So my voice over compatriot Rich Brennan in New York observantly posted on the Yahoo Voice Over Message Board an ad he saw recently on Joel Denver’s truly great radio webzine (recently and beautifully redesigned) All Access.com (the following ad is no reflection on Joel, or his fine site at all):
Need 2 male voices-Ages 30-50
Production company looking for male talent ages 30-50 to do voiceovers for small and medium market radio and t.v. Must have access to a professional studio Mon-Fri and be available at least one hour per day. We pay $7 for each dry unedited v/o regardless of length. (One word, one line, :15, :30 or :60)Please send :60 unpolished raw demo to voice4radio@comcast.net.
No professionally mixed demos. They seem to be rather misleading.
Deadline to submit demos is October 8, 2009.
Rich added this resonating comment:
SEVEN DOLLARS????
I agree…that fee is absolutely insulting; a reflection of how poorly some people view what voice talents do professionally. So I decided to respond to the ad in my own way. This is my complete,and I thought, fairly restrained response:
—– Original Message —–
From: “Peter K. O’Connell”
To: voice4radio@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, October 1, 2009 7:50:30 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: VO needed
$7.00 per voice over?
I hope your employer offers you more professional compensation than
you are proposing to the voice over community in your ad.
peter k. o’connell :: audio’connell voice over talent
+01 716 572 1800 :: www.audioconnell.com
Hurling insults back when you’ve been insulted didn’t work in the school yard and it doesn’t work now so (as those who know me will agree) my response was tame even by my own standards. I thought just by offering a little perspective that this might let this person know that the fee was really bad.
And I did get a response, albeit unsigned, (which I’m assuming is because of this producer’s shame for lowballing this job):
> From: voice4radio@comcast.net
> Date: October 1, 2009 10:27:26 EDT
> To: “Peter K. O’Connell”
> Subject: Re: VO needed
>
> Hahahahaha…listen sweetheart…we’re producing these ads for $15 for small market stations who can’t afford $150 spots..nor do they have the staff on hand to do their own production..so the next time you wanna be a smart ass, think before you speak..$7 is definitely enough for our talent. And since I posted this ad yesterday at 5pm..I’ve received hundreds of demos from guys who are fine with the ‘compensation’..These are people who manage their own production companies, who work in large markets and have incredible voices..(they’re just wanting a little spending money on the side)..like the rest of us. And these days, in radio…we’re all starving, so be quiet..
Which was followed up by his/her second response (still anonymous of course):
> From: voice4radio@comcast.net
> Date: October 1, 2009 10:34:40 EDT
>
> To: “Peter K. O’Connell”
> Subject: Re: VO needed
>
> PS…Yeah, I checked out your website..You’re ‘one of those’….(I won’t comment..I’ll just leave it at that)..lol..
Because I’m really not sure what this person meant, I’ll have to assume that “one of those” means “professional voice over talent” or “someone who actually makes money in voice over”. It’s true, I am “one of those”…oh the shame I bear!
Are there people in the voice over industry or radio who are so desperate to put food on the table that they’ll gladly take a $7.00 voice over job (which, minus the 5 cents for printing the invoice and getting an envelope and an additional 44 cents for postage actually only equals $6.51)?
Possibly as no one is immune despite their best efforts, but I doubt any true starving is going on within this circumstance. Even if it were, most media professionals I know would be smart enough to know that they could easily avoid starvation by grabbing one of the many minimum wage jobs featured in the paper each week. Is it an easy living? Heck no but it’s a more realistic financial opportunity than snatch and grab voice jobs.
I think any responses this anonymous “producer” received were more likely responses from people WANTING to be professional voice talents or PRETENDING to be professional voice talents. Since it would seem quality is not a requirement for these producers or obviously the client, then those folks might indeed grab the glory of that $7 spotlight. But they are so sadly devaluing their professional worth (even as a newbie) for such a gig.
It’s a hard, long road ahead for these folks if they think they’ll create a career, let alone a professional reputation from $7 jobs. It’s their decision but I do feel very badly for them and they might not fully understand why.
I know, however, how much I don’t know. Mine is not the only opinion on this producer’s position (or that of the voice talent willing to take a lowball gig.
So tell me your thoughts…it’s OK to disagree with me; just provide your prospective. Or if you agree with me, your perspective is also welcome.
Is my logic flawed? Am I being an elitist?
Discuss.
Tags: radio, tv, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice // 53 Comments »
