An update on The Don

Just received some encouraging news from the good people over at VoiceoverUniverse.com. Happy Birthday Don and get well soon!

A message to all members of voiceover universe presents...

By the way, Today is Don's Bday:) 8/26 Happy Birthday, Don!

OFFICIAL UPDATES FROM DON'S BEST FRIEND OF OVER 30 yrs, Paul Pape

August 26, 2008 - UPDATE 5:24 PM PST (8:24 PM EST)

To all of Don's friends in the Voice-over Community:

Don's condition continues to stabilize. There is significant progress
and while he has quite a ways to go yet, there is every reason to keep
the faith. Many of you have expressed your feelings and chosen to
respect the privacy that Don and his family need right now. One could
ask no more of you. This show of respect is deeply appreciated by
those closest to the situation. Don and I often remark that we are
more brothers at this point than just best friends. Yet, as your
outpouring of support shows, Don has many "best friends." He is
clearly important to us all .

Don's wife, Nita, read every single comment that has been posted and
was truly touched and strengthened by your words and prayers. Please
see Nita's response below. As for me, please accept a simple "thanks"
for being there for my ol' pal.

Sincerely,

Paul Pape

The King is in Critical

My voiceover hero, Don LaFontaine, the undisputed king of Movie Trailers and Promos is in critical condition. First reported by Rick Party on VoiceoverUniverse, here is a missive from The Don's beloved wife Nita.

Dear friends and family,

I need you help and I'm reaching out to all of you. My wonderful husband is in critical condition at Cedar Sinai hospital; a blood clot is lodged in his lung and he is fighting for his life. This happened on Saturday after I'd taken him in for shortness of breath on Friday. He was doing very well and I left him talking and being funny on Friday evening. Without all the details, I got a call on Saturday morning as I was heading there to visit. There has been some lovely improvement yesterday but he is very sick right now. We need your concentrated prayers! Have your churches synagogues, temples send out prayers for Don's healing and wellness. Light a candle, chant, whatever you do to send that loving energy and light to him, I would appreciate. And save a little for the girls and me. We have had small miracles already and if we all shout up to God collectively, I know how powerful that can be. He is fighting and we all are fighting with him. He is strong and is a warrior so I thank you in advance for your prayers, good wishes and kindness on behalf of my family.

With a hopeful heart,

Nita and family

I hope you will join me in sending all good vibes and prayers to Don, Nita and their family in this time of need. Don, I pray you have a complete and speedy recovery.

Pamela Lewis was my very first voiceover teacher and still holds a special place in my heart. Thanks to Liz DeNesnera for posting a link to this interview with Pamela on The VO-BB, one of my favorite places on the internet although I haven't been hanging around there much lately, I still love the place and it's people.

Booked my first Book . . . audiobook that is.

I just booked my first audio book based on my audition at Audible.com last week. The producer called me and left a message on my cell phone. He said he definitely wants me to do the book (Yay!)and I should call so and so to schedule the sessions. He also said (these are his words) that he thinks I am a very good actor and he wants to "keep me around". Needless to say, I am thrilled about the compliment and the job!

So I called So and so and have booked my sessions for the first week in September right after the holiday weekend.

I've gone through the book and I enjoyed it very much. It's a first novel and I believe it is quite good. My only comment is it left me wanting more. I hope the author writes some sequels because I'd love to know more about how these peoples lives turn out. Besides, I can use the work!

I can't reveal the title just yet due to the fact that I don't know what the rules are regarding confidentiality and such, but the book has many interesting characters. There are several varieties of Hispanic / Urban type people, an Irish guy, some mafia-type thugs and various other people, who should be quite interesting to portray. Frankly, I can't wait!

This proves beyond the shadow of a doubt, the power of persistence and the power of networking.

The persistence part has to do with the fact that I almost gave up the ghost on this line of work several times during the past 3 years. I was this close to calling it quites any number of times, but something kept driving me onward. Now, I'm so glad I didn't quit. Finally, my efforts are beginning to pay off and it feels wonderful to start building some forward momentum.

The networking part comes in the form of my friend and sometimes Engineer, Tony Salerno who recommended that I be called in for an audition. Tony my brother from another mother, thank you so much for recommending me to your people at Audible. I truly appreciate it and I hope to have a long and fruitful relationship with them.

I hope this inspires any of you out there who might be thinking of quitting.

Don't! You'll regret it if you do.

I leave you with one of my very favorite quotes on the subject of persistence . . .

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

-- (John) Calvin Coolidge

Taking the good with the bad.

This past week has been great in many ways and terrible in others.

On the plus side:

I went to an audition at Audible.com and got a great response. The director said he thought my acting was great and he literally offered me an audiobook to narrate on the spot. That was unexpected and wonderful.

I booked several hours of ADR work at my favorite client, EBRU TV where I learned that I am very popular in Turkey. People have my voice on their DVDs! That was cool to learn. Now if I can get them to pay union rates!

On the terrible side:

I had to say goodbye to my beautiful, faithful little companion of over a dozen years this week. There's a huge hole in my heart at his loss and I can't even think of him without breaking down. R.I.P. My Little Gizmo, I loved you and I miss you something terrible.

The Incredible Power of Doing . . . Something!

I hadn't been booking much VO for a while so I decided that I'd better start directing more energy towards my voiceover career.

As a member of Voices.com, I receive audition notices daily but I hardly ever actually audition. I'm not sure why, I just didn't. I guess maybe I figured I'd be rejected anyway, so what was the point? Typical stinkin thinkin.

Well after thinking about it some more and remembering some of the motivational stuff from Zig Ziglar that I used to listen to for hours on end, I finally decided that if I am going to get anywhere in this business, I better start doing something about it, and I mean now.

So I started submitting auditions to Voices.com daily. Small jobs, big jobs, English jobs, Spanish jobs, just auditioning as much as I could. I auditioned for a whole bunch of stuff, and the result? Nothing, nada, zip, zilch.

At least not from Voices.com.

But all of a sudden, things have started to come to me from several other directions!

I got a nice Spanish VO job out of the blue, I got an audition for a McDonald's piece, which I didn't get, but hey, it's McDonald's! I booked 4 hours of ADR work last week and another 4 hours this Friday, I got an audition at Audible.com from an engineer friend and another engineer friend just booked me for Anime job.

I get to be a toon again! WOOT ... WOOOOOT!

I truly believe in the following two quotes.

"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." - Henry David Thoreau

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Moving in the direction of your dreams. What a wonderful concept. and by doing so, we activate the "Genius, power and magic", what wonderful forces to have on ones side.

Do you believe in Magic? I do! Oh yes baby. I'm counting on it.

It's nice to be nice

I have a friend who is a sound engineer and voice actor. I've been working with him for quite some time now at one of my clients studios. Anyway, apparently he got a gig at Audible.com and recommended me for an audition!

WOOT!

Man oh man, it's nice to be nice and it's even nicer to have friends.
Thank you Mr. Anthony Salerno, you have my gratitude!