VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Mike Harrison]

Being paid by the word. A script arrives from a middle-man, apparently having been typed by the end user and simply forwarded to me after getting a word count and without any alterations. When I notice that in quite a few places there are ellipsis (...) between words without any spaces, I replace them with spaces and, lo and behold, the word count increases. (Microsoft Word uses spaces to distinguish between words; a no-brainer.)

When I politely bring it to the attention of the middle-man, he simply says that's the way he received the script and "it is what it is." He says sometimes the word count will be wrong in the client's favor, sometimes in my favor. "I'm not going to bother replacing ellipsis with spaces to get a word count, and then put them back so that the script retains the client's intent."

How does one run a business paying people by the word when it appears he couldn't care less if the count is right or wrong?

I said, essentially, "See ya 'round the campfire."

Comments?
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Lance Blair]

By what percentage did the word count increase?
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Bruce]

Yeah, how bad was it? Even I...the biggest user of ellipses I know...outside of the philosopher Ellipses himself...don't use them often enough to throw a word count off by very much...

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Mike Harrison]

The use of ellipsis won't throw off a word count unless they are the only thing between the words. And in this case, the percentage wasn't huge. I may never have even noticed it, but all too often (especially when non-writers write) ellipsis are used when there really ought to be a period, and I wanted to make sure where one thought ended and the next one began.

What didn't sit well with me was that I politely alerted him to the corrected word count, and I got - essentially - "too bad" in response.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Mikenj3]

[whalewtchr]

You did the right thing IMHO. No matter how small, he should have corrected it when you brought the issue to his attention.
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jonahcummings

[bobsouer]

Mike,

Your client certainly gave an odd sort of response. (The only 2 clients with whom I work who insist on word count budgets have always been quick to correct things if I've pointed out any errors.)
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Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Mike Harrison]

Thanks, folks.

I'd be foolish to post here looking only to have people agree with me. This relationship consisted of a handful of VO people (administered by one), from which clients would select their preferred talent and submit scripts. It's far from a lucrative liaison. Not included in the things we all agreed on was any mention that scripts would not be checked for mistakes or word count issues, etc. Thus, I naturally assumed that scripts submitted by the clients would be checked before being given to talent for recording.

Hence my surprise that - in addition to the word count discrepancy - the lack of correct punctuation made one line completely up for anyone's interpretation. But more importantly, instead of being thanked for pointing out the discrepancy(ies) and noting the correction, I am told that the basis on which I'm to be paid is at the will of the wind, and there will be no effort to do any better.

I should have known better (Beatles, 1964). These types of relationships never seem to be worth the time and annoyance.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.