[Colin Campbell]

Originally Posted by Lee Gordon

But what's even worse than those silly directions is no direction at all. I've been in this business for a while as both a copywriter and a voiceover talent so I have a pretty good idea of how a piece of copy ought to sound -- but it's my idea. That's great if I'm reading a piece of my own copy, but when I'm working for someone else I wouldn't mind a little feedback.

There have been times when I would go through an entire session with barely a reaction from the client. Now, I have to assume it's simply because I am such a seasoned professional that I gave him exactly what he wanted, often on the first take. However, any time I have worked with one of these no-reaction guys, I have always left the studio with the nagging feeling that he hated what I did, didn't think there was any way he could coax what he wanted out of me, and just didn't bother trying. I realize that's probably just paranoia on my part. But I'd still rather have a guy tell me something I read sucks than have him just sit there.

When I used to produce every day, I'd seen it. I'd have the client and the talent in the studio. The guy'd read it. The client would offer small suggestions and the talent would read it exactly the same. The client would thank him, shake his hand and the talent would leave. Then the client would turn to me and say.. "we're not using that." Of course that was a talent that couldn't take direction. He just kept reading it exactly the same every time.