Who's Doing These Jobs on the Cheap?

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

$4.80's a lot of money where I live, Scott.
I can buy three Mooseheads with it...or a couple of litres of gas....or a V123 talent...or five American dollars... or (I hear) a lap dance at Chez Diane in Clarenceville.

Avarice On!

Jeanine Yamanaka · **Voice Talent** Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 28

On one website--I don't even remember which one it was by now--I got one audition that was looking for someone to narrate a 690 page book for about $100.

That sounds bad, until you remember that since the last revamping of Voice123, the average price of my auditions is probably around $25, with a range of around $15-$80.

Greg Houser · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 174

the sad part is that instead of standing their ground, so many people are willing to audition for the gig for the $ or for experience.

A major talent in my home area (who happens to be listed here) recently said "if you think you are worth that little, I probably wouldn't want to cast you anyway". He was referring to the $150 leads.

I can only imagine how he feels about the latest bout of leads circulating through V123.

Deby Cedars · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1482

I charge $100 per page but, so far I think I've priced myself out of getting anything that is longer than 2 or 3 pages......Which quite frankly is fine with me. One of my issues is re-takes due to script changes. Some very decent voice seekers ask for very cheap re-takes. Re-Takes on something where they wanted to give direction and change the way I read it is expected.....but voice seeker who has no problem paying me $200 for a job then will turn around and offer me $25 to change some words. The problem is is that I don't think they know how difficult this can be to edit. Sometimes I have to redo the whole paragraph just to get that "new sentence" to fit in right.....Can anyone else relate to what I'm saying.

Deby Cedars · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1482

Oh I wanted to say one other thing.....Don't always believe this "well if you won't do it I'll find someone else". I had a guy say that to me when I was very new to V123 (first week I auditioned). He was looking for a singer to do a jingle....really cheap.....He hired me and then never paid me.....Through huge circumstances I won't go into......(and were not worth the time or trouble) I found out that even though he said he had found someone else....Who was willing to wait for 90 days for the check....better quality...yada yada....

He had in fact not! He found some one to voice a sentence or two on top of a music bed...... who charged him even more and he never found his singer/jingle writer (at least as far as I know he hasn't).....I can sort of picture him in my mind going to pubs with bands saying....Will you write a jingle for my non existent radio station....oh by the way ol chap will you do it for free? I'll buy you pint. LOL Rolling Eyes

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

You have to figure that if the voice sites did not allow -- I'd wager to say, even ENCOURAGE -- these low-ball/freebie leads, there would never be enough leads with which to feed the inboxes of all the thousands of hungry talent out there.

All we can do is delete, and see what remains. What remains is the measure of the site's value to us.

Jenna Sharpe · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Sep 2007 Posts: 46

I'm going to play devils advocate here Twisted Evil

I understand that we don't want to undervalue the services we provide in the long run but that is why we have unions and base rates. The average voice123 user does not have an agent or belong to a union so they shouldn't be judged by the standards of the pros on this forum.

If you have the mic and capabilities and some free time what is so wrong about accepting that cheapo job? Actors on stage and screen do this all the time to build up their resume and their confidence when they are just starting out. The sad fact of the matter is most people that look at your resume are rarely concerned with HOW MUCH you were paid, the fact that you WERE PAID SOMETHING indicates to them that you are a professional.

Some people actually enjoy recording, want to practice and hone their craft and, provided the copy is decent, you can use the end product as part of a demo reel or for a future job = time saving. There is also nothing to stop you negotiating with seekers and pointing out that they are offering well below the usual rate and it can lead to future repeat business. I've done this before because a lot of people just don't know how to put a price on a voice (yes I know they should take the time to research this but the seeker is probably some poor bugger who got delegated the job last minute). And let's face it, there are posts from pros on this very forum that ask 'how much should I quote for this?' so if we don't even know, can we expect the average seeker to?

To those people who have negotiated, dropped their rate and still got the letter back saying ‘sorry I still can’t stretch to that’, how do you know they aren’t just letting you down nicely. Maybe you weren’t actually as good or right for the job as you thought you were? Razz

It doesn't always make you a bad VA or a poor business person to accept these jobs, in fact it makes business sense if you can test the waters and make a few dollars on the side without incurring any costs. I find it hard to believe that NOBODY in this thread has ever done a job on the cheap even if it was back when they were a newb.

So, crap dollars does not always mean crap results but seekers are relying on there being the odd rough diamond in amongst the crap. If they want to take that gamble and risk wasting their time and making their ears bleed with the rubbish auditions they will get… so be it.

Allen Brown · Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008, 15:20 (GMT) Post subject:

Jenna Sharpe · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Sep 2007 Posts: 46

I definitely agree with you Allen. I have friends who love doing fandubs/omakes/flash cartoons etc. often for no money but they do get a lot of views and praise from fans.
I consider them professional a) because of their talent and the quality of their work and b) because of the way they conduct themselves.

But I guess however you go about becoming professional practice and feedback are key and you do get a bit of that with V123 (although I guess the feedback part is a bit of a contentious issue at the moment heh.)

On another note... so many things rhyme with voice123.

Bill Campbell · **Voice Talent** Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 106

Jenna -

Great post. And, as a newbie gradually gets more work at better rates, they will gradually move away from the cheaper jobs, allowing the next person to come along for them. It's a natural
evolution.

Except for maybe the 100 people who make a VERY good living
doing voice-overs, most everyone else does this part-time.
I have for over twenty years. Some jobs pay $500, some pay $100. Do them both and you're average rate is $300. Not bad for a part-time job.