Business – Page 7 – Connie Terwilliger

The Value of a Voiceover

Just what does it take to be successful as a voice talent in 2012? Treat it like a business. (This of course, assumes that you have some talent to start with.)

The Internet has changed what we do in many significant ways. It has 1) increased the number of people offering their services as voice talent (whether they should be or not), 2) cut out the middle man in casting (the people who know the value of voiceover), and because of a lack of truly understanding that this is a business like any other business it has 3) driven rates down down down.

Many people just getting started fail to see the big picture. Sure, the come on for so many of the endless voiceover classes screams “make $300 an hour,” but … can you live on one hour every few months?

One recent discussion centered on whether $25 per hour was a […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00August 21st, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings, Negotiating|Tags: value of voiceover, voiceover business|

Voices behind those familiar cartoon characters: “I Know That Voice”

I’m thrilled and a bit scared to see that a documentary on cartoon voice actors is in production.

Thrilled, because I know a few of the people in the film personally – one of whom was actually my agent way back in the 80’s before she moved to Hanna-Barbara – Andrea Romano.

Scared because it is more exposure to the business of voice acting – which will probably inspire more and more people to give up their day jobs to try to become a voiceover actor. So they will seek out advice – many asking far too many questions that will point out that they have nary a clue how to use Google to find the basic answers so that they can craft answerable questions.

I have included both trailers. The first one embedded here is lots of fun – but look just below for the other trailer. If you are one of those […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00July 13th, 2012|Categories: Business, Techniques|Tags: Andrea Romano, cartoon voices, I know that voice, voice acting|

Have you checked off the To Do List on your FaffCon 4 (or should I say 3?) Post Card?

OK, so a few months before FaffCon 4 in Ventura, the post card I filled out in Hershey arrived in the post. It was a complete surprise and I was a bit anxious when I flipped it over. For there on the other side was the list of things I wanted to do – without fail! I’m pretty sure I blogged about this unexpected stress the last time the card came. Well, not really stress stress – hyperbole – sorry.

I’m still not up to a passing grade yet, if you simply are checking off the 5 items on the list. I’m not nearly as upset with myself that I haven’t finished the items from FaffCon 3 as I was over not finishing the list of items from FaffCon 2. If Ventura was your first venture into FaffCon, you will soon understand what I am talking about.

The items on the list […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00May 25th, 2012|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: Charlotte NC, FaffCon, unconference, voiceover conference|

Why Can’t People “Hear” Themselves?

Today it is easier and easier to get feedback on what you are doing. Why don’t people listen? Or perhaps, why – when given good feedback – why don’t people take action to improve what they are doing? Do they simply not hear themselves?

So many people these days have been told by endless “voiceover” coaches that they can make it – all they need is determination – and their signature on the bottom of that check paying for more classes. They stop listening to themselves and never develop their self-evaluation skills.

Most of the forums for voiceover people include critique areas where people can post demos for comments. I’m referring to demos from newbies, not updated demos from people who are making actual money doing voiceovers. You can get honest, yet sometimes highly conflicting advice. And if you follow the subsequent comments to a thread, this advice is often rejected by […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00May 21st, 2012|Categories: Auditioning, Business, Musings|Tags: Auditioning, Connie Terwilliger, contest, Edge Studio, Recording, voiceover contest, VoiceRegistry|

Down Time: Duties or Dilly Dallying?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t spend hours and hours in my booth, unless I am recording an audio book. Most of the time I am NOT in my booth. When you do mostly spots or short corporate pieces or eLearning, your time in the booth is probably a lot less than the time you spend catching up on Facebook.

But what should we be doing with the time we are not recording? My thoughts on that have changed over the years. And god help the person who has to unravel the mess I am leaving behind because of this change in attitude.

I used to be a lot more organized than I am now. You would think that with advances in software to make our lives easier, that I would have things a lot more together than I do. I have Outlook and Act and Quicken Home and Business […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00May 19th, 2012|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: Business, experience, life changes, voiceover|

Are You Hopping Mad about Auto Hop?

So the latest invention in the quest by people to skip the very thing that keeps their TV programs on the air is an ad eraser embedded in new digital video recorders sold by Dish Network. Just turn on Auto Hop and ads automatically vanish. TiVo on steroids.

Here’s an article in the New York Times that goes into more detail.

So, how do I feel about that – as a voice talent whose income includes payment for doing announcing for TV Commercials? In some ways, a lot like the chief executive of CBS who wonders how he will produce shows like “CSI” without the support of the advertisers running the commercials. Or maybe a bit like News Corporation who has decided not to run Dish’s DVR ads.

Everyone in the chain is trying to figure out how to snag the eyeballs (and dollars) of the consumers. Consumers […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00May 17th, 2012|Categories: Business, Musings, Technology|Tags: announcing, Auto Hop, commercials, Dish Network, Recording, TiVo, voiceover|

Forum Decorum

I belong to a slew of groups on LinkedIn – including a large number of voiceover related groups. Why is it that there seems to be a plethora of unprofessional comments. Social media has been around for years now and it amazes me how people don’t seem to understand that what they post is there for the world to see (when a group is an open group).

I felt compelled to comment today on one of them after a couple of people actually started slamming a legitimate producer for not posting his undying thanks to the group. His post was 6 MONTHS ago and people are still posting comments with links to their demos. And now some are complaining that he hasn’t posted to say thank you!?

It is an International Group with members from all over the world, and perhaps members with little time on social media or little time in […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00May 13th, 2012|Categories: Announcements, Business, Communication, Marketing, Musings|Tags: LinkedIn groups, professionalism, social media, voiceover work|

Spread the word! Think about usage!

One of my favorite enewsletters comes from the plethora of enewsletters published each day by MediaPost. If I subscribed to them all, I would probably go mad.

This one is called Online Video Daily and today the top story was a VidBlog by Daisy Whitney titled:

Managing Online Video and TV Campaigns: Tips from Production to Talent Rights

The part of that headline that caught my eye and prompted me to click through was the “…to Talent Rights” part.

As we struggle each day to keep rates to a level where we can continue to make a living in this business, it is refreshing to see people advocating for payment for additional usage. Of course, the resource for the article is Extreme Reach, a group that specializes in all things related to delivering and managing video advertising and is used to using Union […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:17+00:00May 7th, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing, Negotiating|

Ask a Busy Person – They Tend to Say Yes

No matter how busy I am, I seem to find time to say yes to people. Actually, as I get older and time starts looking shorter, I’ve actually begun to learn how to say no, and I do use the word – mostly on the business side of things – when I can see that the ROI isn’t really going to pay off.

But when it comes to the stuff that isn’t work related, I do say yes a lot – maybe even if I don’t REALLY have the time. STOP THAT! I have the time. I don’t have kids or grand kids. I have cats. My niece is an adult. Some stuff simply won’t get done – like defrosting the ice maker. And cleaning up the mess behind the garage. But, in the grand plan – for things that really matter – I have the time!

So a few weeks ago, […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:17+00:00April 10th, 2012|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: Financial Literacy Month, Junior Achievement BizTown, Personal Finance, San Diego, voice talent, voiceover talent, volunteering|

And Another Thing about FaffCon…

Full disclosure – I am not only a Founding Faffer and a Frequent Faffer, I am a Fanatic Faffer, so I have been part of the wonderful team helping Amy get things organized from soup to nuts.

Part of that team is all of the wonderful sponsors – without their support, FaffCon would simply be too expensive for most people.

Sure, educational conferences such as FaffCon are tax deductions, but you have to actually spend the money in order to get the deductions and there are limits to what pencils out.

So, many many many thanks to our incredible group of supporters. My friend Peter O’Connell (voice talent, bon vivant and also a Frequent Faffer) was part of the team making calls to potential sponsors as well as following up with the many sponsors who simply contacted us and said they wanted to support FaffCon. We […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:17+00:00March 11th, 2012|Categories: Announcements, Business, Marketing|Tags: FaffCon 4, Peter O'Connell|