Lloyd Scott, veteran of network TV programming, brings his video and TV savvy to Microsoft. He’s the newest addition to the Media & Entertainment Group.
By Steve Birge
May 30, 2008
Quick quiz: Who has the largest library of on-demand high definition (HD) programming available online? (It’s not the networks, not Hollywood studios, and not a cable company giant.)
The answer: Microsoft, with 1,600 hours of HD content among a library of 5,000 total hours of content. Microsoft is still a software company, have no fear. But it also is on its way to “defining the future of entertainment delivery,” behind such products as Xbox and Zune, and is building itself to further expand Redmond’s collection of world-class content.
The latest move in the Media & Entertainment Group (MEG) toward this end is the hiring of Lloyd Scott, an 18-year veteran of guiding networks, studios, and cable distributors through programming and acquisition of content. Scott serves as a business analyst in a MEG team assembled by Corporate Vice President Blair Westlake that already boasts phenomenal networks of contacts and experience in Hollywood and content centers around the world.
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Software Design Engineer Jeffrey Kafer parlayed an interest in acting into a part-time career doing voice-overs. His fledgling efforts have already earned him honors.
By Fred Albert
Jeffrey Kafer says that voice-over work gives him a creative outlet without taking him away from his family or his job as an SDET. It’s even earned him an award.
April 14, 2008
Jeffrey Kafer spends a lot of his time in the closet. And if he has his way, he won’t be coming out any time soon.
The closet in question is in Kafer’s Monroe, Washington, home. A scant four feet square, it doubles as a recording studio, where the 35-year-old software design engineer in test pursues his dream of becoming a voice-over artist. Poised at a microphone surrounded by sound-deadening sweaters and blankets, he records lines from commercials, films, software, and books, hoping to become the next James Earl Jones or—at the very least—Don Pardo. “I’ve been known to be in my closet for two or three hours every night,” Kafer laughed.
Kafer’s interest in voice-over work was a natural outgrowth of his involvement in theater. He started acting in his teens and participated in community theater and college improv groups for the next 20 years. But as he got older, other responsibilities took precedence. “I got married and had two kids and just couldn’t devote three or four nights a week to rehearsals,” Kafer explained.
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