AGDC08: David Pizzuto, David Sobolov, and Mark Friedlander - Speaking Up for S.A.G., New Media

I meant to post this up sooner, but my pals Pizzuto and Sobolov were down in Austin for the Game Developer's Conference. They were manning the S.A.G. booth there, and talking to people about actor's increasing role in new media and video games.

In an industry where games like GTA 4 can gross $500 million in one week, production relying more and more on seasoned performers bringing their creations to life (yet still paying very little comparatively), and with new media contracts up for negotiation in the Fall, I think it's a conversation worth having.

Gaming blog Joystiq covered the booth, and even posted audio and video of some of these guys in action.

Here's the vid:


If you watch to the end, you can see the guy who replaced me as the booth director at Abrams, LOL!

Check out the rest of the post for audio samples of Pizzuto and Sobolov, and more coverage of GDC08.

AGDC08: The Screen Actors Guild Wants You To Hear Its Game Voice(s)

Getting the job DONE! - Recording in an airport with Pizzuto

This was just a funny little story from my pal David:

When David Sobolov, Mark Freidlander and Eric Williams from SAG and myself, were traveling back from the GDC in Austin, we were changing planes in Phoenix when we got a call from AAA for a last minute audition. I had my studio with me in it's roll on case and so we asked the airline personnel if we could set up and record to send an audition to LA.
LOL, after a few quick explanations to gaping mouths and questioning eyes, they shrugged and said sure. I whipped out the Powerbook, mBox, neumann mic, headphones and between airport announcements were knocking takes out when the TSA showed up with the airport police. After a quick explanation of what the gear was and what we were doing with about 30 minutes to flight time, we cranked out, edited and sent the auditions to Abrams in LA using the airport wi-fi...to the applause of the small crowd gathered and thanked them for their silence, patience and understanding...and on to our flight back to LA.

Thanks David!

Gaming Angels Interviews David Sobolov and David Pizzuto, PART 2

The SEQUEL!
Here's the rest of David Sobolov's and David Pizzuto's interview with Gaming Angels.

Being asked what their favorite characters to perform:

Sobolov: I showed up for an audition for Transformers and they said they were looking for a David Sobolov-type. At the end of the audition I said, "Was I David Sobolov enough for you?" My favorite characters are the delicious villains that are tortured yet powerful and are feeling all this inner turmoil, but then they use it to strike out at people. Again, it's not who I am, but it's fun to play. There was this character called Malebolgia in this game called Spawn. (In Malebolgia's voice) "Down low, and they put the microphone close to my lips and blow it up huge." And it sounds like I could kill a thousand people at once.

Pizzuto:They are the best, in a general sense, the dark twisted guys. It's kind of like a delicious meal that you wouldn't eat every day. I think it's a universal thing with actors, especially if they allow you some latitude and breathing room with this thing, no pun intended, because a lot of these guys are very down low and just kind of wallowing in this sickness and evil. It's a cathartic thing.

Click HERE for the rest of Part 2!

Click HERE for Part 1!

Gaming Angels Interviews David Sobolov and David Pizzuto

These two guys have been working EXTREMELY hard at getting actors a better deal on video game work, and I'm very proud to say I know them.

Gameangels has the first half of a great interview up. They spoke with David and David at the Game Developer Conference in Austin about some of the challenges facing this industry. It's a great read, and I highly recommend checking it out if you're interested at all in what it takes to get a game made these days.

Read the interview here.

They also touched on briefly, the possible WGA strike, and I think David Pizzuto's thoughts sum it up fine:

Due to legal reasons, they were not able to comment on the impending strike by the Writers Guild of America. However, David P. summed up his personal feelings of strikes in general by saying, "As a performer, it makes people in the town nervous. Even the mention of the "S" word makes people crazy. You see production ramp up and you see a lot of emotional reaction as opposed to appropriate response." Mark concluded, "Consumers don't want that, producers don't want that, actors don't want that. Everybody wants to do business and play games and watch movies and see TV shows. The world's a happy place when that happens."

Well done. Couldnt've said it better myself...

GameZombie.TV Interviews David Sobolov

First off, it's Game Zombie. That's just cool since I'm a sucker for zombie flicks.

***[Ed. note, Game Zombie has NOTHING to do with the Zombie movies linked to above. Audio Guy's just a big ole nerd.]***

Secondly it's David Sobolov. A pretty cool guy, I've had the pleasure of meeting, and is pretty much video game VO elite. If you've played anything in the last 9 years, you've probably heard this guy's voice.

Thirdly it's on Revver, so you ... uh ... can watch it...