WHICH VO WEBSITE DO YOU THINK IS MOST PROFESSIONAL?

Scott Pollak

Sigh.

Okay, in light of the latest insult and waste of time from V123 - ANONYMOUS tagging of OTHER PEOPLE'S demos (I'm STILL trying to get THAT into my head...), in which they say, and I quote:

"We are always looking to keep Voice123 above the cutting edge of the online voice over industry. "

I offer this poll... what online v/o site do YOU think is doing the best job of being professional? Take into account things like quality, quantity and filtering of leads, services offered (e.g.: seminars, contests, etc), quality of customer service, level of professionalism of clients (i.e.: voice SEEKERS), and other abstract items.

Maxine Dunn · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008, 19:15 (GMT) Post subject:

Scott, I'd love to answer but I need to make sure my answer will be anonymous! Hahaha....

I just wanna know where I can see what *%@)! words someone else has added to my demo!

Lance Blair · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008, 21:58 (GMT) Post subject:

Voices is clearly the most professional on-line voiceover pay-to-play site.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008, 22:58 (GMT) Post subject:

If, by "professional," you mean a site where you pay money and receive something of value in return, I'm afraid I may have to be a lone voice in the wilderness and say "Voice123." If "professional" means the staff is communicative, friendly and responsive and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy despite the fact they their service produces virtually no tangible benefit, then I guess I'll go with Voices.
Despite a load of things like ratings and tagging and other "features" that range from questionable to downright infuriating, for me the bottom line is which site I make the most money from, and at the moment that site is Voice123. I believe this is more a "luck of the draw" scenario than anything inherent about the way one service or the other operates. It is quite possible that the pendulum could swing in the opposite direction for no apparent reason, but for now, I am more satisfied with Voice123.

Robert Jadah · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008, 23:12 (GMT) Post subject:

Connie Terwilliger · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008, 03:35 (GMT) Post subject:

What is the URL for VO Directory? I couldn't find it.

Claire Dodin · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008, 10:53 (GMT) Post subject:

I make about the same money from both sites, probably a bit more from v123; but I LOVE the TOS way of working, the kindness of the staff and the podcasts etc...
I really liked v123 before smartcast, now it really hurts to give them money. I can see that they are trying to get better and want to make changes, too bad all their decisions seem to go against the seasoned professionals. They are dragging their system to the bottom instead of up.
To raise their profile, TOS chose to create an award; surely, this was the smarter choice.

Bob Roberts · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008, 14:30 (GMT) Post subject:

Diane Havens · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008, 14:33 (GMT) Post subject:

Right on, Bob!

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008, 18:36 (GMT) Post subject:

J.S. Gilbert

Here are some of the definitions of the word professional as found in online dictionaries

of, engaged in, or worthy of the high standards of a profession

designating or of a school, esp. a graduate school, offering instruction in a profession

earning one's living from an activity, such as a sport, not normally thought of as an occupation

engaged in by professional players professional hockey

engaged in a specified occupation for pay or as a means of livelihood a professional writer

Looking at these definitions, I would have to say that VO Planet is a site I consdier "professional"

There are several instances where talent has been unable to join for lack of abilities.

The site and all auditions are monitored by industry professionals who have had years of experience as talent agents and in other areas directly related to voiceover

Auditions are screened for legitimacy and standards of pricing, etc. must be conformed to

On average, the talent pool seems to be of a higher caliber and there are less auditions that are sub-standard

VO Planet does not get anywhere near the number of leads as the other sites and it's hard to say just whose audition might get submitted to the client and whose might not. This is still a relatively young site, but unfortunately it still seems to offer few auditions vs. the growing talent pool. Given the client base, it would seem logical that most submissions would need to be 40 or less talent. Given the size of the talent pool and the sophistication of this group, I think that there are considerably more than 40 auditions coming in for any given project.

The owners of the site would be well advised to not get too greedy and cut off memberships before they wind up with a lot of disgruntled people. They send out a lot of emails that tout the $1,000+ jobs that people land, but many of these auditions are Voice Bank or otherwise handed out to many other agents and casting services. Not only does one compete against the growing talent pool in VoPlanet, but in many cases potentially against hundreds of other talent.

It would appear that in the past 90 days the talent here has booked about 15 jobs. Albeit these jobs are often high paying and can be repeat business, the number of bookings vs. the number of people on the service means a lot of people not getting work. Some people might prefer more opportunities at somehwat lower paying work.

I will agree that TOS has some very nice people at their helm, but their structure and execution, along with the average opportunity leads one to the conclusion that this is more of a "school" and that there is a great acceptance of those who are very new to the business. The bulk of people on TOS have not earned any significant income and jobs tend to pay the lowest amounts here (per hour, per word or otherwise). Much effort has gone into basic training and things that are of more interest to those with 3 years or less expereince in the business.

Voice123 once had a smaller and more experienced body of talent (the first 2 years in business). They had low entry fees and seemed to almost overnight attract every newbie in the country. Because of this, professionals were diluted in the talent pool and stopped auditioning as much and the people who posted auditions began getting tremndous amounts of "bad" and inappropriate auditions. Additionally, after 4 years, Voice123 had to switch to a policy of allowing job posters to be anonymous, because of the tendency of the talent to harrass them. This currently means that Voice 123 often attracts better auditions than TOS. It could also mean that some auditions are really posted by students and aspring copywriters who have no intention of hiring anyone. Anonymity of hirers is the biggest weakness of this site for talent. Voice 123 also gets some low marks hither and yon for customer service. I am not sure if the lack of communication from the ownership and management of Voice123 comes from them being under constant attack, the fact that most of them have Spanish as a primary language or that they are also involved with many other enterprises, but it would seem that customer service has been lacking ever since their main liason left the firm.

Notwithstanding, as both a voice talent and someone who ocassionally hires via the internet Voice 123 does seem to represent the best viability at the moment.

They are also a particularly good resource for anyone who needs translation services and foreign language talent. It also seemsthat the bulk of their talent speak English and for foreign talent they can be a goldmine (depending upon their language).

There are other sites that one would consider as active and that represent commerce. Most of them are not mentioned here in this poll. The others mentioned in the poll, such as Guru and VO Directory do not seem to be very active and their combined activity for a month is probably less than Voice 123 or TOS for a day or two. They will offer a voice talent additional visibility, but perhaps not much else.

There are tons of other sites that are online casting sites, including Casting Connection, Voice Yenta, Brainbox, voice talent Online, Air Talents and what seems to be hundreds more.

I have tried to keep my personal feelings out of this and report back based on my personal experiences and observations only.

Diane Havens · Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008, 14:54 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank you, J. S., for sharing your perspectives on this. It's a thoughtful, well considered post (and one that does not offend anyone in the least!)
Very Happy

Very helpful!

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008, 17:43 (GMT) Post subject: Thank You

Thank You Diane.
Is that surprise I sense in your post about me not offending anyone?

I had somebody say that my posts were often like sandpaper - highly abrasive, but good at getting down to bare wood.

lol

As I have said many times in this business, I don't care how I got the gig or where it came from. I'm just happy to be working.

I believe the circumstances involved in whether anybody finds a particular site worthy or not are as varied as all of our unique gifts.

Diane Havens · Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008, 18:12 (GMT) Post subject:

Surprise? Not at all, but that's because I was always good at reading subtext, you ol' softie.

Rajiv Hasan · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008, 14:21 (GMT) Post subject:

In terms of imaginary girlfriends...

Voices-com = Clarissa: elegant and ever-smiling, but mainly likes just talking and holding hands (though not afraid to introduce you to her attractive friends);

V123 = Raquel: not the prettiest, and rather loose with her affections, but energetic and ever-willing (can make you feel a little cheap and weary);

VO Planet = Rosalita: a detached beauty who rarely acknowledges your existence, though when she does...Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!...

Rajiv Wink