Collect Calls
Posted by Roger King | Filed under Voice Over Experience
One of the “joys” of being a talent agent, especially of the non-union variety, is the constant monitoring of the list of accounts receivables (aka money owing). At the best of times, let alone during an unsteady economy, the Net 30 days on the invoice seems to be some very loose guideline for your average client. The majority of clients do pay within striking distance of that 30 days and some who take longer, you get used to because they’re either major companies who are good for the money and likely have a 60 day bureaucracy, or they’re old clients who are predictably late but are reliable. But there are those of course for whom it requires some aggressive collection techniques. If this is the first time dealing with a client, sometimes it comes down to gut instinct in terms of whether to believe the bookkeeper really did just come back from vacation, or that he thought he mailed the cheque last week.
In my 17 years of doing voice work and now 8 years of owning a talent agency, I’ve only not been paid 4 times: Two bankruptcies, but fortunately in both cases, the amount owing was $300. One client I have taken to small claims court so there’s still a chance to get some or all of the $$$ owing…And then we have a 4th client who “closed down” his business but appears to have restarted a new company, doing pretty much the same thing.
Here’s his old company - http://cenex.ca/main.html
And here’s the new one - www.phigroup.ca
I like to taunt whenever possible. I think it’s like shoplifting - to hire talent and not pay them for work completed. If you’re talent trying to collect, be sure and threaten to contact your client’s client and do so if you’re still don’t get paid. I learned long ago that you can say anything to anyone as long as it’s true.
My favourite phrase is “If I don’t receive payment by the end of the week, I am prepared to take legal action”.
In addition to going after your client’s client, I highly recommend threatening to have the commercial pulled off the air because in the non-union world, there is usually not a release form so they have no right to air it if the talent has not been paid.
I am relentless. We all should be, whether it’s $50 owing…or $5000.
Tags: VO industry, voice talent agent, Voice-over Industry
Classic Audio - William Shatner Voice Session
Posted by Roger King | Filed under Classic Audio
Tags: VO industry, voice-over
Voice-Over Xtra
Posted by Roger King | Filed under Canadian Voice Over News
The fine folks at Voice-Over Xtra published an excerpt from my New Years blog piece. I have linked it below. In general, they are a great resource for all things voice in North America. Kudos to John Florian for running a solid website.
http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=a0f5puhg
P.S. That pic of me was taken in Vegas. What happened there…well, you know the deal.
Tags: VO industry, voice-over, Voice-over Industry, Voice-Over Xtra
The Voice Talent Agent “New Years Resolutions”
Posted by Roger King | Filed under Voice Over Experience
Happy 2010! I took December off from blogging but I plan to be back full-tilt this year with more posts than my track record would lead one to expect.
2009 was a good year in many ways and it was the year I finally took an office space. Up until this past fall, I had run the PN Agency and Ethnic Voice Talent audio empire from the comfort of my home office, and of course by blackberry when I’m out of town, or at the pub. The advantages to working from home are many, most notably that the walk to work is quite convenient, you can set your own hours, write off your home office expenses, and dress is always casual.
The disadvantage, in addition to providing absolutely no structure to one’s day, is that call business calls come to your home. Now, I forward the business line to my office when I’m there and then back again when I’m not. My business line rang at 11:57 pm on New Years Eve. I was in, with my 5-week old son asleep on my lap, thinking “who is calling the biz line at 11:57 pm on New Years Eve??!” The person did not leave a message but I did get an e-mail 10 minutes later on my blackberry. I checked call display and it was the same person, an aspiring voice talent. Did she expect someone to answer the agency line on New Years Eve? And if I had answered, what would she have said? Did she not have anything else to do on New Years Eve, and if so, why not call at 8:30 pm? I mean, even if you’re home alone for New Years Eve, are you not watching the countdown at 11:57??
If I had the time and a government grant to study it, I think research would show I get more talents approaching my agency for representation in January than any other month/time of the year. This is likely because the end of the year inspires a lot of us to reflect on what changes we’d like to make in our lives for the coming year. For talents, nothing says change more than getting an agent and/or firing your old one!
And another thing about the start of another new year…So begins the debate about how long one has to type some variation of “Happy New Year” or “Happy 2010″ in each first time correspondence with a new person.
At any rate, in the spirit of voice talents who have “Get a new voice agent” at the top of their resolutions list, I now present:
NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS OF A VOICE TALENT AGENT
1)I will blog more often and every post will be its own version of riveting.
2)I will respond to voice talents seeking representation in a timely manner.
3)I will not surf the web aimlessly during business hours.
4)I will define timely ASAP (see #2).
5)I will network more but only authentically.
6)I will not call screen annoying clients.
7)I will not cruelly tease the talents I represent by telling them I’m thinking of lowering the agency commission rate.
8)I will finally assemble a Punjabi voice roster for www.ethnicvoicetalent.com
9)I will not forward horrendously bad voice demos to colleagues for comedic effect.
10)I will schedule more lunches with clients of my voice talent agency and actually pick up the tab on occasion.
11)I will show great appreciation and deep affection for all talents on my roster 365 days a year.
12)I will look at this list at least three times after February 1st.
Happy New Year (good until January 12th)!
Tags: VO industry, Voice Over Demos, voice talent agent, Voice-over Industry
