Connie Terwilliger – Page 20 – Connie Terwilliger

About Connie Terwilliger

Full-time voice talent working out of professional studio for clients around the world providing high quality VO for narration, eLearning, commercials, animation, telephony and more.

Digging Through the Receipts and Adding Things Up

Probably should have done this last month, rather than the last few days of the year, but I am pulling up reports in my QuickBooks to make sure I am maximizing my deductions and charitable donations for 2010.

That includes remembering to include the transactions in a now closed bank account. If you changed banks this year, don’t forget about that old account! I nearly did when searching for a donation to my college and university to see who I paid what this year. I was befuddled for a few minutes when the searches came up with nothing, until I remembered that I had deactivated that account.

Bookkeeping is one of my least favorite things about this job – probably because my math skills are so bad. This lack of confidence in basic math also affects the time it takes to get out an accurate bid. Accounting programs such as QuickBooks and Quicken […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00December 28th, 2010|Categories: Business, Musings|

Casting the “net”

As part of our job as voiceover talent, we do a lot of auditions. Some are part of a small select group. Some are more like cattle calls. But that is part of the game.

While wearing my producer hat, I listened to lots and lots of demos and/or auditions with a certain “sound” in my head – pressing the skip button to advance the CD compliation to the next track after a couple of seconds. That was time enough to know if that was what I thought was going to be right for the production. Music cuts – same process. We really do know it when we hear it.

Just sent off an audition for a project that clearly stated that the client was going to listen to lots and lots of auditions in their search for a spokesperson. My Christmas wish for myself is that I am the voice in […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00December 26th, 2010|Categories: Auditioning, Marketing|

Yes, Virginia, there is a Non-union Reuse Fee

One of the things that we love, as professional working voice talent with agents – or other similar working arrangements with production companies – is when said agents/producers are on top of their game and negotiate fairly with the end clients on behalf of us – also their clients.

And one of the nicest ways of knowing that this is happening in the background is when you get the email or phone call telling you that a reuse fee is coming for a job – union or non-union. A nice little bonus came to me recently and two others who provided the voices for a national spot. Thanks to Voice Talent Productions for the chance to audition for this in the first place.

Doesn’t happen with every job, but with non-union broadcast work, you sure do hope that someone is going to bat for you and negotiating additional payment for […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00December 23rd, 2010|Categories: Business, Negotiating|

What the heck just happened?

Excuse me, did I miss something? Like the whole 2nd half of the year maybe? What is this pile of paperwork sitting here? Wait, what I meant to say was what are all these piles of paperwork sitting here? Why is that list of things to do getting longer instead of shorter?

Part of it is personal obligations – that has increased over the past year and a half or so – since my mom moved out here from across the country. Part of it is that my ability to be superwoman is diminishing due to hot flashes.

Part of it is a slight increase in the amount of time I am spending chasing down money from people I didn’t expect to have to chase down for money.

But a big part of it is the time suckers – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, other social media message boards, my volunteer time for MCA-I, this blog, the other […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00December 22nd, 2010|Categories: Business, Communication, Technology|

Blogs and Blog Stats

I have been a bit busy the past few weeks – not counting a trip to New York for the VO Mixer that Erik and Lindsey threw this past weekend – and have not updated my personal blog in the past week or so. I have been on my class blog, because I post homework assignments there.

In checking stats for this blog a moment ago, I noticed that I didn’t have ANY hits at all on November 28th. And only a few here and there in the days since.

It begs the question of why do I blog at all if no one (or very few are reading) it. Perhaps I will re-evaluate who I am blogging for or how I am promoting my posts.

Mostly I write the blog because I like to write. But for a blog to be seen, the writing must be a bit more consistent – and promoted […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00December 7th, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Musings|Tags: blogging, onlinedegrees.org, Top 100 Classroom Blogs, voiceover, voiceover talent|

Wikipedia wants $$

I just popped over to Wikipedia to look something up and was side-tracked by a message from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. Well, his message came up with the headline “Please Read.” So I did.

It was a plea for a few bucks to keep Wikipedia free. This is part of their press release…

The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), the non-profit behind Wikipedia, today announced the launch of its annual fundraising campaign. This year’s goal is to raise $16 million so that Wikipedia and its sister projects can remain freely available to people around the world. The $16 million raised in this campaign will help fund the Foundation’s total 2010-11 operating budget of $20.4 million. And for the first time this year, the campaign will also invite readers to donate time as well as money, by joining the Wikimedia community of volunteer editors. Once the financial goal has been met, the campaign […]

Connie Terwilliger2010-11-26T17:49:30+00:00November 26th, 2010|Categories: Announcements|Tags: Wikipedia|

To On-Camera or Not To On-Camera?

After doing fewer and fewer on-camera jobs over the past few years, I find that I don’t jump up and down with excitement when an email comes in with an on-camera audition. It’s a matter of time – and money.

Plus, I have grown so comfortable in jeans and leggings that the idea digging through my closet for business attire for an on-camera audition is becoming less and less appealing. Most of my business wardrobe is getting pretty dated (not to mention just a little snug!). So a lot of time is spent just figuring out what the heck to wear.

Then, you have to put on make-up!!! But since the advent of HD – not too much make up – but just the right amount of make up. This means more time just getting ready to get in the car to actually drive somewhere.

Add to this, the fact that most of these auditions in […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00November 21st, 2010|Categories: Auditioning, Business|

2-Sided Business Cards?

Back in September I left nearly all my business cards at FaffCon and suddenly realized that I would need some for the VO gathering in New York in December, so it was time to re-order.

When I looked at my standard order, I thought about the back – which has been blank. One thing I have noticed over the years is that I like to jot down notes on the back of cards, but I don’t normally fill up the whole back of the card, so I decided to pay a little extra and add a short line or two of text at the top of the back of my card – with just a bit of smile to it – and plenty of room to make a few notes. I also went with color on the back that is a screened version of the logo on the front.

Do you do this? […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00November 16th, 2010|Categories: Marketing|Tags: business cards, Marketing|

Audition Reviewing Service? “What was I thinking!?”

I just got an email from Sound Advice (Kate McClanaghan) introducing a new service to help beginning VO practice auditioning in the vacuum of their home studios. Basically, they randomly email you some fresh scripts on a weekly basis, give you a deadline (like real auditions), so that you can practice in your home studio. These are not real auditions for real jobs, just practice.

I downloaded the audio clip explaining the service and was suprised to hear that they are not going to actually critique the read – just the mechanics of the audition – did you slate correctly, meet the deadline, edit cleanly, etc. Yes, I realize that the “read” is subjective – to a point. But there are times when a head slap really helps clarify what the copy is saying – someone to say “What were you thinking!?” It can be hard to slap yourself.

So, what if that kind of service existed […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00November 3rd, 2010|Categories: Auditioning|

Free Music

Is there such thing as a free lunch? Occasionally. And occasionally there is free library music suitable for production.

Just got the information about a Free Royalty Free Music website, where right now everything is Free. They just want a link on your website somewhere. They will have stuff for sale at some point, but there will always be some free stuff too.

http://www.JewelBeat.com/

A quick look at the titles on the first page shows some pretty dark themes! Angel of Darkness, Armies of Doom, Attitude Gone Wrong, Bad Consequences and so on. But dig a bit deeper and there is a lot of other stuff with some Country, Beautiful, Clubbing, etc.

They have some free “sound effects” too – which are mostly little musical stings using various instruments.

So enjoy some free music – and go buy someone lunch.

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00November 1st, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Recording|Tags: free music, jewel beat|

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