My interview on Karate Kid Fanatics Podcast is out, watch me talk about pawn shop video cameras and editing with two VHS decks.
SPM had some very nice things to say in a recent social media post:
Susan Page Modeling
February 23 at 7:05 PM · Instagram ·
Congratulations to SPM Voiceover Workshop Instructors, Sara Lynn Holbrook and Jef Holbrook, on this amazing booking! We are SO lucky to have their talents on board with our SPM Ohana. They are so invested in the success of our students- it’s like they’ve been with us forever! SIGN UP TO WORK WITH THEM this Sunday, February 28th at 3-5pm HST. Their popular VO series has helped our students build confidence, add to their skills, and book! Sign up online or by calling 955-2271. Congrats again to @saralynnholbrook and @jefholbrook. We can’t wait to watch!
It’s been a real joy to work with them and their students, one of them even just booked a VO gig, which SPM highlights in this post:
We love this photo of SPM student, Aliya, working in the Voiceover booth this week! There is so much VO work now and we love to see our students diving in to add to their skill set! Aliya is in our Adult Acting class and also takes our VO workshop. Want to join her? Sign up for our next VO workshop, taking place TOMORROW from 3-5pm! Sign up online today!
#Repost @aliyalangi with @get_repost
・・・
So fun to be back in a recording studio working with director @mmaslarjr on his new film! Can’t wait to see it all come together I felt a lot more relaxed and prepared going into the session thanks to recent trainings with @saralynnholbrook @jefholbrook @heyitseesh @susanpagemodeling @acluster
I play a hapless Public Defender in this BET+ original produced by Manns-Mackie Studios.
"After becoming the youngest female, minority judge elevated to the bench in her state, Angela Sylvester quickly finds herself trapped into a 'Kids for Pay' prison scam orchestrated by her boss, Judge Cynthia Paulino. Fearing her legal career and dream of becoming a federal judge is over, she struggles and her career spirals out of control. Afraid, she takes the advice of a close friend and turns to her faith to find the strength needed to redeem herself of the crimes committed."
You can stream the movie with a free trial over at BET+
Photo Credit DSoul FotoArtistry
I mean, I just dig the dude’s energy.
Right now Sara and I are working with some really cool folks to help John make a short film and I’m just enjoying the damn thing so much. John tries to stay humble and all that (just try to give him a compliment to watch a master class at deflection and redirection) so I’ll try to avoid embarrassing him too much here.
Brian of Lion House fame has been very gracious in opening his home to us for the shoot. The Lion House is a character in the film, in her own way. It’s been really comforting to see some familiar faces (looking at you, Nolan) and it’s been humbling to work with new people who are so on their game (thanks, Matt and Stewy).
There are some really talented film artists here in Columbus and I feel very lucky to have a front row seat to watch them work.
I’m super happy to be hopping back in to the voiceover studio to record some more space pirate shenanigans to close our 2019!
The Film Thing
Or: On Going Forward Back Home
I’m really lucky to get to do film in my hometown.
Like, really lucky.
But that was never the plan.
Here’s the thing: my wife and I left Columbus about seven years ago to move to Atlanta to “do the film thing” which, in this case, was acting. We had agents and stuff. We were booking things in Atlanta even though we were living in Columbus. So, we thought we needed to be a little closer to the metro area in order to book more things. At least I think that was the idea. I know we were looking for a change. I’m not sure what we thought would be different… maybe we just needed to see what would happen. So, we move. We roll the dice.
Things go pretty well, I guess. Sara Lynn books some TV, I book some TV and also get pretty heavily into the audiobook narrator thing. The plan was working for the most part.
The part that wasn’t working (also known as “the least part”) was that while we had pretty good day jobs between bookings, these jobs weren’t what we moved to Atlanta to do. They were a way to pay the bills. We observed from the lives of our pals that’s sort of the actor’s life in Atlanta: day gigs in some other field while you and your agent pursue bookings. If you aren’t independently wealthy (we aren’t), you find a job that won’t fire you whenever you book a show. That’s just the way it was, so we didn’t think much about it.
But major life events have a way of snapping your life into focus.
This time is was our wedding.
Actually, it was the reception.
My new wife and I had been trying to dance to “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” It was the one song Sara Lynn really wanted to dance to and there we were… not dancing. Instead we had been stopped outside the dance floor by Paul Pierce to have a little chat about. We were talking about the film industry in Columbus. I didn’t realize there was a film industry in Columbus. Paul told us that there isn’t one yet but the wind and the wizards all predict that it’s coming and he was hoping that we could be a part of it. I believe that is when we were first offered the job to create with Paul what would become Springer Film Institute. I say ‘believe” because Sara Lynn insisted we get out on the dance floor as soon as possible and politely but firmly ended the conversation so we could get back out there… but by then the song was over. There would be no dancing to “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Lots of other dancing, just not that song.
Today, whenever we hear “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” we stop and dance. I think we’ll be trying to get that dance back for the rest of our lives.
Anyway, we promised Paul we would get back to him about the whole “film in Columbus thing.” Our wedding was in November and we did get back to him sometime in January. What we learned from Paul kind of changed our tune and later changed the current course of our new life together for the better.
We learned that Columbus, our little hometown, was all grown up and had become serious about film. We learned that there was a program in place to fund filmmakers and that major studios and indy pictures were going to try their hands at shooting some projects in Columbus. Paul offered us a chance to make film our new “day job” and we took it. It was a terrifying, exciting time then as we put together plans for leaving the life we built together in Atlanta to go back home and try something new. We honestly weren’t sure if it was going to be a step forward or back at the time but we new it was something different. We left our hometown to pursue a change and as counterintuitive as it seemed, we were now going back home for an even bigger change.
Turns out that we weren’t going back to our hometown. We were going forward to a new, if familiar, place. And pretty soon after we settled in, we realized how much better it was to get to go to work together. To share an office. To be a team at home (still newlyweds remember) and at work. We also got to produce a cool miniseries written by a Columbus screenwriter, directed by, crewed by and starring local Columbus filmmakers. It’s called Grounds and it’s really good.
And within those early days, Sara Lynn and I finally got to be in a movie together called The Long Night. Not just in the movie together, but we have a scene together. I can’t tell you how cool it is to go to set with your wife but yeah…it’s freaking cool.
Which brings us back to today.
We’ve been in Atlanta together this past week, staying in the house we got married in (which belongs to our friends now, who are also newlyweds), to screen Grounds, a Columbus film, at an Atlanta film festival. We are staying an extra couple of days because we also have to do some ADR (voiceover) for The Long Night while we’re here. We were originally asked to come to Los Angeles for the session, but the producers were nice enough to let us do the voiceover at a studio here.
So today I will be at Crawford Media, one of my favorite studios ever, to do voiceover in Atlanta for a production team based in Los Angeles for a film that will be distributed worldwide but was filmed… in Columbus.
In my little hometown.
Lucky.
Having a blast attending the Urban MediaMakers Film Festival today with Sara Lynn Holbrook, Natalia Temesgen, Will Oliver and Mustapha Slack. We’re screening episode one “Bunker Down.” This is our second film festival for this episode after our premiere at Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland.
Once again, happy to be narrating for the New York Times' Audible Channels edition. You can find out more about Audible Channels by visiting audible.com/channels. For links to previous times I've narrated with NYT and other publications, check out jefholbrook.com/audio or see the links below.
Very pleased to share that Greetings Friend Your Kind Assistance is Required has been recommended by the Suzi Bass Awards, in addition to being named a Best Bet by Encore ATL. Tickets are still available at get.org.
From the Suzi Awards Site:
What does it mean to be "Suzi Recommended"?
The Suzi Bass Awards send five Recommending Judges to the opening night of eligible shows. Those judges complete a form scoring all of the individual elements of a production including acting, directing, and design elements. Those scores are tallied and averaged to obtain a final production score. If that score is sufficient, then the show is Suzi Recommended.
After a show is deemed Suzi Recommended, notice is sent to the Play or Musical Panel judges to attend during the run. Those judges keep notes on the production for use when completing their end-of-the-season Nomination Ballots.
Suzi Recommended shows are eligible to receive nominations from our panel judges at the end of the season. Those nominations lead to Suzi Awards!
More information on the Awards Process
THE 12th ANNUAL SUZI AWARDS CEREMONY
November 7
View more
Honestly not much more I can say about that today, at least not until the film is released. If I make if off the cutting room floor I'll let you know. =)
In the meantime, here's some articles from IMDB and Variety:
http://variety.com/t/office-uprising/
http://variety.com/2016/film/markets-festivals/brenton-thwaites-lin-oeding-office-uprising-1201901343/