Clayton E.

Hollywood Heavyweights Travel To Sacramento for a $750 Million Lifeline - new article: https://lnkd.in/gDNj7imJ - plus FilmLA Wins Five-Year Contract Renewal Despite Criticism From Industry Workers - new article: https://lnkd.in/gYGkC__3 - plus The city’s complicated & expensive permitting process has received a fair amount of criticism this year amid discussions about how to revive California’s film & television industry, which has dwindled at the hands of runaway production over the last decade - new article: https://lnkd.in/ghFXqWAp

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Here's some advice for my voiceover friends that will help to improve both auditions and bookings: So you get an audition and you want to submit the best read you can muster. How do you do that? Develop your self director!

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How much does a voiceover cost? Well, it depends... First, a story: A theater acquaintance of mine has been writing hilarious accounts of his customer service encounters for years... It started when he worked in the lumber yard at Home Depot. Now his liquor store stories are called "Tales from the Whine Barrel" He once told the story of a customer who wanted to build a fence around his yard. "How much for a fence?" My friend goes on to tell him that the cost of a fence depends on many factors, including the square footage of the yard, the height of the fence, what material it's made of, etc. "Can't you just give me a number?" "Uhhh...That's not really how it works..." 😕 This is approximately how conversations around voiceover rates go with many clients. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 "𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿" 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴:     • the genre (commercial, e-learning, telephony, etc)  • the medium (organic web, paid web, TV, radio, etc)   • length of the piece (is it a :30 spot or a 15-hour audiobook?)   • and, if it's paid placement (meaning commercial usage) then the length of the usage and the geographic reach matter as well Or to put it another way, the value of the voiceover depends on the value to the client. The value of a phone message heard only by dozens of people each week is different than the value of a :06 TV spot broadcast nationally and heard by millions. If a voiceover creates more value for a client because it helps them directly sell product, the rate should go up. The stories my friend shares on social media illustrate that often the buyer doesn't understand the product they are purchasing (like not knowing that Sauvignon Blanc doesn't come in red). We can't control if they come in looking for that "George Dickel scotch" that their dad likes so much or if a "fancy wine" to them is something that's in a bottle instead of a box. (Or if they want to drink wine from a mason jar with a straw like me in this photo...there's no accounting for taste 😜) All we can do is try to educate our clients so they can make better, more informed decisions. If you're a voice seeker, I'd love to suggest that you check out the GVAA rate guide. It's a great resource to get a better handle on what to budget for a professional voiceover in different genres. (I'll drop the link below) ❓In your industry, what are the common questions or misconceptions about your services? ❓How do you help guide customers to get the results they want when they don't understand your industry? #CustomerService #Service #Communication #Voiceover #VoiceActing

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I've started learning CapCut three times. Never finished once. Premiere After Effects  DaVinci  Avid That new AI tool everyone's talking about. I'd watch tutorials. Download trials. Get excited. Then a week later? Back to what I already knew. Sound familiar? I thought I had a discipline problem. I didn't. I had a clarity problem. Here's the truth about shiny object syndrome: It's not about curiosity. It's about avoidance. Every new tool feels like progress.  Like you're investing in yourself.  Like you're staying competitive. But jumping between software isn't learning. It's hiding. Hiding from the discomfort of mastering one thing.  From the boring middle where real skill is built.  From the fear that maybe you're not progressing fast enough. New tools feel exciting. Mastery feels slow. So we chase the dopamine of starting over. Here's what finally broke the cycle: 1. Pick one tool - The best software is the one you actually learn.  - Commit for 90 days. 2. Define the outcome  - Don't learn Resolve.  - Learn color grading in Resolve for narrative work. 3. Finish one project  - No switching until you complete something real.  - Tutorials don't count. 4. Ignore the noise  - That new plugin can wait.  - Your fundamentals can't. 5. Measure depth, not width  - One tool at 80% beats five tools at 20%. The editors getting hired aren't the ones who know everything. They're the ones who know one thing deeply. Generalists get curious. Specialists get booked. Stop collecting tools. Start mastering one. What's the one software you keep abandoning? ___ Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Davone Alexis for more.

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Not all editors are storytellers—and that’s the problem. Anyone can learn how to trim clips, stack timelines, and apply transitions. But not everyone can feel the beat of a story. Not everyone knows when to pause for tension… ...when to cut for impact… ...or when to let silence speak louder than sound. And that’s the real difference. A good editor follows the brief. A storyteller-editor elevates it. They don't just stitch scenes���they breathe emotion into chaos. They don’t just “deliver output”—they sculpt meaning. In our microderma post-production house, we’ve seen this firsthand. 🎬 One edit made a flat web series pilot feel alive. 🎬 One frame repositioned a brand's entire message. 🎬 One timing tweak turned a forgettable ad into a scroll-stopper. The tools are the same. But the instinct? That’s what sets you apart. So next time someone says, “Can you just edit this quickly?” Ask them: “Do you want an edit—or a story worth watching?” Because if you're not editing with emotion, you're just cutting tape. 🧠💡 P.S. At our studio, we don't just hire editors. We look for storytellers with vision. Are you one of them? #VideoEditing #Storytelling #PostProduction #Filmmaking #WebSeries #TVAds #ShortFilms #LinkedInCreators #MicroDrama #ContentThatConnects

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It's disco time for this editor. By which I mean it's up to me to determine which instances in this video game book should be "disc" and which should be "disk." This book covers video game history from the 1980s to the early 2000s. So, there are many examples of "disc" in the text, including picture disc, flexi disc, CD-ROM disc, LaserDisc, and compact disc. There are also numerous instances of "disk": floppy disk, Famicom Disk System, and Disk Writer. Neither spellcheck nor AI is going to be able to keep these straight; you need a human editor. What I've done is to determine when disc/disk should be used, and then looked at each one to make sure it's spelled correctly. #AmEditing #HumanEditor

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Positive LA Industry News for those who seek it - The first projects to receive funding from the newly designed, $750M program were approved in August. Per FilmLA, among them are 18 television series planned for the greater Los Angeles area. The caveat is they have 180 days to begin production after the incentive is awarded, meaning it could be a while before any of those projects are up and running. So within the next 120 days (4 months), there will be an upsurge of local work. Start your engines...

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