Eight steps to make your Voiceover love you.
Out!
OUT!
Don’t come back until you can bring something to the table, and DON’T look at me like that.
Right, that’s Tuesday given the heave-ho.
How are you?
My post yesterday asking fellow creatives what we voiceovers do that we shouldn’t, or should do better got as much engagement from non-voiceover people as I’d expected… :(
Anyway, time to turn the tables.
What you can do for US to make the process of using a professional Voiceover as painless as possible.
Firstly…
Try to not leave us until the last moment! The amount of jobs I’ve had where it’s a last-minute rush is too damn many. Surely you know you’re going to need a Voiceover — shouldn’t be a surprise, right? Even give us a draft to look over in advance — yes, it’ll probably change but at least we’re forewarned.
Who is our audience? Who are we talking to? Give us this info as it helps us tailor our read for that audience.
Get Mark Thomas’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Vocal direction — as concise as you can please — you have reference videos? Get in! This is great.
Please don’t put scripts in anything other than a Word doc — PDF is ok, kinda, but stay away from PowerPoint and Excel and NO PNGs.
Storyboards are great! It’s good to know the creative direction you’re taking — but see the above point — don’t ask us to read from a PowerPoint. Too. Much. Scrolling.
Music — can we hear it? It’s a really great device for being able to pace the voiceover.
Please stick to our terms for retakes — no sneaking ‘It’s just a few words’ — no, if you’ve already had your agreed edits, you pay for them — unless I’m in a good mood (Ha!).
30-day payment terms at MOST — ideally as soon as the audio is signed off. No need to make us wait for the client to sign off the video too, our part is done.
Any others you can think of?
Mark x
AI Prompt — ‘A man with long hair, glasses and a short, tidy beard holding a clipboard while chewing on a pen.” Couldn’t get it to chew the pen. Odd. Also, 8/10 for the hands today.
—
I’m Mark, a British Voiceover I’m all for an easy life, so please take the above onboard and I’ll love you long time! ($10, paid within 30 days.)
