VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Dan-O]

Back in June, I was offered a chance to participate in a small VO clinic. In attendance included: a class of 12 students, the coach, a highly respected agent and the founder of V123, Alex Torrenegra. The reason Alex was on hand blew me away. He was there to gain further insight on how the VO industry works in the United States. (You see the business model and staff of V123 are from South America. They simply took the model north, without having a firm grasp on how the industry worked here.) He sat quietly and listened intently. From what I gathered, a couple of his goals were to hear the difference between experienced and in-experienced talent and how a major market agent uses the internet to market their talent and cater to clients.

Afterward, I had a few moments with Mr. Torrenegra. He was soft spoken and a gentleman. In our exchange, he made clear to me they are very aware of the perception some experienced, professional VO talent have of their company and are working hard to change that. (There were even a few comments made about articles written here on the VO-BB.) He could not go into specific detail on what was going to take place in the future, but I have a feeling the new rate card is part of that plan. (And, IMHO, is step in the right direction.) The biggest problem I spoke of is how they need to trim the fat: cutting out bad/cheap clients and in-experienced talent. Both seem to clutter up the place. There was a nod of agreement and a mention they are working on it.

All in all, I have a strong feeling Alex is a man of his word and we should look forward to healthier V123.

(As of this writing I am not a paying member of Voice123 and this article is not an endorsement of their services.)

[bobsouer]

Dan,

Harlan Hogan (during his session at the Summit yesterday) mentioned a conference or seminar he spoke at recently where he discovered after his talk that Alex was in attendance. Harlan said they had a good conversation together and that he had offered advice to Alex that was very similar to what you've mentioned here.

And thank you for passing this along. It's exciting to read. I did notice when I renewed my membership last week that there is a new post in the Customer Support area about some changes they are getting ready to maake to the way they send out audition requests.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[kgenus]

I'm prepared to write a full rant on this subject, but I'll keep it short to make it public.

How many of you ever started a service business, invested thousands of dollars, ignored the comments of most of your service providers, allowed your customers to drive your prices down AND lost your service providers as a results?

I've never met Dan-O or Harlan Hogan, but I'm certainly apologetic they had to waste their valuable time talking shop with this person. This individual you mention may be the greatest person walking, but his business skills are woefully inadequate and every paying member, including myself in the past, has allowed, rather passively encouraged him to continue doing business in a manner which is not responsible or consistent with the rest of this industry. There have been numerous individuals who have completed requests from his clients who never paid, however, the site claims no involvement in these cases. A joke. As I've said previously, the client pays the service, the service pays the talent ... the same way some studios work. Even PayPal invoicing would be a valid tool. That service should be held accountable for every failed interaction.

Also, anyone doing business in an industry where unions exist should have some knowledge of what is going on in the industry by consulting union representatives. I'm surprised they're permitted to have a union "check" box without any union waivers, etc. to pay the unions. The service should be required to pay the fees for every union talent who has garnered work from the site, however, this falls under "my" idea of how payments should be processed.

The bottomline is that this service is juvenile in design and implementation, as are a majority of the jobs it receives. If you believe you'll get practice from poorly written copy, by all means, pay for it, you're only cheating yourself out of real opportunities. I understand there are people who think "this is the only way to do this" but that's your own choice (and potentially your failure to do your own industry research).

Want practice? A basic magazine or newspaper has enough copy for you to read and practice with for .25 cents but getting a subcription to the weekly Time publications keeps you current and they've got editors.

Dan-O, please do not take any of my comments personally as I understand the reasons you posted your document. I do, however, feel very strong about corporations that have failed commun ities, obviously I've included this service as one.

-g
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Genus

[Drew]

Also, it's a bit late, and most difficult to raise the bar AFTER one has contributed so demonstratively to its lowering. It's tantamount to turning a public golf course into a private country club. What do you tell the hacks with two hundred bucks that want to join and the low ballers who still think they're welcome to run the place?
_________________
www.voiceoverdrew.com
Skype: andrew.hadwal1
Although I have a full head of hair, I'm quite ribald.

[Dan-O]

Kevin,

First, I do not take your comments personally. Second, why do you think I waited so long to post this? Being a member of vo-bb, I have become aware that passions run very deep with some talent concerning V123, as you so stated. It even crossed my mind to post this anonymously in order to free myself from the judgment of others. However, a voice of reason said to me that I have nothing to fear, only an interesting story to share with my online colleagues.


Drew,

I am also waiting to see the answer to your question.

Best to all,

Dan

[Travis]

Hi everyone...

One of the first things I had to learn about being successful is "Don't put your energy into things over which you have no control". - Life tends to go into directions where you place your energy. If you spend your brainpower concentrating on things that you can't change or can't fix, you aren't using that time and energy on the important stuff - that which you CAN influence and change to your advantage.

Many V.O. people are spending a great deal of their resources being outraged about services like Voice123 and Interactive Voices. However, no matter how upset these individuals get, these companies are not going to go away.

The only thing that will determine whether these businesses are around ten years from now is whether or not they're making a profit -- not whether they are "good" for the voice-over industry or it's members. If Alex closes up tomorrow, somebody else will jump in immediately to fill the "void". -- That's something over which you have no control. (Well, you could write your congressman.)

The "Communications Revolution" is changing the voice-over industry, like everything else. That leaves us VO-types left to thrash about in the upheaval. Nobody knows where that will lead us. Many will stand stoically - and will be washed away by the new flood of ideas - resistance IS futile.
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Travis
www.VOTalent.com

[tammymcd]

Travis...I have to agree with you. I'm no VO expert obviously - but I have to say that in my life - the only thing that has gotten me thru the many MANY trials I have come up against - is learning to use that whole serenity prayer mentatlity and in spite of what ever is going on around me to focus on the things I can change.....and there's not nearly as many of those things and so far it's pretty much all I can handle anyway - so it works out well.

I also try to put stuff in perspective - how important will whatever is bothering me be in 100 years?....This typically puts to rest most reasons I have for freaking out. Anyway - that's just what I do to keep my blood pressure down - perhaps this little bit of what I've noticed in my own life will help. Even though it's not new information certainly - but sometimes it helps to hear/read it again and remind ourselves of these truths.
Then again - I'm a bit of a Pollyanna so there you go.


Tammy
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Life is what happens when you're making other plans.