Studio Scheduling Etiquette Issue - Advice?

[JulieRei]

Hey there guys, I'm having a very weird issue and I was wondering what everyone thought since I'm kind of unsure about proper etiquette, how I should proceed or if I did something wrong...

Last Tuesday I received an e-mail from a producer at a studio in Burbank saying he was interested in having me audition for some animated promos his studio was producing and I should call him to schedule an audition. So that afternoon I called and ended up leaving a message since it went to voice mail. I didn't receive a call back, so the next morning I called him again, he briefly mentioned the rate (standard ADR 1-2 hour sessions @ $60/hr) and if I was still interested. I said I was and he said he was in the middle of a session so he would call back later to schedule. I didn't receive a call, so the next morning I called once more (by this point Thursday). He asked me where I was located and then he asked if it were still worth it to me to go Burbank for the audition / session considering the pay rate. Considering Culver City to Burbank mid-day is standard (I've worked with other Burbank studios) and I've done ADR work before for the same rate I said it was really ok. He said that the schedule for the rest of the week was filled so I should call back on Monday to schedule the audition. My Monday got a bit hectic, so I didn't call again until this morning and once again had to leave a message which to this point has yet to be returned.

The weird part is I haven't actually submitted my demo to too many people and I know for a fact that I never submitted to this specific studio / producer, so they had to have heard my work online or someone passed them my demo... which I'm very grateful for, but then again why contact me in the first place if they were wishy-washy to begin with. So here I am Tuesday night wondering if I did something wrong or even why he contacted me in the first place... Should I even bother trying to call back again tomorrow morning?

Any advice is welcome. Thanks! :-)

[Lee Gordon]

At least you got to talk to the guy. On Friday morning, September 28th I got an e-mail from a voice seeker via Voice123 asking if I would be available to record a 7 minute DVD on Monday afternoon 9/29 [sic]. (I hadn't noticed until now that she had the date wrong and Monday was October 1st.)

There was a reply link in the Voice123 message, which I clicked to send her an answer confirming that I was available. She also provided a phone number and asked that I call and leave her a message including a number she could use to call me back. Since she made a point to mention that she was in the eastern time zone (Boston) I assume she was not aware that I'm in Hartford. I called the number and left the information she requested.

Bottom line: she never replied to my e-mail and she never returned my phone call. She initiated the contact and then didn't even have the courtesy to acknowledge my attempts to follow up. Even if she booked someone else, how hard would it have been to let me know?

[Bob Bergen]

Hi Julie!

You did nothing wrong, really. However, if he was as busy as he sounded you should have called Monday. The fact that you didn't, it's possible you missed your window of opportunity.

I have a feeling this was non union? Or was it dubbing? $60 per hour is about right for a union dubbing session. But ADR pays SAG day rate, which is between $7-$800.

However, whether this is union or non union, there are no rules that the buyer needs to be courteous when it comes to scheduling auditions. Agents don't usually get involved with dubbing or ADR sessions, because even on union gigs producers don't usually pay +10%. Since actors don't pay agents commission unless they get over scale (that would be +10%) this audition wouldn't go through your agent. I'm going into this because if this did pay over scale your agent would be the one to schedule your audition, which would take you off the hook about having to get in touch with this producer. Your agent does the dirty work. That's how they earn their 10%. ;-)

There are SO many actors out there you really can't afford to miss calling the producer when he requests. Even if your Monday got hectic, this is why God created cell phones.

But maybe he'll think of you for something else.

BB

[Julie Williams]

Hi Julie Rei,
It sounds like you were very friendly and professional. You did nothing offensive...

That said, remember that anytime you don't call when you say you're going to... no matter how busy you get (they don't see that) you set yourself up to miss out on more than just that job.

• You risk someone feeling you're not reliable (for future jobs)
• And you miss an opportunity to shake hands with someone who can hire you in the future!

Good luck Julie! Not calling was a little thing...that you can't do anything about now. But in the future you'll be glad you made the extra effort to always call them back!

[JulieRei]

Hi there Bob! It's great to hear from you again!

Thanks for the responses!

I forgot to mention that I did leave him a message early on Monday, but I didn't speak to him directly. I then didn't have time to call back until around 4:00 pm, but didn't leave another voice mail until Tuesday morning. I never received a call back from him on either day. The only times I spoke to him were when he picked up on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.

The weirdest part is that when I talked to him on Thursday it sounded like he was trying to convince me of all the reasons I didn't want the job. It just seemed really odd considering he initiated contact and sounded rather interested in that initial e-mail.

I think by this point I'm not going to call back again regardless.

I really don't know the full details on the project since I barely talked to him. All he mentioned was that it was $60/hour for a 1-2 hour session on an animated promo (I figured since that's what I've been paid for anime and this specific studio has done anime in the past that it was the same type of dubbing project).

Unfortunately no agent yet, but I have a meeting with Bill Holmes tomorrow to produce my commercial demo, and am 100% confident that my demos will speak for themselves once they're complete (I already finished up my Animation Demo and have it up on my site).