Generous To A Fault

This is a bit of a sticky situation in which some working professional voice over talent may find themselves. Actually, I'm not sure how often this particular thing might happen, as it does seem to me to be a bit extreme, and may be an isolated type of incident, but something to think about nonetheless.

I'm reminded of the Bonnie Raitt song "Women Be Wise" (Don't Advertise Your Man) - originally performed by Sippie Wallace .

As working voice over talent, we want/need to promote our work by listing projects and clients in our resumes and elsewhere. Sometimes, people may ask us who we're working for as well. But I had an interesting and uncomfortable situation arise awhile back that took me aback and made me think about what kind of information we want to put out there.

I like to think of myself as an open and generous person both professionally and personally. So, that may be the only reason this particular incident even made an impression on me and has caused me to think and rethink my response.

I have answered a lot of questions both from beginning and experienced voice over performers, and I've written "How To" pages for my web site as well as publishing many blog posts aimed at helping voice talent. I've sent voice over work to other male and female voice talent when I've had the opportunity. Awhile back, however, a male voice talent who I've met online contacted me on behalf of a female voice talent friend of his. He wondered if I'd be so kind as to forward a note she had written to one of my major clients who uses my services almost exclusively. In the note, addressed to my client, she introduced herself as a voice talent who was interested in working for his company......What? I'd never actually made this business relationship a published fact. I had not promoted my work for this client via any resumes, articles, etc. So, I was, number 1, curious as to how this particular female voice talent would even put us together, and number 2, flabbergasted that she would ask me to put her in touch with my client!

I had an inkling as to the answer of number 1 after doing some research to find out who this unfamiliar female voice talent was in that there was only one connection that I could think of between the male voice talent, this woman, and I, and that particular person had asked me casually in the course of conversation who I was working for. Upon describing to her the situation that followed, she was mortified and apologetic for her role in passing on the information that instigated it.

After thinking more about the request, I responded to the male voice talent - who, I might add, I would have recommended to this client in a heartbeat and who had not asked for an introduction for himself - that I did not feel comfortable being put in this position and also did not feel comfortable forwarding on the female voice talent's message as I did not feel that it was appropriate on any count. Later, I responded directly to the female voice over performer , who I had never met either "virtually" or in person, that I respectfully declined to forward her message to my client for the same reasons. I never heard directly from her at all regarding the situation - initially or after my response - although the male talent said he understood. To be kind, I'll call it a gutsy move on her part to ask through a 3rd party that I simply pass on a message seeking work to my client. It would have been nice to have received an apology from her, but given her actions, I suppose she didn't feel one was called for.

Was I right or was I wrong? I feel that in this business as in life, it is good to be generous and helpful, but we also have to protect our business and look after our own interests as well.

Professional Voice Talent Behavior

This is a note about professionalism. As a professional female voice talent for many years who strives to conduct my business in the most professional way possible, I'm always surprised to hear about talent who miss the mark in their professionalism. I worked with a producer the other day who shared a tidbit with me about his experience with an online agent/professional voice talent web site. He was pretty steamed because after he had selected a gen Y talent and actually booked the session, he was then informed that the voice over talent was not available. So, he made a second selection and the same thing happened again. When he questioned the agency as to why they didn't know their talent was unavailable, their excuse was that "well, you know, he's only 20 and didn't let us know......" It made the online agent look pretty incompetent because they didn't know their talent was unavailable (twice!) And I'm sure they turned around and got on the cases of both voice over talents who were unavailable without bothering to let the agent know of their status!

We can all make mistakes and slip up from time to time, but it's so important to stop and think of each and every agent online or in person who represents you and have the business courtesy to let them know when you unavailable. When your agent doesn't know, not only does it make them look bad, but your future bookings may suffer as well. That producer will probably not ask for the voice over services of those two unavailable talents again, and he may not even work with that agent in the future! So, everyone is burned. Professionalism often equates to common courtesy - something that is often lacking in many business situations today. Customer service, knowledgeable response, or even just a response of some type is appreciated on both producers' and professional voice overs' sides of the fence!

On that note, how many times have you emailed an audition or even a voice file for a job to a producer and not received a confirmation that the producer received it? As a professional voice talent, I usually send another email double checking to make sure the file was received - especially in the case of a job. With the way things can get lost in cyberspace, I don't take for granted that I'll receive a bounce back message or an email looking for the spot. Follow up and customer service are as important as being there and being available for the job in the first place!

Welcome to Melanie's Voice Over Studio

Welcome to my new voice over blog! This is a new area for me, but I look forward to sharing voice over information and experiences with you. I look forward to hearing from you, too! First, a bit about my background. I've been a working professional voice over performer and actress for 25 years. I live in Texas and up until about 5 years ago, that's where I did most of my work. I've been fortunate to have been able to keep busy in this market all these years.

I created my own digital home studio about 5 years ago. It was the best move of my voice over career! It has put me in touch with so many more potential clients and other fine voice over artists as well. These days, I stay busy with recording and uploading files daily. I also have ISDN and have begun doing more "live" sessions, too. It is a constant learning curve and I've continued to update my studio and marketing materials continuously. Since I can edit my own demos, I'm constantly tweaking my demos for different prospective clients and agents and adding new material as soon as I have a copy of the finished product. Although I still love working in other professional audio studios in my area, having my own studio has opened up so many more avenues of employment for me!