Most people have one friend from their childhood who blew the bell
curve out of the water. In my circle of high school friends this was
no easy feat; most of my friends were artistic brainiacs all vying for
the role of valedictorian at graduation. (There is no easy explanation
for my inclusion in such a group -- kindness? Diversity? My inability
to take a hint?)
One of these friends, Brian Fairlee, stands out. Not only did he do pretty much everything he did well, but he did it big,
too. Most of us were band geeks, but Brian was the drum major. Most
of us were creative, but Brian had been writing, filming, casting,
voicing and editing his own movies since junior high, learning it by
doing it. If something interesting was happening, Brian was probably
at the center of it.
It figured that he would have an
interesting life after high school. He went to USC and graduated from
its prestigious film school. He was a DJ for a
campus radio station. And he started a career in the entertainment
business.
But Brian's career is not in front
of the camera, and not exactly behind it, either: Brian is a voiceover
specialist.
You have heard Brian and you didn't even know it – maybe
even yesterday. I hear his voice fairly often on television, because
Brian's specialty is voicing commercials promoting upcoming movies and
DVDs. (Brian voiced a radio public service announcement for me this
past spring, which I posted here.
I sent him the script and within about half an hour he sent me the
audio track – no directing needed; he just nailed it the first time.
It's nice to work with a pro.)
I posed a list of questions to Brian, which he was kind enough to answer for me.
FOOLERY: Can you describe, better than I can, what a voiceover artist does?
BRIAN: Luckily for me, it isn't
too hard to actually do voiceover once you're lucky enough to get the
chance to do it. I always say that anyone who can read aloud, which
we've all done since grade school, can essentially be a voiceover
artist. You just need about a hundred other things to fall into place.
Basically, for each job, I'm handed
a script, escorted into an isolated recording booth, asked if I want
any water or anything at all, and when they tell me to, I read the
"copy" [meaning script] into
a microphone, and moments later the director or producer of the spot
I've been hired to read repeatedly tells me why I'm reading it wrong.
The engineer records each "take" and I walk out feeling like I've
pulled the wool over everyone. Somehow after I leave, the words are
edited into the spot and magically sent to TVs around the world. I'm
sure I've left out a few steps. Maybe about a hundred.
FOOLERY: How did you get into the voiceover business?
BRIAN: Believe it or not, I was born
certified 100% USDA Grade-A Ham.
The youngest of three kids, I was
constantly trying to get attention. Soon I was singing, acting, and
basically making noise constantly. “Look At Me” was my motto. I was
always fond of talking into microphones, as is evident in a recording
circa 1972 where I pretended to host "The Price Is Right" from my
sickbed, playing Bob Barker, Johnny Olson, the contestants and the
audience simultaneously.
Download PRICE_BFAIRLEE_6YRS
After I grew up and graduated
college, I ended up working for an advertising agency that specialized
in movie ads. There I worked my way up through the ranks until I was cutting trailers and TV spots as an editor. By the time I started editing spots, I had already been
"scratching" other people's rough cuts for timing. A "scratch" is the
term used for a temporary voiceover (VO). Of course I always read my
own rough cuts because I knew exactly how I wanted them read and could
re-read them as needed. Once the spots would go to finish (for air or
theatrical release) my voice would get replaced with a professional
voice from the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG). During that time, several
people who heard my reads suggested I try to get an agent. But I was
too busy to look into it.
Years later, I finally got the opportunity to join SAG, acquire an agent, start reading for real and actually finish on spots.
FOOLERY: Did you have special voice coaching, or did you learn by trial and error?
BRIAN: I never took classes, though I was
always told I should. Rather, I preferred on-the-job training. My
"voice coaches" were the big stars of voiceover who would come in and
read for our spots. Don La Fontaine, Andy Gellar, Chuck Rielly, Mark
Elliot, Philip Clark, John Leader, Ashton Smith, and so many others
inadvertently taught me how to read for movie ads because I heard them
every day, directed their sessions, and edited their reads into my own
spots.
I have always considered myself a
mimic, so basically the character I become when I read is an amalgam of
all my favorite voiceover artists. Of course it varies based on the
genre of the movie being marketed. Believe it or not you can say "In a
world" many different ways.
I believe that being an editor
taught me how to read properly as well. I've heard many times from
other editors how my reads always seem to flow just right. They tell
me when they are asked to replace me with another VO, it often screws
up the pace of the spot. When it comes to movie copy, I guess I've
told these "stories" so many times through narration and editing, that
the "language" is second nature. Like my website slogan says, "Same Old Words. Brand New Voice."
FOOLERY: What are some of the memorable voicing jobs you've done?
BRIAN: I had to read for Disney-On-Ice
several times and each time, the client wanted me to read the copy with
more energy. By the end of the takes I was screaming the words. They STILL wanted more energy. I finally said, "If I read this with any more energy, I will turn inside out."
I was the voice on commercials for
"Disney's Little Einsteins" DVDs for some time and went into a session
where there were some little kids hanging out with their parents. When
they heard me reading, their eyes lit up in recognition. "It's the
Little Einsteins guy," one of them said as I left. That was my rock
star moment.
Another time, I was hired to read
based on my sample reel. After the first take, I heard the director
sigh heavily. This wasn't a good sign. Later, she told my agent she
didn't want to pay for the session because I didn't sound like me. To
this day, I'm not sure how that's even possible.
The most fun I recall having was
reading for "MADtv" a couple of seasons ago. I
called myself the poor man's Don Pardo [a career Announcer Guy best known as the announcer for “Saturday Night Live”].
I read the cast names at the beginning and various bumpers for each
commercial break. Sometimes they would have me read VO for a sketch.
The best one was a "Dreamgirls" spoof.
I've also read on the road during
vacations, which can be quite memorable. I've read in Washington D.C.,
Orlando, and Mammoth. These days, if you carry just a little bit of
gear, you can read from virtually anywhere and email an audio file to
your client.
FOOLERY: Cranky customers cause
headaches for retail clerks; hurricanes cause migraines for phone
repair guys. What stuff brings out the Excedrin in your line of work?
BRIAN: Making me read over and
over and over when the first couple of takes work fine is highly
annoying, but because the pay is good, I'll read as long as it takes
and feel pretty lucky to have the opportunity to do so.
FOOLERY: Your job, working in the film and television business, probably sounds glamorous to most people. What are the perks?
BRIAN: Lots of free water.
Sometimes they pay for parking. But seriously, some people are overly
effusive about the "work,” which feels odd to me. I still maintain
that it's just reading. Everyone who's been to school can do it.
Recently, I have established a
relationship with a film director who sent me swag (promotional goodies
from his movie) and invited me to the premiere. That is highly out of
the ordinary and lots of fun for me.
FOOLERY: Are you taking your career in new directions?
BRIAN: I'd love to be in control of my own
destiny, but frankly, I take what opportunities come my way. Right
now, I am being utilized by Nickelodeon for movies that they are
producing with Dreamworks like "Kung Fu Panda," "Madagascar: Escape 2
Africa," and "Hotel For Dogs." My mother-in-law thinks there's a lot
to be made in the on-hold telephone sector. As goofy as I thought this
was, I was actually tapped to do such a thing. It happened to be for a
production company and I was basically narrating TV show promos, but if
you call (818) 728-7600 you can ask to be put on hold and hear the work
I did for that.
But I am most happy reading movie
commercials. The pay scale is the best and the work is the least
taxing. As they say, "It's nice work if you can get it."
Unfortunately most of the time that's a big IF. That's why I still
edit. (Kept my day job.)
FOOLERY: By the way, next time you
ask me to be in one of your homegrown movies, would you please tell me
ahead of time if YOU will be dubbing your voice in over mine? I
wouldn't dress so butch next time. I swear I came off like John
Lithgow.
BRIAN: Ah yes, you did appear in
the 1982 cult classic "Blood of E. Ville," didn't you? And yes, I
performed about 18 voices in that post production attempt at a
soundtrack. My friend Sam Shult and I had no sound recording
capability while shooting, so we recreated everything "live" and
recorded it to audio cassette while watching the edited movie. It was
a similar process to foley
and ADR for feature films [Automated Dialogue Replacement, a form of dubbing],
only pathetically executed and the results were staggeringly bad. For
some reason, I remember it wasn't possible to assemble the entire cast
(scheduling, space, patience), so we did the next best thing which was
to read all the parts ourselves while playing records and throwing
things around the room to make sound effects. Those were the days.
If you want to hear some of Brian's
voiceover samples – there are plenty you'll recognize – visit his web
site, brianfairlee.com. Many thanks to my friend for taking the time to share his world with us.
our soft little heads were filled with images of
a gluttonous Cookie Monster, a misanthropic and wholly unsanitary Oscar the
Grouch, and two male roommates (Bert and Ernie) whose lifestyle has been the
subject of much public debate over the last almost 40 years.
how will they ever make it from the parking lot
into the 7-11, past the nicotine addicts, without needing therapy?
Maisie also has a web site and ships her
products anywhere. I buy things from Maisie's store (nuts, candy, olive oil,
olives, etc.) for Christmas gifts every year. She and her husband Isidro grow
the organic almonds, then the nuts are flavored and packaged by Maisie's
company. The company makes the pies, too.
is a stickler for detail. His favorite phrase is,
"That was great, now do it again, JUST LIKE THAT," and he says it about 35 times
in a shoot. His trained eye sees so much that we mere mortals would never
notice, and therefore the resulting quality of his work is exceptional. And so
he made all of us eat
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