they did those commercials that communicated. I hope we don’t ever lose the point where we stop communicating, and we fast forward in life through everything we don’t want to see, because we’ll stop learning. We need once in a while to slow down for some other point of view. Your show. Your podcast. This is how we learn.

Andy: Yeah. Absolutely. And actually William’s a great fan of PlayStation. On the one hand, unfortunately, but for us it’s a great communicator, because we talk about the games as we’re playing them. He’s only five years old, and living, growing up in Turkey his English and his Turkish are… I’m just astounded at how well he can communicate.

Kurt: Nice.

Andy: And when he came here and saw the studio, and the people – we looked at all the… we went the green room, the control room, the studio. I asked him what was the most exciting thing, expecting him to say the teletext, or something like that…

Kurt: Right

Andy: He didn’t say it was the technology. I asked him “What’s the best thing?”, he said, “The people. They’re really cool!”. His exact words.

Kurt: How nice.

Andy: “The people are really cool”. So I’m very pleased that for him communication is important, because in this business that’s everything, isn’t it? If you have a connection with somebody, then you can do things, you can really do things.

Kurt: Well, think about it. Some of your best jobs that you got in your career… maybe it’s true for you, maybe it’s not… For me, some of the best jobs I’ve ever got in my career – yeah, talent did absolutely have something to do with it, I didn’t get hired because of my good looks… alright, maybe I did… but part of it was relationships. A big part of it. Because, let’s face it, if somebody doesn’t like you, they aren’t really going to hire you. But if you have a rapport with someone – I’ve seen people get hired because they went to the same schools together, or because somebody knew somebody who knew somebody… whatever. But relationships are vitally important and now, in our fast paced world, and it really is a fast paced world… When was the last time you picked up and read a newspaper?

Andy: Well, I’m in a special situation, because…

Kurt: I know, but when was the last time?

Andy: It was a long time ago.

Kurt: Wasn’t this morning, I’ll bet.

axx. Oh no…. it was years ago.

Kurt: Thank you. Same for me! And I’ve worked in entertainment since childhood, and I’ve done news, and I’ve done hard news… and I’ve done undercover news – that’s a side that most people don’t know about me. But… the reality is we don’t pick up and read newspapers like we used to. We now get on the internet… And we now fast forward through shows because we don’t want to do this… or we flip around because we can channel surf through 500 channels… or I just got my new – we won’t give the sponsor’s name, because they haven’t paid you for the advertising time yet…

Andy: Just Lufthansa at the moment…

Kurt: …but somebody AT&T, something like that – I think like 5000 plus channels now from around the world that I can have access through high bandwidth, and the reality is we are channel surfing so fast. Everything is speeding up. We’ve got to: give it to us now so we get it that relationships are going to become even more important, or you’re going to get lost in the shuffle. And getting out there… You know there are kids now who have websites, or are promoting stuff on websites. And there’s Facebook which has helped people finally to get on the internet, and we’re reticent… Not everybody is there yet, and I am sure there are places in the outback where people are not on the internet, or places you can’t get on the internet, because the bandwidth isn’t there yet. But the reality is that the more we get the world on faster bandwidth, and the more we communicate, the more we can open or close doors.

Andy: Well, It’s a tiny world. I was having a Skype conversation yesterday morning with Chuck Burke in Hawaii.

Kurt: Right.

Andy: And actually because our time zones are so disparate – I think he’s 13 hours behind me – because they’re so disparate it’s very easy at the beginning or the end of the day for us to have a chat, because it’s our down-time.

Kurt: Exactly.

Andy: So, ironically I’m more connected with somebody halfway around the world than I am with somebody next door, maybe.

Kurt: Sometimes very true.

Andy: It’s very strange like that.

Kurt: And sometimes our better friends are ones we’ve made on Facebook, or MySpace – are they paying you for this? Facebook or MySpace? Or through other different modes – “Hello, can you hear us, Zuckerburg?”. So, there are other ways, now, that we have developed friendships, and sometimes those friendships have become better relationships. Quite candidly, I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for sites like the Bodalgo, or Voice123, or Voices.com. Stephanie and those wonderful people there. And I have been able to convert jobs to do union work. I’ve been able to audition myself night and day if I want to – for the practice – because that’s something you should never stop doing. I don’t care if you’re the top 5% of your industry. Odds are you are still doing it day in, and day out, whether you are getting paid, or you’re practicing or rehearsing. Because that’s how you stay good at your skill. You don’t keep throwing knives, and one day you start hitting people wrong because you stopped practising. It’s not a good idea! You should practise every day so you keep hitting the mark…

Andy: That’s my problem?! It’s the knife throwing business… I haven’t got that down yet!

Kurt: Good… that kind of pinpointed that for you.

Andy: Police have asked me to stop that.

Kurt: Have they? Ouch! A few lost hearts over this one… or other body parts? But because of that: aim high. You know… Don’t expect to get every audition you take, and aim high so you don’t hit anybody in the forehead. Unless it’s with a good voiceover pitch, and it gets you the job. The reality is the world is going to get smaller and smaller. I am seeing more and more big companies… I’ve seen auditions on these sites for MSNBC. I’ve seen them for Proctor and Gamble, for GE… for major companies, who are still doing union or non-union work, depending on what people are auditioning or working for… and I’m not here to judge either. Work is what you make it, but the reality is because of meeting people through these sites, I got to come here and say “Hello”.

Andy: Just as a wrap up, because I know you’ve got another interview coming up in just a few short minutes…

Kurt: Really? Are they paying us? Is this sponsored? No…

Andy Boyns, Aziz Acar, and Kurt Kelly at NTV

Andy: Just as a wrap up, one of the reasons you’re here in Istanbul is because of a mutual friend of ours, Aziz Acar.

Kurt: Aziz, yes.

Andy: Aziz… We were talking earlier about important people in our careers, and on the first day I started doing voiceovers I was talking with Aziz…

Kurt: Wow! What a blessing – your first day doing voiceover.

Andy: And he’s connected me with lots of wonderful people over the years. So I owe a lot to him… and you’ve come over, I think…. you’re spending the week with him…

Kurt: Well, yeah, he needed his car washed, and wanted the garage clearing out, and… you know… some things like that. No! Yes, I did come over here on his invitation to meet him in person. I had seen him many times with Darth Vader behind him – and if you’ve been in his office, you’ll know what I’m speaking about -  and we have developed a wonderful relationship with him and other people that we have mutually gotten to know over time. And I’ve come here to explore opportunities, to see… it’s part of that thing where we were talking about the world getting closer and closer. You know, we’ve talked about doing some television, or film stuff, aside from voiceover… some productions… where part of the production can be done here in Turkey, and part can be done in the US. Whether it’s the shooting, or hiring the talent, or whatever. So we’re exploring those opportunities to see what synergistic opportunities… because why shouldn’t the cultures intermingle? The only distance between us is the distance between us, and with today’s technology is… hmm. how long does it take you to log in?

Andy: Absolutely.

Kurt: Literally. I mean, I could be watching your television shows, or I did an appearance on Geveze Show, at Virgin Radio a couple of mornings ago, and there were people in Los Angeles listening to the show when we did it.

Andy: That’s so cool.

Kurt: Amazing. You couldn’t have done that 20 years ago. You know, I remember growing up in northern Michigan listening to WLS. That got to 38 states, and I thought that was huge when I was a kid. 38 states is nothing anymore. You can cover the world with one email, or one website, or one television broadcast if people are opening to receive it.

Andy: Yeah. So it’s just communicating that it’s there.

kxx. One thing I do want to say, though. When you do send out stuff in self promotion, maybe we should all come up with a new slug line at the bottom. Instead of sending back hate mail, if you really don’t want it, just hit delete. Don’t mark “spam” and start writing all kinds of nasty notes back and forth to each other. Just let go. And that’s the same with a job when you do an audition. Don’t get all hung up in that audition. Let go. Put it out there and move on to the next one.

Andy: Absolutely.

Kurt: And don’t get upset with the director, because they didn’t hire you, or the producer, the ad agency – get all caught up in that emotion – because that same energy could be spent for good energy on your next audition that probably would have booked you five more jobs.

Andy: Do you know what I do when somebody calls me and says, “Are you available for a job?”. If I don’t get a call back, I just shelve it waiting… if the call back comes it’s a nice additional bonus surprise…

Kurt: Absolutely.

Andy: If it doesn’t come, I’ve already said, “Next”. So when it does come it’s “Wow! Great!”. It’s very positive.

Kurt: I’ve actually had someone come back to me – true story – some come back to me that, “Five months ago you auditioned for this…”, and I’m like, “Oh. OK! Do you want to send me the updated copy?”… “Oh no. It’s the same copy.” OK… Beautiful. Thank goodness for modern technology. I can  go search my email and pull it up… “What was the name of that? OK. Got it!”. But… That’s part of that function of letting go, and moving on to the next one. Did I get hung up on that?

Andy: You have so much more peace, don’t you, if you do that. If you going, “Oh… Is the phone going to ring? Is the phone going to ring?” or, “Why did they cancel it?”… Then you start getting screwed up, and then you start a downward spiral.

Kurt: Anxiety and anger are over-rated frustrations. They’re over-rated emotions that we invest so much energy into, and we get so little out of. We get ulcers. We get ill. We get things that just aren’t really desirable, so… it’s better to let go of it. Just like an audition. Let go of it. You know, there have been some auditions where I went out, and I hit the dashboard, and went, “Oh God! I really blew that!”… and I did a better audition in the car, on the way home! But… in learning from that versus continuing to repeat the same insanity… Want different results? Do the better audition in the booth, next time! Maybe get there a little earlier, and get the copy from the casting director, and go outside and rehearse it and rehearse it, and rehearse it. But don’t over rehearse it, too, because you’re not going to get the job then either, because you’re going to sound too mechanical. The big thing that I have found, that’s been a challenge for me…. and I’ve been doing this since childhood, so it’s been at least, you know, two or three years, now… is that people today aren’t really looking to hear that big announcer voice. There are still jobs for that, but a lot of times people are like, “Sound like the guy next door… Sound like…”… I’ve actually gone to take classes so I can learn to sound like the guy next door, because I grew up sounding like an announcer from so many years of broadcasting. And so…

Andy: You had to unlearn that.

Kurt: Unlearn that? Well, and also try to find new ways to find new ranges with my voice, because if I just go into my normal register, I can sound like an announcer talking, without trying to. So, now it’s finding ways to animate my voice, and get more excited, and how can I sound like that guy that’s maybe 18 years old? Well, part of that is putting a little more adrenalin in, maybe raising the pitch. We all have the ability. If you know how to talk, you can probably do voiceover. It’s just like the Michael Jackson story. Working at it. Perfecting it. Rehearsing it. You’re going to be amazing at voiceover, as you career continues to go on, because one you are taking the time to talk with other people who have  gone before you, or have been doing it a long time, to learn from their successes. Boy, that’s half the battle right there.

Kurt Kelly, Michal Bardavid, and Andy Boyns at 6News

Andy: I think it’s so important to listen to other people. We have to wrap up just now.

Kurt: Was it something that I said?!

Andy: No! It’s your… Michal’s going to waiting… going to be shouting for you…

Kurt: Have to go to the green room? And they have to put stuff on and things? OK! Make up!

Andy: That’s why you love the on-camera stuff, eh? The secret’s out!

Kurt: Well, I actually haven’t left television, and I’m getting more and more back into it. We’re actually shooting this because we’re working on a new television thing – we’ll talk to you about the rights… We’ll have your agent call our agent, they can do lunch, and charge us both too much money! But, I think if you’re open – like you are – to the learning, you’ve got so many miles and light years ahead…

Andy: I believe it.

Kurt: And doing the podcast where people can hear you, and hear what you’re learning, and share through that. You’re actually helping so many other people.

Andy: I believe that’s the way. And pushing open doors. I came here by accident, but I’ll tell you that story another time…

Kurt: Really? What was the name of this accident? No, I’m kidding…

Andy: The name of the accident was I was misdirected past the front door of this building. I just happened to come in…

Kurt: Really? Another wonderful success story! Had you not been misdirected…

Andy: Yeah! Had the little old lady not told me it’s down there, when really it was in the opposite direction… then I wouldn’t be… we wouldn’t be sitting by this pool right now.

Kurt: How fortuitous.

Andy: Yes, it’s very strange. But you have to make those opportunities happen.

Kurt: Well, and also you have to believe that you do walk among angels, because if you don’t believe that then the miracles will never happen. If you believe that you are living in hell, you will be living in Hell.

Andy: And you know, when I came in here, if they’d said, “No” to me, I wouldn’t have lost anything, because I wasn’t going to come here anyway!

Kurt: Thank you! That’s action, see! You were open to the experience.

Andy: That’s how I was thinking about it… so it was a “win-win” situation. There was no “lose” there, because I didn’t expect… I hoped… of course I hoped for something, but I didn’t expect anything from it.

Kurt: Nice.

Andy: Expectation and hope are slightly different things.

Kurt: They certainly are.

Andy: But I was going to ask you why the “Voice of Experience”, but I think in all the experience you’ve just been sharing with us in the last few minutes, I think I have a very good idea now as to why it’s the “Voice of Experience”.

Kurt: Thank you.

Andy: Thank you so much.

Kurt: Actually someone gave me that title, and that’s another story for another time, but it just kind of stuck…

Andy: Well, it works.

Kurt: Yeah. It does.

Andy: Thank you so much.

Kurt: I want to ask a parting shot.

Andy: OK

Kurt: What do you want to do when you grow up?

Andy: I don’t want to grow up.

Kurt: I love that answer! I don’t either. Growing up is so over-rated! Thank you.

About Kurt Kelly

Kurt Kelly [known as "The Voice Of Experience"] has been aggressively involved in all aspects of multimedia, broadcast, film, entertainment, technology and Intellectual Property. Including radio, television, film, satellite, new media, Internet, applications, video games, and more. Kurt is known for performing consistently as an award winning, top rated talent and management. Kelly is know for his entrepreneurial endeavors, Producing, Directing, Voice Overs, Acting, Network Programming, Marketing, News Reporting, Sales, Administrative, Production[s], talent, technical, and total strategic development of broadcast, distribution, production/post and network operations. Kelly has produced, directed, hosted live satellite and major network global broadcasts, concert events, videos, television specials, films, music recordings, movie trailers, video games, commercial, and has been “the voice for virtually everything.”

As a [past/current] member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild), AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), and NATPE International (National Association of Television Program Executives), Kelly has worked with some of the most successful professionals in the industry, and is known for being a dedicated team player. Kurt believes in team building, high goals and standards, quality, and knows that a well-balanced product consistently wins.

Bio adapted from IMDB.com

Links:

Kurt Kelly personal website
Kurt Kelly at IMDB.com

Kurt Kelly Sony PlayStation Ads:

• http://youtube.com/watch?v=4sKgX6Z9dSA
• http://youtube.com/watch?v=dFiSu33jwwE
• http://youtube.com/watch?v=f9pjr0WMQ7c
• http://youtube.com/watch?v=2Pos6-thyaI

Aziz Acar

Kurt Kelly on Inside Business [6News Istanbul] with Michal Bardavid

Chuck Burke at Voices.com

Here’s today’s Press Release from event producers, James Alburger and Penny Abshire:

PRESS RELEASE

World’s only voiceover convention announces 2012 dates

San Diego, CA – The Executive Producers of the VoiceOver International Creative Experience (VOICE), James R. Alburger [...]]]>

At last! The news we’re been eagerly anticipating…. dates and venue for VOICE 2012!

Here’s today’s Press Release from event producers, James Alburger and Penny Abshire:

PRESS RELEASE

World’s only voiceover convention announces 2012 dates

San Diego, CA – The Executive Producers of the VoiceOver International Creative Experience (VOICE), James R. Alburger & Penny Abshire, announced today that the VOICE Convention (now in its fourth year) will be held at the Disneyland_® Hotel and Resort in Anaheim, California June 13^th-16^th, 2012. A star-studded Red Carpet Reception will be held on the evening of June 12^th.

Voiceover talent from around the world will make their way to The Happiest Place on Earth to take part in the only international convention for voice actors.

Registrations for VOICE 2012 will be opening soon. For additional information go to
www.VOICEconvention.com

Following the announcement of VOICE 2010 my initial reaction was “I have to be there!” This was followed by a real shock when I thought, “I can’t possibly afford it. It’s impossible”.

Penny, Andy, and James at VOICE 2010

In fact I wanted to go so much I started dreaming about being there. Thanks to the  incredible support and encouragement of my wife, and a number of friends the dream came true. For me VOICE is a tremendous opportunity to connect, learn, and be a part of an exciting and positive community. The 2010 conference had a profound effect on my self perception as a voice artist, and gave me some great friendships. There’ll be much more to say over the coming months… hope to see you there!

A recent article from [...]]]>

After six years with a local agent, in February this year I decided that in my situation the way forward was to go freelance. This has proved to be a liberating experience, and it’s exciting how things are developing for me with work both in Istanbul studios and recording from home.

A recent article from Voices.com has focused on this very topic, with a special view to those of us with young children and how we manage to work together when recording from home.

William and I get an honourable mention – he’s recently made a couple of recordings we hope to share with you soon… and as well as developing as a performer, I have high hopes that one day I’ll have a great sound engineer… I wonder if they’ll start ProTools classes at his kindergarten?! Thanks, Stephanie Ciccarelli, for including us.

Check out the Voices.com article here: http://blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

And on the subject of William, he now has a personalised URL for Facebook, so hang on over there and keep up with his news, too. www.facebook.com/williamboyns

Voice actor Andy Boyns originally brought up the idea of a PSA in a conversation with Voices.com Social Media [...]]]>

Voices.com recently teamed up with a group of voice actors to create a public service announcement for the petition encouraging the Academy of Arts and Sciences to introduce a Voiceover Performance category at the Oscars.

Voice actor Andy Boyns originally brought up the idea of a PSA in a conversation with Voices.com Social Media Manager, Ashley Hall. Together they approached Pablo Hernandez, a voice actor with previous experience creating PSAs, to discuss the idea and assemble a cast.

Download : Oscars VO Petition PSA (right click “…save target as…”)

“This was a collective effort between Pablo, Scott, Andy, Lori, Doug and myself. I am extremely pleased with the support and enthusiasm we have received from the voiceover community in regards to the Oscar Voiceover Petition,” says Ms. Hall. “All of the voiceover talent involved with this PSA project are so talented and creative. What a great group of people to work with!”

The PSA is a volunteer effort with one common goal in mind, to achieve recognition at the Oscars for the actors who give outstanding performances off-camera.

Scott Fortney, voice talent and PSA Producer, asks, “If you can get an award for sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects, art direction and makeup, why are voice actors’ contributions ignored? Try watching “Toy Story 3″ with the sound muted. Not such a great story without the voice actors to bring the characters to life, is it?”

The petition is going strong with 675 signatures. Voices.com hopes to reach 2000 signatures in time to present the idea for consideration before next year’s nominations are considered and the respective nominees are announced.

A true testament to the age of the Internet the project came into fruition with participants from far and wide including Puerto Rico, the UK, Canada and the USA.

Pablo Hernandez indicated, “Everything was done via e-mail and via private messages on Facebook. The entire collaboration process was really easy, all the voice actors and voice actress involved in the project are all voice over professionals that work on {these kinds} of projects.”

Click here to download the Oscars Petition PSA.

To view the petition, visit: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oscarspetition/

Cast and Credits:

Pablo Hernandez (Executive Producer & Copywriter)

Scott Fortney (VO talent & Audio Producer)

Andy Boyns (VO Talent)

Lori Taylor (VO Talent)

Doug Warner (VO Talent)

Notes

This article, written by Lin Parkin, was originally published on the online news website for the arts and entertainment industry, Voice Over Times at http://www.voiceovertimes.com/2011/05/13/the-oscars-petition-gets-a-voice/. It is reproduced here with kind permission of Voices.com

Now, please go and sign the petition!