Archives for May 2024

Sam Malone – Managing the Mic – Insights and Adventures in Media- Part 2

May 30, 2024 by Nicky Mondellini

Episode Notes

In this second part of Nicky Mondellini’s interview with media veteran Sam Malone, delve deeper into the world of media management, memorable experiences, and the evolution from radio personality to media mogul.

In This Episode:

Mic Management Tales: Strategies for handling dominant guests during interviews.
Presidential Inaugurations: Sam shares firsthand experiences from attending George W. Bush’s inaugurations.
Sammy’s Singles: The backstory of Sam’s successful singles event series that led to numerous marriages.
From Radio to Media Empire: How Sam transitioned to owning a successful creative media company.
Navigating Business Crises During COVID: How Sam’s firm adapted strategies to support clients during the pandemic.

Key Moments:

00:00 – Recap of Part 1 and introduction to Part 2
02:15 – Discussing challenges with overbearing interviewees
07:00 – Anecdotes from attending presidential inaugurations
12:50 – Success and impact of Sammy’s Singles events
17:30 – Evolution from radio personality to media mogul
24:45 – Crisis management during the COVID pandemic
29:30 – Sam’s future aspirations and dream interviews
34:00 – Closing thoughts and where to find Sam online

Resources Mentioned:

Sam’s Company: 512 New Media
Personal Website: sammalone.com

Connect with Sam Malone:

Website: sammalone.com
Business: 512 New Media

Subscribe and Follow:

Subscribe to La Pizarra on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.
Follow Nicky Mondellini on social media for the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content.

This episode, as well as most season 9 was recorded on SquadCast, the best platform for podcasts or meetings with up to nine guests with professional sound and video quality. You can choose your membership level after trying it free for seven days at: https://squadcast.fm/?ref=lapizarra

Subscribe to La Pizarra so you never have to miss an episode. Feel free to download and share them on social media, your comments are well received!

** Visit https://www.nickymondellini.com to learn about the work of actress, host and voiceover artist Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky Mondellini is an internationally known artist with more than thirty years of artistic career. Her voice is heard in commercials on television, radio and digital platforms worldwide. She has been the host and producer of La Pizarra since 2020.

Her work as an actress includes more than a dozen telenovelas, and drama shows, classical and contemporary Spanish plays, shorts and feature films, and the hosting of morning shows in Mexico and the United States, as well as on camera commercials, and promotional and corporate videos.

Follow Nicky on:

Instagram @nickymondellini

X @nicky3ch_nicky

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LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/nickymondellinivoiceover

Transcript

Sam Malone: We got 400 people at that Sammy’s Singles. We realized we were on to something, so every two or three times a year, we’d have a Sammy’s Singles event. The largest was 5,000 people showed up at Greenspoint Mall.

Nicky Mondellini: Wow.

Sam: Guns Point. We have 28 marriages and 27 children born as a result of Sammy’s Singles. Two of the kids are named after me.

Nicky: [laughs]

[music]

Announcer: La Pizarra (The Slate), exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky: Welcome to La Pizarra. My name is Nicky Mondellini, and I’m very happy that you’re joining us today. This is part two of last week’s episode. Enjoy.

I think there’s also a flip side of that that has happened to me on occasion. I won’t say names. Once, I interviewed this woman, and she just practically took over. Wouldn’t even let me ask anything else. It’s as though I was standing in front of her, grabbed the microphone from me, just went off on her own. I’m like, I have this list of 10 questions that I’m probably not going to be able to– If I ask three of them, I feel fortunate. It was really hard because I also wanted to get certain things like the juicy bits of information that I wanted to share with my audience that she had to give, but it’s hard to steer them in that way. Have you had any situation like that before?

Sam: Oh, yes. That’s a given. You’re going to have mic grabbers. If you remember talk shows, I don’t watch talk shows anymore, but Phil Donahue or Oprah would come down to talk to a person and the person would grab the mic, and then Oprah would have to pull the mic back or they would turn it off. There’s nothing you can do and just say, hold on, hold on, we have more people to get to. Hopefully, they’ll get it, but you’re right, mic grabbers happen. There’s nothing you can do about that.

Nicky: Yes. Exactly. All you can do is try to cut in there. I think I heard this interview with Terry Gross from NPR and she mentioned something like that. She’s like, “Well, I’ve had people that don’t let me talk. I just have to be persistent and then just– Sometimes I don’t have to be so nice, just interrupt them so I can get the important question in there.” It’s not easy, but it does happen. Anyway.

I know that you attended both of the inaugurations of George W. Bush. How was that, just to be there and be close to all those people? Did you ever think you’d ever be in those situations?

Sam: No. I don’t think there’s many kids thrown out of public schools for fighting who were there. That was really cool because we were like, “Oh my gosh, George W. Bush.” My wife had said, we were at dinner, the elections had already passed and somebody is talking about the inauguration, my wife Denise goes, “Get tickets for the inauguration.” I’m like, “Okay. How do you do that?” She’s like, “You figure it out.” I’m like, “I don’t know. How do you get tickets to an inauguration? I don’t know that.” It’s a mission. It’s asking questions.

There was actually a Democrat congressman who I was friends with, I’m Republican and he’s Democrat. I called him. He goes, “Funny, you should call.” He says, “I can’t give these tickets away to my constituents.” [laughter] He says, “Nobody I know wants them. I was thinking of you and you called me,” so he gave me the two tickets.

Nicky: Wow. Perfect.

Sam: I went to– There’s a big party called Black Tie and Boots in Washington, in which the Texans have their own party, regardless. Now, it happened to be a Texan became the president in George W. Bush. It was awesome. Those are crazy parties. We got to go, I’m very blessed to have seen it and gotten close. My wife and I had time for some other missions and adventures.

I had asked some people that I want to meet President Bush one-on-one with Laura. They said we’ll let you know. We got the call. “We’ll give you five minutes with the president.” Denise and I– He came to fly into town for an event here, but they had a private little room set up just so that we could go talk to him. The great thing about media is if you just are respectful and nice, you can go a lot of places.

Nicky: Yes. Oh, for sure.

Sam: If you’re just respectful and nice.

Nicky: Yes. Exactly. I think that’s the key. You have to be respectful, for sure. I think you’re also responsible for helping a lot of people meet their spouses, right? Because you had this events thing that you were hosting. Tell us a little bit about that.

Sam: Oh my God. It was called Sammy’s Singles. This goes back. On the radio, it’s a whole nother story, but I was always told on the radio, here at KRBE in fact, don’t talk about being married. Don’t talk about being happily married. Don’t talk about your wife is hot. All this garbage. I was like, “Yes, you know what? You can stick that you know where.” I pushed the other way. I would tell people, “I hope and pray that y’all meet the man or woman in your life who will make your life better. You can start a family, bring God into your relationship. You create children, so forth, and so on.”

How are you going to do it? People are like, “How do you do it? I can’t do it. I can’t do it.” I had said on the radio that I used to go food shopping around noon or 1:00, because the show was over. I’d go to the supermarket and I said, boy, you can sure tell a lot about people by what they shop, by what’s in their cart, right? You got a mom and she’s got 10 pounds of ground meat and 20 pounds of this and 10 gallons of milk. She’s got a big family. You would see women with one or two things of yogurt, one or two things out of ramen noodles. I said, well, she must live alone. I told this to her on the radio.

We got Randall’s on Voss near San Felipe to let us have a singles event in the supermarket at seven o’clock on a Wednesday night. The deal was, if you were single and you knew why you were there, you would look at people’s carts and start talking. If somebody busted you, you’d go, I didn’t know there was a singles event here. I’m just shopping. We got 400 people at that Sammy’s Singles. We realized we were on to something. Every two or three times a year, we’d have a Sammy’s Singles event. The largest was 5,000 people showed up at Greenspoint Mall.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: Guns Point. We have 28 marriages and 27 children born as a result of Sammy’s Singles. Two of the kids are named after me.

Nicky: [laughs]

Sam: Yesterday, I got an email from one of the children born, and they wanted to know if we had a copy of the broadcast. I said, “No. We don’t keep it, but great hearing from you.” 28 marriages and 28 kids, from a morning radio show? That’s nuts. That’s crazy.

Nicky: That is pretty special, Sam. Definitely. It’s gorgeous. Are you planning on doing something similar or no?

Sam: You’ve been up at the headquarters. We’re busier than ever. If we can ever do it again, maybe, but there’s just no time. Nick, there’s 24 hours in a day. Until there’s 25 or 26, I can’t.

Nicky: You can do it. Yes, I know. Now that you’re talking about new media, about your company, which is amazing. Your studios are state-of-the-art. I was just geeking over your beautiful screen, so large, and all the things you’re able to do there. How is it that right now you’re in that, as well as radio? How do you find time? Like you say, there’s not more time in the day. I know you have a good team with you, but how is it that you have been evolving from being a radio personality to being a creative and just producing videos and commercials and everything nationwide?

Sam: That’s a good question. Natural progression. Being on the radio and having clients in the studio, they were always asking for help, like I’d said. You realize there’s a niche in the market. There’s some opening that people aren’t aware of. Clients who are buying radio and TV need or needed more marketing help. They had more questions, and their questions were not being answered, and their needs were not being met by the current landscape of marketing, media, radio, and television.

I opened up this company 10 years ago– this is not an overnight success story– knowing that clients that I knew needed more help. They needed a trustworthy source. I’ve got, obviously, the radio and TV experience, so I’m the only one who brings a very unique perspective. I’m not a salesperson. I’m not a marketing person. I’m a creative on-air person. I know what works. I’ve listened to hundreds of thousands of commercials in my 37 years of radio. I know what people want to hear. I know how they want to hear it, how to reach people and the verbiage, and what goes along with it, video, social media, digital, whatever.

That’s how the company grew. It grew because clients who were on the radio, on television, buying billboards, buying print ads were not happy. They were not fulfilled in their quest to make their businesses the best possible. I’m thinking, “Hey, there could be–” I give credit to my wife. She was like, “Honey, people are coming to you because there’s a hunk of real estate that no one’s dealing with. Take care of that hunk of real estate.”

10 years ago, opened the company with one employee. He had a ponytail. We were in a little tight space and through God’s blessing and a lot of prayer and a lot of hard work, it’s not easy-

Nicky: For sure.

Sam: -you’ve been up, now we’ve grown and now we have a wonderful huge staff and we in-house build your website. We handle the creative, which is what I love to do, creative. We shoot the commercials. Obviously, your social media videos. We run the social media accounts. We handle crisis, which is interesting because I’m the only media guy who’s doing crisis. A lot of people have a communications degree, but I’ve been there on the front line. I can tell you how we can put out the fire.

It was one of those things. It was, keep your eyes open. In your own businesses, whether you’re selling shoes, or building swimming pools, you’re going to find, if you just keep your eyes open and pray a lot, an area that no one else is standing in. If you can, move your talent or company in that direction. That’s what we’ve done. It’s called 512 New Media. That’s what we’ve been doing. Like I said, it ain’t easy.

Nicky: It ain’t easy. Talking about crisis, I’m sure, something that really put a wrench into everybody’s work was, of course, COVID. I’m sure you had a lot of crisis calls from clients, “Ah, what do we do?” I saw a lot of people just solve it with animation, right? That they had probably wanted to shoot this whole commercial. They have this whole thing planned and their storyboard and everything, all of a sudden they have to transfer everything to an animated video or something like that. What are some of the things that you help clients with during that time?

Sam: Real quick on COVID, I’m one of the few businesses that refused to shut down and I refused to stay away from work. You cannot tell me I can not run my business. I don’t care.

Nicky: Sure.

Sam: You better have one hell of a street-fighting crew you want to pick that fight because I have a crew, employees. They got to eat. We got clients who are, “Help, help. What do we do?” We came in to work. I think the first seven or eight days, they really wouldn’t let me in the building. Then after that, I’m like, “Look, sue me. Come after me. I’ll sue you. One or the other. I don’t really care. We’re going to work.”

We came in, we were the only company working, and we took all the precautions. We all drank vodka and gargled and spit out the vodka, but we created businesses, B2B and B2C, business to business and business to consumers. What can you expect from our company now that the China flu is here? What can you do? Will you get your product? Will you not get your product? Will there be delays? What about payment? What about coming into our stores when we reopen? How should employees prep?

We were cranking out so many videos to save businesses because you are not going to shut me down, I don’t care who you are, and we’re not going to let you get shut down and get hosed. A lot of people lost businesses, lost a crap load of money. We prayed every day about it. We came in, other than those seven or eight days when they were real, “You’re not coming in.” I’m like, “Call my lawyers.” I’m calling everybody. We came in every day. I was here every single day of– I did not miss a day of 2020.

Nicky: Wow. I think that’s part of your success, how people know that you are there for them and you help them through those difficult times. You’re the guy to call whenever there’s a crisis and then they need to see make it happen.

Sam: You know what, Nick? A lot of these customers, I would say clients become our friends. If you ever see me out, we usually go out a lot, it’s because we’re out with our clients who are friends. I can’t let my friend’s business falter, stumble, die, close. I can’t do it. Those men and women have been there for me, either 10 years of my company or the 30 years I’ve been on the radio. We still have some of the same clients from ’93.

Nicky: Wow. [crosstallk]

Sam: Hell or high water. If you were in trouble, you’re a client of mine, you’re a friend, and you call like, “Sam, I need help. I don’t know what to do,” I would say, “Don’t come in if you don’t feel like it, but let’s talk. Let me bring my marketing expertise. Let’s help you. If you need–” Obviously, we can update the websites to, “Hey, we’re closed or we’re going to reopen or you can order online.” We can put the items up there. We can put videos for when you come into the store, keep six feet apart, wash your hands [unintelligible 00:14:40]

You’ve got to understand, I was never an owner until I was 50. I was an employee. Some people open up stores and businesses early on. I watched and helped people get wealthy through advertising, and I saw people really lose a lot, okay? When you get 50, you’re like, I don’t know, you get softer or something. I’m like, “We are going to help every single person, whether they can pay or not,” that was the other thing. There are people like, “I don’t have–” Whenever you ask for a dollar, I only have 20 cents, I say, “All right, we’ll take 20 cents. Just get back in business and let’s talk when you’re open again.”

Nicky: That’s amazing. That’s how you grow your loyal clients, for sure.

Sam: Likewise.

Nicky: Before I let you go, because I know you have pressing things to do right after, is there anyone that you still would like to interview that you haven’t had a chance to do?

Sam: These are tough questions. Is there anybody? Okay. There’s probably– I can think of maybe two. Living, right? Living?

Nicky: Yes. Well, you could choose a hypothetical, like if you could go back in time and– [laughs]

Sam: I hate that game. If I go back in time, I would have loved to have interviewed Ronald Reagan because he made such a 180-degree career change.

Nicky: Oof, talk about it. Yes.

Sam: Right from Hollywood and the head of that union, whatever that was, and the movies, to getting the world to chill out and oversee a great economy and all that. If we take living people, it would have to be two women who I used to talk about on the radio all the time, Martha Stewart and Jennifer Aniston.

Nicky: Wow. Great ladies, both of them.

Sam: Martha built up this incredible empire, screwed up, and built up the empire again-

Nicky: Yes, she did.

Sam: -by changing direction. Jennifer Aniston has been able to keep her brand pretty solid for her entire career, right?

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: When she was Rachel on Friends to today. She does some independents and some water commercials, whatever they are. As a marketing guy, this is what I do full-time, Martha Stewart was, seriously, the queen of all the home items from the cooking and the furniture and the desserts and the canapés, but she rebuilt herself, which is really cool. Jennifer, her brand hasn’t really changed in 30, 40 years, however old she is. As a marketing guy, I’d like to talk to those two. If you know them, here’s your way of repaying me for coming on your podcast.

Nicky: I wish I knew them, Sam, and I would get the interview for you right away. I’ll start to get onto their agents or something. We’ll make it happen somehow. I don’t know. Let’s manifest it.

Sam: Somehow I don’t think we’re going to have them, but it’s okay.

Nicky: You never know. We’ll put it out there. Sam, thank you so much. I really do appreciate you coming on the podcast. You do have your own podcast that you’re starting now as well, aren’t you?

Sam: We are launching. Yes. We were in talks today with syndicators, literally today.

Nicky: Oh.

Sam: I’ll get to it when it’s all squared away. Like I said, there are so many things going on at the company. You have to really compartmentalize your projects so you don’t get burned out. We talked with syndicators today. We have another call coming. It was a Zoom. We’re going to launch from here in our TV studios a really, really, really wonderful podcast for all, as we say, all 50 states.

Nicky: Oh, wonderful. Do keep me in the loop because I’d like to update what new things my guests have been doing so we can put it out there as well. We will definitely do that.

Sam: Oh, yes.

Nicky: Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thanks again, Sam. Just best of success with everything, podcast, and all of your endeavors.

Sam: Thank you. I’m going to be famous after this. I was just floating along, and then I come on this podcast, I know my career is finally going to take off.

Nicky: [laughs] On that note, where can people find you, find your website and everything? I’m going to put links to everything in the show notes.

Sam: The company is 512 New Media. 5-1-2, 512 New Media. As always, we keep our content at sammalone.com. Sammalone.com. It’s pretty simple, so check it out.

Nicky: Perfect. Okay. Definitely. All right, Sam. I’ll let you go now. Thank you so much for everything.

Sam: Thanks, Nick, and see ya.

Nicky: [laughs] I love that one.

[music]

Announcer: Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe on your podcast player or YouTube if you haven’t done so. Share what you liked about this episode on social media and tag us, @NickyMondelini.

Sam Malone – Unlock the Secrets of Successful Broadcasting- Part 1

May 23, 2024 by Nicky Mondellini

Episode Notes

Join us for an electrifying episode of La Pizarra as we dive into the dynamic world of broadcasting with none other than Sam Malone, a trailblazer in the radio industry and CEO of 512 New Media. Get ready to be captivated by Sam’s remarkable journey from finance whiz to radio icon as he shares his invaluable insights, hard-earned wisdom, and unforgettable experiences.

Key Highlights:

Discover Sam’s exhilarating leap into the world of radio, sparked by a fateful encounter with a legendary DJ.
Explore the thrilling evolution of media and the groundbreaking innovations that have reshaped the broadcasting landscape.
Gain exclusive access to Sam’s secrets of successful interviewing, including the art of active listening and the power of authentic storytelling.
Be inspired by Sam’s resilience and determination as he overcomes obstacles and navigates the ever-changing currents of the media industry.
Uncover expert tips and invaluable advice for aspiring broadcasters, from harnessing the latest technologies to staying true to your passion and vision.

Don’t Miss Out: This electrifying conversation is a must-watch for anyone with a love for broadcasting, media, or storytelling. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a budding enthusiast, Sam’s words of wisdom will inspire, educate, and entertain. Tune in now and embark on a thrilling journey into the heart of broadcasting excellence!

Connect with Sam Malone:

Website: sammalone.com
Business: 512 New Media

Subscribe to La Pizarra so you never have to miss an episode. Feel free to download and share them on social media, your comments are well received!

** Visit https://www.nickymondellini.com to learn about the work of actress, host and voiceover artist Nicky Mondellini.

Follow Nicky on:

Instagram @nickymondellini

X @nicky3ch_nicky

TikTok @nicky_mondellini

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nickymondellinivoiceover

LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/nickymondellinivoiceover

Transcript

Sam Malone: How do you get into radio? There’s medical school, dental school, accounting school, whatever. He told me, he was all slurred, but he told me these four things. I ran to my car, popped open the glove box, took out the insurance card, and wrote it down. I’m not making this up. Six weeks later, I was on the radio in Philadelphia doing mornings.

[music]

Announcer: La Pizarra, the Slate, exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky Mondellini: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of La Pizarra. We’re here continuing with Season 9. Can you believe it? Today, aside from thanking you, I also want to say that I’m super happy that you’re joining me because I’m very excited to share this interview with you. My guest has been inducted in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He has interviewed countless celebrities and politicians and everyone in between. Today, he’s also the CEO of his own media company. His name is Sam Malone.

Sam earned his BBA in finance from Temple University in his hometown of Philadelphia, but he started working in morning radio soon after graduation. He worked at legendary stations like Eagle 106 in Philadelphia and Kiss 98.5 in Buffalo, New York. Later, he arrived in Houston to take over the morning show at 104 KRBE. The Sam Malone Show hit number one and became a staple of morning drives for more than 12 years.

Clear Channel Radio made him an offer in 2005, and The Sam Malone Show then took Mix 96.5 all the way up to number one in the ratings. Clear Channel also offered Sam something that he couldn’t get elsewhere, his own talk show on 740 KTRH. From 6:00 to 9:00 AM, he hosted a top 40 morning show, and then from 10:00 to noon, talk radio, all in the same building. I really don’t know how he got the energy to do all of that.

Then Sam quickly realized the importance of video in today’s media landscape. He developed a video streaming platform, becoming the first radio host to televise his own show on smartphones and laptops on demand 24/7. He’s the permanent fill-in for nationally syndicated host Mike Gallagher, and he can be heard on over 300 radio stations with over seven million listeners.

In 2014, Sam opened Houston’s leading media marketing company, 512 New Media, which develops, creates, and delivers new media services, including website construction, email marketing, social media content and strategy, and video production. Then he also produces commercial content for clients nationwide in a variety of industries. Now, let’s explore the creative mind of Sam Malone. Hey, Sam. Welcome to La Pizarra. How are you?

Sam: Outstanding. Thank you for the invite, Nicky. It’s wonderful to be here.

Nicky: Well, I was super excited to do this interview because you have all the experience in the world with broadcast, radio, with interviewing people. Now, as a matter of fact, I wanted to say congratulations because you are celebrating this year 30 years of radioing, right? Of Houston radio.

Sam: 30 years. Believe it or not, 1993. February of 1993 is when I was shipped down here to take over KRBE, the morning show. It’s hard to believe it was 30 years ago. That is just unheard of.

Nicky: It just flies by, doesn’t it?

Sam: Yes, it does. It’s a good thing I was five when I took the job because I’m only 35 right now.

Nicky: Of course, you are. Nobody’s going to question that.

Sam: I’m only 35.

Nicky: Nobody will question that, Sam. [laughs] Anyway, let’s go a little bit into your background, into your history. I’m super curious to know how someone who goes from a BBA in finance suddenly decides to start in radio. How does that happen?

Sam: In this case, a true story. I’m not making this up. Yes, I was getting my degree. I was a senior in college. I was doing casino analysis, and I was an arbitrage specialist. That’s just, I love numbers. There was a pretty girl, a very pretty girl I asked to date. She wouldn’t date me. She literally said, “I’m not going to date you. You’re poor.” That’s what she said.

Nicky: Oh, come on.

Sam: Total truth, but she was so damn pretty and smelled so good and looked so good that I would drive her around. If she was going out, I’d be like, you need a ride? Just so the guys in the hood can see me with a really pretty girl, okay?

Nicky: Okay.

Sam: She says, one night she’s “Listen, I’m going to go meet my boyfriend.” I’m like, “Who’s your boyfriend?” She said his name, and I’m like, “That’s the guy on the radio. He’s a very famous disc jockey in Philadelphia.” She says, “Yes, do you want to meet him?” I’m like, “Of course.” I drive, of course, any chance to drive her around. It was about one o’clock in the morning in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which is outside of Philly, my hometown.

The DJ was doing an appearance. I’m like, “Oh, my God, listen to this guy. He was so cool.” He was very chemically enhanced in the parking lot. I’m bringing a pretty girl to meet him. There’s already six girls lined up to meet him as he’s leaning on his Mercedes. I’m like, “What is wrong with this picture? I have to work.” I literally walked up to him and I said, “I have to ask you a question.” I’m like, “How do you get in the radio? How does one?” Because here I’m doing casino analysis.

You can’t open up a casino. There’s rules and regs. It’s called barriers to entry. You can’t open up a bank if you want. You can’t open up an airport. How do you get into radio? There’s medical school, dental school, accounting school, whatever. He told me, he was all slurred. He told me these four things. I ran to my car, popped open the glove box, took out the insurance card, and wrote it down. I’m not making this up. Six weeks later, I was on the radio in Philadelphia doing mornings.

Now, I still had a semester or inside of a semester to go. I had to figure out how I was going to make my classes. I was running back and forth. I graduated, got my degree, kept working in Philadelphia. I was 22 years old. I was a knucklehead. That’s how I got into radio. It had nothing to do with– I don’t have a marketing background, a communications background, a radio background, a media background. All I wanted to do is have a gift for gab, but I just asked the right question at the right time and he answered the right question at the right time.

Nicky: Okay. I think that’s incredible because the first thing that got you into radio, it’s just like a little door that opens something that was just there for you in your destiny, I would say because nobody tries it out just to get that kind of a life if it’s not something that is really within you, if you’re not really destined to do that, if you don’t have that gift of talk, of knowing how to ask the right questions and everything.

I think it’s amazing how it all developed for you. You’ve been in this business for such a long time that it’s crazy how you started it without even that being your intent from the get-go, right?

Sam: Right. You’re spot on. I just asked that question because I’m very inquisitive. I had no idea about radio. I didn’t know nothing about radio. In fact, when I got the job, and I got into the radio station in Philadelphia, I didn’t know how to operate the board, the big control board that the DJ sits behind. I had to come up with a plan to take– there was an engineer. Engineers fix things at the radio stations. There was an engineer that nobody talked to.

He was a loner, weird-looking dude. I said to him, “Look, I will take you out to the finest restaurant in Philadelphia, or I’ll give you the cash. Can you sneak me in at night and show me how to turn on the microphone? How do you make a commercial? How do you play the music?” He was like, “What?” I’m like, “Dude, I’ll give you $200, whatever you want.” That’s like $450 today.

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: I came in at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning one day. He was there in another studio, and he said, “This is how you hit this button. This is for the mic. Hit this button. This is for the music. If you want to make a commercial, you hit record. It goes to the reel, whatever.”

Nicky: Wow. Oh, my gosh. That’s amazing. Would you say that’s one of the biggest obstacles that you’ve had in your career, just to learn that technical aspect?

Sam: Oh, there’s been a lot.

Nicky: Yes.

[laughter]

Sam: Listen, I’ll be real quick. I tell everybody, I sound like a nice guy on the radio. I was not a nice guy growing up in inner-city Philadelphia. I got thrown out of public schools for fighting in the eighth grade, and I had to stay home for a while. Then I had to go to school outside the city. That was an obstacle.

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: I didn’t have the grades. I got into Penn State first, but I failed out because I just was not academically suited at that moment. That was an obstacle, getting thrown out of a school like Penn State on grades. There’s been a lot of obstacles. Then I had to work to pay for college. My parents were blessed, gave me 25% of the tuition. That’s what they had saved. The other 75% was up to me.

Now I had to work to fail out of college, which is not a good idea. Anyway, there’s been a lot of obstacles. The technological or learning, you know how you get a new iPhone? You’ll ask one of your kids if you have children or something, how does this work? That was that equivalent back then in 1986.

Nicky: Got it. Got it. Well, that’s incredible because now you do so much. You’ve been learning on the job and because you’re just naturally inquisitive, like you said, and you know how to ask the right questions. It’s just also the gift of your personality. Not everyone can just be like that in front of a mic. Many people just freeze. You’re going on, and you’re talking, and you’re making this happen and then you develop the first streaming radio, video streaming.

Your show was the first one to be on video, which I think that’s amazing. Now, of course, a lot of people in that, we have this podcast on YouTube, and many people do that, but definitely, I would say you have evolved and transitioned so many times in your career. What is now one of the things that you wished you had done? You’ve been learning and doing so many things, but something that would have made it easier for you?

Sam: That’s a good question. I’d say that’s a wonderful, wonderful question. I don’t know. I always, and people who know me know, I don’t sit still. I got, at least I call it ants in the pants. Being the first to broadcast a live morning show in 2013, fully produced, I don’t know what would have made it easier. Maybe I should know. It was God’s plan. It was God’s plan to get to where I am because radio and getting to that job in Philly is what led me to meet my now wife.

I wonder if that’s the path it’s meant to be. If there are other paths and I could have done them better, who knows, but I’m blessed at being on the radio in Philly and asking the emcee. There was an event for Bon Jovi. She brought Bon Jovi to town for a fundraiser. I guess there’d be other paths. That’s a wonderful question, Nicky, but maybe I shouldn’t know what they were, or what could I have done to speed it up or slow it down?

Nicky: In another instance, if someone comes and asks you, “Hey, I want to get into radio,” what is the best tip that you can give me? Just don’t.

[laughter]

Sam: This is a hand signal for dangerous. I was at a wedding at the Houstonian Hotel, my wife and I. The woman next to me on my right side, her daughter, was, I think, called UCLA Film School or something like that. She went, “My daughter wants to be a news anchor and I want you to talk to her.” I’m like, “Why?” Well, because I worked on Channel 2 and Channel 11 and all that. She’s like, “Well, we want insight and advice.” I said, “Here’s the best advice.

Get out. Don’t go into radio and certainly don’t go into local news. They’re dead. Just get away. Take your talent somewhere else. Radio is not what it used to be. There’s hardly anybody left in the business. It is what it is.” When Maria Todd and I were at KRBE, KRBE was a standalone radio station. It was by itself in this town. Now, there’s a lot that are in clusters of multiple stations. We had 44 full-time employees. Our promotions department, I think, got up to 16 people.

Today, there’s not 16 people in the radio station. My advice is, if you have an urge, do you think you’re funny and you want to be heard and you want to broadcast, go to Best Buy. Get your podcast equipment for $500. Plug in your room and go, because local radio is no longer a factor. Local TV news, as you all know, is no longer a factor. This is, podcasting, what you’re doing is the factor of the future.

Podcasts don’t require overhead. They don’t require much of an investment. It’s just persistence and hard work, determination, clarity, and delivering on your message and platform. This is, if anybody says, “Hey, my kid wants to go on the radio like you.” I’d be like, “See what Nicky’s doing? Do that”

Nicky: Here I am in my 4×6 booth in my house. [laughs]

Sam: I wouldn’t know. The good thing is that looks as professional as anything.

Nicky: It looks as though it’s like, “Wow, state of the art,” but it’s cool. I can be here recording with you, even if there’s a lawnmower outside. I’m blessed to have that because that’s amazing. Anyway, let’s now dive into the mechanics or the wonderful world of interviews, because you have interviewed amazing people, like high profile people, Sir Paul McCartney, I know Kevin Costner and Senator John McCain. How do you prepare for such amazing interviews?

Sam: Well, add to that list, by the way, Barry Manilow.

Nicky: Barry Manilow, yes.

Sam: Michael Bolton, Cher.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: You name it. Here’s the secret, I’m going to share with you.

Nicky: I’m going to take that on my notes.

[laughter]

Sam: I got this from Larry King. If you remember Larry King, my earpiece is moving out. Do you remember Larry King from CNN?

Nicky: Oh yes, of course.

Sam: When I was in college in Philadelphia, his show would run from midnight to 3:00 AM or something and 3:00 and 6:00. It was the overnight show. Larry King would interview all these people for a long period of time. I flew out to LA on business, and I bumped into Larry King. I’m like, “Dude,” it was the first time. I bumped into him again, but the very first time. I bumped into him. He was eating a blueberry muffin. I’m like, “Dude, I just got to ask you a question really fast.” He’s like, “Yes, what is it?”

I said, “You interview people with books like this thick, right? You interview people with 10 movies. You interview people with all kinds of credentials. Do you read the books? Do you watch the movies? How do you prepare?” I asked Larry King, the king of all interviews. I said, “Do you read the book?” He says, “Of course not. I don’t have the time.” I’m like, “Well, do you watch the movies? If they’re plugging a movie, and they won an Academy Award, or they got famous movies?”

He goes, “No.” He’s still eating his blueberry muffin because I’ll never forget it. I’m like, “Well, then how do you do the interview?” He says, “All I do is ask them questions that I think regular people would ask them if they bumped into him somewhere.” I went home and pondered it. I’m like, “Oh, that makes a lot of sense.” You could say to the guy, “Oh, I love –” I interviewed David Bowie. Anyway, I end up interviewing David Bowie on a TV special. I’m not a Bowie fan.

I don’t really know his music, other than the number one or number two hits. Not knowing, but I applied that to David Bowie and started making a conversation, but we didn’t say, “Hey, man, on the seventh song of your third album, you used the word cricket, man. What’s that mean, dude?” You could sit there and go deep and spend hours prepping. When you think about all the guests who’ve been on the show, the Rock, I’m looking at all my wall outside the Rock, from Chuck Norris to Beyonce, had been on the show a lot in Destiny’s Child.

You just ask them questions like you’re doing. You don’t have to dive too deep. Obviously, get the person’s name right and where they are. If you said, “Hey, Stan, welcome to the show.” I’d be like, “Serious?” Anyway, Larry King said, I don’t read the books. I don’t watch the movies. All I do is think of questions that regular people would ask if they bumped into them at a place, like an airport. I bumped into Larry when we were eating.

Then I saw him again in San Diego with his family, but it was like, “That dude is on the money.” If Larry King, who’s interviewing five, six, eight people a week when he was on CNN, he doesn’t have time to read the books?

Nicky: Of course not.

Sam: Brilliant. Anyway, that’s my tip.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: Whether it works or not is another story.

Nicky: That’s amazing. Okay, you do, but don’t you get the fanboy effect or so jittery nervous to be interviewing those people, to just calm yourself down and then have those questions come into your mind? How do you go past that part?

Sam: That’s a great question. The last time I got nervous, maybe it was two, I don’t know, two, three years ago, President Donald Trump called me on the radio three times in five months.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: Three times in five months, and he wanted to talk. He liked my wordsmithing, whatever he said, I’m a wordsmith. The very first time he called, I actually got nervous because-

Nicky: Well, who wouldn’t?

Sam: -I’ve never talked to a– I’ve met living Presidents. I had the chance to spend time privately with President Bush when he was President in 43. Met Clinton, Carter, but I never had them on the radio. Trump calls, and I swear, I did get a little, it’s like, “Oh my God, I got nervous.” You could feel it. How do you do it? Just do it, you know what I’m saying? It’s like, are you nervous about skydiving? Well, then skydive. Are you nervous about singing in public? Sing in public, get it over with.

Nicky: Yes, you just go for it.

Sam: You know what? Just dive in, get a good night’s sleep, get a workout in before you go to work.

Nicky: Yes, definitely.

Sam: After that, everybody would come up and play. Aerosmith came up three times to join me. Bon Jovi came up three times to join me. I didn’t listen to their music, I didn’t look into that. I was like, “Hey, John. Hey, Rich here. Hey, Steven Tyler, what’s up man? [unintelligible 00:20:20], what’s up with you? Where you been recently? You been on vacation? I love that jacket.” Then you just start building this rapport. Yes, it’s pretty easy.

Nicky: Wow. It’s easy to you.

Sam: You too can make a million dollars.

[laughter]

Nicky: Okay. I still think I’m like an interviewer in diapers, but here we go, just moving along. This was a bit of an agenda to interview you about this.

Sam: No, no, no. You know what? Ask away. If I can help you or if I can help anyone get better, like I was offered the opportunity, then go for it. Ask any questions that can help you because who else will promote this? Other radio or TV people may be watching.

Nicky: Yes, no, absolutely. One of the things that I like to do in this podcast is for people in the industry that want to learn how to do a lot of things, whether it’s in front or behind the mic or the camera. That’s why this is golden advice. Definitely, I love it. What do you think in the whole context, makes a great interviewer? Talking about making the good interview or just going for the questions. When you listen also to other interviews or when you interview someone and you feel, “Okay, this is a good one, I’m happy about this interview,” what are the elements that you think are most important?

Sam: The most important thing to be a good interviewer is something I was speaking about today. We have a big marketing firm here. We deal with a lot of clients who come up and candidates and CEOs and everything. When somebody vomits on me verbally, and that means they just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk, and I said this to a woman here today who came up. I’m like, “Ma’am–” and this is about being a good interviewer.

I said, “Ma’am, God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we may listen twice as much as we talk. A great interviewer, STFU, okay, knows how to STFU, and listen. In the very beginning of my career, my first big guest was Carl Weathers, who was Apollo Creed in Rocky. Remember Carl Weathers?

Nicky: Yes, of course.

Sam: He came up to the studio and I met him. He was a very nice guy. Shorter, I thought he’d be taller. He was shorter. Anyway, I was so nervous that I kept talking over him, that everything he said, I talked over. I was just nervous. I just wanted him to know I was there, right? There was a guy working at the radio station. He said, “Hey, what, Sam?” I’m like, “What?” “You’re on for four hours a day, and Carl Weathers is going to visit one time in your life for 15 minutes.” I’m like, “Yes, so what’s your point?” He says, “STFU, let him talk.” The best interview is he doesn’t feel like you’re going to step on him. when you step on someone?

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: I was then at like, so now all my interviews, I’ll say to you or President Trump or Sting came up twice to hang out. I’m not a big fan of Sting, but it was cool. He played his keyboard. I’m like, “Sting, what do you want to play? What’s your favorite song?” Then he just hung out and played another song and asked me. Def Leppard played for us. Came up in complete setup, and played at 8:30 in the morning.

I didn’t even know the guy. I knew their songs. I just didn’t know everybody’s name. I’m like, “Okay, wait. Joe Elliott? Jim Elliott? What’s the guy? Def Leppard, you guys are great. What do you want to play? Then they just started talking, and I started talking. You want to be a great interviewer? Be quiet. Let the guest be the rock star superstar, Okay? If you’re talking 50/50, it’s a bad interview. Let them feel it.

They can express themselves, tell a story without being interrupted. Let’s just say Sting is up here, and he goes, “Oh, Sam, I just came back from Hawaii.” I go, “Oh, Hawaii. I was just in Hawaii. Love Hawaii. Oh, we were at the best hotel.” Why have Sting here?

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: If Sting says, I was in Hawaii, you go, “What was your favorite part? Did you do any fishing, sailing? I bet you were scuba diving. Tell me, what did you see? Were you nervous underwater to see any sharks?” Let them tell the stories. Bon Jovi and Stephen Todd of Aerosmith, they had such a good time. Todd was like, “I’m coming back,” and he did. Three times he was hanging out with us.

Nicky: That’s so cool.

Sam: Anyway, that’s why I pass along to you and everybody else. I learned the hard way. I don’t think Carl Weathers– Well, I think he’s passed away. If he was alive, would never come on again.

Nicky: We’ve reached the end of part one. Please join us next week for part two and the conclusion of this interview. In the meantime, if you can think of anyone who might benefit from this information, please, go ahead and share it with them. Thanks for being here.

Cliff Zellman – How to be the Voice of a Car commercial Part 2

May 16, 2024 by Nicky Mondellini

Episode Notes

In this second part of the interview with coach, audio engineer and demo producer Cliff Zellman, we discuss important information on how to stand out in automotive commercials as a voiceover talent, including voice overs in Spanish, with all the particular characteristics the genre itself needs and the specifications of both languages.

With over 40 years in the industry, Cliff is an established Producer, Director, Audio Engineer, Editor, and Director of Talent Development for ACM–in their Automotive Division.

Although Cliff is very much focused on automotive, which he states can be “the holy grail of voiceover”, this talented producer also enjoys producing commercial and video game demos, and he shares plenty of advice about the psychology in advertising, which we need to have in mind while performing, and how to take our first steps while reaching out to producers and advertising agencies for the first time.

For coaching and/or demo production you can contact Cliff at czellman10@gmail.com . To see some of Cliff’s work and the talented people he’s worked with, go to www.amazingdemos.com

Subscribe to La Pizarra so you never have to miss an episode. Feel free to download and share them on social media, your comments are well received!

** Visit https://www.nickymondellini.com to learn about the work of actress, host and voiceover artist Nicky Mondellini.

Follow Nicky on:

Instagram @nickymondellini

X @nicky3ch_nicky

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LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/nickymondellinivoiceover

Transcript

Cliff Zellman: My secret really is to read it in my headfirst, print it out, sit in a chair, nice and quiet, and read it in my head. Because when you’re lying in bed and you’re reading your James Michener novel or whatever you’re reading and you’re lying in bed, it’s always the perfect interpretation.

Announcer: La Pizarra, the slate, exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nicky Mondellini.

[music]

Nicky Mondellini: Welcome to La Pizarra. My name is Nicky Mondellini. Thanks for being here today. This is part two of last week’s episode with Cliff Zellman. Cliff is an expert audio producer who specializes in the automotive industry. He’s also a coach and a demo producer. In this part of the interview, he talks about how to promote a demo and grow your business as the voice of an automotive brand. You will also hear his expert guidance on the performance side of things, so pay close attention. Here he is, Cliff Zellman.

Cliff: I have a combined list of over 400 production companies that do daily automotive, but before anybody that I work with I give that list to they got to gimme 50. I got to make sure that this is going to work for you. That’s really the most important thing for me with the demo. If I work on a demo and write and do all this stuff and work for two weeks, 10 hours a day on it, I don’t want it sitting on your desktop, I want you working it. You send out introductory emails that are very, very short, charting, putting all of these leads that you’re getting on LinkedIn. Go to the magnifying glass, type in automotive, automotive advertising, automotive television, automotive media, television automotive, television auto. Any-

Nicky: Any combination of words.

Cliff: -combination of those two words, see who’s posting, but more important, see who’s answering, because with one post, you can have 10 or 15 different replies. LinkedIn points to your resume the last 20 years. How to get in touch with you, how to hire you. Otherwise, if it’s not there, why be on LinkedIn? Don’t talk to anybody. Don’t chime in, lurk and start collecting names, and have a row on the top row of your Excel sheet that’s got contact, phone number, email, secondary contact, secondary email, their website. Any videos that they have posted, as much as you can about this particular– I could show you an Excel sheet that’s got 450.

Nicky: Wow.

Cliff: What I do is if somebody is interested in entering this field, first thing I do is try to talk him out of it because it’s hard. All right, it ain’t easy. I’ll say it again, I’ll say it again, and again, and again, it’s not easy, but what is? What are the advantages? I touched on this a little earlier because a lot of people are afraid of automotive. A lot of people don’t know how to read an automotive script. What they do is they see an automotive script and they read it the way they think an automotive spot is supposed to sound.

Well, us as actors and directors know that nothing’s supposed to sound like anything until you read the script. The script is going to dictate the read. If there’s multiple exclamation points at the end of every sentence, well, we know it’s a high energy read. If you see a lot of ellipses and quotations, you know it’s a little mellower. Plus, if it starts off with, “Let me tell you something,” you know it’s not going to be, “Let me tell you something.”

Nicky: Of course.

Cliff: It’s going to be more the mentor kind of guy. Getting the meaning, the crux of the script, and reading it the way it should be read, what it’s called for. People don’t dive into that. They immediately jump into what they think a car spot supposed to sound like. I can send one script to 10 different voice talents, very high-quality voice talents. I can tell you instantly after the second or third line if they’ve ever done automotive before. Automotive has a lot of comparative reads, 28, 495, 33, 695. There’s a musicality to automotive that doesn’t really fly in other genres because it goes against the conversational mindset-

Nicky: Exactly.

Cliff: -that was so popular starting around 2017. Well, I got to be honest with you and anybody, and you can feel free to edit this if you want, but I think the conversational read is dead. The demos that I’ve heard, my colleagues produce as well as myself. The talents that are getting signed to big agencies that I hear, they’re not the millennial read. They’re energy, they’re positive, they’re personality, they’re fun to listen to. Yes, we’re going to get the internal Nike, “The only person I need to beat is myself.” We’re always going to have those. My secret really is to read it in my headfirst, print it out.

Sit in a chair, nice and quiet, and read it in my head. Because when you’re lying in bed and you’re reading your James Michener novel or whatever you’re reading and you’re lying in bed, it’s always the perfect interpretation. That director in your head can tell you exactly how to read it. The tone of voice, the speed, the tamber, the musicality, the tempo. Read it in your head three or four times, and it’s only short, 30 seconds. Then you already know the spot. Before you even read it out loud you know where the sentence starts, you know where it ends, you know where the pickup is coming.

Then when you’re ready to read it out loud, fire that guy. Get him out. “You’re done. Thank you very much. Go to the front desk, get your check. I’ll call you the next time I need you.” Then you go up and read. You’ve already had this internal dialogue and it makes it much easier, rather than searching for the word. A lot of people I hear doing automotive are searching for that important word in a sentence. Well, let’s look at it this way. If you’ve got 14 words in a sentence and you’re searching for one, you got a one in 13 chance of getting it right. One in 14 chance of getting it right.

You got a 13 out of 14 chance of getting it wrong, so don’t look for it. Don’t look for that. Look for the meaning of the whole sentence. I’m always saying, “How does what I say and how I say it affect those that are listening to me?” Advertising is a major chunk of the psychology. There’s a lot of psychology going on. Knowing how to hit those words, knowing how to really connect to who you’re talking to. A trick that I use, and I know we’ve all heard it before because at this point, I’m sure everybody listening has had a good amount of coaching.

We’ve all heard, who are you talking to? What’s your relationship? What’s your proximity? All that stuff. Well, I say, forget all that stuff. Simply ask yourself, “Why am I reading this? Why am I reading this script?” It’s that simple. The answer could be, “I’m a voice actor, and I was hired by the product to read the script.” End of story, read the script. Or, “I’m the daughter of the dealership and I want to tell everybody in my area, all my friends and family about these great deals coming in.”

Or you could say, “I’m doing a spot for Home Depot and they’re having a sale on lawnmowers, and my next-door neighbor borrowed my lawnmower and I want it back. So I’m going to tell him about the sale at Home Depot.” Well, that’s everything right there. What’s your relationship? Next door neighbor. Proximity, probably over the bushes. You tell him about it. Why? Why are you reading this? I want my lawnmower back. Why are you reading this? I’m the daughter of the dealership. Boom, it’ll instantly put you where you need to be.

Nicky: Exactly. Sorry, could we talk about what you like to have in a demo, or what serves more for a voice actor to have in an automotive demo? Is it a mixture of that type of read for national, for local, for regional. Or do you work as to more the specific personality of that actor? What their voice or their style could be good for? What is the most important thing for you?

Cliff: For me, the most important is which tier are you going to be doing the demo for. If you’re doing a national automotive demo, we’re going to talk about that in a second. No local dealership spots, period. You’re doing brands. This is an example of a Dodge spot, Ford spot, Chevy spot, truck spot, luxury spot, because it’s a different world. Also, if you do local spots and you have a local spot on your national demo, the manufacturing are going to want to touch it.

If you’re doing a local Fodge spot, even though it’s a demo. If you’re doing Dallas Dodge and you’re auditioning for a national Chevy spot, doesn’t work. If you do a local demo, you can put national sounding spots for a luxury dealership. So no, you do not cross regions. You’ve got your national, regional, and local. Now, let’s talk about regional for a quick second.

Nicky: Yes, I was going to ask you about that one.

Cliff: All regional is a combination of dealerships created group, the North Texas Toyota Truck Dealers Association. They all work together, they talk about ads, they work on compliance, we’re all going to work together. Another good thing about a group is if one dealership is a little bit sleazy, the other dealerships say, “Hey, man, you’re making the North Texas group look bad, so clean up your act a little bit here,” or do this or do that, or let’s all work together. A regional spot, in general, is a 20 or 25 second national spot with a five or 10 second tag on the end.

“Where you’ll be talking about the truck, and this is truck month, and I’m your– now you’re a Ford dealer, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Cut, black background, music continues, you have that five or 10 second music bit underneath. “Test drive one today at your North Texas Toyota Truck Dealers, Toyota, let’s go places.” Turn the page. “Test drive one today at your San Diego Toyota Truck Dealers, Toyota, let’s go places.” Flip the page. You’re reading the tags and including the groups. Now what you’re actually visually seeing is you’ll see the Toyota logo, and then you’ll see the logos of the dealerships around that.

Now sometimes you have to do four or five of them because one dealership wants to be named first. “Well, why are they named first? I want to be named first, their dealership comes up, I want to be in the center.” Those offers to do those spots, in general, come from the production company that does the largest dealership within that group. Let’s say Randall Reed is the biggest Ford dealer in Dallas selling Ford trucks. The guys that do the Randall Reed local spots, they get the national spot in from the nationals they’ll get it on a MOV or whatever.

They’ll go to the website, they’ll download the movie, throw it into their editor, get somebody to voice the end, spit it out. Those don’t pay a lot, but you’re only reading a sentence and you get 50 of them at a time. You’re just flipping the page, flipping the page, flipping the page. Like I said, those, in general, are going to come from the production company that deals with the largest dealership in that group. Why? They probably have the better production company, they’ve got the better producers, the better engineers, the better video editors, and so on. Regional, you hook up with a local advertising agency that does big stuff.

That’s where your regionals are going to come from. All right, now let’s talk about a national automotive demo. People come to me, and they say, “I want to do a national automotive demo.” I say, “Why? Why do you want to put the money into it if you are at the level of doing national, and anybody could be at that level of doing national? Usually, your agents already know who you are. They know what you sound like. Call them.” You should be able to call your agent and talk to your agents and say, “Hey, listen, I want to do automotive. I want national spots, send me national auditions and I’ll compete with everybody else.”

They may say, “Great,” or they may say, “Gee, I had no idea you wanted to do this,” or, “Sure, let’s hear you give it a shot.” If you really want to do a national automotive demo, go to your agent and say, “Do you think I should do a national automotive agent? Would this help me?” You’ll get one of three answers. Absolutely, it’s the way we’re going to shop you. Probably not because commercial is a commercial, or absolutely not because we don’t do automotive. Find out. Before you start spending some money and sometime in this, only on a national level.

On a local level, you just got to make up your mind that you’re going to market three to four hours, three times a week. If you don’t do it– you’ve heard the old expression, if you build it, he will come. No, he won’t. Ain’t nobody coming. You could do the best demo you could possibly imagine. You could have the bitchinest website, but if you don’t put your name out there and you don’t get people to come to you, it’s going to sit there dormant.

Nicky: Of course.

Cliff: Guys, advertising agencies probably aren’t going to go on Google and say, “Automotive voiceover talent.” They’ve already got a roster. They know everybody. I know everybody that does automotive across the country, be it national or local. I’ll hire from my own roster, and I’m a big– I love getting unsolicited demos. Love it. Don’t call me up and say, “Hey, Cliff, can I send you my demo?” You’re giving me an assignment? I’m a busy guy. I’d love to hear your demo, but I don’t want to critique it, because there’s a real good chance it was done by one of my five best friends.

I’m not going to critique Anne Ganguzza, J. Michael, Chuck Duran, Uncle Roy, or any of these guys, Eric Romanowski. I’m not going to do it. “Well, I got a question about it.” Well, go back to them. Rarely. Most people just want me to tell them how awesome it is. If you send me your demo and say, “Greetings, Mr. Zellman,” and don’t write this down to anybody listening because I’ve said this a million times.

“Greetings, Mr. Zellman, I am a professional voice actor specializing in tier three automotive. I deliver broadcast quality audio in two to four hours. Please find my demo attached. Thank you for your consideration. All the best.” Attach that demo. I want to hear it. “Oh, no, it’s a virus.” No, it’s not. I know what a virus is, and I know what a virus isn’t. In your subject matter, if you say automotive voiceover demo, and it comes from cliffzellmanvo.com.

I open it up, and it says, “Greetings, Mr. Zellman,” I’m going to play that demo. If I see your MP3 in an email that you send me, and I have nothing to lose, or I’ve got no relationship, 100% chance I’m going to listen to it. I want to hear it. I love hearing demos. It’s my job. Before I press play, I’m saying, “Kill me. Make this the best demo I’ve ever heard in my life.” I’m ready to hear something great. It’s not like I’m saying, “Oh, let’s see what this idiot sent me.” It’s the exact opposite. I try to avoid telling people to say, “I’d love to work with your company.” Yes, of course you would. I have 50 people out the door that will do this for free.

Try not to teach a potential client anything. Are you finally ready to get serious about your, “Excuse me, where have you been for the last 15 years?” A voice needs to be, “Well, yes, I’m well aware of what a voice needs to be. Thank you very much.” Now I know I may sound nasty in saying that, but this is what the client thinks when they see it. Who are you? You don’t need to educate me. You need to blow me away with your demo. If I don’t like your demo, I delete it. Not a problem. I owe you nothing. If I love your demo, I click play. I listen to it again. I call you up.

Nicky: Hey, I wanted to ask you, when you coach with someone and someone comes to you for a demo, let’s say, okay, I want to do a tier three national demo.

Cliff: Tier three local.

Nicky: Yes, tier three is local or tier one national, sorry. What is your process for that? You like to do a session or several sessions to work with that actor to see where they are, what you can recommend before the demo? Do you say, okay, let’s do one coaching session before and then we’ll start producing?

Cliff: No. I have guys I’ve been working with for six months. What I do, like I said earlier, the first thing I do is I try to talk them out of it. Because I really want to know that they’re really into it and they’re really going to do this. What I will do is I have a little plan called a four by four, which is where I’ll charge for four spots. Really, really reasonable. I’ll send you one at a time. You read it on your own. You’ll do a full take. You’ll do another take where you read each line twice. It’s not one more for safety. It’s for variation. Something really simple would be, “There’s never been a better time to buy. There’s never been a better time to buy.” That’s all I want to hear.

I don’t want to hear, “There’s never been, there’s never been.” That’s not what it is. Lock into the character and give me some variation in pitch and delivery. Give something that the video editor can use at three o’clock in the morning, multiple choices. We go through four spots. You read it on your own. You send it back to me. We hook up for an hour. We talk about the whole thing. Every single take, every single line. You’ve got the script. I’ve got the script. You’re ready to read. I’m ready to direct. We talk about it. If what you give me is not even close, not in talent wise, but just this is not a screamer.

This is more of a mentor type read. Oh, now I understand. We read it. We get it. You get to read it again. No additional charge and it doesn’t count as one of the four. At the end of the four, we assess where we’re at. We’ll probably do one or two more. I don’t charge more. I charge by the project. I don’t nickel and dime. Well, you need four more. It’s another, this amount of money. I don’t do that. If you send me back the first script and you’re tone deaf, and I’m saying, ”There’s never been a better time to buy.” You say, “Better time to buy.” “No, Better time to buy.” “Better time to buy.” “No, go up, go up, listen, listen to what the director is saying,” and you don’t hear.

Nicky: How often do you think it’s a good thing to update a demo for automotive. I imagine also the trends change, like you said, that after COVID because, of course, having more women voices and women in creative positions and all that require different kind of reads. What is your take on that? How often should we update those demos?

Cliff: Well, that depends on how good your director is, honestly, because when I do an automotive demo, I never put a date. I never do a 2023. Right now, get a 23 Honda. Now, 10 years ago when I would listen to demos, and let’s say it’s 2015 and I’m listening to– and the guy’s talking about a 2010. Back then, I would say, “Well, okay, the guy has been doing it for a while. Pretty cool.” I listen to it now, it’s like, “Dude, what have you done lately?” Because trends are changing. It’s never 2023, 2021, it’s all new, fully redesigned, fully re-imagined, “Test drive the fully re-imagined.” Whatever. I’m very careful to only use cars that are going to be around for a while.

Nicky: I remember there was that microchip manufacturing problem for a while.

Cliff: That was COVID. That shut us down. There were cars in the lot waiting to have those parts put in. They couldn’t get them. They shut down their factories.

Nicky: Oh, my goodness.

Cliff: Imagine the lights go down with a big sign, “Do not enter.” Any product is going to have their blockade, sometimes something’s going to happen. Think about aspirin, my God, remember when Tylenol– they had that awful thing with the Tylenol scare which was– there’s always hurdles. Automotive is so big that there’s always going to be something.

Nicky: Speaking of hurdles, you personally in your career, what are some of the ones that you’ve overcome that have just been a game changer in your career?

Cliff: Staying away from imposter syndrome, I guess. That’s something we all hit every now and then. Sometimes you sit and you just go, “Dude, I don’t know what I’m talking about.” Getting over that. Here’s something that’s really helped me too, be happy with great, and don’t do everything in search of perfection. Great is great. If it sucks, it sucks. Okay, go back to work, go to plan B. If you do something that’s pretty darn good, stop, you’re good. If you like it, go with your first impression. Under promise and over-deliver, but that’s not a hurdle, that’s really a philosophy.

Nicky: Yes, that’s more or less like the way you want to work. We’ve all encountered things.

Cliff: Maybe fatigue because I love to work. My whole life begins at 11:00 in the morning and ends at 4:35 o’clock every morning. It’s like, “Oh my God, when do you sleep?” “Well, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 6 hours of sleep. I’m an old guy, I don’t need that much sleep. I sleep six hours, seven hours a night, I’m fine,” but my world is just turned upside down.

Nicky: Why do you work into the small hours of the night?

Cliff: Because I am alone. My phone doesn’t ring every five minutes. Since we’ve been online, I got 32 emails in the last hour. I know. That’s another hurdle is that you got-

Nicky: Get it done.

Cliff: -to react to everything immediately. Because we are now of the mind if you don’t answer somebody in a half hour, you’re rude.

Nicky: Because it’s translated into, it’s like you’re having a conversation-

Cliff: I don’t care.

Nicky: -because people just reply not like a greeting, a formal greeting, whatever. They will just reply to whatever you asked in the previous email without even saying, “Oh, yes. Hi, Nicky. Well, I’m supposed to–” No, you’ll just reply, “Oh, yes, five o’clock seems fine,” or whatever. It’s like a conversation. If you do not reply to that email right away, it’s like you’re not talking to that person.

Cliff: Why are you ghosting me?

Nicky: Yes, right. You have to reply right away.

Cliff: That’s a philosophy that’s new. Back in the old days the phone would ring, and ring and ring and ring and ring before we had phone answering machines. Okay, I got to call him back later. It’s not that I’m going to lose the business guy, I’m way more than I know what to do with– but I just don’t want anybody to think-

Nicky: Rude.

Cliff: -I don’t care about them.

Nicky: Exactly.

Cliff: Oh, you’re not as important to me as everybody else because everybody’s important.

Nicky: It’s a question of technology and the quickness with which things are done are a good thing and a bad thing because it’s so hard to disconnect.

Cliff: I think it’s more of a bad thing, actually. Yes, it is because now– and I know this has happened to you, Nicky, “Where did I get that message? Was it on LinkedIn? Was it on this? Was it on my email? Was it on my phone? Was it on my–” Then you have to start to search, where did this guy because it’s already three hours later. “My God, I better call him back.” That’s a hurdle is just take it when it comes, do one thing at a time. I know women have 50 different compartments in their brain that they can access at any time. I got one. What’s happening now and that’s it.

Nicky: That’s it. Have you ever thought of going off the grid for at least a week? Do you ever take a vacation?

Cliff: I always have my phone. Yes, but I’ll have my rig.

Nicky: [laughs] It’s not a full-blown vacation.

Cliff: My rig is a MacBook Pro with a 416 and an Apollo. That’s it. I got a little stand, and I got a pair of headphones. Back in the old days, you take your rig with you. You got cases.

Nicky: Right now, it’s very simple.

Cliff: Oh, it’s nothing, and it fits– and a hard drive. It’s very easy for me. Plus, I have two daughters and a wife, and sometimes they want to go do girly things on a vacation. I got two hours, knock out a spot, do a session, do something. Plus, I got to be honest with you, I would rather be doing this than anything else anyways.

Nicky: You do love it. Yes, of course.

Cliff: Oh my God, every Monday morning my heart’s beating. Every time I get a new script, every time I start a new session, I say to myself, “This is going to be as good or better than what I just did.” I’m happy with that’s good, but I always try to make it a little bit better. Even though it’s the same copy with the same music and the same client for the last 10 years, I want it to be just a little bit better.

Nicky: Of course.

Cliff: I absolutely love it. If I go a day or two without doing the session, see, I don’t like that. That’s really why I do my stuff at night because from 11:00 to 3:00, that’s when my creative juices are turned on.

Nicky: Wow. Also, like you said, you like video games as well.

Cliff: Love video games so much.

Nicky: How much of that do you leave room for between all of your other automotive work?

Cliff: Schedule. Schedule it. I use Calendly. Oh my God, I didn’t use it for years and I’m going out of my mind. The way I worked was I would set up something with you, and then I would rely on you to remind me. That does not work.

Nicky: [chuckles] No.

Cliff: No. I thought years ago, “Hey, I have a Google Calendar, I’m going to put that online.” I realized I put it online, I go, “Let me see what it looks like.” Taking this one to the doctor, picking up the dry cleaning.” I don’t want the whole world to know what I’m doing every day.

Nicky: Exactly.

Cliff: Calendly only shows you what you want to [unintelligible 00:28:21]. I’ve been using that for a year now and I am right on time.

Nicky: Perfect.

Cliff: I’d wake up in the morning, “What do I have today?” I don’t have to remember anything.

Nicky: Makes it a lot easier for you.

Cliff: Make little notes. I’m going to do a follow-up with Nicky. We’re going to do Luxury. Send her the BMW Live Like a Champ spot.

Nicky: Nice. [chuckles]

Cliff: Challenges enough time, enough hours in the day. My wife’s home. She’s retired. I love my wife. In fact, three days ago was our 35th anniversary.

Nicky: I saw that. I was going to say congratulations.

Cliff: Thank you so much.

Nicky: Yes, it’s just beautiful.

Cliff: I’ll tell you, it’s the easiest choice I ever made. I want to spend as much time with her as I can during the day.

Nicky: Sure.

Cliff: We go out to lunch. We got out to dinner. We do whatever we can. Then at night, she goes to bed at nine o’clock, and I’m free from 9:01 till I wake up. I look at my Pro Tools, I’m an hour and a half into playback, and it was a 30-second spot. My counter’s in an hour. I was like, “Okay, I got an hour’s sleep.” Then my neck hurts and my dog’s looking at me like, “Hello, time to go to bed.”

Nicky: Your wife, so I guess by now she just knows you, knows your work schedule, knows when your creative juices flow. So she’s just the supportive wife.

Cliff: Yes. We met each other– I had a guitar in my hand, so she doesn’t know any different. She’s so wonderful. I buy guitars, and every time I buy a guitar and I post it, it’s like, “Oh, what’s Joanne going to say?” Well, I’ve always wanted a fretless bass. My whole life I’ve wanted it. They’re very expensive. They’re big. Finally, did it, I bought it. I bought it from Sweetwater, of course.

Nicky: Of course.

Cliff: It came down from wherever they are there in– where are they, Kansas or wherever they are.

Nicky: I forget.

Cliff: It was cold, and I had to let it acclimate to the room. I put it on my kitchen table. My wife came home from work. She sees this giant case, because she knows what a guitar case looks like. This was twice the size. She says, “What’s that?” Well, it was already in there for like six hours. I said, “You ready?” She goes, “Yes.” Click, click. I open it up. She looks at it. What comes out of her mouth? “It’s about time.”

Nicky: Wow. Well, there you go.

Cliff: Yes. There you go.

Nicky: That’s perfect.

Cliff: When I was building my room, which you can’t really see because I kind of keep it so you can’t see really what’s going on, because I don’t know who I’m talking to. I’ve got clouds all around me, wall clouds, all this stuff, mixing room. She was getting ready to go out to dinner, and I said, “Hey, honey, I just spent $1,800.” She goes, “On what?” I said, “Four ceiling clouds and six wall clouds for sound diffusion.” She says, “That sounds pretty reasonable.” “What?” Yes, because it’s always been a part of my life. Our first date, I took her to the recording studio that I was working at. I popped in a cassette, and we listened to Santana for two hours. I’m pretending like I’m mixing it. I was 21 years old. I met her when she was 19.

Nicky: Oh, wow. That’s amazing. Oh my God, that’s great.

Cliff: That’s that.

Nicky: Hey, Cliff, where can people find you for demo production, for coaching, and everything else?

Cliff: My 24/7 email address is czellman, letter C-Z-E-L-L-M-A-N 10, one, zero. I can’t believe there’s other czellmans, czellman10@gmail.com.

Nicky: Perfect.

Cliff: If you would like to see some of my work and other incredibly wonderful and talented people that I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work with at A-Mazing Demos, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-D-E-M-O-S dot com.

Nicky: I will put that in the show notes anyway, but yes, wonderful.

Cliff: Yes, a-amazingdemos.com. I’ve got 150 audio demos, have 20, 30 video demos that I do. When I do a video demo, it’s always a month or two after the demo because we are cutting the spot to the audio. It’s not like I’m going to YouTube and pulling down a spot and then pulling the audio track, having you read whatever they said, adding new music and charging you $500. I think that’s highly, highly unethical. Every video that we do is video cut specifically for that spot. You can tell because everything you see, all the graphics, all the text on screen matches what you’re saying.

Nicky: You do also video demos for tier three or just for–

Cliff: Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Big time. There’s boom, boom, boom, and they’re gangs of fun. They look like spots you see on TV because I don’t do them any different than the way I’ve been doing spots on TV for the last 25 years.

Nicky: Exactly. Who’s got the best experience or the most experience other than you, I do not know.

Cliff: Oh, they’re out there. Believe me. There’s plenty out there. They’re quiet. I’m not. I like a little showbiz growing up in Hollywood. I was born in the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital.

Nicky: Wow, look at that.

Cliff: There you go. It’s kind of built in.

Nicky: Oh my gosh. Well, that’s amazing. Oh, Cliff, this has been wonderful. Such a masterclass, definitely.

Cliff: Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Nicky: Everybody, I hope was taking notes for this. If not, they can just rewatch the episode and take the notes again.

Cliff: Can I be so bold as to say, anybody want to reach out to me, I’ll give you an hour.

Nicky: Oh, wow.

Cliff: czellman10, say, hey, Cliff, I saw you on Nicky’s show. I’m interested. Let’s talk. Please be aware that I will try to talk you out of it for the first couple of minutes.

Nicky: Oh, thank you so much. This is such a gift. Thank you so much for that.

Cliff: Oh, thank you, Nicky. Thank you for giving me a little spotlight. You are a pleasure. If y’all have ever heard Nicky read, do yourself a favor. In fact– oh, can we very, very quickly talk about Spanish? Very quickly.

Nicky: Actually, yes, please. Because half of my audience is bilingual or just Spanish. Yes, for sure.

Cliff: Choques a parachoques, bumper to bumper. Tienes un trabajo. For every three English spots I do, I do a Spanish spot.

Nicky: Perfect.

Cliff: If you all are thinking of those of you that speak Spanish, it’s huge, huge, huge, huge. Southern states, now I’ve got to warn you, LA Spanish is different from Texas, Spanish is different from– they have different dialects as you move across the globe. It’s fun. It’s fast paced. The competition is not that stringent the way it is with English. You can blow them out. Spanish have a tendency to be a bit more animated than the English spots.

A lot of them are really goofy where they’ve got the girl in the bikini, which I’m not so crazy about. You know what? If it’s fun for everybody, it’s fun for me. She’s saying, “Es tan facil.” You can do it too. I’m like, “Credito medico,” we’ll get you. Don’t discount yourself and think that it’s only done by the radio station guys because it’s not. I know Spanish videos all over the country. They’re doing great, but they got to understand the automotive business.

Nicky: Would you also do a demo all in Spanish?

Cliff: Yes.

Nicky: Perfect.

Cliff: Because I’ve done thousands of Spanish spots.

Nicky: Oh, wonderful.

Cliff: My Spanish is decent because I grew up in LA, a lot of Spanish friends, a lot of Mexican friends, and I’ve done so many. What I do is I’ll write the script and then the talent will translate it. Then they read it and I know a good read. I don’t care what language it’s in. I know when there’s a click and there’s a pop, and when it’s supposed to be and not supposed to be. Absolutely.

Nicky: Mm-hmm. Wonderful.

Cliff: On my site, I’ve got a couple of Spanish video demos.

Nicky: Cool.

Cliff: Here’s the best thing about tier three. It doesn’t matter where you live. When you do tier three, you can live in Boise, Idaho, which is a lovely place. Spanish automotive is the holy grail of Spanish VO because you’re cranking them out and they’re so much fun. You can knock one out in five minutes. If you don’t, if you can’t knock it out in five minutes, doesn’t mean you’re a bad VO. It just means you need a little coaching.

Nicky: Absolutely. Okay, Cliff. Well, thank you.

Cliff: Nicky, thank you so much.

Nicky: Thank you. Anybody who has any questions about the tiers and everything and what they can work on, I will encourage them to just write to you and get some coaching and get all of those questions answered.

Cliff: I would love to talk to them Any time.

Nicky: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.

Cliff: Thank you, Nicky.

Cliff Zellman – How to be the Voice of a Car commercial Part 1

May 9, 2024 by Nicky Mondellini

Episode Notes

Welcome to a new season of La Pizarra! We are launching season 9 with a phenomenal coach, director, audio engineer, demo producer, and Director of Talent Development for ACM–in their Automotive Division, Cliff Zellman. In part one of this interview, Cliff shares all the key details about the three tiers of automotive advertising, and how production companies work in this niche.

Cliff has been in the audio production industry for over 40 years. He’s also a musician, and he talked about how music was part of his path to success in audio production.

He worked for over 25 years at RadioVision as a partial creative director and developing all kinds of audio editing and creative work, which gave him plenty of tools to later develop his career in coaching, independent productions, and demo production. Although Cliff is very much focused on automotive, which he states can be “the holy grail of voiceover”, this talented producer also enjoys producing commercial and video game demos.

You can contact Cliff for coaching sessions and/or an automotive demo production at czellman10@gmail.com

Check out Cliff’s work and the talented people he’s worked with at www.amazingdemos.com

This episode, as well as most of season 9 was recorded on SquadCast, the best platform for podcasts or meetings with up to nine guests with professional sound and video quality. You can choose your membership level after trying it free for seven days at: https://squadcast.fm/?ref=lapizarra

Subscribe to La Pizarra so you never have to miss an episode. Feel free to download and share them on social media, your comments are well received too!

Transcript

Cliff Zellman: It is not easy to get into any tier. We’ll get into that again. National, SAG-AFTRA, probably; non-compete, probably. If you do a national F-150 spot, you sure as heck can’t do a Chevy spot, but you know what? Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.

[music]

Announcer: La Pizarra (The slate), exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky Mondellini: Hello, everyone. Welcome to season nine of La Pizarra. My name is Nicky Mondellini. I’m very happy that you’re joining us today. We’re kicking off this season with a phenomenal coach, audio engineer, and demo producer for commercials who specializes in the automotive field. His name is Cliff Zellman. Car commercials are a very special niche in the publicity world. If you’ve ever wondered how you can be the voice of an automotive brand, at a local, regional, or national scale, this is the episode for you.

Cliff is an established producer, director, audio engineer, editor, and director of talent development for ACM in their automotive division. He’s been in the production industry for about 40 years, so he’s produced, directed, and edited all types of projects, as you can imagine. He’s also a musician, so we’ll be talking about that aspect of his creative work, which has been a big part of his success in audio production.

Before we go on with the interview, I’d like to ask a small favor. Please give us a five-star rating on Apple Podcast, if that’s where you’re listening to us now, that will help others find this podcast. If you’re watching this on YouTube, don’t forget to like and subscribe and hit that little bell so that you get notified every time a new episode is published. Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Here is Cliff Zellman. Hey Cliff, welcome to La Pizarra.

Cliff: Nicky, thank you so much. I really appreciate being here, and I’m really excited to do this.

Nicky: I’m excited too because a lot of people have asked me about automotive commercials, and I said, “Okay. Well, the best guy that I can have on the podcast is Cliff,” because not only do you know everything there is to know about automotive commercials, you know a lot about everything audio, of course, but I really enjoyed the X-Session when you gave it at One Voice in 2021. You opened my eyes as to what it is really to be the voice of an automotive brand, and at the three levels, right? Before we-

Cliff: Yes, ma’am.

Nicky: -get into all of that and the awesome audio or demo production that you do, I’d like to talk about your beginning, because you actually started as a musician, right? That bit by bit.

Cliff: Oh my, how far back?

Nicky: [laughs]

Cliff: We’ll just do the little highlight points, okay?

Nicky: Okay.

Cliff: For me, it really started off with being well aware of music. My father was a classical pianist-

Nicky: Oh.

Cliff: -and a jazz pianist. When I was an infant, so I was told, he slid me under the grand piano in my bassinet and would play for me.

Nicky: Wow.

Cliff: I loved it. I would imagine I’m looking up at the soundboard and hearing all this great improv jazz stuff. Fell in love with that. When he put me to sleep at night, when I was a baby, he would put me to sleep with a metronome.

Nicky: Wow. [laughs]

Cliff: For like a year, you tell me the beats per minute and I can pretty much tell you exactly what it is.

Nicky: Oh my goodness. That’s amazing.

Cliff: I was walking home from school, I was maybe in fifth grade, and it was trash day, and all the trash cans were pushed out into the alley. I see this guitar sticking out of a garbage can. Fifth grade. This is a find. I pull it out and the back is all destroyed. It was a victim of some domestic dispute. I grabbed the guitar, got on my bike, carried it, took it home, threw it in the garage, drove over to Baxter Northup Music, and bought a set of guitar strings from my allowance.

Came home, put glue all over the back, cardboard, and tried to reinforce it. Let it dry for an extra five minutes so I was sure it would really glue down and be nice and strong. Then I put the strings on and five minutes later the whole thing blew up because of the tension of the strings [unintelligible 00:04:26]

Nicky: Oh, yes.

Cliff: My parents felt bad for me. They took me to Fedco. If anybody listening to this grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the ’60s, ’70s, and maybe the ’80s, I don’t know, Fedco was a gigantic store that had everything. My parents bought me like a $70 electric guitar.

Nicky: Wow.

Cliff: Got a band together at like 10. The drummer played suitcases. Do you remember the old hangers, the wire hangers that had the rolled cardboard down at the bottom and you could pop it out and have these–

Nicky: Yes.

Cliff: Those were his drumsticks.

Nicky: Oh my goodness. [laughs]

Cliff: We were playing monkey songs. We were playing, but we were singing along with it. Time progressed, got more and more serious, got into bands at 14, 15, 16 years old, Cliffy’s Garage Band, inventing grunge back in the ’70s before grunge was ever invented. Then I got a album deal with an independent label in LA to produce what we call an EP. EPs back in the day was extended play records. It was basically like a single, but you had two songs on each side instead of one song on each side.

That was really cool because major acts would put out a bonus EP, you get an extra track on the Madonna album or whatever, but EPs were also great for demos. Instead of just giving somebody a cassette, you would press an EP, and you can put art on it and do all that stuff. We were pressing our first EP, pretty terrible stuff. I remember the lyrics were like, we’ve got the power, this is the hour, stuff that 15-year-olds write, 17-year-olds.

Halfway through the session, the sessions, the main engineer– It was a cheap studio. I think it was $50 an hour. Imagine a recording studio and an engineer for $50. [crosstalk] I think we’re talking 1975. He goes across the street to get a Pepsi, has a heart attack. He’s okay. Ambulances come. We go back in the lounge where the band’s like, “What are we going to do now? Cliff, could you engineer this?” I knew how to plug in guitar stuff. Most of the tracks were recorded already. I was watching him. I was sitting next to him as he was doing it. I ended up finishing the album. It was awful, but it was great at the same time because it was our first endeavor and we were doing it.

Nicky: Your beginning into the world of audio engineering as well.

Cliff: Yes, man, we pressed a record. We went down to the pressing plant, gave them, we watched the whole thing, they’re carving while they’re looking, great education. Probably cost us $600 for the whole thing, but it really got my spark for audio engineering. I’ve always wanted to engineer. Ever since I saw– I had a cousin a couple of years older than me that worked at Capitol Records. Every family party, she would bring records with a cutout corner to all the kids. I would stare at the album coverage. I’d see those old Stratocasters and all these old guitars. Well, they weren’t old then. I just fell in love with that stuff.

Enrolled in, thank you, grandma, who left me a little bit in the Zellman trust fund, paid for audio engineering school. I went three years, but concurrently on my third year, I got a job with a studio. Actually, a couple of years before that, I was working in the studio, but I was the receptionist, cleaning, emptying ashtrays, cleaning toilets and stuff, and vacuuming, which is very, very important. You learn how to work in that world. Whenever I stacked the refrigerator with the soft drinks, they were always lined up perfect, Coke’s here, Pepsi’s here, Sprite here, beer here, everything was lined up.

Eventually graduated where I could actually go into the studio and wrap cables. That was very low-level job at the studio, but it was a huge studio. During the day was like Hall and Oates. At night was England Dan and John Ford Coley, Fleetwood Mac, Alice Cooper, and Al Stewart. Toto’s first album was recorded there while I was in the tape library writing down how many tapes we need to buy. I’m listening to Lukather lay down the guitar solo to Hold the Line. I’m shaking.

Nicky: Wow. Imagine that. My goodness.

Cliff: Then it just moved on from there. I got an offer from another studio as a full-fledged second engineer, which is a pretty good job at that young age, maybe 22, 23. Stayed with them for 13 years, worked my way up to the lead engineer. The chief engineer of a studio is called into action when the band or the actor, the talent, whoever, doesn’t bring in their own engineer. The big, big studios always brought in their own engineers, Bob Clearmountain, the big guys at the time. If a band came in and didn’t have an engineer but wanted to do stuff, I would do it.

That led to demos. That’s where they let me take over, because I’m the guy that’s been in the studio for a long time, so they think. I’m the guy that understands music and arrangement, all that stuff, dynamic range, or so they think. I started to grow in this position of, for lack of better term, telling people what to do. I got better and better at it by reading the room, reading what they were doing, being very attuned to the people that I was working with. Got into– In 1990, I started doing animation recording for Saban, DIC, and Disney, and I did a ton of Saturday morning cartoons. Carmen Sandiego, Sonic the Hedgehog, Little Mouse on the Prairie was really cute.

I was the guy throwing the faders. I was in LA at the time, born in LA. All this stuff up to now is all Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, and Burbank. I fell in love with voice actors. Now, remember, this is 1990. All the people that are superstars and idols today were just coming into the studio. They were stand-up comics. They were guys working at the comedy store, skit comedians, coming in, lined up six in a row, have their own microphones. My job was to throw the faders because you can’t have two microphones on when one person is talking. [unintelligible 00:11:19] cancellation.

I saw the talent and the ad-lib skills, working with people like June Foray, where she would be silently reading one page as she’s speaking the page before. I’m like, “How can you read and speak at the same time and still be the incredible actress that she was?” Worked with some of the greats and it’s just like, “Oh my God.” It makes it fun now because when I go to VO Atlanta and I see Townsend Coleman or I see Rob, they’re old friends.

Fell in love with that. In 1995, there was a horrible earthquake in Los Angeles. ’94. I think it was February 13th at 4:05 in the morning. I had a two-year-old daughter. We were thinking about moving. We wanted to get out of LA. It wasn’t what it was back in the ’80s, ’70s, ’60s, and ’50s, I don’t remember, but I was three. My brother moved to Dallas and we would come and visit him all the time and just fell in love with it. Looking for a house after our place was just destroyed from the earthquake. We saw a house that was– I looked at the price and I thought it was the down payment.

This was just when LA was really starting to get expensive. You get a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in the Valley for maybe $350,000, which is like free now, right? Back then it’s like, “There’s no way in the world I’m going to pay that. My dad bought this exact same house for $16,000. How am I going to spend–” We see this house in Dallas. Absolutely fell in love with it. We moved in. A month later, I get hooked up with RadioVision. Actually, a couple of months later. As soon as I moved to Dallas, I got a job to go to Taiwan to record an album. I’ve been to China half a dozen times teaching audio engineering. I studied Mandarin in college.

Nicky: Wow. So you know Mandarin.

Cliff: Bu hao. Well, I did. [Mandarin language]

Nicky: Okay.

Cliff: I don’t speak your language every day because I don’t have a lot of friends in Dallas that speak.

Nicky: I would imagine.

Cliff: You go to a Chinese restaurant, and you try to do it, you order a charcoaled broiled tractor.

Nicky: [laughs]

Cliff: “You sure you want that?” “Yes, yes.” Loved it though. Loved studying. Why Taiwan? Why did I bring that up? Oh, because we moved to Dallas, a brand new town, two-year-old baby, and then I leave for a month. My wife is not really happy about it. I gave her $10,000. I said, “Go have fun. I’ll see you in a month.” Ended up doing that six times. Loved to travel, especially work. I love work travel. When I came back, hooked up with a company called RadioVision.

RadioVision was a brand-new company. They were really focusing on what they wanted to do. They just didn’t want to be a production company. Initially, they thought, “Maybe we can do videos and country videos.” When I was in the meetings, I said, “Okay, that’s a great idea. We’ll do three a year and nobody will watch them. Videos are dying.” “How about automotive?” They’re talking about automotive. They had automotive background.

It was focused on local automotive. One owner dealerships. For the last 25 years, I was the partial creative director, because there really was no creative director. I made sure everything worked out nice. Audio, send out scripts, directing voice talent. They send it to me, cut it, edit it, throw it to video. They do the visuals, give it back to me. I put the sound effects on. I’ve probably done maybe 25,000 local spots.

In 2019, I said, 25 years is enough. I love you guys. I wouldn’t change one minute of my 25 years with RadioVision, but I don’t want to work this hard anymore. Everybody that was coming to me to talk about demos, talking about coaching, talking about production, individual clients outside of RadioVision that just wanted me to come and do their production started to raise higher than my interest in RadioVision. I know that sounds bad because I’m still extremely interested in RadioVision, but I was like, “Oh, I don’t want to not take that because I have to do this. I have to do that.”

I ended up working more than when I left RadioVision, but the difference is I’m working with who I want, when I want, I’m making my own schedule. Still very, very much focused on automotive. Although I love doing commercial demos and video game demos. Video games are actually probably right now my favorite because I get to write some little random scene that lasts for nine and a half seconds that doesn’t have to be anything but just a cool scene. Great fun and sound design and everything that goes with that. On that note, let’s talk about automotive and let’s talk about the three tiers of automotive because I think that’s something that a lot of people are going to come here to hear about.

Nicky: For sure.

Cliff: To get into automotive, and I’ve said this a thousand times, and if anybody’s seen me before, I apologize, but it’s worth driving home, done right, local automotive can be the holy grail of voiceover. You’ve got 10 to 12 automotive manufacturers putting out cars. You’ve got four, five, six different models for each manufacturer. Each vehicle needs an ad and each ad is only good for two weeks.

Incentives change, prices change. What are the incentives? Not $500 off like a lot of people think. An incentive in automotive in general is anything that makes you feel better about yourself for buying the car. I got to have 24-channel Bose stereo. I got to have 19-inch wheels. I got to have flames on the side. It’s going to make me feel like the guy I want to be or the girl I want to be. That’s the incentive. Those change. Free bed liner so on and so on. Then there’s terms. Terms change all the time. Terms are how much and how long. That’s really what it is. 0% financing for the life of the loan. No payments for 90 days, how much, how long. $399 a month for 72 months.

When all that stuff changes, the spots have to change because it’s really bad if a local dealership puts out an ad that’s expired. Now you say to yourself, “Well, why doesn’t the dealership just keep the ad going?” Because those incentives in those dealerships in general, I’m going to say that a lot because it’s a crazy industry, but in general, those incentives come from the manufacturers. The manufacturer, Ford, Chevy, INFINITI, they’re the ones that will give you 0% financing if financed through INFINITI Motor Acceptance Corporation, or they’ll give you no payments for 90 days if financed through some restrictions apply, see store for details, Tier 1 credit, blah, blah, blah, all this stuff.

When those incentives and terms expire, you can’t get them. However, you can always get something else. There’s always something. If my production company, which also runs the traffic, which means we buy the time for the media, for on-air, billboard, print, TV, if we run an ad accidentally, we can be fined. A lot of money per airing, per station. We’re very, very careful to make sure that our spots rotate. If we don’t have something in time, or we’re waiting for the manufacturers to give us the incentives, or we’re waiting for the dealership, the owner is in Aruba, which he always is anyways. The richest guy in your neighborhood is the guy that owns the car dealerships, no doubt about it.

If somebody does air a spot that’s expired and the customer goes, I’ll probably get a phone call. We’ll probably have to subsidize that. Why? Because we don’t want to stink. Don’t sue me. “All right. You know what? We’ll run it through our own finance and we’ll give you,” whatever the offer was, reluctantly, and yes, I’m going to get chewed out. That all boils back to why it’s the holy grail. You get 10, 15 spots, however many, you’ve got to redo them again. Is it easy to get into local automotive? Absolutely not. Oh, let’s go back and talk about the three. [crosstalk]

Nicky: Exactly. The three tiers, because people don’t know, and also how you get into each of those tiers. I guess national, me also being the voice of a car dealership or actually a brand, nationally, I know that is through agents, right?

Cliff: Well, yes and no, but let’s go back.

Nicky: Yes.

Cliff: There’s three tiers of automotive, national, regional, and local. National plays all over the country. It’s the national event that’s going on with Toyota or Honda, sign and drive, whatever. Plays all over the country. Beautiful, they buy millions of dollars, make the spot. The voice-over talent often is a celebrity. Sometimes it’ll be Kiefer Sutherland, sometimes it’ll be Dennis Leary, whatever, but a good portion are just top-tier voice talent.

Where do these spots come from? In general, again, in general, they’re going to come from a higher-end talent agency, something along the lines of ACM or along the lines of DPN, name them. The ones we all want to be signed to, or it could very easily come from a director that you worked with three months ago, but that director that you worked three months ago where’d you get that job? It is not easy to get into any tier. We’ll get into that again. National, SAG-AFTRA, probably; non-compete, probably. If you do a national F-150 spot, you sure as heck can’t do a Chevy spot-

Nicky: Correct.

Cliff: -but you know what? Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. From my mouth to God’s ears, Chevy and Ford are both arguing to get me on their spots, so consider is the compensation for one, two, three spots a year equal to working all over the country. Now, when you do national, you’re really waiting for your phone to ring or you’re waiting for that audition to come in, which is fine. A lot of people have great careers waiting for that audition to come in.

National, big deal. Lawyers, accountants, signatures, papers, airplanes, hotels, managers, all that stuff. If you’re into that world, great, wonderful. It’s the best, nothing wrong with it. Regional I’m going to skip over. We’re going to go to local and I’ll come back to regional in a second. A local automotive advertisement is usually a one-owner dealership. Now, he could have four or five different dealerships, but it’s one owner.

This one owner is usually the name of a group like World Class Automotive Group, but it’s owned by Ray Huffines or Randall Reed or Clay Cooley or something, so they can play by their own rules if they want. I say if they want if they’re not looking for money from the manufacturer to help them pay for their advertising. That’s called co-op. Every car on a dealership’s lot, they buy. It’s not like Chevy pulls up and says, “Hey, man, here’s 500 Chevys. Good luck. Call us when you–“

Nicky: They have to buy them, yes.

Cliff: They buy them. They own those cars. Clay Cooley calls up Honda and says, “Hey, man, I just spent $185 million on inventory, you’re going to help me sell it?” They say, “Sure. Will you do it our way?” “We say, “Sure.” Their way is the font, the logo, the placement of the logo, the incentives, the terms, and any necessary disclaimer, if it’s a radio spot or print disclaimer, if it’s a TV spot.

We’ll write the script according to their specifications, we’ll send it back to them, and we’ll get a stamp on it that says appliance approved. When the production company gets the compliance approved, we’re in the clear, baby. We’re good. All we’ve got to do is make sure that we don’t say 38-497 when we’re supposed to say 38-744 and we’re fine. The amount of responsibility for a voiceover talent doing local spots is zero. All you’ve got to do is a great read, make sure you say everything right, and your audio sounds good.

You don’t have to write anything, you don’t have to edit anything. If it comes over 34, 35 seconds for a 30-second spot, you read it the best you can. You send them an email saying, “I couldn’t get this under 30. I suggest you guys edit something.” “Oh, no, that’s bad for them.” No, it’s not. We’re used to it. Our writers go crazy. I get a 30-second spot, it times out to 47 seconds.

Nicky: Phew.

Cliff: This ain’t going to work. If I have to time compress this thing 25%, we’re going to be wasting the client’s money. She’s not going to understand what they’re saying.

Nicky: For sure, yes. Chipmunk voice almost.

Cliff: Yes. It really gets fast. Time compression doesn’t raise it-

Nicky: Yes.

Cliff: -it just squishes it.

Nicky: It squishes it to where it’s not really understandable.

Cliff: You can do 15% 0 to 0.85 compression ratio and you’re okay. It’s going to be fast, but it’s it still works. Anything more than that sounds very unnatural.

Nicky: Yes.

Cliff: We can do time compression by cutting each line and layering them, getting them on top of each other, then time compressing, which is why car spots they talk so fast. They’ve got to get four cars in there. They don’t have a lot of money, they want to pay you well, so they get four cars plus disclaimers, depending on where you are. If you’re in California, good Lord, that disclaimer could be half the spot. If you’re in Texas it’s, “See store for details.” You’re an adult, read the fine print. Buy it or not, you’re on your own.

Local, you are marketing yourself 100%. Nobody’s going to help you. There’s not enough money in it to get other people involved. There’s plenty of money in it for you, but you start bringing in management fees, agent fees, another engineer to edit your spots, an accountant to keep track. You do everything yourself with Excel, a map on the wall. Maybe we can do a follow-up and we can talk about all that stuff, how to track your emails, creating a website that’s automotive-specific because guys that are looking for automotive don’t know what explainer videos, eLearning, and audiobooks are.

They listen to it, “I don’t know what he’s talking about. I’m not in healthcare. I want to hear car spots,” so you do something. It’s easy/automotive, throw your stuff up, that you don’t have to write a lot, we don’t want to read a lot. You’re marketing yourself to agencies, to production companies, not talent agents, and not managers, but to actual production companies that have editors, video editors, writers, and all that stuff.

The way you get on a roster with a talent agency is the same way you get on a roster with one of these ad agencies. You submit, they like you, you build a relationship. I always recommend for people not to start building relationships until you’ve got something to show.

Nicky: Yes, for sure.

Cliff: Because people in automotive, especially in Tier 3 automotive, they’re sergeants. They’re not real creative, flowery, huggy people. They’re, “You will make your mortgage this morning. You will go out and sell 40 cars,” drinking coffee and eating donuts, then they run through the paper like a football game and they go out and they try to sell cars. They’re great at motivating their sales team, but they don’t know how to write an ad. I’ll call them up and I’ll say, “Hey, Memorial Day’s coming up next month, what do you want to do?” I always get the same thing, “What did we do last year?”

Nicky: [laughs]

Cliff: Okay, pull up last year’s spot. Now it’s 37 instead of 32. Now it’s free this instead of that, change it out. What does that mean? That means you get to go in and do a drop-in. You’re on your own. It is not easy, but Nicky, I challenge you to give me any genre of voiceover that’s easy to get into at this point. It’s getting harder and harder and harder.

Nicky: Yes.

Cliff: One of the reasons automotive I feel is doable is that a lot of people are afraid of it. A lot of voice talent don’t know what it is. They think it’s, “Sunday. Sunday, Sunday, be there,” which, yes, there’s still some of that around, but since COVID and since all the craziness that’s going on in the world for at least the last two, two and a half years, we’re calming down a little bit. Women, man, watch TV. Women are 50% of the national spots.

Nicky: That didn’t used to happen. It was mostly guys doing all car commercials.

Cliff: Because the psychology on the lot was, and please forgive me for saying this, was, “Why don’t you bring your husband around, little lady, and we’ll cut ourselves a deal?” You know how I feel about that. I personally think women are far superior to men in every single aspect, except I can probably beat you up. Other than that, you guys win, hands down. Women are buying cars. Of the eight automotive manufacturers biggest in the United States, all eight of them are women creative directors, which is interesting.

Nicky: Yes.

Cliff: Because women ask me, “Do women actually do car spots?” I say, “Not only do they do them, but you’re reading for women creative directors.” Now, that’s on the national scene, but it trickles down. You get a local INFINITI dealership, or Cadillac dealership, or Jaguar dealership, they don’t want to sound like Friday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

Nicky: Exactly.

Cliff: “A beautiful place to lease or buy a beautiful car. Casa de Cadillac.” We emulate that sound as well. Now, what is it about automotive that separates it from anything else? Nothing. It’s just you’re talking about four tires and a steering wheel. Yet, you’re still a dad. You’re still the old guy. You’re still grandpa thrilled that the first day your granddaughter drove was in a Volvo. You’re the student that just got out of college. I’m really smart, but I’m really broke. Go buy a Kia. Our family needs to be bigger.

Now the I’m a soccer mom type delivery is dying out, and I’m grateful because I don’t like that. I call them hi, honey, I’m home spots. “Hi, honey, I’m home. What are you doing?” “I’m checking out the new prices.” “Oh, great idea. Sounds like a great addition to our–” I hate that stuff. Now it’s just more narrative. It would be like, “Looking for 17 drink holders to satisfy the soccer team?” Instead of, “I’m a mom and I’m so glad I have.” We’re talking and it’s more narrative. Of course, there’s disclaimers, and there always will be, because a lot of those dealerships are very superstitious. They think it worked in the past, is that they don’t want to take too many chances.

Nicky: Got it.

Cliff: I can wean them away a little bit during my direction. If I just do a little bit at a time, before you know it, they’re talking to me like a friend. Another thing about the big difference between national automotive and local automotive is national automotive, when you’re reading, it’s extremely vehicle-centric. You’re talking about the car. National automotive, all the great things this car can do for you. When you’re talking about local, you’re talking about the dealership. I’ve done ads where “You can buy a Toyota Camry anywhere you want. It’s a great car, but the difference is customer service.”

That’s a card we play. We have more, we have better, we have nicer. “At Sewell INFINITI, you’ll find people that you can relate to. You’ll also find cars that you’ll also–” You get the idea, kind of thing.

Nicky: Yes, because they compete between themselves. Local dealerships, you go to one place and you can tell them, “Hey, you know what? I found this $2,000 cheaper in that other dealership.” Now you get them fighting with each other.

Cliff: You know what they’ll say to you? Bring us your purchase order.

Nicky: [laughs]

Cliff: You can’t just walk in and say, “Hey, Cliffy Chevrolet they’re only asking 38, you’re asking 42.” They’ll say, “You know what? Bring us the purchase order.” Because you can do that. You go to a dealership, say, “I want this car, how much? Blah, blah, blah, give me a printout. I’m going to go compare.” They say, “Go ahead.” They’ll do it for you.

Nicky: Okay.

Cliff: It’s like a lawyer that has to reveal all the stuff that they know in their case to the other lawyer.

Nicky: Yes.

Cliff: They’ll say, let me see the printout, or let me see this. They’ll do that. Sometimes competing dealerships will have a giant lot of sales, “Finally, the answer will be solved. Chevy versus Ford. This weekend [unintelligible 00:34:03] the two giant dealerships, ding, ding, ding.” It’s boxing. It’s fun. Local is fun because you get to take on the personality of the community. If you’ve got an audition for a dealership in Nashville, do your homework. Go listen to Nashville local news. Find out how people talk. You don’t have to have the accent necessarily, but just the demeanor.

You have to come across as the person that has coached every kid in the community in soccer for the last 15 years. You know everybody. Come the weekend, they’ll say, “Hey, we’re here. Is Nicky here?” “Hey, everybody, this is Nicky. I’m down on the lot this weekend and we’re having hamburgers and hot dogs. Looking good, Julio.” They want to come in and see you, even though this is all done in your studio with street sound effects, horn honks, and kids crying sound effects. Make it sound real. We call them simulive. Simulated live broadcasting.

Nicky: That’s a cool name.

Cliff: Dealerships love it because it can make it sound like there’s something always going on at their dealership. Finding the names of the automotive production companies, I’ve talked to people before I even started demo with somebody, I said, “You got to come up with 50 names. I need 50 leads.”

Nicky: Wow.

Cliff: Some of them come back in three days and say, “Dude, I could only find four.” The next conversation I have 15 minutes later is, “How many did you want?” “50.” “I got 80.” It’s really up to the person. I have a combined list of over 400 production companies that do daily automotive. Before anybody that I work with I give that list to, they got to give me 50. I’ve got to make sure that this is going to work for you. That’s really the most important thing for me with the demo. If I work on a demo, write, do all this stuff, and work for 2 weeks, 10 hours a day on it, I don’t want it sitting on your desktop. I want you working it.

You send out introductory emails that are very, very short. Charting, putting all of these leads that you’re getting on LinkedIn, go to the magnifying glass, type in automotive, automotive advertising, automotive television, automotive media, television automotive, television auto, any-

Nicky: Any combination of words.

Cliff: -combination of those two words, see who’s posting. More important, see who’s answering. Because with one post, you can have 10 or 15 different replies.

Nicky: Thank you so much for listening. We’ve reached the end of part one of this interview. Don’t forget to join us next week for the conclusion and part two of this episode. In the meantime, if you found anything of value and you think of someone who might benefit from this information, go ahead and share it with them. Don’t forget to like and subscribe so you never have to miss an episode. I’ll see you soon.

[music]

NICKY MONDELLINI

On-Camera & Voice Over Talent

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Nicky Mondellini | On-Camera & Voice Over Talent