sign up for our
NEWSLETTER

Home Shop Subscribe Advertise Articles Directories Classifieds Calendar FAQs Contact Us Login

Let's Get Mary McKitrick Her Statue
For Narrating Emmy-Winning Film 
 
By Dave Courvoisier
Voice Actor and TV News Anchor
 
Mary McKitrick is a rock. Which is to say, she’s rock solid as a voice talent.
 
She’s a seasoned VO professional, a talented and humble person, and I SHOULD be able to say she’s an Emmy Award Winner … and technically she is!
 
But Mary doesn't have an Emmy statue to prove it.
 
Sure, the picture above shows her holding a statue for narrating the Emmy-winning documentary, Wild View (details below). But she didn’t get to bring it home.
 
NO VOICE OVER CATEGORY
 
The other audio professionals on the documentary team that won an Emmy got to take a statue home - but not the voice talent.
 
Apparently there isn’t a category for voice overs, as there is for director, engineer, producer and editor.
 
Well, for a good many of us, that seems unfair.
 
CAMPAIGN BEGINS
 
Voice actor Peter O’Connell was the first to write about this, and Mary's agent, Erik Sheppard of Voice Talent Productions, was also onto the seeming disparity. Enough so, that he called me and others with the idea of going viral with an appeal - a call for Mary to get a statue.
 
As Peter explains:
 
Mary McKitrick, an experienced and talented voice over artist, was recently engaged to serve as narrator in the beautifully produced wild life series Wild View (www.wildviewseries.org).
 
With Mary as one part of a truly talented team of media pros on this series, Wild View has received many deserving honors, including the regional Emmy Award for Best Audio.
 
Unfortunately, the Emmy Awards do not recognize the narrator (in this case, Mary) as part of the audio team - in spite of a narrator’s significant contribution to projects like Wild View and many series and documentary programs like it.
 
WHAT YOU CAN DO ...
 
Facebook page has been created which explains our goals in this campaign and how you can help
 
As the Facebook page explains ...
 
The attention-getting goals of this page, completely created without Mary McKitrick’s participation, is twofold:

1) Secure for Mary McKitrick her well-deserved Emmy Award as narrator on the Wild View Emmy Award-winning audio production team.

2) Encourage the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences to review and update its award criteria to include either categories for - or the inclusion of - narrators as Emmy Award recipients in its regional and national awards.

Actors get Emmy’s. Voice actors (narrators) evidently get bupkis. That just seems wrong.
 
While we believe that Mary deserves the honor of having her trophy in her studio or on her mantel, she also should have the right to call herself an "Emmy Award winning narrator" as opposed to just "the narrator of an Emmy Award-winning piece."

If you agree that these two goals are worth supporting:

1. Please add your “LIKE” to the Facebook page

2. Please share this information with others who you think would support this page’s goals and ask them to come “LIKE” it too

3. Please also write about this page, it’s goals and your supportive thoughts about this project on your blog, Twitter page or any other social media channel you feel worthwhile (links to the Facebook page are a good thing).

Once we reach enough "LIKES" on the page we will bring it to the attention of the Association in hopes that they will finally provide a statue for Mary.
 
'LIKE' FACEBOOK PAGE
 
So please go now to the Facebook page, A Statue for Mary: http://on.fb.me/StatueForMary
 
“LIKE” the page, spread the word, Tweet it, Facebook it, tell your friends, and help Mary get her statue!
 
ABOUT DAVE ...
 
Dave Courvoisier (“pronounced just like the fine cognac, only no relation”) is an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster, writer, producer, voice actor, and the main weeknight news anchor on KLAS-TV, Channel 8, the Las Vegas CBS affiliate. He's become the voice over industry's social media tech guru, and writes Voice-Acting in Vegas, a daily blog of adventures and observations in a style that’s true to his friendly Midwestern farm roots.
 
Your Daily Resource For Voice-Over Success
Tell Us What YOU Think!
Please Note: Since we check for spam, there will be a slight delay in the actual posting of your comment.
Your Name:
Your Email Address (will not be published):
Your Comment:
Your Comment:
Security code:     
Comments
No comments have been posted yet. Hurry, and you could be the first!
Back to Articles
For essential voice-over business strategies
With Sean Daeley and Paul Stefano - check it out!
Inspiring interviews help your VO career
On Michael Langsner's Voice-Over Roadmap Podcast