A way to even the playing field with Speedies
I've seen a lot of comments from Pros saying how difficult it is to nab Speedies, while others claim to do hundreds. For myself, when my rates were rock-bottom, I'd get plenty of invitations but would rarely get one, even though I'd click to accept the moment the 30-second timer ran out.
To increase fairness (especially to Pros that might not have the fastest internet connection), and to give access to Speedies to a larger variety of Pros, I'd like to suggest a "toss your hat into the ring" approach. Here's how it would work: when the countdown timer reaches 0, instead of the project being immediately awarded, a Waiting Room opens for 60 seconds. During those 60 seconds, any Pro interested can submit to get that Speedy. At the end of the 60 seconds, one of the Pros that has submitted is randomly picked to get that Speedy.
This would give all of the invited Pros for that Speedy an equal chance of having it awarded to them.
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I think when VB takes a clients job, they want it's recorded our end pronto so as to avoid any artist distractions and delays
The time pressures to get the recording, mean the artist who accepts the job is online right then, and thus more likely to be close to their equipment, and their trigger happy finger also means they could push out the recording within 30 mins.
Any extension of time might slow down the process to the industry standard of a 72 hour turnaround.
Whereas a waiting room is a pretty cool idea, it would turn me right off, just because of the way I get Speedies.
I will only ever accept bookings when at home (Where I have a tiny studio), or at work (in my actual studio). At home, or at work, I have a laptop with the bunny studio 'Projects' page permanently open. When a Speedy comes in, it alerts me. Additionally, an email is generated, which my phone, and laptop alerts me to also. My phone is set to go crazy if certain email addresses send me a message. VB domains send my phone in to full out defcon 1.
As I am constantly in a 'ready to record' state, I can accept a speedy within seconds, and have it recorded within 10 minutes. It may seem unfair to others, but, actually, I don't get much work from VB, I don't even get notified of many Speedies, certainly not enough to live on. I'll only every accept a Speedy if I'm not engaged in another project in the studio.
I think the way to get more jobs with VB is to work on improving stats (Mine are dreadful in my mind, but it's only VB that marks me down, all other clients rate me highly - But I need to be the one to make the VB change my end). Better stats, more speedies, higher chance of getting them assigned to you!
The way I envision it, the only thing that would change from the current process would be a 60-second delay. The artist that wins the project would still be expected to turn around the recording in 30 minutes or whatever, so there's no incentive to toss your hat into the ring unless you are ready to record when you're notified of that Speedy. There would be no appreciable delay in receiving the completed VO on the client's end.
If you're currently being invited to participate in a Speedy, your stats are already acceptable; but if from a pool of Bunny Pros that are invited to participate in Speedies, just a handful nabs the majority of them simply because they benefit from an internet connection that it a fraction of a second faster than others... well, that seems a strange way to decide whether one Pro is more suitable or worthy for a project than others.
Hey there, Chuck and Gary!
I hope both of you are doing well.
Thank you immensely for participating in our Community regarding the amount of invitations.
We understand that this is a recurring topic coming from our Pros, and we are currently discussing and investigating on all improvements we can make.
We do sympathize with the situation, as we know that the less projects you receive, the more competitive it can get. Though there are many variables that define which accounts get invitations for which projects, we can certainly see that there is room for improving our Pro's experience with us, and giving a fair shot for everyone.
Chuck, I will bring your suggestion to our team, and we will continue to do our best in the meantime.
I'd like to assure you both that this matter is being discussed and worked on - and while we cannot give an ETA for any updates, we are hopeful that there will be a noticeable improvement.
If you need any help with your stats or account, don't hesitate to send us an email to support@bunnystudio.com, where we'll be able to reach you directly and have a more detailed look into your issues! =)
Count on us, we are on your side and we'll have your back!
Kindest regards,
Gabriela Schneider