BLOG

Disappointment is probably my single, biggest nemesis.

Frustration and Regret arrive closely in a tie for 2nd and 3rd place in a “trifecta” of sorts.

As a voice-over, D (Disappointment) and F (Frustration) play a major role in my day-to-day existence, and that’s just fine because it’s the nature of the beast.

Clients instruct their agencies to come up with a concept, write a script, possibly choose some music or sound FX and then, last of all, it’s usually “oh, and find a voice-over” who sounds like such-and-such (potentially insert name of well known actor/celebrity here), or maybe they’ll just get the bloke or woman who voiced their last ad or narrative.

Either way, it’s the v/o who gets chosen last, usually after the client’s instructed the agency to book a studio (quite often “yesterday”), line up the engineer, have the studio’s front-of-house contact the voice-over, ask them what time/s they have available, then get back to the client with those available times and lock the session in.

The thing is, the poor studios are often juggling, coordinating and trying to pin down maybe a dozen voice-overs for various sessions during the course of any given day and, when trying to convey their availabilities to the agency/client, the script can often be undergoing some changes. There might be lengthy discussions regarding the music/FX, more than a couple of people in the upper echelons of the clients’ organisation may well have to approve such changes, which ultimately leads to a change in the session time…

…and now you, dear reader/listener, can begin to understand the D and F when bookings get postponed, moved and even cancelled at the last minute.

The D and the F spill over into life too.

I’ve been, in a sense, battling D, F and the ubiquitous R (Regret) most of mine.

There’s no ”cure”, only (I’m going to say it) “coping mechanisms” or, in plain terms, the “Just Deal With It” mantra which is harsh, but true – especially in the 21st Century where a lot of what goes on involves much counselling and therapy and negotiation etc.

So this little blog is really just me, writing some of it down, recording the words and stating that I’m going to try to do just that.

Deal with it.

Wish me luck…