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Beau Weaver
www.spokenword.com
FROM JOX to VOX:
Making the Transition from Broadcaster to Voice Actor
A Panel of Pros Who Have Done It!
Saturday, 11am - 12:30pm
All Levels
Listen to Beau describe his session.
Every week a radio broadcast talent decides to take the plunge and become a freelance voice over talent. A small investment in a home studio, and BOOM! "I'm a voice actor," right? Actually, there's quite a bit more to it than that. The way a radio talent approaches a script and the way a voice actor takes it on are completely different. The hard truth is, that as a voice actor, the radio guy is actually a beginner.
"What are you talking about?" he protests. "I've been cutting spots since I was sixteen!" But voice acting goes way beyond cutting spots. And it has absolutely nothing to do with your voice. The radio talent is even more confused now. It involves a microphone, a written script, and speaking, right? What's the difference? This is a distinction that could mean the difference between spinning your wheels, and having a thriving career in the national arena.
FROM JOX TO VOX will look at the ways the skill set of the broadcaster must expand if he or she wants to compete for national commercials. We will focus on specific tools and techniques to help facilitate this transformation. It will take you out of your comfort zone, but it will be worth it!
ABOUT BEAU WEAVER:
Beau Weaver is one of the West Coast's perrenial A list voice over artists, narrating trailers for feature films, network televison promos, syndicated television shows, cable network documentaries, national radio and television commercial campaigns, and imaging for major market television affiliates and radio stations. He had starring roles in animated series such as Superman and The Fantastic Four.
Currently, Beau is the voice of CBS Television's entertainment magazine show "The Insider" and daily medical strip talk show "The Doctors." He narrates several popular documentary series, including NAT GEO's "Known Universe" DISCOVERY's "American Loggers" and "Heartland Thunder" and ANIMAL PLANET's "Weird, True and Freaky." He also voices promos for off net syndicated series like "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" and "Seinfeld.".
Beau likes to say that he was raised on the radio... his first love. He was somehow able to con his way into his first professional on air job when he was just fifteen. By twenty one, he had worked his way up to the west coast's legendary pop music powerhouses: KHJ, Los Angeles, and KFRC, San Francisco. It was while on the air at KHJ that Beau discovered the freelance world of voice acting after attending a workshop led by the field's first female voice superstar Joanie Gerber.
Beau Weaver is also known as a technical innovator, pioneering out of market affilliate promo work from his own home studio in the early eighties. Today Weaver works non-stop from voice over recording facilities in Los Angeles and from rural Ojai, California.
HOWARD HOFFMAN:
 Howard Hoffman’s career has taken him to places that truly never asked for him in the first place. Nonetheless, he managed to enjoy successes in New York (WABC, WQHT, WPIX), San Francisco (KMEL, KFRC), Chicago (WBBM-FM), Houston (KAUM) and just about every market in between.
Throughout most of his career, he was completely left to his own devices. Bored with formulaic radio formatting over the years, he developed an endless cast of characters that consisted of misfits, celebrities and frustrated radio station owners. (Yes - he used those voices on his show, not just late at night in his empty apartment.) His sense of timing and humor won him the Billboard’s Best Air Personality award, along with critical acclaim in the local media and some very angry competitors.
Hoffman took these skills to Los Angeles - where he’s been creative services director of KABC Radio since 1994 – and a freelance voiceover career took root. He has given his voice to literally hundreds of clients, including Budweiser, Bud Light, Hostess, Ford, FOX Television, REI and Mattel. He’s also heard on radio stations nationwide along the Citadel Media Network, providing promos that have earned him a string of Silver Mike and RAP Awards. Among his animation credits are Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Jackie Chan Adventures, Disney Channel and more Wii, XBOX and Playstation games than he has time to play.
Howard is living proof that if one tries hard enough, they can go from being the stock boy at the Tallman, NY Shop-Rite to become a full-fledged radio journeyman and voice actor. (That’s not a rags-to-riches metaphor. It’s more of a warning.)
TOMMY KRAMER:
 Tommy Kramer has an extensive theater and performance background as an actor and musician, and spent over 35 years in radio as an on-air talent, Programmer, and coach.
He’s worked with over 200 radio stations, specializing in morning team shows and commercial Production, and has also worked with many TV stations and dozens of top-level voice actors across the United States and Canada. His on-air career led to his election to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2003, and as a voiceover actor, he’s won over 100 local and regional Ad Awards, and 2 national Addy Awards. You’ve heard many of the people Tommy coaches on trailers for feature films, network television promos, syndicated and network programs and documentaries, national radio and television commercials, and voice imaging for major television and radio stations—even as the voices of cartoon characters!
His methodology is very similar to a drama coach working with actors. Just as Tiger Woods has a swing coach and Jack Nicholson has a dialogue coach, anyone trying to move his career from radio to commercial voice acting should consider a coach, too. Just because you cut hundreds of commercials or promos in radio or TV does not mean that you can make a living as a voiceover actor. The skills are as different as laminate flooring compared to solid mahogany.
Voice acting is not about your voice; it’s about your performance—period. If you can’t stand up and deliver, you won’t succeed.
Tommy’s focused, candid coaching style is very organic. Sessions are done by phone or Skype, and he takes you through a “warts and all” look at your work, specific ways to improve, and—most importantly—how to lose sounding like a disc jockey. The work is one easily digestible step at a time, building a solid foundation so you can compete in the real world where there will literally be hundreds of other people trying for the same job that you want.
RINO ROMANO:
KERRI TOMBAZIAN:
 As a branding voice Keri Tombazian has launched a new line of cars for Buick, launched Whoopi Goldberg on the View, and is the go-to girl for warmth, sensuality, and authority. From Boston, to Minneapolis, to Toronto Canada, television viewers know Keri as the local voice of the station. Healthcare companies hire her for her soothing voice; cosmetics hire her for her dazzling voice, and car companies hire her for her sass.
One of the first women to crack promos and trailers, Keri blows up the notion that women “can’t cut through” – having voiced promos for all the broadcast networks NBC, ABC, Fox, CBS, as well as Animal Planet, and the Fine Living Channel. Feature film spots include Sideways and Atonement.
With a touch for story telling, Keri’s voice has brought to life the A&E Biography Lana Turner, Animal Planet’s Meercat Manor, and the E! True Hollywood Stories of Martha Stewart, Goldie Hawn/Kate Hudson, and Marilyn Monroe to name a few.
Keri is one of the handful of artists who has successfully maintained a dual career as a radio personality and a voiceover artist. As a teenager, she began tickling the ears of Southern Californians at KGIL AM & FM and built the foundation of what would become a long-standing relationship with her listeners. She has been an on-air personality at K-EARTH, KMPC Talk Radio, and is most notably one of the original on-air personalities at the #1 Smooth Jazz station in the nation: 94.7 KTWV The Wave. Keri enjoys on-stage hosting live events, public speaking, and above all, being a wife and mommy. She brings her full life experience to every script.
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