VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Rick Gordon]

Hey Guys,
I don't know if this topic should come under Chat, Work or Learn so I'll begin with the most active forum. I'm looking for someone to build a form that the visitor fills in and is automatically submitted to me for approval. This is for our new CV Kids web site and I need to put some protection in place. The site and form idea as it now exists is here http://www.commercialvoices.com/CV_KidsIntro.php . Alternate suggections would be most welcome.

Are there any cooks in the kitchen with the recipe for this? If so please contact me with a private message or email to RGordon@commercialvoices.com and let me know your fee and turnaround time. Your assistance is very much appreciated.
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[louzucaro]

There are probably a zillion ways to do it, but the most common would be:

1) Have messages go to you for approval, after which they are made available to the other party

2) Have the message senders themselves be approved, and once on an approved list, communication back and forth is "open" but still goes through your system

3) There's also a really simple 3rd method, which is that the form contents are sent to your e-mail, and then if you think they're appropriate, you can just forward the message to the other party.

The first two listed above, though, generally would involve a database system with several components. You have a table that stores "talent", one for "clients" and one for "messages". You'd then have an admin system that you'd log into that would show you a list of pending messages. Read through them, mark each as "approved" or "denied".

Approved messages then show up in a special login area for talent where they can read and respond to the messages.

All messages themselves are stored in the database as well...which is how you're able to read / approve them and how the clients and talent are able to as well (as opposed to 3 above, which is just you as an intermediary using regular e-mail).

Any way you look at it, you have two major issues:
1) Child safety, which you're obviously concerned about
2) Hands on / hands off

There's no way you can really offer 1 without it being pretty hands on in some ways, and then the question you have to ask is are you willing to accept a certain amount of liability for the messages that go back and forth?

I think your specific needs are going to be more than what you're likely to find in a pre-made (off the shelf) solution, and it depends on your chosen hosting platform as well.

You can certainly find people that can build the thing for you, though. Here's an example of a system that I developed for actors called MyActorPages...one of the features is a Guestbook that's sort of a one-sided version of what you need in that people can post messages willy nilly, but the site's owner needs to approve them before they show up on the site.

http://www.toddstashwick.com/guestbook.asp
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[dagoldenknight86]

That's pretty cool. A co-worker of mine (also a radio geek) has a little 11 year old actress. She's interested in this type of work. What would you guys recomend in getting her started in this? My guess is it would be different for us older folks...

[Rick Gordon]

Actually it is not much different at all. She will need a professionally produced demo and lots of promotion. Same as us old dogs do.
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[dagoldenknight86]

Sounds like it would be a neat project. What's the demand for a child's voice? Do you or anyone else have some old copy that I could have her do that would fit to make her a demo?

Thanks!

[Jeffrey Kafer]

where's the threadjack police when you need em? Oh yeah. Vegas.
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[jrodriguez315]

[Rick Gordon]

Joe...thanks for your input but it is not as simple as that. You cannot protect children enough these days. The reason for the hoops to jump through is someone may give false info as to their legitimacy to contact the minor. It is my job to determine that they in fact are serious clients/producers before giving them access. Believe me, I have done quite a bit of research on this and it is scary. According to "ChildFind.ca" and the RCMP they "can find no fault in my methods" and this is a business that is accountable. I know it seems like a pain and it probably will deter some legitimate visitors but....but.....it's 2007 and that's the way it is.
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Voice Artists
Get Hit and Get Heard
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[dagoldenknight86]

[louzucaro]

So do you already know how to do the authentication? Meaning having the talent info require a username / password?

If you're going to take e-mails and then personally hand out username / password combos to access the talent info, you'll likely want to have a way to generate them semi-automatically...you enter in an e-mail address (of the client) and the system generates a password for them which is added to the auth list.

That way you don't have to be AS hands-on with the system.

That's how I'd do it anyway...and then have the page with the talent data be dynamically generated or have it sit in a directory that's tied into your list of username / password combos, so that you can remove people if needed later without having to give everybody else a new set of credentials.
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[jrodriguez315]

Rick,

I just came across this forum --> http://forums.delphiforums.com/proactors/start which targets the parents of child actors. Perhaps their webmaster can guide you in this area?
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Joe Rodriguez, Bilingual Voice Actor | The Voiceover Thespian Blog