Jobs | Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Seeking VO Talent

January 17, 2013 By CourVO Leave a Comment

A LinkedIn posting tipped me off to the following announcement from Mill-James Creative Media:

Mills James is proud to announce the creation of a database which will allow our producers to search and audition voice over talent at their desktop. We would like to invite you to register through the attached link and upload a demo of your work. Our goals for creating the data base are to consolidate all of our talent files in one location and make it easier to identify talent for up coming projects. As production timelines compress, the speed in which we need to respond to clients increases. We intend to create a fast and easy experience for producers to navigate through the talent pools. It is important that you attach a demo file to this registration. The system will not allow registration without a sample of your work.

We look forward to receiving your information and working with you in the near future.

HERE IS THE LINK

http://millsjames.com/home/voiceover-talent-registration
Voiceover Talent Registration | Mills James millsjames.com

Yes, I certainly asked to be in their database. The online form is neither daunting nor confusing.
No, I am not particularly familiar with Mills-James, but their website states the following: “Mills James is among the nation’s most comprehensive creative media companies. Headquartered in Columbus (OH), we’re the largest independent production company in Ohio and surrounding states. We’re an EMPLOYEE OWNED and CLIENT FOCUSED service business with a diverse team of more than 150 people of enormous talent and creativity.”
This strikes me as one of those “can’t lose” propositions, and one of the reasons why I enroll in many diverse online sites seeking voice talent resumés. It comes under the “nothing ventured, nothing gained” category, and costs nothing. I also applaud a production company that is honest and organized about gleaning voice talent from the available pool.

I also understand by posting this, I’m increasing the odds against me…but if it’s on LinkedIn, nothing much I do here is going to ripple the waters much more, and besides, that’s what this blog has been about since day 1…passing along useful information to my voice acting peers.

CourVO

Filed Under: Jobs, Social Media/Networking, Subscription Services Tagged With: mills james, mills james creative, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice actors, voice artist, voice artists, voice over, voice overs, voice talent, voiceover, Voiceovers, voices

Cracking CraigsList

March 29, 2012 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Newspapers hate CraigsList because it DESTROYED their classifieds (and their revenue). Most everyone else loves CraigsList…but as a lead-generating source for voice over jobs? Meh.

Like Guru, O-Desk, Elance, and a number of other online freelance job clearinghouses, CraigsList — at first blush — looked to many of us as a decent possible source of leads. A lot of it turned out to be doggy-do.

In the interim, CraigsList has had to change some of its protocols and those who were initially discouraged are now returning to the fold for a smarter, more consistent method of searching for VO jobs in all geographic areas. The result is an encouraging job-generating regimen that at times can yield surprisingly lucrative gigs.

You have to remember: the average Joe has NO CLUE where to find a decent voice-actor. Ebay is well known, but it’s about goods. Where to turn for services? CraigsList often is top-of-mind, then, in a search for talent.

John Breese

I hope my Chicago-based VO friend, Bill DeWees won’t mind my mentioning that I’ve been impressed with his formula for sussing out VO jobs on CraigsList.

HOWEVER, one of my favorite places to make connections with professionals — LinkedIn — recently led me to a man by the name of John Breese – a Strategic Partnership Consultant, Direct Response Copywriter, Marketing Consultant and self-described CraigsList expert.

I asked John if he’d feel comfortable sharing some of his knowledge about CraigsList for my blog readers, and he was most gracious in reply…that’s my nice way of saying his answers below are a bonanza of information.

Thank You John!

Q & A on CraigsList below:

Got Chops?

January 20, 2012 By CourVO 3 Comments

The SAG Foundation Don LaFontaine Voice Over Lab is seeking an administrator.

Here’s what Lab Co-Founder and LA-based VO Pro Joe Cipriano writes on VU:

Joe Cipriano

5:30pm Jan 19

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?job_did=J3T51W64T1QHMVF6DFQHello Voice Over friends and colleagues. As one of co-founders of the Don LaFontaine Voice over LAB, I am extremely excited to tell you about this amazing opportunity. The SAG Foundation is seeking someone who eats and breathes “voice over” to become the Administrator of the very prestigious Don LaFontaine Voice Over Lab. This person will sit at the epicenter of the voice over community in Hollywood. He or She will be responsible for all aspects of the Voice Over Lab including: scheduling use of the facility, managing the facility as a result of having familiarity with the use of recording studio hardware and software, and addressing all concerns related to the VOL, while acting as an ambassador for the VOL to the community of actors to be served. This person will interact with some of the best voice over artists in the country and will have the honor of being part of this educational, humanitarian and philanthropic effort. If you are interested and possess the skills required or know someone who does please apply at the link below. I know you’re out there :-) As co-founder, I’m looking forward to working with you at the DLF VO Lab.

Find Jobs – Don La Fontaine Voice Over Lab Administrator Jobs in Los Angeles, California – Screen Ac

www.careerbuilder.com

Don La Fontaine Voice Over Lab Administrator – Find Admin – Clerical Jobs at Screen Actors Guild Fou…

That listing is on CareerBuilder.com

I dunno…think I oughta apply?

CourVO

Filed Under: Jobs Tagged With: Don LaFontaine, Joe Cipriano, SAG Foundation, SAG Foundation Don LaFontaine VO Lab, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voices

An Ongoing Project

May 21, 2011 By CourVO Leave a Comment

We all learn a little something from the projects we voice.

One that I’m currently working on leaves me feeling that I could pass the bar exam.

My client is an international law expert in Electronically-Stored-Information (ESI). His collaborators include web and marketing experts on at least two continents.

The site is now live, even though the project is not nearly done, I’m pretty impressed with the look and feel of the place. Click on a module at THE RITTER ACADEMY and let me know what you think of the narration. Here’s a newsletter just released for the Ritter Academy, explaining their courses.

CourVO

Filed Under: Jobs Tagged With: Jeffrey Ritter, Ritter Academy, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice over talent, voice talent, voiceover

Ten Internet Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Job Search

December 28, 2010 By CourVO Leave a Comment

URL: http://myventurepad.com/georgelenard/61305/ten-internet…

Pay particular attention to #3 and #7. It’s a new world, and the Social Media thing works both ways.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/gr5V0L

Filed Under: Jobs Tagged With: background, business transformation, connected office, managing people, search

Do What Works, Drop What Doesn’t

December 20, 2010 By CourVO Leave a Comment

What works for your doesn’t always work for me…and vice versa.

A comment on a VO forum recently noted that when seeking freelance VO jobs, it’s all about relationship. He said that FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn was a time-suck, and “if you can’t get on the phone and sell yourself and work a lead, offer solutions and say two simple words: “Thank you.” It ain’t never gonna happen.” (names omitted to protect the innocent)

Two observations:
(1) I agree. It’s all about relationship…and you HAVE to remember the thank-you’s.

(2) But…the phone calls have never worked for me, and Social Media does. Does that make my opinionated friend right, and me wrong? Nope. It’s just that he forgot the difference between people.

Building relationships happens on many levels. At some point I might just pick up a phone and suss-out a job, or seal a deal…but my PREFERRED method is to work that out on digital paths of communication — Social Media. You might find that odd, as I am a person who has made a career out of persuading viewers on TV through personal appeal — my voice and my image. But I’m also a geek, and a half-way decent writer, and the greater challenge lies for me in working the internet. Plus I hate cold-call rejection stats. Roughly 1% of those bring fruit. To me, THAT is a time-suck.

DO-IT-YOURSELF

Recently, I also was approached by another voice actor who realized she had neglected Social Media entirely as part of her marketing plan. She wanted to know if I could “just do it” for her.

My answer was that I’d be happy to walk and talk her through the technical set-up of the social media sites…and that I could consult with her on preferred methods of effectively promoting oneself on those sites. But overall, I told her, it IS about building relationship, and that would require her constant personal attention, and there would be no substitute for HER participation in that formula.

I appreciate both these instances of “finding what works”. I wish I wasn’t so bad at overcoming the objection, and handling rejection. I’d love to have been born with a creative promotions and marketing gene. I wasn’t. But I have other talents, and I have to go with what works for me.

What works for you?

CourVO

Filed Under: Jobs, Networking, Social/Professional Networking Tagged With: voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover talent

Voice Over Jobs

December 9, 2010 By CourVO 4 Comments

Is early Alzheimer’s taking over my addlepated brain, or how have I missed this site?

http://voiceover-jobs.com

Anybody heard of it?

Taj, is this your project?…an offshoot of a P2P site? Michael Minetree? There is absolutely no “ABOUT” info on this WordPress-powered site.

Legit?

CourVO

Filed Under: Jobs Tagged With: voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voices

VoiceJockeys’ Response

May 4, 2010 By CourVO Leave a Comment

VoiceJockeys‘ reply to Robert Sciglimpaglia‘s dissection of their contract language, showed up in the comment section to my blog post of last night.

You can go to the comment section to see it, but I’m reprinting it here in its entirety. I appreciate the fact that they’re willing to talk about it.

You may also want to go to VoiceOverXtra to read Robert’s Original position on VoiceJockeys’ policies.

Here’s VoiceJockeys’ response:

The community has spoken and we are glad to take your feedback both negative and postive. We would like to address the issues one at a time and invite responses from all.

Our pricing – Yes the prices we charge consumers is low. So low, that it may not be worth it for some of you. We understand that and can appreciate it. We hope to brindge that gap by providing our voice over artists with an abbundance of work throughout the month.

Our agreement – we have taken the feedback of those who actually reached out to us directly (and not via a blog) and are taking the neccessary steps to change our agreement to proctect us as well as our talent pool. The new agreement will be rolled out before the end of the week.

As far as the inferrence of Jocks being listed without their permission – the is totally not true whatsoever. We maintain a datbase of IP addresses, Date Time stamps, tax forms, etc.

Again, we understand the concern from the Voice Over community and we are looking forward to working together to make intelligent changes that the industry talent calls for from time to time. Please understand that there IS a market out there of clients that can not afford the high rates charged by some voice over talent and for them is the reason that we exist.

No one is forced to join our site and we would hope that voice artists would welcome the extra work in their downtime.

As for Rob’s detailed analysis of our current agreement – we would like to thank him (actaully we can’t believe he has so much free time). Rob has opened our eyes and opened up dialogue throughtout the industry that will allow us to work closer with all of you and create an environment where we can work together on improving niche products like those offered on our site.

Thank You,

VoiceJockeys.com

Also, please take the time to read through the comments on VoiceOverXtra at the bottom of the article…lots of really good observations.

CourVO

Filed Under: Compensation, Jobs Tagged With: Compensation, pay, Robert Sciglimpaglia, voice, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voicejockeys, voiceover, voiceover talent, VoiceOverXtra

VO Jobs Blog

February 23, 2010 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Maybe I’m the last person on the planet to hear about this site, but on the off-chance that I’m NOT, I’m posting the link to this BlogSpot blog that lists VoiceOver jobs… or reportedly so.