As an voice talent, we are always on the lookout for new work. We scour social media, pay to plays, freelance sites (eek) and even Craigslist. We email production companies, advertising agencies, and past clients. It’s a never-ending stuggle.
But there are times where no matter how desperate we can get for work these days, sometimes you have to let a client go. This is the story of how I had to fire a client.
I linked up with a fellow voice talent online who posted content about working for this company who does radio dramas. I asked him about the company and how it all worked. He said that the work is steady and fun, but didn’t pay a lot. That’s pretty typical for these types of projects from companies in that part of the world, IYKYK.
I contacted the company and they auditioned me and brought me on board. The jobs started pretty much straight away. That actor was right, the pay wasn’t great, but it was enough for a side thing and the volume kept my acting chops sharp for the “real” jobs that would come my way. I enjoyed the different characters and some of the stories were pretty interesting as well. Many of them were mysteries or horror. I even got to play an old southern man who owned a house where all wasn’t what it seemed. I used a evil Colonel Sanders type voice. That was fun.
As the months went by the workload increased. I still enjoyed it and asked for a raise which I got so now the pay wasn’t terrible is was only marginally horrible. Then I noticed something. The people in charge pretty much wanted my regular voice all the time. No accents, no characters. They said each time, eh your voice is fine. Now, I know we all say that each of our voices is unique and usually our own voice is the best option, but for this variety of characters in a variety of situations, you would expect “some” difference.
Then the big change happened. I got a notice that the company was changing the way they wanted us to record and submit our audio. In each script, your character’s lines are marked. Next to each line there was now a microphone icon. Our job now was to click that icon, record the line, and then edit it and submit it. You might say, but Mike who gives a shit? Just do it.
Well, my home studio set up is that my computer is outside of the booth. I don’t as of yet, have a monitor inside the booth (like I should). So for each line I’d have to click record, go into the booth, record, come out of the booth, edit and submit. For some of the dialogue heavy scripts, that would add a tremendous amount of time to each project, not to mention going in and out takes me out of the scene and character. This is acting, remember? The audio quality was also poor in their recording system. I mentioned that and they said, nah it’s “good enough”. For those who know me, “good enough” is not that. I wasn’t able to edit the audio like I normally do to take out clicks and pops etc. It was basically trim the ends to isolate the audio and send it.
For the little I was getting paid, the balance wasn’t there. Honestly, it wasn’t there to begin with, but this really sent the scale toppling over. I told the company that today would be my last recordings and I would be stepping away. I outlined all the reasons why and they said they would “see what they could do on their end”.
Sometimes it’s hard to walk away. Sometimes it’s the best thing to do. I didn’t want my name attached to subpar work for subpar money. Sometimes it’s just that simple.
Have you had to fire a client? Tell me about it in the comments, but please leave any names out.