Johnny George

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I just had to write this in my blog for one good reason. I was stupified! Grrrrrrrrr…. That is a word, right?

I was checking out the available auditions on Voices.com when I ran across a budgeted narrative for 100.00. Now, if you know the SurePay system of Voices.com, you know that they keep a portion of that 100.00 for themselves. Ok. That will leave the talent 90.91 for their efforts.

Ok…so why am so dismayed? Well, I usually will not bother with the 100.00 jobs if my plate is full from my regular load. Well, I had a minute to peruse the info and check out the script they wanted the voice talents to audition for. When I opened the script, it wasn’t a few paragraphs or a page for a hundred bucks….it was a 3,125 word narrative. Three-thousand and twenty-five words…for 90.91??? Are you serious? O-M-G! For you faint-at-heart mathematicians – that is almost 20 minutes of copy to be recorded, edited, converted and uploaded for 90.91 and even less if you were to be paid by PayPal which would take another 2.94 out of that!

For an average 3125 word narrative project, my rates, which are competitive, would span from a low of 20.00/min. to a high of 75.00/min. which translates to a low of 390.62 to a high of 1464.85. And this joker was lucky enough to get 20 people to respond and then one of those respondents will cut this lovely script and only be paid enough to possibly fill up their gas tank twice. (Your mileage may vary)

Who ARE these unscrupplus idiots who devalue our efforts and offer such a ridiculous rate or better yet – who are these morons willing to do it for that price? As long as there are bottom-feeders on both sides of the voice business – these rates will exist. And it’s so sad to think that some feel that this is an appropriate fee to pay or that it’s an acceptable rate to receive for that amount of work.

I don’t care if you are brand new to the biz…figure it out or ask questions or challenge things like this to see if it’s competitive. Don’t settle for a low-ball figure or you’ll be looking up to everyone for the rest of your young career. Set a standard. Or follow the advice of some of the pro’s who are always available to offer their help on about every forum out there.

And you, Mr. & Mrs. Thrifty – please ask around and find out what a good rate should be for your project. The Internet is full of information today and there’s just no good excuse for ANYONE not being able to make a judgement call on something that effects so many peoples wallets. This effects us all. Novice or pro. Clients who hire cheap labor are just like the scabs that do it out there in other industries like, clothing, construction, farming, etc… Look on the Voices.com Rates page if you don’t know what to charge or receive. OMG! This should bother EVERYONE, because it touches all of us.

(Climbing down off my soapbox)

Ahhhhh…I feel better now.

Spring has sprung. Seems the economy isn’t slowing down in this area. Ever so often, when time allows, I’ll post some of the more interesting auditions that come my way via my agents, P2P and direct client requests. Some of these got away…some we got.

Summerlin Hospital
Busch Gardens Safari
AAMCO
Cardinal Health
Hartford Hospitlas
Jamie Cullen CD
Help Feed The Poor
U. S. Army
Nero
HP Careers
Krazy Glue
MCL Cafeteria
B & H Photo
Disney’s Club Penguin
Time-Warner
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Clorox Bleach
Titan Insurance
Hoosier Lottery
Star Wars – Storm Trooper Game
Carmax – Car Fox
YouTube
Jimmy Buffet’s Margarittaville
Owens-Corning
Westinghouse
Milwaukee Tool
>Anheuser-Busch
White Castle
Iron Man Video Game
Mattress Discounters
Cheeseburger In Paradise
Sade Collection
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Yale
Winn-Dixie

Glad to say that several of these came through to completion. It’s still a great form of practice to capture the good jobs!

I read this prayer from one of my fellow voiceover associates and he has graciously allowed me to reprint it. Take a look.

Dear God,

Thank you for giving me the unique and privileged opportunity to be in the voiceover business. Not too many people can say that they absolutely love what they do, but I can!

I’m grateful for clients who must be the absolute best in the world. Well, except for that one guy that totally scammed me, but that’s between You and him now. Please bless my clients! Make their efforts and hard work completely successful. Overwhelm them with the rewards of a job well done.

And thank you for the fellow voice talents You’ve put in my life. You’ve made me better by knowing them, and I am inspired, motivated and challenged by each of them.

Lord, there are some folks who don’t get enough credit or appreciation in this business: the engineers, and producers, and writers, and translators that make magic out of my often inane and inadequate performance. Please bless them in a special way!

But most of all, thank You for a wife and kids that put up with my idiosyncrasies and weirdness. You’ve given them great patience and a high tolerance to my obsession. I know it’s not right to stay up until 3am working on a silly audition that I have a 1 in a 1000 chance of getting, but how cool is it that I can!?!?!

I really only have one thing to ask for. Would it be OK if I kept doing this? I mean, would You connect me with the right people so that I can keep doing this for a long time? That would be awesome!

So, I just wanted to say THANKS! I know I don’t deserve it, but WOW, You’ve been good to me! I am of all people most fortunate, and I am deeply, deeply grateful.

dan

P.S. By the way, thanks for helping me figure out where that stupid buzz was coming from in my studio.

A Voice Talent’s Prayer by #Dan Hurst – May 2010

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks Dan.