You're Hearing Voices

Do you love to watch movies?  Have you ever wondered how movies actually get made?  

Yes, there's the casting and the filming and the editing, but where does the money come from to allow a film to be distributed?

My guest this week is Joanne Butcher, who runs www.filmmakersuccess.com 

Joanne focuses on helping filmmakers understand and navigate the process of getting funding for their movie projects. 

In short, she helps filmmakers with the money issues.  Joanne shows her clients how to tap their own networks to get funding for their projects, and ultimately, how to get butts in the seats.

We cover the following areas:

• Why filmmakers are so focused on writing, directing, and editing, but are oftentimes clueless on how to get distribution for their films;
• Why filmmakers are often horrified at the idea of monetizing their projects;
• The mysterious and opaque nature of the finances of the filmmaking industry, and why Joanne is writing a book about this topic;
• Why filmmakers must learn to make a killer pitch, and how Joanne helps them learn that art; and
• Why film festivals are never a good place to get distribution, and why filmmakers mention the words "film festivals" to investors are their peril.

Tune in for this and much more.  Check out this week's episode!

This week, I'm chatting with Mandy McIntyre, the owner of Level-Up Consultants in Cleveland, Ohio.  Mandy spent 10 years in the roofing industry before starting this exciting new enterprise that focuses on mental health and wellness.

We cover the following topics:

• How Mandy came to appreciate and understand the role of mental health in the roofing industry;
• What makes a workplace toxic;
• The challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry;
• What propelled Mandy to leave a high-level position in a company she loved working for to start her own consulting firm;
• The appropriate way to take the initiative with employees who show signs and symptoms of needing help;
• Mandy's efforts to increase awareness of the issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and leadership in the construction industry;
• Why the construction industry has the highest suicide rate of any industry in the USA; and
• Mandy's plan to launch her firm and make it thrive!

Check out this week's episode!

It was a great pleasure to finally get to meet and chat with Dan Lenard, The Home Studio Master. 

Dan is best known to those of us in VO circles as the co-host of the popular Voice Over Body Shop (VOBS) show with George Whittham.

We discuss the following topics:

• The origins of Dan's "Home Studio Master" consulting business;
• Dan's pre-VO jobs in education, radio, and insurance;
• Why so many voice actors make home recording harder than it has to be;
• WOVO - the World Voices Organization, a VO industry trade group, of which Dan is the president, that works to promote the voice over industry and showcase voice actors for the skilled pros that they are;
• Why voice actors should forget about producing "broadcast quality" audio;
• Dan's passion for the Buffalo Bills.

Check out this week's episode!

This week, I'm honored to visit with Gamal Hennessy - attorney, author, and business consultant based in New York City.  Gamal specializes in boutique entertainment law, helping to guide writers, artists, AV post production folks, and others, through the oftentimes tricky and potentially treacherous waters of contracts and intellectual property law.

We cover the following topics:

- What is a contract, and why do artists need them?

- Why artists should protect their legal interests as if their project will be "the next big thing;"

- Why artists often collaborate on a revenue sharing basis rather than by paying up-front fees;

- Why voice artists need to be aware of the rudiments of trademark infringement when making VO demos;

- Why artists so often sign whatever piece of paper is put in front of them just to get the gig;

- Is the PGA Tour a monopoly, and can the new breakaway Saudi Golf league steal the tour's best players?

Check out this week's episode!

This week on "You're Hearing Voices," I chat with Paul Alan Clifford from beautiful Lexington, Kentucky.  Paul is the founder of Trinity Digital Media, a consulting business that helps churches to navigate their unique tech challenges, particularly livestreaming.  Paul is an expert in teaching  churches how to make the best use of ProPresenter software, and his YouTube tutorials on ProPresenter typically garner 2-3 times as many views as ProPresenter's own videos.

We also talk about Paul's educational background, how he got his first exposure to videography, and when he discovered how technology could be used in the church.  We also touch on some unrelated topics such as proper church attire and the future of remote work.

Check out this week's episode!

This week on the podcast, I travel virtually north of the border to Canada to chat with Colleen McCubbin.  Colleen is based in Calgary, Alberta, where she runs Siretona Creative.  Siretona is a boutique publisher which collaborates with authors to produce excellent books that make a positive difference around the world.

Colleen shares how a weekly newspaper column and a children's book led to the creation of her company, her coaching program for authors, and why certain books are made into audio and others aren't.

Check out this week's episode!

This week, I chat with Jeff Rolka, a musician and vocalist who, through his teaching, has helped hundreds of thousands of people to sing better and take great care of their voices.  Jeff has a very popular YouTube channel with dozens of vocal warmups for singers that have garnered over 12.5 million views.

Check out this week's episode!

This week, I chat with Sonal Bahl, an International Career Coach, former HR director, and podcaster and YouTuber.  We discuss the state of work in the post-COVID era, Sonal's social media efforts on both YouTube and LinkedIn, why corporate life gets a bad rap, and why entrepreneurship is  overly glamorized at times, and the implications of "The Great Resignation."

Check out this week's episode!

This week, we're chatting with Avia Spitzer, a Hebrew and English voice actress based near Tel Aviv, Israel.  Avia studied acting in college, and she got her start behind the microphone in radio, but she found her true passion in voice over.  Avia loves everything about recording studios, and the wonder of how it all comes together - her areas of work include a little bit of everything: dubbing, eLearning, commercials, corporate videos, audiobooks, and IVR.  Avia also talks about her marketing techniques, and the need for preparation and practice in voice over.

Check out this week's episode!

In this episode, Dan speaks with Andres Macias Hernandez, a voice actor based in Bogota, Colombia.  Andres does VO work in Spanish, Italian, and English.  His work spans several genres, including E-learning, corporate narration, commercials, audiobooks, video games, characters, and documentaries.

We talk about Andres' entry into the world of VO, his early gigs, the training he has received, his almost-soundproof vocal booth, and his meteoric rise to success in the relatively short period of time that he has been working in the industry.

Check out this week's episode!