VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Stormtrooper 7]

Hey everyone!

I hope you all are doing great. It's been a while since I have been able to stop by. Things have been crazy for me as of late. I also want to thank all of you that had volunteered for the radio thing I posted a while back. He is still going with it, though not as busy as it was. But thanks again to you all for helping out!

My question is this. I have been working on some training modules for a local company here where I live. I do the audio for them and embed it into a T presentation. They are really happy with what I produce, but I got an interesting repsonse from them last week. They said they were very happy with my work, just not with the people putting the info together.

I am wondering if perhaps I should let them know I would be willing to give writing the material a shot. They obvioulsy have the info gathered, it's just the writing is not... well... I'm trying to be nice... it's not all that. Pretty inconsistent. Have any of you ever reached out to a client and asked if you could give it a try for them? If you did, was it worth it to you? Of course I would add this as a seperate charge, but I'm not sure how to address this without insulting their "information-putting-together" team, or them as a client. I have written lots of other stuff for other projects when asked, but I wasn't sure if any of you as the voice talent ever asked the client this. I'm sure some of you have. I really do think I could make it sound a lot better than it is. I'm leaning to the fact that they probably have an employee putting it together for them.

I really appreciate everyone's expert opinion on this.

Thanks everyone!
Roger
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For more from the 501st visit: www.bakerstreetmusic.com
New Music!

[bobsouer]

Roger,

Maybe a way to approach this would be to take a few segments from your last project with them, re-write to make it clearer and more professional and send them those slides as a demonstration of how you would approach writing it?
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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

[todd ellis]

1. do you have the time to do the extra work?
2. can you bill them enough for it to make it worth your while?

you don't have to answer to anyone but yourself, but really think about it.

i've done that type of thing with glorious results - it's also happend that i did the deal then sat & asked myself why, why, why did i do this.

yeah - i know - no help.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[heyguido]

What Todd said. Been there, done that. Hit and miss as to whether it was worth it. Know your client.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[ccpetersen]

S7:

I have done exactly that with a client's material. But, as you surmise, it takes diplomacy and tact to make it work, especially if the person you're working with is the one who wrote the material in the first place (and they often have terminal cases of word love about their writing).

The way I approached it was to say something to the effect of, "This is important material, but the way it's stated here on the page makes it difficult for (me, the narrator, whoever you want to pin this on) to make it sound conversational and engaging, as we discussed. So, I was thinking as I read it, that it might SOUND better if it was written like this: [insert rewritten material]"

In one case I actually voiced both the original and the rewritten version to demonstrate how much more conversational a text was after it had been "fixed".

The idea here is to focus on the material, and don't let a whiff of blame get to the writer. That's why I said "the way it's stated" instead of "the way you wrote it".

I'm giving a script writing session to a group of filmmakers next week and that's one of my hit points in the talk: making it real for the voice.

Hope this helps.

PM me if you'd like to outsource the writing (but only if you find you don't have time to do it).
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Charter Member: Threadjackers Local 420

[Stormtrooper 7]

Thanks everyone for the replies on this. I really do appreciate the insight.

Bob; I was thinking about doing that and seeing what their response would be. So I may still give that a go. I think they may be open to suggestions, but you never know.

Todd; I do have a little time to do it as they are only around 12 slides at most total. Not much text, but what they have is not well structured. As far as the pricing, what would be the best way to charge for this? Would it be by word, page or slide? On other things that I have been asked to edit some, they just have me add something for my time to the total. But this would be a little more involved.

CC; I actually did a redo for a TV commercial I voiced a couple of years ago. I had a pretty good relationship with the guy that hired me, and I told him that what the client was wanting I didn't think would fit. So he asked me to give it my take and he would submit it to the client and see what happened. My version became the spot. But here, he was the go-between and I wasn't so apprehensive about it. Thus, for me doing that, he paid more than the original pay he was offering. Since then I have done more work for him.

I guess this is what I would like to do for these guys. As it stands there will be 40 of these to do over time. I would like to keep this as a "regular gig" as long as it lasts, so I was wanting to help this along...

I just didn't want to get into the part of offending someone over this. I really appreciate everyone's opinion.
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For more from the 501st visit: www.bakerstreetmusic.com
New Music!

[ccpetersen]

S7: sounds like your approach is right on! Good luck -- I think your customer service instincts are good.
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Charter Member: Threadjackers Local 420

[Leslie Humble]

Allow me to take this chance to urge anyone with Writing proclivities to try that road less traveled. One of the almost primal urges of mankind is to be remembered, to leave something behind, to have made a dent in the karmic machinations of the Universe.

So how then to be remembered the longest, to have the biggest footprint in the sand?

The geatest paintings are rare to be whole and not deteriorated, if painted before the 16th Century. Unless the faded French cave paintings are art to you. They do not last.

Ozymandious, "King of Kings" had only a broken statue.....because Statues do not endure. the Sphinx is eroded, the Pyramids are crumbling, the Colossus of Rhodes is long fallen. Stone does not last.

What seems to last is Writing. What is prized most is writing. Our Voiceover dexterity will last only at most for mere decades.

A perspective.
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There are rules to the Universe. Learn them and prosper. www.HumbleVoiceover.com