Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Voiceovers’

You’d have to be living in a voiceover-proof invisible dome not to hear about the goings-on with VoiceJockeys and atty Robert Sciglimpaglia.  I’ve been blogging about it myself relentlessly for the last three days, and this will be an addendum, then I promise to let it go until the “next big thing”.

Why?

The world continues to turn, the sun comes up in the East, and Muamar Q’adaffi is still the dictator of Libya.

Read this comment sent by Mike Elmore in response to yesterday’s blog:

“I know this is a heated issue. I personally think VO people spend WAYY too much time worrying about this. Yes it is a bee in the bonnet…but this market will more than likely always exist (as clients will always exist that either can’t afford our rates OR know they don’t have to pay them because there IS this market of VO people as well. Of course there is the argument that you get what you pay for. But if the client is satisfied and they paid 50.00 instead of 300.00…then I guess they got a good deal and fueled this new arm of the market even more.

I too find it almost shocking that VO people have so much friggin’ time on their hands. So much time to gossip and complain and judge and say LOOK AND ME, LOOK AT ME…lol …on these boards and things. Why not spend this time marketing? Anyway…I just think it’s something that is there/here….and why waste so much time talking about it? I personally feel like I have typed enough about it in the last 5 minutes to last me a lifetime. But to each his own. I must admit I do enjoy READING thru these things from time to time…but I certainly don’t have enough time to create them…so…guess I’m glad someone does~~”

Just another opinion, I know, but one that hilites a struggle I have every day.  Priorities.  VO has an extremely high level of attention in my life right now.  Personally, I love following the trends, working the Social Media, attending the forums, and contributing with my blog.  But at the end of the day, I have to audition, market, invoice, and seek coaching ,just as relentlessly.

I will support Rob Sciglimpaglia in every way.  I think his tack has merit.  In fact, I want to mention his new blog designed to expose online P2P sites like VoiceJockeys (and you know who you are).  It’s called TREAT VOICE OVER ACTORS FAIRLY.  Let Rob know of every unscrupulous site you think undercuts our industry with mercenary pricing and policies.

Also, be sure to visit John Florian’s VoiceOverXtra site for the latest installment of this stand-off.  HERE.

CourVO

Even that title doesn’t do it justice.  But what would?

The passions of politics are SO polarized these days that no one can say or do ANYTHING.

Here’s the story.  I take no sides.

”A voice-over actor — best known for telling viewers they can save 15 percent or more on car insurance — says he lost his gig doing Geico commercials after leaving a voicemail with a group that organizes Tea Party events to ask how many of its employees are “mentally retarded.”

Los Angeles actor D.C. Douglas in a press release said he was dropped from the upcoming Geico “Shocking News” campaign after leaving a message with the press shop at FreedomWorks, a Washington-based organization led by former Republican leader Dick Armey that has been at the forefront of the Tea Party movement.” (Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/21/geico-voice-over-actor-fired-after-calling-tea-party-group-mentally-retarded/#ixzz0loTVRVmb)

See  more links here:

http://mystateline.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=155395
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/21/geico-fires-dc-douglas-vo_n_546038.html
http://www.prweb.com/releases/freedomworks/geico/prweb3906104.htm

Even though, he took it down, see DC Douglas’s original blog here:
http://goo.gl/TrOb

My only take:

I subscribe to the notion that there is no such thing as bad PR.  If you want to get noticed, you can do so with positive OR negative press.

The notoriety here goes to Geico, FreedomWorks, DC Douglas, and VoiceOver talent in general.  All are getting unbelievable press over this thing.

CourVO

‘Wonderful article in a recent issue of WIRED that made me think.

Clive Thompson writes in “Advantage: Cyborgs” on our inevitable and growing reliance on computers.

The general conclusion? Computers aren’t necessarily smarter than humans, nor are humans necessarily smarter than computers.

“The most brilliant entities on the planet….are average-brained people who are really good at blending their smarts with machine smarts.”

Boy Howdy!

1-Remember that, when you’re choosing the right DAW.
2-Understand that when selecting the microphone perfect for your voice.
3-Realize that when you decide whether to take jobs that have a lot of editing.
4-Analyze that when you buy an ISDN product.
5-Synthesize that when setting up your audio chain.

You have talents.  Technology can help.  Sometimes a lot.  But it’s not a magic box.

Practice. Coaching. Practice.  Read the manual.  Practice.  Audition.

Learn to get along with the machine so it’s your friend, not your roadblock.

CourVO

Have I ever mentioned how little TV I watch?  Almost none.

Seriously.  I rarely even watch the news.

The problem is, I have to know a little bit about popular culture to understand the nuances, read the trends, and stay on top of the lingo and the fanaticisms that people have in the national pastime of  celebrity worship.  This is important so I can  have perspective on the stories I write and read in my own newscast…seeing as how half of the “news” anymore deals with the salacious details of senstionalism.

I say all that to acknowledge what a hit the series “Family Guy” is.  The writing is excellent, the humor dry, and the voiceovers….ah!…the voiceovers…well, I should be so lucky to get a gig like THAT.

Recently, the voice-actors of Family Guy appeared on the show “The Actors Studio” with the pompous James Lipton.  I think perhaps the only precedent was when Lipton had on the cast of  ‘The Simpson’.  THOSE voice-actors are recognizable screen actors (Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria)…but I’m not that familiar with the names of the voices behind the cartoon characters of Family Guy (maybe I’m slipping in my keeping up popular culture!).

At any rate, there’s a pretty good summary article of the appearance in the TIMES COLONIST publication.  You can read it HERE.

The line that caught my eye:   “Inside the Actors Studio is supposed to be a sanctuary for Great Actors, not a playground for lowbrow voice actors in a lowly TV cartoon.”

CourVO

The Society of Accredited Voice Over Artists (SaVoa) began organizing in earnest about the same time James Alburger, Penny Abshire, and Frank Frederick put together the first true convention for voiceover talent: The Voice Over International Creative Experience (VOICE).  Both were the natural progression of an industry coming of age.

VOICE held its first conference in Las Vegas in 2007, its 2nd in 2008 in Los Angeles, and the 3rd is scheduled this June…also in LA.

SaVoa is also steadily growing and gaining members, and for the first time, will be appearing in force at VOICE.

VOICE 2010 is scheduled for the first weekend in June, which puts it roughly 8 weeks away.  As an organization, SaVoa is moving to make its presence known to the attendees at VOICE 2010. This is consistent with its goals, good for its growth, and just smart marketing.

SaVoa is also encouraging members to attend VOICE, and has been working with James Alburger and Penny Abshire  to get the best deal possible for SaVoa members.

From now until April 25th, all SaVoa members are eligible for a 15% discount in the price of attending VOICE 2010.

But wait, there’s more!!!

In order to achieve SaVoa’s goals at VOICE 2010, SaVoa will incur some expenses. SaVoa have a booth for attendees to visit for personal contact with attending SaVOa members, along with small promotional items for all attendees to help promote SaVoa. We need your help to offset those expenses. If would like to donate to the effort, you can make a $20 donation and you will automatically be entered in a drawing – exclusive to SaVoa members only – for one free registration to the entire conference!  Non-SaVoa members are welcome to help in this endeavour by making a donation as well.

The deadline for the $20 drawing is April 15th.  Click on this link: http:// http://www.savoa.org/donate to make your donation. The winner will be announced on the 15th.
After the drawing for the free registration is held on April 15th, if you aren’t the winner, you can use the code SaVoa20 when registering, to apply your $20 donation to your registration fee on top of the 15% discount.  Again, your donation helps defray the cost of SaVoa’s presence at VOICE 2010.

We hope you’ll take advantage of this special pricing. Feel free to contact your SaVoa Advisory Board member if you have any questions, or contact Dave Courvoisier at CourVO@CourVO.com 702-610-6288 or Dan Lenard dansvoice@verizon.net  716-689-8179. If you’ve ALREADY registered for VOICE 2010, and you’re a SaVoa member, please contact us and we’ll make sure you get the discount.

SaVoa members, please see check your recent e-mail from Board Member Thom Wilkins for the special SaVoa member registration codes and links you can use to get your discount.

We’ll see you at VOICE 2010!

CourVO

That’s such a loaded term these days.  But, look…as voice actors we tend to wear lots of hats to keep our business going, and guess what gets lost in the shuffle?  Auditioning.  Practicing. Learning.  Marketing.  Growing. Cold-calling…the CORE activities that define our central goal.

Didja ever consider that other free-lancers like yourself might be able to do some of those un-core tasks off your hands for a fair price?  It’s not that you CAN’T do it…but could it possibly be cost-effective to “farm” out some of that stuff?

Perfect example:  You probably know I love dabbling in techy stuff, be it software, hardware, social-networking, blogging, site-authoring.  But as much as I love it…should I be spending inordinate hours DOING it?  Enter Brett Bumeter, who runs SoftDuit: “…Helping adapt business models to the web with WordPress powered CMS sites..” Brett so deftly, affordably, and creatively moved my old blog to the new WordPress format it made my head swim.  I coulda spent days doing what he did in no time!

Working a long-format naration?   Don’t have the time or motivation to edit the fnal production?  Many voice-actors send off the raw sound-file to someone whose bread ‘n’ butter is audio editing.

Lousy at writing a bio, cover letter, resume?  Send it to a professional writer who can spruce it up.  You’d be surprised how they — like you — produce quality work in a timely manner.

Many voice actors have a CPA or an enrolled agent handle their taxes.  Why not seek the proper expertise for designing your audio-chain?  That can be at LEAST as arcane as the tax code sometimes!

The point is, it pays you to hire a professional to do certain specific tasks, just like you would expect someone to hire you to do the very specific work of voice-acting.

Not only do you benefit from their expertise, it makes YOU look better, and you stimulate the freelance marketplace.

Do a web search for ‘virtual assistant’ or ‘office assistant’, and you’ll find services that’ll do everything from walking your dog, to taking out your dry-cleaning.

Hey, if those mundane tasks are the mental roadblocks that stand in the way of me getting  my next voice-job, then I’d hire ‘em in an instant.

Unfortunately for me, no one offers outsourcing help for my roadblock: the inability to take my own advice!

CourVO

More and more I’ve been thinking about all the great voice-actors who are teaching:  Pat Fraley, Deb Munro, Marc Cashman, Hillary Huber, Bettye Zoller, Harlan Hogan…

Why?…

I mean, is teaching VO more lucrative than DOING VO?

If you can do both, then, of course, more power to ya!…but all I EVER wanted to do was VO…not teach VO.

Do you reach a point in your VO career where you want to teach more than voice?  Don’t you just want to put all your waking energy into getting better VO jobs?…wouldn’t that pay better than putting all your energy into teaching VO?

Do you reach a point where teaching VO is more FUN than doing VO?

I’ve been anchoring local TV news for 30 years, and I’ve never reached a point where I want to coach TV newscasters for money.  I LOVE mentoring others trying to get a leg-up in the business… but coaching people to be better broadcasters?  ‘Doesn’t appeal to me in the least.  I’d rather just anchor.

So I ask…why teach?

The only variable I keep coming back to is money.  It must be more lucrative to teach than to voice.  Maybe ego.  That would motivate some, I guess.

Of course, you can’t just set up shop and teach VO without having DONE it to the point of respect.  THEN you can legitimately hang out a shingle, and expect to get students.  Right?

Maybe the pros who are teaching are just more naturally drawn to teaching or suited for teaching rather than voicing….

This is just stream-of-consciousness thinking-out-loud, here…

I’m trying to understand this.

I’m doing a session at VOICE2010 on social networking, but it’s not because I really want to.  I was asked.  I’m not getting paid.  People say they’re interested in what I might have to say.  Maybe I can help.  I could see where ego comes into it.  It’s nice to be wanted…but I’d much rather spend that time voicing a sweet national network spot at union rates.

Could it be that picking the low-hanging fruit is too irresistible?  I mean, there’re all those eager newbies who say “…I’ve always been told I have a good voice…could I do commercials?…” Do they make it more lucrative to teach than to voice?

Anyone?

CourVO

This is Part-3 of a loosely-told story from Dave’s real-world experience in setting rates for a voice job.

Part one is HERE.
Part two is HERE.

You’ll remember, I’d hoped for permission from my anonymous (but quite real) female VO pro to excerpt an extremely well-stated philosophy for setting rates.  She’s now granted that permission.

She sent me the explanation as part of an on-going communication we had over a mutual client.  That client had at one point shared MY rate-sheet with HER as a means of negotiating a fair rate with her after hiring me for a job (he later apologized).

The rub was that HER rate was obviously and significantly higher than MINE; a point she made to me not out of malevolence, but to shake out my own awareness of value.  She was telling me nicely that I was probably not charging enough (a conclusion my own client also later admitted to me).

The compensation policy she’s devised is well-articulated in the comments you’ll find BELOW.  Her arguments are reasoned and powerful.

The whole experience for me has been tangible.  It’s prompted a timely and crucial adjustment in my sense of fair pricing — an issue most voice actors wrestle with endlessly.

Voice coach/actor Bettye Zoller also reacted to my rate-setting blogs with the following comment: “Pricing is the hardest subject to teach others because it’s a very personal experience depending on so many variables. Very complex. You’re brave to put it out there. But no one person can tell another how to price. It’s too dependent on too many circumstances including whether the talent needs the job or won’t work under a certain fee and more.”

I couldn’t agree more, Bettye.

Please take the time to read the measured words below, of  who I would say is now my unsuspecting “VO Rate Mentor”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking back…I’d have to say I get the most spirited reaction to blogs about setting freelance VO rates…and I’ve done a few of those blogs, ’cause the issue keeps coming back for me.

I wasn’t overwhelmed with a response to yesterday’s blog: SETTING VO RATES, but the few who chimed in added much to the conversation.

Perhaps the best post-script to yesterday’s tale was the response from my client.  I’ll save that for last.

If you read the comments to the blog, you’ll see that VO talent Jeffrey Kafer cautioned me to NEVER share my rate sheet with clients.

The dean of VO blogging — Bob Souer — reminded me that it’s great to have a spine about these issues, but reminded me that a spine is flexible, else we would never be able to tie our shoes.

I liked the response that came from a follower on Google Buzz:  “…sounds like a tough thing to gauge, I would imagine though that your work speaks for itself (literally) and that the client would find value in your service. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to mention on your rate sheet that these are introductory prices and you are building a business so take advantage of these low rates as they are lower than industry standard. I also like the idea of asking for more but that comes with lots of experience and rock solid reputation…”

Voice actor Justin Barrett responded that, “I kinda like the approach of telling the client you’re building a business. However, could that not easily backfire if the client interprets “building a business” as “not yet a working professional”?

The female voice talent mentioned in my tale responded with a wonderfully eloquent and involved email explaining her rationale for not really HAVING a rate sheet.  The response was so reasoned and savvy that I’ve asked her permission to reprint excerpts here so we may all benefit.  If she acquiesces, I’ll post that very soon (tomorrow?).

But here’s the response from my client that I promised above: He called me today apologizing for sending the rate sheet to the female VO talent, saying as soon as he hit the “send” button, he regretted it.  I believe him.  I told him that the whole experience has sharpened my ideas about setting rates, and made me re-evaluate my worth as a developing voice actor.  The conversation ended with a much better understanding of the process for each of us.

But here’s the real kicker:  The client (God bless ‘im) told me in the course of the conversation that “…Dave, I would’ve paid you more for your services…”

Wow!  See?  I left money on the table.  I didn’t ask what I was worth.  My product is undervalued.  I’m not respecting enough myself OR my work.  I’m selling short.

Lesson learned.  A valuable lesson.  I’ve already augmented my rate sheet, and am promising myself to remember to say to future clients:  “Tell me how much you’ve budgeted for this project.”….or….”What is the most you’re willing to pay me, and still feel like you’re getting a fair deal?”

Check back here over the weekend, when I hope to have the sage advice from the seasoned female voice talent who was willing to generously share her thoughts on this issue.

CourVO

You hear me talk about this publication every month….but have you actually flipped through it’s amazing online pages?  And by “flip” I mean it literally.  This is one of the coolest online magazine formats I’ve ever seen.

EQ mag is for musicians, studio geeks, audiophiles, engineers, and studio techs, but so much of what you’ll find on these pages is helpful to voice actors.  Tons!

For instance, an article this month entitled “Why settle for tracks that sound good when they can sound great?”  is packed with tips on audio editing, including use of plug-ins, equalization, and mixing.

And like I always say, the ads alone are worth checking out, just to keep current.

Click HERE or on the pic above.

CourVO