George Washington III African-American Voice Actor Sourceconnect
(704) 293-7469
george@voevolution.com
  • Home
  • Demos
    • Commercial
    • e-Learning
    • Narration
    • Promo
    • Democratic Political
  • About
George Washington III African-American Voice Actor Header Logo
  • Clients
  • Contact
George Washington III African-American Voice Actor Logo

Genius from Kat Keesling on handling “demo reel” payment

May 2, 2011 by George 3 Comments

Kat Keesling Headshot
Kat Keesling, super genius

Back in 2009, I had the pleasure to work with Diane Havens and Kat Keesling on the Hear the Bill Project. Their brainchild was to help ordinary people who would have a very difficult time wading through the complexities of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate versions by bringing together voice actors to volunteer their time and read them in their entirety. It was a perfect example of an empowered citizenry and the greatness of our industry: well over a hundred voice artists contributed, and the project received glowing remarks in the press.

Kat has continued to be one of the people in our community of artists I listen to and read, and this weekend she posted an outstanding article on her Pure Opinion blog that may be flying under the radar. Entitled “A better response to the ‘demo reel’ payment,” she lays out what I consider a brilliant way to respond to these requests, which often come from students and non-profits with little to spend on professional talent. She points out the baseline conflict everyone faces about doing this kind of work:

Anyone who knows me knows my generosity with my voice. I lend it out for causes freely when I believe in what I am doing. However, I am not living in my parent’s basement or off of a Trust Fund and have struggled with limitations I must work within to keep my time profitable.

It not only includes a sample response, but links to the use of Creative Commons Licensing, which allows the use of your work, but protects you in the event of misuse.

Rather than quote her extensively, I urge you to go and read the article in its entirety. I told Kat that she is “about 18,000,000 times smarter than me,” and that may be an understatement. Thank you, Kat, for taking the time to put this into the public, and I hope it will become a resource for everyone struggling with these questions.

Filed Under: Career Development, Tip o' the Hat, Voice Artists, Voiceover - Work Tagged With: Creative Commons, kat Keesling, low budget work, nonprofit, time

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kathleen "Kat" Keesling (KatsVoice) says

    May 2, 2011 at 10:20 pm

    Wow! Wow! Wow! The compliment of your post has me beaming, Thank you for highlighting my post and giving this information some press. It means the world to me that you found this information worthwhile. I know this may sound trite, but you ROCK (you really really do).~Kat

    Reply
    • George says

      May 2, 2011 at 11:09 pm

      First of all, it is my pleasure. You write with the kind of knowledge base and ability I wish I had. Second, I have never looked into Creative Commons licensing for anything, and you came up with such an innovative way to handle the process with the CC license, I was just waiting to get this post up today. Bravo to you, Kat…awesome work!

      Reply
  2. toasty redhead says

    May 14, 2011 at 3:14 am

    I agree 100%

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • When Your Voiceover Work Impacts You
  • Verizon Dropping ISDN in Some States
  • Sales Performance International – Knowledge is Not Power
  • D-Link Gaming Router
  • Joe Miller for US Senate

Archives

  • February 2023
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010

Categories

  • Agents
  • Audio
  • Audiobook
  • Career Development
  • Faffcon
  • Interview
  • Marketing, Sales and Contacts
  • Music
  • Narration
  • Networking
  • On-Camera
  • Pat on the Back
  • Power of Human Voice
  • Press Release
  • Random Thoughts
  • Samples
  • Social Media
  • Sound Resources
  • Tech Talk
  • Tip o' the Hat
  • Tools You Can Use
  • Training
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Video Testimonial
  • Voice Artists
  • Voiceover – Work

Contact

If you want a quote or a personalized demo, feel free to contact me today. I’ll be happy to review your project by phone or email.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

george@voevolution.com
(704) 293-7469
george.washington.iii
George Washington III African-American Voice Actor Footer Sourceconnect
George Washington III African-American Voice Actor Wovo Logo

©2023 George Washington III // Voice Over Site by Voice Actor Websites

George Washington III African-American Voice Actor Footer Logo
(704) 293-7469
george@voevolution.com
MENU
  • Home
  • Demos
    • Commercial
    • e-Learning
    • Narration
    • Promo
    • Democratic Political
  • Clients
  • Contact