Opinions/policy on poorly written scripts
Hello everyone.
Something has been nagging me and I want to hear what everyone else thinks about this. When you get a script that has CLEAR grammatical errors or looks poorly translated, how do you handle it?
For example, I got a booking today and one of the lines was written like this: "Our strength is to create customer experiences that makes enduser get to the other level."
I know what they're trying to say, and I wanted to record it as "Our strength is creating customer experiences to get the enduser to the next level", but I'm afraid that going "off script" will lead to a rejection by Mr. Bunny's entourage. In these situations I just err on the side of caution and read the script word for word, mistakes, awkward phrasing, and all.
In the end I feel bad for these clients. I mean, I'm not going to rewrite a 1000 word article, but if it's a short job with just a few errors I feel like the client isn't getting unusable audio that could easily be made usable on-the-fly.
How do other people handle this? Thanks for reading!
PS: I know this isn't exactly on-topic for this forum but I couldn't think of a better place to post.
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Usually, the QA team understands when you are just correcting a few grammatical problems here and there and will approve the read. If the script is really bad, the best thing to do is to email support. When the problem is related to an ongoing project, you should hear back from a project manager right away. I will bring this thread to the attention of the project management team so we can make the process a bit smoother. We're already working on a communication system for talents and clients to be able to work out these kinds of issues without creating a "bottleneck."
Hmmm. That's a toughie. I'm like you. In some cases, the client actually invites us to correct their English, in which case I just give them my best read. If it's a case of one or two words, or something really minor, I'll usually correct it in my read and cross my fingers. (So far they've gone through fine - either no one noticed my corrections or they liked my script better). A couple of days ago, I had one with significant problems. In that case I did it their way, and submitted that for the project. But I also did it MY way and attached it to a support ticket linked to the project, asking VB to offer the client a choice. I haven't heard back yet. It was fairly short, and I felt better doing the double work than leaving it wrong or correcting and risking a rejection. What can I say? I'm a word geek :) --Cat
I came here looking for this *exact* discussion topic and am glad to see the official answer is pretty much what I expected. The one thing I'd like to add, assuming my remarks will even be seen by VB, is that I'm surprised VB themselves don't help clients with glaring translation or grammar errors before posting the project.
Hi!
Actually, we do screen some projects and help the clients whenever we are able to catch them. However, due to the number of projects we get every day, it's very hard for us to review each and every single one of them. That's the reason we trust you guys will be able to give us a hand and contact us if you see something odd with a project. We will always make sure to contact the clients and get the project fixed soon. Needless to say, we will also make sure your stats and profile are not affected in any way.
Hope this answered your question!
Angela - Head of Talent Management
It absolutely did. Thank you!!
Awesome! Glad I was able to help :) Feel free to comment and add your questions anytime you require.