Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘voiceover artist’

….is really no trouble at all…’cause he constantly brings a fresh look – a fresh perspective on the business of voiceover.

His “Frankenstein” idea (see blog here) garnered attention from some of the major P2P sites, and the exchange of concepts led to some significant revisions in the plans for David Ciccarelli’s new Beta roll-out of Voices.com.

See more about that HERE, including a chance to participate in that Voices.com Beta site.

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But Taj’s latest brainstorm (although not entirely novel) has likely never been applied to VO in the sense that he states in his latest blog TAJI’S BIG IDEA.

Oh, no…I’m not going to summarize it here… you have to click on the big tent, or the link in the line above to read all about it yourself. 

Then be sure to comment at the bottom of his blog to further the conversation.

Yeah, we need more trouble like this.  Nice going Taji!

 

CourVO

What’s a fair price for earnest work?

The quibbling over that simple question can cost you money if things aren’t laid out clearly from the outset.  Now I understand why some Voice actors demand a contract, and at least some pay up front.

Here’s a real-life example (names omitted to protect the innocent):

.
APPROACH

A friend approached me about recording the first chapter of a newly-written book.  The author is a multi-millionaire, rags-to-riches CEO of a hugely successful XYZ firm.  The book is his inspirational personal story of how entrepreneurship lifted him out of life’s early disarray to find wild success.

My friend is handling some of the online marketing and SEO challenges for this company, and needed the chapter narrated ASAP for a deadline to launch a certain milestone for this company.

COMPLETION

Within 24 hours, I had the chapter narration done, editing completed, and file delivered with a smile.  My friend was grateful for the favor, and promised payment whenever I invoiced.

The uncertain but hoped-for promise in all this was that I may eventually get the nod to narrate the entire book. 

CONFLICT

When the author heard my read, he liked it, but HIS public relations people were telling him since it was such a personal story, that maybe HE should narrate it.  That’s still undecided.  We all know there are just a handful of authors who have the wherewithal to artfully narrate their own book.  I don’t know…maybe he’s one of those.

Regardless, when my friend attempted to pass the cost of my narration on to the author, this is the response we got:

“I asked for a test version just to hear how he sounds with the book. I wasn’t expecting an invoice for the test or I would have had him reread it with changes until it was a finished to my satisfaction. I am considering him for the full audio, but that phase isn’t ready as of yet. My understanding was this was his bid for the entire project and not something I was paying to test."

ANALYSIS

Let me offer a handful of observations:

It strikes me as somewhat insincere that a guy who’s a self-made millionaire based on principles of entrepreneurship (as stated in this very book)…is unwilling to recognize the efforts of another entrepreneur in setting a fair price for earnest work.

Granted, there may have been a miscommunication between my friend and the author, and it’s to his credit that my friend is stepping up to offer compensation even though the author is unwilling.

Finally, disregarding the quibbling about whether the narration was an “audition” for the whole book, or verbally-contracted work…an “audition” or “scratch-track” of this length (18 mins) would certainly demand SOME renumeration.  No?

LESSON

Some voice actors have a hard ‘n’ fast rule about signed contracts, and at least some pay up front.  They say it’s just a matter of time before you get burned.  I haven’t been burned yet, and my business doesn’t have the force of, say, a Jennifer Vaughn or a Harlan Hogan.

How do you, or would you handle this?

CourVO

The indefatigable Jeffrey Kafer — voice actor, award-winning audiobook narrator, spurned Microsoft employee —   is now running his own AudioBook Publishing business.

This is a smart move, as the AudioBook Publishing repeatedly comes up as one of the most resilient businesses in the economy, consistently showing up in surveys as a burgeoning sector of opportunity for publishers as well as narrators and distributors.

Jeffrey is a go-getter, and a persistent force in the industry.  I, for one, salute his enterprising spirit, AND his new enterprise.

Give it a look, especially if you’re an author.

Click HERE.

CourVO

How far does $49 go these days?  What does it buy?  A pair of shoes?  Dinner for two at Applebees?  10 minutes at the dollar slots down the street at the Bellagio?

…or would you rather spend it on about the best VO advice you’re gonna find anytime this year from a panel of industry experts?

Click HERE to see the line-up of VoiceOver sages Edge Studio is putting together for a teleseminar next Tuesday, the 12th in the evening.  I don’t know ALL the names, but even the few that I DO know would would be worth the price of admission.

And even if you can’t get free to listen-in at that hour on that day, the price gets you an archived copy of the two-hour session.

Worth $49?

CourVO

No, I didn’t pick ‘em…but I DID find this website that claims THEY know what they’re talking about when it comes to this stuff, and ‘just passing it along to my VO peeps.

Workin’ on what I think’s gonna be a good article for post tomorrow…hope you’ll stop back by!

 

CourVO

We thought it would be easy.  It wasn’t.

The SaVoa Advisory Board (SAB) meets regularly…now more regularly, as the affiliate program picks up speed.  Who can be an affiliate?  Who can nominate?  What’s the process of approval…or disapproval?  We’ve been wrestling with these questions while trying to uphold the good name of SaVoa.

Answers to those questions and more in a blog article I wrote for the SaVoa.org website.

When you visit there, you’ll noticing rotating logos (like Rob Sciglimpaglia’s on the left — he was our first affiliate).  Those are just some of the changes members will benefit from because of affiliates.

HERE’s the link to the blog article…and if you haven’t considered joining our ranks yet…please do.  (shortest sales pitch of 2009).

CourVO

Peter O’Connell — aside from being a talented Voice actor, a marketing guru, and the author of “The Voice Over Entrance Exam” also has the distinction of conceptualizing a number of unofficial casting calls…in other words, it’s not real, but it’s real fun.

His latest is an invitation to audition for the announcer of the ABC World News.  Bill Rice is the most capable voice of that program, but you can dream cantcha?

Give it a whirl.  I didn’t, ’cause I don’t believe in TV news programs.  ;-}

But I think you should…really!

Click HERE for details.

CourVO

Paul Strikwerda is a smart guy…and a good voice actor, and coming from the Netherlands, has an excellent perspective of making a go of it as a voiceover talent on at least two…wait…three continents.

Recently, he posted an extremely helpful and cogent answer to a query on the Yahoo VO Forum, and gave me permission to repurpose the response here on my blog.

A fellow voiceover talent had posed questions about difference between American and European studios, standards, production companies, ad agencies and acceptable marketing practices.

Below the line you’ll see his considerably well-composed response.

Thanks for sharing Paul!

CourVO

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t give me credit for that title…it all belongs to columnist Thomas Friedman, who writes some great thoughts about how everyone’s making-do during the TET (tough economic times) by acting, shopping, thinking, and producing smarter.

THIS article even mentions voiceovers and VOICES.com.

This is a good, short read…check it out.

CourVO

In the never-ending juggernaut that is the Chinese economy we began to see imports first in our apparel and other low-budget items, then hard goods, Lenovo bought IBM laptops, a Chinese car company bought Hummer.  You get the drift.

Now voice-overs.

See below the exact verbatim I found in my e-mail box today:

————————————————————-
您好：

Hi There,

我们是博凯佳音配音工作室，我们可以提供优质的中英文配音服务，

This is BoKai Voice Over Studio, we can provide good quality chinese and foreign laguage voice products for you!

详情可以登录网站www.peiyin666.cn

Please check our website www.peiyin666.cn/english.

欢迎致电：+86 28 66686660 +86 13880740931

you can call us at  +86 28 66686660 +86 13880740931

顺祝商祺

Best Regards

中启文化 博凯佳音

Bokai Voice Over

————————————————————-

Bokai Voice Over!

Should we fear this new import?

At this point… probably not.  I tried checking out the website: www.peiyin666.cn/english and immediately got a virus warning from my AVG internet security software.

I do know that there’s practically nothing clever Chinese entrepreneurs can’t copy in mass quantity.

This is the vanguard…it won’t likely go away.

CourVO