Who is this Scooter?

I suppose the best place to start a blog is with an introduction. My name is Scott Fortney; however, my friends call me Scooter. Why Scooter, you ask? Well, I wish I could give you a funny story, but it's really quite simple. One day one of my radio bosses passed me in a hallway and said in his smooth, Southern accent, "Hey Scott-- no, no... Scooter. Why don't you call yourself Scooter?" My reply was, "Okay, I'll do that." After all, he was the boss, right? So that day I began using that name on the air. At the time, I was known as Scott Alan (my middle name), so I became Scooter Alan, and later Scooter Alan Fortney. So you see, quite boring, huh?

Who am I? First, I'm Stacy's husband and Ryan, Adam, Ben and Roselynn's dad. Second, I'm a voice actor. Like many voice actors, I spent a lot of years in radio; however, I've been doing voiceovers since I was a teenager. I left radio a few years ago, and at the urging of and with the support of my wife, I began doing voiceovers full-time in 2007. All of it takes place in my home studio in Pennsylvania.

Just recently, I expanded my business. With a little push from up-and-coming voiceover talent Doug Warner, I am now directing and producing voiceover talent in the making of their demos. What an exciting adventure, too! I supply the scripts, and then direct the talent via Skype or phone patch - I prefer Skype, because voice acting is more than just saying the words on the script. Voice acting involves your hands, the way you sit or stand, breathing right and take breaths before you begin, and even facial expressions. Say the sentence, "I'm so sad," with a frown. Now say it while smiling. Hear the difference?

On that note, I'll write more about voiceover secrets in my next post. Until then, keep your feet on the ground and... no, that's not mine. My incredibly creative radio sign-off was... are you ready... wait for it... "That's it for the Scootman. Seeya!"

(sigh)