Blog – Page 14 – Connie Terwilliger

FaffCon 4 is Fast Approaching!

I keep looking at the list of attendees for FaffCon 4 – Ventura Beach and literally clapping my hands in happiness! In less than 2 weeks, I will board the train from San Diego and head up to Ventura for another energizing weekend with some truly wonderful people.

Many of the people on the list are returning Faffers. More than half are face-to-face friends/acquaintances. Some I know virtually through social media and am looking forward to meeting them in person. Some names are completely new to me at this point in time. By the end of the weekend, they will not be strangers anymore.

http://faffcon.com/whos-coming/

I’m a Founding Faffer and have become more and more “involved” with the event since the first one in Portland. I can say without a doubt that each event has surpassed the previous in every way.

Portland was Perfect!

We were all feeling our way here – figuring out […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00March 9th, 2012|Categories: Announcements, Musings|Tags: FaffCon 4, voiceover education|

In Between Sessions

I wish I could say that I was so busy that I had back to back sessions every day and had to squeeze in the bookkeeping, marketing and plant watering. Well, I’m busy enough that I make a living doing this voiceover stuff without the back-to-back sessions. And even if I don’t have projects stacked up waiting, I still have a hard time getting all the other stuff done. But there is simply no way I can actually organize a day with any strict rules on when I am going to do anything.

The day started out like a typical Tuesday. Walk down to the coffee shop for my 7-8 AM solve the world’s problems group, but the phone rang and I had to race back home to get the car to drive out to my mom’s Assisted Living Community to call off the Paramedics. You would think after 7 months […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00March 6th, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: Connie Terwilliger, museum narration, narrator, voiceover, voiceover work|

What Do Voiceover Folk Say?

The flood of S*%t People Say videos isn’t stopping apparently. Just saw one posted to Facebook by my good buddy Trish, the Dish.

This one was done by a bunch of Australian talent who work in studios. Pretty funny stuff. But considering that so many of us work primarily out of our own studios these days – the bits about the color of the cable or asking for a different set of “cans” – just wouldn’t happen.

But I have so many memories of working in the different studios around town. Some with cans that squeezed your head. Some with cans that fell off because they were so loose.

Watch the body language of the “mushroom” bit. I so wanted to hear what she came up with.

And I do that warm up in the shower! Well, not exactly that warm up, but something goofy.

RMK Management Pty Ltd is […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00February 27th, 2012|Categories: Musings|Tags: RMK Management Pty Ltd, voice acting, voiceover work|

Happy St. Valentine’s Day Massacre!

I couldn’t help myself, I had to send out a press release announcing the opening of the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, because it includes a couple of videos narrated by myself and my friend Scott Gentle. Both videos were created by Northern Light Productions out of Massachusetts and are examples of what good video should be – from the visuals, to the editing, to the sound.

I had the good fortune to narrate a longer documentary produced by Northern Light Productions called “Weapons of Mass Disruption,” which tells the more than a little disturbing story of cyber warfare. The script was superb and such a pleasure to read.

Anyway, here is the release about the work we did for the Mob Museum. I can hardly wait until my April […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00February 14th, 2012|Categories: Marketing|Tags: documentary, narration, Northern Light Productions, Scott Gentle, The Mob Museum, voiceover|

The P2P Balancing Act – Do they pay off?

Some questions were raised recently on one of the social networking sites in my chain about the Pay to Play sites and if they are worth it. I think Online Voiceover Casting Sites are still evolving and will be part of our permanent way of doing things, so figuring out how to make them work is probably a good idea.

Do these sites really produce money for the talent? Well, your mileage may vary, but yes, there is money in them thar electrons. I get work.

I pay for a few of them at this point. Voice123 and eLearning Voices would be the ones that seem to work best for me. Voice 123 is the broad brush and eLearning Voices is the precision instrument.

I have more than several repeat clients now from P2P sites. But, I will say that I am very very picky about what I will audition for. It is […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00February 2nd, 2012|Categories: Auditioning, Business, Marketing|Tags: e_learning voices, p2p, Voice 123, voiceover auditioning|

Back to School!

While I work as a voice talent full-time – and have been this time around for the past dozen years or so – I do manage to carve out enough time in the Spring and Fall to teach one class at San Diego City College.

The reason I say “this time around” – is that I started out making a full-time living doing announcing and voiceover work, while also working in my spare time as a producer/writer. I actually gave up my free-lance voiceover work for several years while I worked full-time in a video and film department where I wore lots of hats. Eventually, I chose to stop producing and put the writing on the back burner as well, moving back into voicework full-time. I actually consider those years as “post” post-graduate school for my voiceover work.

Back to the class. It is a basic introduction to voiceover. If you are interested in what goes on […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00January 22nd, 2012|Categories: Business, Teaching|Tags: san diego city college, voiceover work|

Nurturing the Garden

In my part of the world, the climate allows me to have a garden all year long. Right now I have lettuce, an eggplant, some tomatoes and a perpetual red Swiss Chard that has been growing for about 2 years now.

But a winter garden requires more attention than a summer garden. In fact, it is a mess right now! The lettuce is starting to get a little nibbled and brown at the edges and has never really grown to expectations. For some reason the little purple flowers on the eggplant have not produced anything. It is sturdy, but barren. The tomato vine is brown and the actual fruit gets to a certain redness and then stops. The Swiss Chard seems to bounce back with just a little water…but the size of the leaves get smaller and smaller. Don’t even look at my banana trees, it is simply not banana tree […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00January 15th, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: lessons learned, nurture the garden, voiceover business|

The Cost of Doing Business

They say you have to spend money to make money. I would agree with that. Unless you dig clay from the earth, use your hands to form a pot, grind rocks to make paint, gather wood to build the fire to bake the pot and then stand by the side of the road to sell the pot, you probably have to spend at least a little money to be in business.

I had a chance to meet Esteban Valdez at his family compound just outside San Miguel de Allende Mexico a few years ago. He does just that. At his age though, other people are helping him gather the materials, so he probably has to pay out a bit in payroll these days in order to make his pots.

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00January 8th, 2012|Categories: Announcements, Business|Tags: education, FaffCon, unconference, Ventura Beach CA, voiceover conference|

What will the future bring for video?

Humans frequently predict the future. It helps us plan for a rainy day. We think it helps us know what should we look out for that will ensure we keep moving forward toward our ultimate goals – whatever they may be.

It is very interesting to look back at predictions to see what the soothsayers said and what actually happened. This reading is sobering, amusing, thought provoking and sometimes just plain silly.

I found a website with 20 predictions that we are still waiting for – like the flying car and weather control.

http://www.manolith.com/2009/07/30/pending-future-technologies/

And to me an even more interesting website with 100 predictions from 1900 – including that there will be no C, X or Q in our everyday language.

http://blog.longnow.org/2007/04/18/100-year-old-predictions-from-1900/

So what is next for video – or more specifically video commerce? Justin Foster just posted a piece on MediaPost. He is co-founder and Vice President of Market Development for video commerce […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00January 4th, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: interactive video, Marketing, MediaPost, predictions of the future, video trends, voiceover work|

Get a Kick in the Pants! Get the New Edition of “There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is”

I just sort of fell into the voiceover business. I really didn’t have any training. No school of broadcasting. No acting classes (well, none since the 2nd grade). But I had done a bit of radio in college and that led to some staff announcing while I was in grad school. Grad school led to a job in a TV station, first as a director, then, after deciding that was something that I didn’t want to do for the rest of my life, as a staff announcer. A live staff announcer.

A live staff announcer who didn’t sound like a typical announcer – so the door to my little closet-sized booth would open on a regular basis with people handing me commercial copy. After a period of time, I decided that I might need to learn a bit more about this voiceover stuff – and bought my first book –

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:19+00:00December 29th, 2011|Categories: Announcements, Auditioning, Business, Techniques|Tags: Elaine Clark, There's Money Where Your Mouth Is, voiceover book|