VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Hear This Voice]

I've received a request for a custom sample from a new client who I have no history with. I'm interested in the project, but the sample, while short, is complete enough that it could theoretically be the whole thing (i.e. they're collecting the samples they need and then will use one in production. It's an internal corporate project so I'd never know if that's how they're using it.

The easy solution would seem to be changing a few words in the demo in obvious ways to make it just as useful for evaluation but useless for production. So, when the sample script calls for the acronym RFADS, change it to RSNQR or when it refers to a 4 digit password change it to a twelve digit password.

Is that a common technique? Would it be considered rude to suggest it? And does anyone have a better suggestion for how to provide a prospective client the info they need while still protecting our own work?

Thanks!

[Philip Banks]

Do as you're asked or walk away as anything else would be seen as lack of trust which never leaves a good impression.

[Hear This Voice]

[Kristin Lennox]

It's never a good idea to intimate that a potential client is a thief. And no matter how slightly you change the copy, that's the message that is being sent.

Reputable clients don't steal audio. Do your due diligence researching the company beforehand and hedge your bets that way.
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[Philip Banks]

Options

1 - Do as you are asked
2 - Walk away
3 - See 1 and 2
4 - There is no option 4
5 - Refer to option 6
6 - Two options are quite enough

[heyguido]

Well done, Phillip. +1
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Mark Szabo]

I wonder, though, how many potential "clients" out there ask for an audition of the full text of the spot, and then just use the audio they like the best.

We've never changed a spot or watermarked it in any way, but there's a tiny, quiet, cynical voice in my head sometimes that wonders.

[Lizden]

Yes, changing a few words/acronyms/numbers in the script is a common way of "watermarking" a script.
I used to do it that way & it was a lot easier than say putting a tone under the VO which can be really annoying to the client & much more time consuming.

But, that said, have pretty much stopped the practice myself.
Yes, even in the P2P auditions.
But that's just me.
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Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
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[Bish]

I agree that watermarking or changing the script implies a lack of trust which is never a good thing. To my knowledge, I have never been "pirated", BUT... what has happened is that I've had my audition accepted as the completed job (as I know may here have quite often)...

Loved your audition... we'd use it as-is... but you misread some of the copy.

... is something I never want to hear.

Cheers
Peter
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[Bruce]

If you have a particular reason or a sixth sense feeling that makes you not trust them, then don't do the audition. If they're well recognized company then they're not likely to seek trouble.

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. .

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[Deirdre]

Frankly, If I'm asked to record something for a new, untried client, I simply don't do the whole script if I have any misgivings.
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IMDB

[jsgilbert]

I'll break this down for anyone who thinks watermarking is a good idea to show you how you lose nothing by NOT watermarking.

1. Scenario One has a disreputable client looking to rip-off an audition to actually use as part of a production. You submit a watermarked audition. You don't get paid. You submit an unwatermarked audition, you don't get paid.

2. Scenario one is the more common scenario, whereby a client wants you to read something, often 2 minutes or less, in its entirety (for a number of reasons). You watermark the audition and many clients will toss your audition in the trash (I certainly do, as does EVERYBODY I know). - you don't get paid. You don't watermark your audition and you may get booked - You get paid

3. Scenario Three - You watermark your audition and the client doesn't care, this may happen 25% of the time (more or less depending upon who your are reading for and the level of competition)

Bottom line, if they steal your audition, why do you care? In those rare instances, nobody would get paid anyway. So how much money are you out? That's right, zip, zilch, nada.

But if your watermark, you severely lessen your chances of getting hired by the vast majority of reputable clients.

By the by, if your work does get ripped off, there's also the possibility you will find out, in which case you have a remedy (take legal action)

And if it smells fishy, leave it in the newspaper for someone else to filet and bone.

I've yet to see anybody truly come up with any decent rationale for watermarking.
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j.s. gilbert

js@jsgilbert.com
www.jsgilbert.com

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

[todd ellis]

pretty much what everybody else said. i "watermarked" VERY early in my career because i thought it was the "thing to do" and made me look "more professional". now, nearly "25 years along the road" i think "watermarking" is as unnecessary as "extraneous" quotation marks.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[ConnieTerwilliger]

The only time you hear them these days is on sample audio that you are considering buying for a production. If those watermarks weren't there, you can bet your bottom dollar that people would be stealing them.
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