VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[IanFraser]

Hi all

I'm a reasonably pro V/O who's been in the biz for some 12+ years, in South Africa - and now based in the US and setting up shop. I've been spoiled in a lot of ways, because there, one goes into studio's, does the gig, and leaves - no 'home recording' structure for V/O (coz of the lousy/expensive internet setup in SA)

I'm used to tight deadlines, and doing daily on-air TV promo's, film trailers etc - but all in the comfort of 'someone else's fully rigged studio'

So its been a big upward learning curve for me - but now I'm at the point of 'got the gear needed, got the space to record'.. and I'm wondering:

On the one hand, I'm waiting word back from a biggish agent I made contact with, months ago, who was sold on my demo, but I didnt have studio then - so that's potentially looming.. (and as far as issues about 'exclusivity' go - I'll worry about that, when and if it emerges with the agent. Long as I'm getting lots of work, I don't mind.)

But I'm eyeing these various online sites for storing demo's and auditioning for work..

I've heard quite a lot of - shall we say 'somewhat negative' reports about voice123 - which has me a little cautious. The other one that seems to have spawned less criticism, is the voices.com place.. are these two what seem to be referred to as 'the big two' here and there on this forum? Or are there others that I'm missing.

I'm fairly tempted to sign up cautiously for a month to the voices.com place - to see if I can at least cover the costs of it - would forumites figure this 'cautious' approach is the best way in - rather than paying out $ for a whole year, and only then discovering it sucks in some way.

Also - is there any difference from the Clients side of things, to the various online V/O sites? I mean which of the sites contains the entertainment 'heavyweights' - or are they evenly spread across these two and/or others?

And are ad auditions sourced via these sites from the industry heavyweights ad agencies, or from within those heavyweights own ad departments? (I'm just curious, as I don't have a good feel for the 'structure' of the industry..)

Next: as I have a soft spot for unions, and the protection they can provide on occasions - which Union (s) cover the voice over talent field?
(I'm already a Dramatist Guild Member, thanks to the fact that my plays have been staged here in the US, before I arrived, and some won awards - and others are due to be staged next year..)

(yet another darn question) If I join a Union, do I still have the freedom to decide for myself what rates to set for a Client - I'm all about bartering and haggling when necessary - and I figure that being a union member shouldn't force ME to do anything - however, should a Client prove to be less than trustworthy, for instance, I can sic the union on him to force THEM to behave.

And for what its worth, you can hear my basic demotape online, via my site - which'll give a sense of my work I was doing in the past - at http://ianfraserlive.com/demotape.html
EDIT:
One of the interesting side effects, I've noticed - from having signed up as a guest on voice123 - but not having parted with any money - is that I seem to be getting a daily cluster of scripts (via their notifications of jobs) to practice with - which is rather pleasant, in terms of daily training of voice and equipment.

Thats about it, I think Looking forward to hearing the thoughts of the folks on forum..

[ConnieTerwilliger]

[IanFraser]

Thanks for the reply, and useful info

as regards joining union but choosing when to use them in negotiations over rates or for certain jobs - I don't see it as 'playing both sides of the fence' - if anything, to me its sound business sense and logic, in terms of being fluid with business dealings, and bringing the correct solution to apply to each individual job situation.

Unless it means that being a Union member has some intrinsic 'exclusivity' deal that goes with it - it makes sense to have a solid organization behind you, when YOU want it. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Its odd to hear the suggestion that something is 'playing both sides of the fence' - as if this is a 'bad' thing - and that the choices are only 'this' or 'that' and that its wrong to be flexible in approaching the always changing situation of work. Not looking for and using a suitable combination of adaptable approaches, would seem to be depriving oneself of quite legitimate options and tools, in the face of the constantly changing requirements of the voice biz..?

As for where I am in the country, I'm in Connecticut, closest city is probably Hartford.
But thanks again for the pointers to the various organizations available..

Just to clarify - I've been used to the idea and practice, of both having an Agent - and also getting 'private' work as it was called. And the approach was always - if the clients found me directly - then depending on how I was feeling, or how much I trusted them, either I'd do the job myself, and invoice them and get money directly (usually anywhere from 30-90 days later) - or else I could put them onto the Agent, and then they'd take their cut and pay me in the usual course of events.

So the idea of an 'exclusive' arrangement never cropped up. I don't think I even had a written contract with my Agent, yet I did a lot of work over many years with them - and there was this general agreement of how we operated - never had problems over even quite large campaigns which I found or handled by myself, versus the jobs that came via the Agent themselves.

There was always an understanding that they couldn't do an exclusive deal of any kind, because a V/O person needs all the deals they can get, to make enough to get by. Perhaps things are more 'comfortable' here in the US, by virtue of the many V/O jobs available to begin with. I'm used to fighting quite hard to get a piece of a rather small pie to begin with

[ConnieTerwilliger]

Well, my edit to remove the words "playing both sides of the fence" will now cause confusion in this thread. I wrote it, then deleted it after thinking that it wasn't saying what I really wanted to say. Another lesson about being careful not to hit the Submit button too quickly.

First of all, I don't disagree with you at all - however, you initially stated that you had a soft spot for unions, so I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that you would want to follow the rules that they set up.

I see your point completely ("its sound business sense and logic, in terms of being fluid with business dealings, and bringing the correct solution to apply to each individual job situation.") and agree with it - this is the main reason I chose to go financial core. That and the fact that there simply is NO AFTRA work in my town.

The fact is that being a full AFTRA member DOES require that you perform only union work. You can read more about Rule 1 and what it means at http://www.aftra.com.

Your remarks about the changing business climate are the same remarks so many of us have been raising with AFTRA in recent months in order to see if the union can be made more relevant.

I also agree with your remarks about exclusivity as it relates to agents. I work the same way, depending on the job, I will do it myself (negotiating rates, invoicing, collecting) or ask one of my agents to take care of it.
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