DonnaBBloggin

So I got contacted out of the blue by a production company looking for a character impersonation for a client of theirs.  I did my best and sent over three takes, 1 dry and 2  “zhooshed” for pitch and timing because even though I was trying to do a boy’s voice, I still had a slight feminine quality to my vocal tone.

It was the best I could do and the audio really gave the essence of the character they were needing not a dead-nuts on capture of the character.

When I sent them my file, I did ask the person who contacted me how they found me so I could determine what promotion technique was working.  My guess is they may have not liked the takes, so they didn’t bother to answer that particular question.

I am still trying to get my first concrete gig in this business, I mean I have done some small stuff and been paid small LOL, but this would have been a decent thing to get.   I’d like to ask the veterans what should be my next move?  I mean I would really like to know what brought them to me.  I also want to move past this audition and find out if I can get in there “stable” so to speak.  What would be a great way to follow up without sounding like I am harping on if I got the gig from this audition?  I mean I really don’t think this gig was for me, but I would like to know if other’s this place have might be and I don’t want to blow the relationship out of the box on the first try.

Suggestions… anyone…Bueller?

Things couldn’t be busier for me and not in a good way for a VO business but in good ways for other directions.  My full time job has sent me on a new quest to learn to be a web developer and ASP.NET programmer and I have been taking classes and have had 4 successful releases to the system that I now am responsible for at work.

Also, I have been very busy relocating theatres with my improv troupe “Drop Three”  http://www.dropthree.com/.  We moved from the Mobtown theatre to the Audrey Herman Spotlighter’s Theater  http://www.spotlighters.org/).  We appeared at Baltimore’s Artscape  http://www.artscape.org/index.cfm) this year where a comedy sketch that I had written was produced/performed and was received very well by those who attended.  Also, we entered another sketch that I wrote into the IFC sketch comedy contest, that can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZHsmB5Fj…

I did manage to finish some VO work.  I did a podcast piece for Roni Weiss at “Once Upon a Podcast” that can be found here:  http://onceuponapodcast.wordpress.com/20… I end up being at about the 13 min point.

I have only had time to send in auditions on the big three sites that were not involving custom demos.  I guess I would like to ask all of you that may have other full time jobs, how do you find the time to engage in serious self promotion?  I finally got on FB last month and Twitter about two days ago to help me a bit as well.  But by the time I am done with a full day of work on a computer, I am too bushed to want to be on one at home and in a studio as well.  How can I keep up my motivation?  Any advice from the veterans out there?

Well hold on folks I am back out of the gloomy depths of busy-ness!  Thanks to those of you who contacted me just to get a “WTF” are you doing update.  I am easing back into the routine of doing my voice work again.  I had to step out for a bit as a result of a very busy personal life but I did manage to accomplish a few things voice-wise while I was away.

I finished working on the radio play “They Did take it with Them” by Anwar Al-Mallah on 6/11 and it can be listen to (and seen to a degree) on the following website:  http://www.retroradioplays.com/  I played 2 teenaged girls Julie and Becky and was in all but one scene of the show.

I also worked with some grad-students in Australia on their zombie animation spoof and I am waiting for the final link to that to come out. 

The improv troupe that I am involved with “Drop Three” is branching out all over and we will be performing as part of Baltimore’s Artscape July 17-19, 2009.  We will actually be performing on Sunday the 19th doing improv and sketch comedy based on EA Poe as that seems to be the theme this year.  My improv troupe has really honored me this year by performing at least 4 of my sketches so it is really great to see your work produced on the stage.  I hope the one I wrote for Artscape will be performed there as well. 

Well back to work for now, I will continue to keep you all posted on more developments!

So, I was fortunate to land two parts in a Radio-Play production of an original piece by a man named Anwar Al-Mallah in the DC area.  I am quite excited about this type of work and hope it leads to great and new opportunities for me.  I will have to keep you all posted on the development of the production. 

I think that this form of entertainment has been off the radar for years and we really need to help bring it back to the forefront.  I started listening to some of the old Twilight Zone programs as well as ones that were not produced from Mr. Serling’s scripts until recently using a bunch of celebs from recent years and they were fantastic!  Folks like Lou Diamond Phillips and Kim Fields for example.

I was interested in hearing from anyone who has done this type of work before and what they think of it… Ok comment away!

Ok so I am committed, or at least should be for paying for another audition site subscription.  This time it is VOPlanet and I have heard good things about it from others. 

I went for the Kryptonite membership cuz it was on sale and had some interesting perks to it.  The 1 hour agent consultation looked pretty cool.  Lord knows I need an agent!  But it would be nice to hear some feedback from their perspective. 

If anybody has experience with this part of the kryptonite membership at VOPlanet, please feel free to comment and let me know how it works.

Don’t be afraid to come down to the Mobtown Theater in beautiful sunny Hamden HON to check out my improv troupe Drop Three!  Our next show is 5/23/09.  There will be more to come as we get closer to the date but here are the websites you will need for directions etc.

http://www.dropthree.com/

http://mobtown.net/Mobtown.htm

Since I have been auditioning electronically for a few months now, I discovered that I needed to create two other comprehensive demos.  One I finished and posted yesterday (Characters and Accents) and the other one I am posting now (E-Learning).  Hope they meet with approval and now I can change my focus back to submitting auditions. 

It’s great when you can bask in accomplishment for a bit, I was working on getting these two together in my head and in my computer for a while now!

Well my latest creation lives and breathes FINALLY!   

It is a new character and accent demo, and while I really hesitate to throw it out to the wolves for critique, I figure I can get away with maybe just announcing it on the down-low in my blog.

While I find that most of the people I have met and chatted with since I jumped back into the big VO arena have been great, honest, supportive folks there is still that omnipresent artist gene that appears to have mutated in some and turn them into instant Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts from Traal.  Ready to rip apart others’ demos for no other reason than it would appear to make themselves feel good. 

Sure we all would like to know about any audio mess, noise, hiccups and the like; or maybe some good advise on mixing/production, but do you have to sit there at your computer and flame the poor soul with unactionable “coaching” comments such as what would come from Simon Cowell.  I don’t think so. 

One thing I learned in corporate America (groan) is that you should seek collaboration and to build the self-esteem of others.  There will always be a need for actors in this business, there will always be work, because the peeps need they distractions!  You don’t have to eliminate your competition by trashing them publically, it makes us all look bad and I get sick frankly when I have to read it. 

If a person’s demo is amateurish, give them constructive criticism that they can do something with.  Hell, we all have had amateurish demos, cuz we was all amateurs.

I am not saying this so that anybody that listens to this new deal of mine will handle me with “kid gloves” if they decide to give me feedback.  I just want some of the folks that make a habit out of ripping other people apart to stop.  Just like this new site was created to take the art and artists to new heights, we should be encouraging and coaching others to new heights as well.

–Gonna get me a beer, CHEERS!!!