Business – Page 6 – Connie Terwilliger

I’ll Gladly Pay You Someday for a Voiceover Job Today

Why is it that creative businesses (mostly independent freelancers) find themselves on the short end of the stick when it comes to getting paid in a timely manner? My voiceover friend Paul Strikwerda discussed this phenomenon today in his Nethervoice blog – http://www.nethervoice.com/2013/09/18/when-a-client-owes-you/

Why is it that the sub-contractors have to wait for their money until the prime contractor gets paid. This is not the way it is supposed to work. Paul postulates as to why we find ourselves in this position of being the tail on the dog when it comes to getting paid.

When I was an active video producer, I mostly worked in-house or for a large production company and didn’t have problems with getting paid for what I did, or paying the people that worked for me. There was a much larger machine chugging along with enough accounts receivable to cover the costs of the jobs. I just […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:13+00:00September 19th, 2013|Categories: Business, Musings, Negotiating|Tags: Nethervoice, Paul Strikwerda, payment for work, voiceover|

Do you know someone who you can recommend?

For some reason a lot of people ask me if I know people. Do I know someone who could produce this – crew that – voice this. The answer is usually yes, but referrals are a tricky thing. There is time involved. And reputations at stake. On both sides! Actually on all three sides. The Asker, me, and the person I refer. Referrals can be a wonderful thing, but you have to be careful.

When I was producing and writing corporate media full-time, I was often asked if I could recommend people to either write a project or produce something. If I wasn’t available to do the writing project myself, I had to spend quite a bit of time evaluating the person/company needing the script and then searching my memory and Rolodex for someone who I felt might be compatible. The last thing you would want is to […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00August 6th, 2013|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: media production, producing, referrals, writing|

What did I say?

I just saw a blog post from my virtual voiceover friend and prolific blogger, Derek Chappell that made me laugh out loud. Just what kinds of situations do REAL working voiceover talent face as they go about the business of recording a script?

He posted three videos produced by voice actor, Paul J. Kinney, a San Francisco based talent. These are not only extremely well produced pieces, but each is a true reflection of what actually happens in directed voiceover sessions. These clips happen to be in a studio environment where the producer is just on the other side of the glass, but the same thing happens during phone patch sessions and ISDN sessions.

OK, they may be slightly exaggerated. But, I too am “guilty” as charged.

GUILTY

STANDING BY

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00July 11th, 2013|Categories: Business, Recording|Tags: Derek Chappell, Paul J Kinney, studio session, Voiceover career|

Software – One of the Great Money Monsters

How much money have you spent on software that ends up gathering dust (anyone have a good computer reference?) because it just didn’t really work the way you wanted it to work? I can’t pinpoint the $ exactly (they told me there wouldn’t be any math in voiceovers), but I know that I have purchased lots of software that I stopped using in frustration.

As an aside, because I have always been an early adopter of technology, I have been asking software to do more than it was designed to do since about 1987. I spent hours on the phone with the developer of a piece of writing software working with him to make it possible to write a dual column script and keep the video and audio tracking together. When Word came along and with it the table function, all was right with the world, but it simply wasn’t possible […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00June 18th, 2013|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: accounting, boookkeeping, Freshbooks, QuickBooks, Quicken, voiceover business, ZOHO|

With Trepidation I Present “In a World…”

Just what we need, more exposure for the voice over business! So, I am somewhat hesitant to bring this up, but since most of the people who will chance across this post will already be in the business, or already interested in the business, I suppose it won’t do any harm.

From watching the trailer, this looks like a delightfully funny little film about life in the rarefied air of the Los Angeles voiceover market where there is a chance of someone actually hiring you (man or woman, but mostly man) to do a movie trailer.

Lake Bell wrote, produces and stars in the film, with some other familiar real-life voiceover “stars” in the Los Angeles market including Joe Cipriano and Marc Graue. In fact, now that I think about it, this might make a good pilot for a sitcom that takes place in a renowned recording studio in someplace like – […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00June 12th, 2013|Categories: Announcements, Business, Musings|Tags: In a world, Lake Bell, movie trailer voices, voiceover, women voiceover|

Change is Inevitable

The only constant is change. It used to be (for those of us who remember the days of black and white television) at a fairly slow pace. Adoption of new technologies was at a slower pace. You had time to adjust – albeit some were dragged along kicking and screaming about the old days.

But the speed of the changes started to pick up and today, you barely have time to buy a new technology before the newest and more advanced product is available. We face it daily, so why is it so hard to accept the inevitable.

I am still using Adobe Audition 1 on my editing computer. I like it. It still works – on my XP operating system. All my computers are XP. But, I know that will have to change the next time I have to upgrade the hardware. I will not like this change – at first. I’ll […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00March 28th, 2013|Categories: Business, Musings, Technology|Tags: demise of ISDN, ISDN voice talent, Source Connect|

Interrup…what the h#%@! was that? Distrac…oooh, look at that!

Today, I am not talking about being distracted by amusing kitty videos on Facebook, although I did see at least one funny video that distracted me so far today.

And I’m not talking about the constant flow of email that comes in that – of course – needs to be handled immediately (even if it DOESN’T).

Nor am I talking about being interrupted by the dog scratching at the door, or the cat sliding across some papers which are now all over the floor and need to be picked up before the dog actually gets in to trample them with dirty paws.

And I am not talking about the frequent helicopter flyovers – both routine (the gas’em up path is over my house) and not-so-routine (the circling helo’s looking for whatever mischief is being sparked by semi-high density housing and a bad economy).

No today it is interruptions of major proportions – but an […]

Connie Terwilliger2013-03-21T14:19:50+00:00March 21st, 2013|Categories: Business, Musings, Recording|

Pro Bono or No Pro Bono or “Huh? What are you thinking?”

“Pro bono: done for free, done without compensation, for the public good”

I occasionally am asked by companies if I can provide voice tracks for little or no money. In most of these cases, the company is a not-for-profit and I can weigh the value of the public good against the value of my current bank account. OK, that’s a little flippant. At this point in my career I can afford to donate some of my time to a good cause. But even when I was just starting out, if the right cause came along, I would make the time for it.

However, it is important to remember that not-for-profit does not translate directly to not-for-money. Every group has a budget of some sort, or it will cease to be a group at some point.

I walk a tightrope on this issue, because in addition to my definitely for-profit voiceover business, I am the Executive Director of a not-for-profit 501c3 group that […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00February 4th, 2013|Categories: Auditioning, Business, Musings|Tags: Groucho Marx, Negotiating, pro bono|

Voice Actors – are we stepping out from the shadows?

A friend sent me a link to an article published by CNN.com about voice actors (mostly cartoon voice actors) getting more recognition now because of the Internet. The fan base is increasing. Which makes sense. These famous A-lister voiceover actors – were mostly unknown for the most part, until the Internet. We’re not talking about the movie stars who have transitioned to animation, but the voice actors who stay mostly behind the mic, not the lens. And if they do appear on-camera, it is usually a character role.

The article focused mostly on voices like Frank Welker, Seth McFarlane, and Peter Cullen. One quote caught my eye – from Frank Cullen…

“The respect level (for voice acting) is climbing and climbing faster than it ever did before in the last few years. The studios are recognizing they don’t have to hire a big name actor. People don’t know […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00November 3rd, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|

FaffCon 5 Followup: Fabulous

Why has it been hard for me to get to the blog to write about my FaffCon5 experience? It was fabulous. No doubt about that. And I was looking at it in a much different light than my previous 4 FaffCons because this time I wasn’t involved in the planning. This time, I just got to participate and truly spend quality time with people. Which was a good thing. Of course, being on the planning team is a good thing too! But I let that get in the way of my real participation in FaffCon. So, this time, I just showed up and tried not to jump in and organize. When I got to the hotel on Thursday evening, I noticed the FaffCon staff having their big dinner and I started to feel left out. Several other Faffers were at another table and quickly distracted me. I was however, allowed […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00October 27th, 2012|Categories: Business, Musings|