What's Your Batting Average?
Dutch voiceover, Paul Strikwerda, had a blog article featured on VoiceoverXtra today. What a great blog, with lots of interesting points to ponder. I'm really looking forward to Part II of the blog!
Online voiceover casting sites, or pay to play sites as some call them, are definitely an interesting concept in our industry. Since their advent is somewhat recent, no one knows what the future will hold. Are these sites our future? Will they take over all casting, eventually, putting unions out of business? Well, hopefully it won't go that far, but their long-term impact on our industry has yet to really and truly be determined.
Paul makes great points about these sites: the lack of a creation of a relationship at the onset of the encounter (or the "interception"), the conversion rate challenge, and more generally, just makes you consider the sheer number of people who are auditioning for these voiceover gigs. Paul also extrapolates the logic to your own web site.
Thank you, Paul, for a thought-provoking blog.
Online voiceover casting sites, or pay to play sites as some call them, are definitely an interesting concept in our industry. Since their advent is somewhat recent, no one knows what the future will hold. Are these sites our future? Will they take over all casting, eventually, putting unions out of business? Well, hopefully it won't go that far, but their long-term impact on our industry has yet to really and truly be determined.
Paul makes great points about these sites: the lack of a creation of a relationship at the onset of the encounter (or the "interception"), the conversion rate challenge, and more generally, just makes you consider the sheer number of people who are auditioning for these voiceover gigs. Paul also extrapolates the logic to your own web site.
Thank you, Paul, for a thought-provoking blog.
Posted by Caryn Clark at 8/26/2009 8:10 PM 
Categories: vo industry,marketing
Tags: online casting voiceover online voiceover
Categories: vo industry,marketing
Tags: online casting voiceover online voiceover
Caryn,
When I have my producer hat on, I don't WANT interaction with the talent. I have usually less than 24 hours to get 10 voices together for my client to choose from, and I need those demos as fast and as efficiently as I can get them. Personal contact with talent via phone or email in the audition stage, is neither desirable nor beneficial to me as a producer...and I can only assume I'm not the only person who feels that way.
I think Paul's missing the point with his blog when he says he thinks the business model of the online sites is flawed, simply because jobs don't appear to have been closed after the deadline has passed. I think a great majority of the producers hear the voice they want within the first 50 auditions, and contact the talent directly...I know I do. I don't like dealing with the clunky emailing systems and extra escrow fees that the sites can impose.
As a talent, I think it's best to be listed with as many of these sites as possible. Yes, it's a numbers game...yes, there will be sometimes thousands of people vying for the same 30-second audition. But as Bob Fraser, the great producer and acting coach once told me, "It doesn't matter if you and three thousand other people audition for a role...if they're looking for YOU, you'll book the job."
I do a ton of P2P auditions every day...BUT I could count on one hand the number of auditions I get through my agent in a MONTH. I, for one, believe it's all going online, and I'm ready for it.
There's a ton of competition, but there's only one ME.
Thanks for posting this article...love your blog!
-Craig
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Hi Craig!!
Thank you for visiting my blog, and for your very valid points! I too subscribe to the pay to play sites (as a matter of fact, I got my start from gigs on pay to play sites), and I audition daily. I agree, it is a numbers game. MY main concerns with these sites are:
1) the rate of pay for voiceovers just seems to get lower and lower, and I think in part, it's caused by pay to play sites. Sure, you can sometimes negotiate (and I do) so everyone's happy, but I've also seen low paying leads for some high profile gig, and they really isn't room to negotiate, because in the end, someone will do the job for the (low) price the client wants to pay. When you're putting a "bid" on a job, well, I'd be willing to guess that your bid is a factor in the decision for many (not all, but many) voice seekers... so it better be competitive.
2) I personally would like to be able to audition for anything and everything that comes along that I think I'm suited for, and not be cherry-picked based on ratings/rankings. In other words, let me decide what I'm suited for. And don't penalize me by ranking me lower.
Good points Craig!!! Thanks again... come by anytime!!
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Thanks again for picking up my blog, Caryn. As far as the future of pay-to-play sites is concerned, I think they're here to stay. It doesn't mean we have to join them. Some talents seem to do very well on these sites. Others refuse to renew after a year of disappointments. Aspiring voice-overs often ask me whether or not they should join these sites. I decided to write a blog about it and here's the link:
http://nethervoice.com/nethervoice/?p=20
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Thank you Paul! I think you're right. Pay to play is here to stay. I actually attribute the start of my voiceover career to pay to play sites, so I will continue to subscribe to them. However, there are both pros and cons to using them.
I look forward to reading the blog you just linked to... I'm going to do that right now. Thanks!!! Caryn
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