SAG Foundation Live Streams ‘How to Get Paid for Reading Books’ Tonight

Panel features top audiobook narration experts
including Vice President of Audible.com

(Los Angeles, CA) –On Thursday, January 10 at 6:00 p.m. PST, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation will live stream its LifeRaft panel: ‘How to Get Paid for Reading Books’ for SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity members as well as the larger acting and voice-over communities. Top industry experts will explain the skills, techniques and knowledge it takes to be an audiobook narrator. Panelists include Jason Ojalovo, Vice President of Audible.com, the largest online provider of digital audiobooks.

Topics to be covered include: how best to prepare to be an audiobook narrator, breaking into the audiobook business, dos and don'ts of making an audiobook demo, prepping a book for narration, what to expect behind the mic, handling characters and accents, and what is ACX.com and how can it be used to find work. The live stream event is part of the SAG Foundation’s LifeRaft program that provides innovative, no-cost professional development seminars and panels for actors on the business of acting.

“The SAG Foundation is proud to be a conduit for SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity members to access valuable career-enhancing information at no cost. Even though our programs are educational, we are always inspired when they lead to actual work for actors,” says Rochelle Rose, SAG Foundation National Director of Actors Programs.

To view the 'How to Get Paid for Reading Books’ live stream, go to: sagfoundation.org/videogallery/livestream beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST tonight. Live stream viewers can email questions to LiveStream@sagfoundation.org or tweet to #SAGF. Following the event, the video will be posted on the SAG Foundation’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/SAGFoundation.

For more information on the SAG Foundation and its no-cost assistance and professional development programs for working actors and performers go to sagfoundation.org.

The Panelists for ‘How to Get Paid for Reading Books’

Scott Brick has performed on film, television and radio, while his stage appearances throughout the U.S. include Cyrano, Hamlet and Macbeth. In the audio industry, Scott has won over 40 Earphones Awards, as well as the 2003 and 2008 Audie Awards, both in the Best Science Fiction category. Having recorded over 500 audiobooks, Scott has been proclaimed both a Golden Voice by AudioFile Magazine and the 2007 Narrator of the Year by Publishers Weekly. Among the classics Scott has narrated are In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Dune by Frank Herbert, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, White Jazz by James Elroy and Mystic River by Dennis Lehane.

Patrick Fraley is one of the best and known and respected people in the voiceover industry North America. He has been teaching vocal performance for 40 years, has produced hundreds of audiobook demos, and has guided more performers into meaningful voiceover careers than anyone voiceover instruction. As a performer, he has created voices for over 4,000 characters, placing him in the top ten actors of all time to be cast in animated TV shows. He is also a multiple Audie Award nominee and winner.

Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, Earphone Award winner, and one of Audiofile magazine's Best Voices of 2010 and 2011. She has recorded close to 150 audiobooks, consistently garnering glowing reviews. She performs in her own studio on a regular basis, as well as with producers across the country. Hillary and Pat have been teaching audiobook narration and producing demos together for ten years and have helped many students gain flourishing careers in audiobooks.

Jason Ojalvo has spent twenty years helping creative individuals – actors, dancers, musicians – make a living from their art. He is Vice President at Audible, a division of Amazon.com. He oversees Audible Studios, the company's audiobook production department which creates thousands of audiobooks each year and in 2012 received 37 Audie Award nominations. He also launched, and now runs, the groundbreaking ACX.com (Audiobook Creation Exchange) service which connects voice actors with great books to create more audiobooks for the ever-growing base of audiobook listeners. Ojalvo holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York.