VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Leslie Humble]

Enjoyed this conversation. It is the reason I am among you pros. Because.....ahem.....I've been watermarking. The argument made perfect sense to me that if you won't get paid, you won't get paid whether you watermark or not. And an honest man is sometimes much easier to offend. I will watermark no more.
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There are rules to the Universe. Learn them and prosper. www.HumbleVoiceover.com

[Hear This Voice]

I've appreciated all the insights as well and I'm glad I brought up the question. I ended up sending the sample unwatermarked on the basis of the thoughtful and persuasive examples here.

In terms of only rationale I had for watermarking, it was this. Recording the sample took time away from other work. I was not intending to send the watermark unannounced. I was going to say, "It's our general practice to change a few words in a sample with new clients. Is that OK with you?" My thought was that if he was offended and said, "Don't bother" or "No, we insist on an accurate read" that was probably not a good sign that they intended to hire anyone, I'd decline to send a sample and would have saved the time and effort.

But I'd agree that a watermarked sample sent without such an advanced warning would only serve to prevent someone from wrongly profiting from your work, it wouldn't actually save you money.

[Yonie]

Even if you sent a message saying "I am watermarking this audition because of Reason Svalbard" it would still give the impression that you are not trusting their professional conduct. Sending it with or without a heads-up feels like a toss anyway, since they both send the same type of signal to the potential client.

[Hear This Voice]

I understand the trust arguments which have been posited, I just happent o disagree that anyone should be expected to trust a stranger online.

I enjoy many productive, profitable and trust-based client relationships today which started out as two strangers who met over email. In those first interactions I extended courtesy and good service but expected payment on service delivery. A year later I still extend courtesy and good service but I'm happy to send an invoice afterwards and I don't worry about being paid.

Again, it's been valuable (and persuasive) to learn that watermarking is not common practice, and I'm happy to abide by that if I don't have an explicitly bad feeling. But I still maintain that if a new vendor sent me a watermarked work sample that still allowed me to evaluate their work but prevented it's theft, I'd be not the least bit offended. If my best friend did that to me, then sure, I'd be offended.

Again, thanks to everyone for their valuable insights here.

[jsgilbert]

My response has nothing to do with trust. It's common sense. Watermarking an audition is like putting six locks on an empty box. There's simply nothing of value you are protecting, i.e. If a person intends on ripping off an audition they will. Whether it's yours or not, who cares, you aren't losing money. As for wasting time, sending a watermarked audition to someone who plans on ripping off an audition is obviously a waste of time.

As for explaining yourself, you'll forgive me, but with three thousand other guys lined up to do what you do, I don't really care. It simply isn't the way that professional auditions are conducted. If and when it becomes "de rigueur", then I expect I will re examine the situation.

The bottom line is that if I were to submit it to my client, they'd ask me why he was reading a different phone number or address. I'm not about to say "because he doesn't know us and doesn't want us to rip him off".
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j.s. gilbert

js@jsgilbert.com
www.jsgilbert.com

"today is the first day of the rest of the week"

[Kelly Brennan]

About a year ago, I had a client that was looking for male voices, so I contacted a few talents I know. Even though one of the talents knows me well, he changed the name of the client. When I asked him why, he expressed the same opinion of concern over being ripped off even though he knew me! He told me it was just his process.

I told him I couldn't send in his audition unless he changed it - the client certainly does not want to hear someone else's name. He wouldn't change it. No submission.

[Hear This Voice]

Wow, that's pretty dumb of the guy. To be clear though, not only would I not do this with someone I knew or had worked with, I wouldn't even do it with someone who had been *referred* by someone I knew or worked with. Both those situations are worthy of trust imho. For me at least the question was *exclusively* about strangers on the interwebs.

And furthermore, the client's name is hardly what I would choose to change/watermark!

[Jeffrey Kafer]

You shouldn't watermark, but if you do, there are ways to render the audio useless without losing the trust:

1) As Deebs said, don't read the whole thing if it's a longer non-commercial project, like a website narration. They don't expect you to rip out all 3 minutes for your audition. Do a good 30-45 seconds.
2) If it's a 30 second spot, do the spot as is word for word, but make it go 35 seconds. It renders it virtually useless.

But it's like software piracy: If they're intending to steal it, anyway, it's not a lost sale.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[Deirdre]

That 30-second spot in 35 seconds can bite you on the rear as well. Jeff McNeal talked about landing an audition because he was one of very few who got it in "on time".
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IMDB

[Hear This Voice]

That's funny, I had the same thought when I read that idea -- that it might have the same downside as a couple of subtle word changes -- someone evaluating your sample could conclude you just made a mistake.

That's why I've decided to watermark all future auditions with a rousing John Philip Souza march playing loudly in the background.

[Lee Gordon]

I think people fret about this altogether too much. Even when we turn in a "perfect" audition and the client is honorable and would never think of ripping us off, there's always the chance someone else just did a better one and the reason we didn't get paid isn't because ours was stolen, it's because another guy's was paid for.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Jeffrey Kafer]

[samowry]

I never have watermarked but rarely read anything longer than a minute for an audition, unless specifically asked.

The read a spot longer works both ways as well. I have won auditions because of my relaxed comfortable read (what they asked for) even though the spot came in an :36. Once we got in the studio, the client made the cuts to keep the read they wanted.

On another job, I was called back twice, the last time I knew the other 3 people called back. There was too much copy, but I massaged and rushed it a bit to fit. I didn't get the job. When I heard the spot, they had cut a substantial amount of copy so the talent didn't have to rush. I kicked myself for not giving the right read vs the on time read.

That's my experience, your milage may vary. In this business I find there are few absolutes.

[jsgilbert]

I think there's a huge difference between electing to have a read come in slightly long because it appears to be overwritten (and reading it faster wrecks it), as opposed to intentionally reading something with the desire to have it be unusable, because it is too long.

It often seems to be a crap shoot as to whether one should go for the gusto and have a read come in wherever, as opposed to trying to tighten it up as close to 30 or 60 or whatever. That's an artistic choice.
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j.s. gilbert

js@jsgilbert.com
www.jsgilbert.com

"today is the first day of the rest of the week"

[BenWils]

As far as I am concerned...a sample is a sample. Meaning not the entire script. Otherwise, it is a spec. If you have a bad feeling about a client, just do a portion of the read.

If it is really short and you can't do a portion of it and make it make sense...just get out your electric shaver and run it while you read and say you are so busy with VO, you have to fit sample reads into shaving and teeth brushing time.
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Ben


"To be really good at voiceover, you need to improve your footwork and hip snap."