Voice actor

10th March 2019

On the other hand…

Craig Blog, Voice actor, Work inspired, script, voiceover

I thought I would add this more positive review, on top of my recent experience with a bad client, as it is easier sometimes to reflect upon the negative experiences, and not mention the more abundant and positive experiences that I’ve had so far as a voiceover artist.

This one was for a 30 second internet ad, with travel-based subject-matter. Lovely well-written script, and a nice jazzy, uplifting piece of music accompanying the video. I was given the video clip with music to record onto, and a nicely worked out timed script.

There are jobs sometimes which are just on your wavelength. The production and direction is quality, the script is excellent, and it inspires a best performance from you, the artist. Anyway, this one was done in one take, no amends, and my client extremely happy with the result. You want every job to go this smoothly.

As well as that, my client paid on the day. No stalling, no forgetting to release funds in Escrow, no waiting for 60 days for the next corporate cheque-run. Just a straight and honest business-to-business transaction from one professional to another. Now that folks, is the way I like to do business, whether it’s for a client or whether I’m the one hiring!

17th February 2019

Beware…

Craig Blog, Voice actor, Work agency, corporate, video, voiceover

A small warning…

… for my fellow VO colleagues. In the realm of online voice-overs, not every client works for the mutual best-interest of all. As I have discovered this week, and a couple of times in the past, you cannot always be prepared, when sending in a piece of VO work, to get fairly paid for it.

Take this week’s experience: a local video agency lady contacts me by email, saying she has seen my site, likes the sound of my voice and wants to possibly hire me for a corporate project. She leaves her number and I call her back.

We discuss the project. It’s an internet advertisement for their video services and she describes the approach and the kind of voiceover she wants. We agree a price and she sends me the full script. She asks me to record three approaches, different timbres, so they can choose which is the more suitable. I do this and return it, edited and breaths removed, within 24 hours.

On return of email, she thanks me for my recordings, but she NOW SAYS she only wanted a demo recording, and she has two other candidates in mind for the job. Under no circumstances did she ever specify that I do a demo first in our phone call the day before.

Perhaps I should have recorded our phone conversation (for “quality” and “training” purposes, know what I mean)…

Lessons learned

ALWAYS make sure there is some written commitment, before going ahead and doing the full voiceover job.

And when there is no commitment:

ALWAYS send a demo first, to make sure what you are doing satisfies the client before going ahead and doing the whole job. Then MAKE SURE you get a written commitment to pay your agreed fee before you begin.

Unfortunately, there ARE a few slippery customers in this business, I’ve found, and this kind of customer is proof of that. Make sure you’ve done everything to commit your customer to a fee before you send anything.

Stay sharp.
Take care.

Craig.

12th October 2017

Introduction

Craig Blog, Voice actor, Voice-over introduction, voice actor, voice-over

Hi there everyone!

Welcome to the world of Westwood Voices. Here’s a bit about me, Craig Westwood, so you know a little about my background.

As a schoolboy I was frequently in stage productions. I was most often cast as the narrator, as my teachers reckoned, even then, I had a good clear speaking voice, (despite my disappointment, and wanting to have more acting parts…).

Who would have thought, some 40-or-so years later I would be doing work as a Voice-over Artist. It has been a strange journey, and in my career so far I have always had a ‘toe-in-the-water’ of media and recording in some form or another.

I hope, as this website grows, that I’m able to take you along on a journey of my discovery of what it’s like to be involved in the voice-over business, and add a few insights into the highlights and the pitfalls of working in the ever changing world of entertainment and advertising.