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“Firsts” That Last

January 28th, 2008 Posted in General Info

Sometimes “firsts” can lead to seconds and thirds….In the voice over world, that doesn’t happen very often. But you never know! I was re-reading my VoiceRegistry.com blog, “Firsts” and that got me thinking about my First voice over job. It was 1990 (a whole other millenium! Hey, it takes a long time to build a career, right?). It was for a documentary on an Amazon explorer. And there was no pay. But it was an opportunity to get experience. The producer put her last dime in the project hoping it would win in a festival or two. I loved every minute and was scared at the same time.  I even got to meet the explorer, Arno Calderari. It was more than a great voice over experience. Arno was an amazing man, with an amazing story. I lost track of the producer, until one day in 2000. She called. “Guess what? Discovery Networks just bought the documentary and they want you to re-voice it, and they want to pay you.” “Adventures of an Amazon Explorer” aired the next year on the Travel Channel a few years after Arno died. I’ll never forget him or the voice over job. This “First” will last a lifetime. Got a good “First” voice over job story? I’d love to hear from you. -Tracy Pattin 

  1. 2 Responses to ““Firsts” That Last”

  2. By Bob Souer on Feb 1, 2008

    Tracy,

    This is the story of my first professional voiceover job.

    —-

    The year was 1974. I was deeply in love, and to be blunt, poorer than the proverbial church mouse. I was putting myself through school at a private college in the Chicago suburbs. Every penny I had, and quite a few I was borrowing, were paying for my education, so I had no money for an engagement ring. You see, I wanted to marry Kathy. She wanted to marry me. Like I said, I was deeply in love.

    She confided in her mother about our situation. Mom suggested that a family heirloom diamond was available, one that had belonged to Kathy’s great-grandmother. But, if I was serious about marrying Kathy, I would have to provide the engagement ring and the wedding band to go with it. One of Kathy’s very best friends was the daughter of a jeweler in Madison, Wisconsin; who had just decided to move his business to the Chicago suburbs and merge with an existing jewelry store.

    So there we were, going through Mr. Johnson’s jewelry inventory, finding just the right setting for the diamond, and a matching wedding band. All for only $75, including the cost of mounting the diamond. But, as my Dad used to say, I didn’t have two nickels to rub together. Where was I going to get $75?

    At the time, Kathy worked for David C. Cook Publishing Company, as an associate curriculum editor. (This was back when they were still located in Elgin, IL.) And one afternoon, a few days after our shopping expedition, Kathy attended a meeting about an upcoming convention. It was decided that the company should prepare a kiosk display that would include a pre-recorded narration about their new releases. But, who could they get to record? There was no narration budget.

    At this point, Kathy spoke up and said that her fiance had a “nice voice” and would be willing to work pretty cheap. Whomever was in charge of this project agreed to this suggestion, asked her to call me, and eventually met me at the Domain Communications studio in Wheaton, IL. The agreed upon price was $50 an hour and when we were done recording, the session took one and a half hours.

    It was an answer to prayer! And exactly the $75 I needed to get Kathy her engagement ring and wedding band. Thus did I get my first paying voice-over job, the very humble start to my life as a professional voice-over artist. How humble? It would be 9 years before I got another paying voice-over job.

    —-

    Be well,
    Bob

  3. By Regula Bösiger on Mar 18, 2008

    Dear Tracy, our mother is the cousin of Arno P. Calderari. We,two sister Regula and Christine Bösiger live in Swtzerland. Unfortunately, we cannot find anymore all his adventure documentary films he made and would like to ask you where we could get it. On if its documentary is the one you are describing in your blog “Adventure of an Amazon Explorer”. Should you be in possession of any additional information we would be very pleased to get it. You may reach us under: regi.boesiger@bluewin.ch
    In anticipation, we thank you very much for your assistance in this matter.
    With kind regards,

    Regula Bösiger and Christine Dörig-Bösiger

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