I’m so guilty of living in the past that there are times when even I can’t stand it. My love of the old movies, as I watched them as a kid, remains and will always live on in my mind’s eye and in my heart’s throbbing. I grew up believing almost everything I saw on…
Many of our younger thespians are unaware of what transpired prior to their entering the commercial voice over world. Others are in search of the most beneficial way of continuing their pursuits of excellence as a talent. When I’m asked what it was like a few years ago, almost all are surprised at my history…
“So, what’s new?” Are you inquiring as to the welfare of my family, or are you asking me, da harv, the casting director, the freelance director, the guy running a school, an office, a recording studio, or just plain Harvey Kalmenson, a man who finds himself, constantly running, like many of his colleagues, trying to…
If you hang out long enough, and enjoy even a modicum of success, someone is bound to ask you how you got into this business. “How’d you get your start?” is the usual way the question is posed. Others are perhaps more specific; they’ll ask, “How did you get into voice over?” If it happens…
Agents. (Necessary, but not necessarily evil.) * The “commercial talent agent;” you will by necessity have to be in a working relationship with them.* Without an agent, the voice over artist has little chance of success (in Los Angeles). It may be of interest if we begin by understanding what an agent actually is, and…
Taking a page from “Mission Impossible,” your goal, if you choose to accept it, is to make your heart sing. Sing with the joy of knowing you are attempting to succeed, with no thoughts of odds, or predictions.— hk It’s your bed, my friend. Stop calling it a business. It isn’t a business. It’s a…
Expect, feel an emotional twinge, reserved for those with hearts large enough, to relive a moment in time, which changed the breath and shape of our country, and the world. It was an era of endless tests, developed at the end of our country’s worst crisis since the Civil War, and a depression of such…
“Each alone must seek out another Then the two join hands as friendsProviding the rhythms of a new parade And on it will go, and grow For only friendship will ease the vacancy, Experienced by those of us Within our selected art form” HK I grew up hearing my father’s words and deeds. His doctrine…
During the winters of my junior and high school years, when I spent fewer hours competing in school sports, I often devoted industrious days and weeks working in many of the tiny legit theatres, which dotted a narrow stretch of Santa Monica Blvd. Today, “Equity Waiver” productions are usually presented in these houses with less…
Many of the subjects I write about are generated from the literally thousands of questions I’ve had to deal with in our world of the commercial voice over. While commercial voice over is definitely an acting craft, there is a certain amount of difference between how the actors relate during the commercial VO audition and…