….never seems to run dry.

Here’s what you have to do:  ask.  Yep.  Just ask.

Most people are happy to help, and EVERYBODY has something to offer.  Even when you think you don’t.

There ARE those among us who have a little more to offer than others, and Peter Drew consistently proves that.

Since it’s almost 4 in the morning (Thurs), and I’ve been up since 9:30a this Wednesday, my blog is a verbatim nugget from Peter I hadn’t understood before.  Peter makes it clear the inner workings of decision-making in the VO job process:

Producers mark up the cost of talent they cast as part of their charges to clients. Unscrupulous producers will suggest casting another talent instead of the of regular talent a client’s been using and then pay the new talent much less and still mark up the casting to the same rate the client paid for the original talent. They can get away with it by submitting an invoice with a total cost for talent, including the mark up, instead of breaking it down to actual cost of talent and the mark up. Many clients won’t question the invoice figures. Ad agency mark up for services, e.g., casting, is very often 75% or higher, so the temptation to muck around with talent rates is there and worse during tough times.

In many cases, the agency/producer probably was trying to save the client a few bucks, but there is also the possibility that the producer/agency got caught making a switch that wasn’t initiated to benefit the client. Call me cynical, but after all of the credit and investment scams that have come to light in the past two years and the subsequent recession, well…

OK, that does explain a lot!  Thanks Peter!

CourVO