Freelancing in Tokyo: Biting the Bullet

Hello All,

Sorry for the long delay. I've been involved in the post-production of two short films I produced, one of which I directed. I had no idea how it would evaporate almost all my time. But I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, hence today's entry.

Biting the bullet...

Sometimes, we all have to do that... and I can't imagine anyone who wants to. Today I am biting that bullet. I still believe fully in everything that I wrote in FIT, but in order to make the big yen like I used to, compromises sometimes must be made. An agent that I have worked with on occasion called me to do a voice job today, a national holiday in Japan, for "thirty minutes." What does "thirty minutes" mean? It means a 40-minute trip to the studio, hanging out in the studio while everyone gets their act together (in fairness, sometimes they are ready to go, a pleasant surprise), going over the text in case there are mistakes (sometimes a native English speaker prepared the text, so mistakes are minimal if any; more often than not there will be corrections that have to be made), and then the actual recording, which may or may not take "thirty minutes." 

I am not complaining about any of the above. What I want to discuss is the salary I was offered for this job. It was way below standard rate, but I know their reasoning: "It will only take 30 minutes." 

In the past, there didn't seem to be any question if the job took six minutes or sixty. The pay rate was generally for an hour, regardless. In fact, I did such a job last week where, to my amazement, I was in and out in about 10 minutes. Even the producer said, "Nice job, wasn't it?" How could I disagree?

Today, I hope it will be a nice job. The text, sent after midnight because obviously everyone has been rushing around at the last minute "preparing," is correct grammatically but sounds odd when spoken. But that's what they want, so that's what I will say. But will it take "thirty minutes"? 

It may not seem to many of you that this is worth writing about, but unless you have done this type of work before, it's hard to understand. More importantly, it seems that games are now being played with salaries, where the standard amount (which in my experience has been ¥15,000/per hour) is now being diced up according to the assumed number of minutes you'll be in the booth. That's a big assumption. On top of that, the agent will usually deduct a 10% flat rate tax off your salary, and there is no transportation provided, so do the math. Yeah, it's a cheap job... 

BUT...

The reason I am telling you this is: By agreeing to do this job on short notice and on a holiday, the agent WILL remember that you were willing to help her in a tight spot. The agent even apologized about the gyara (salary), saying, "I know it's really, really low." Yes, it is. But in reconnecting with her, we immediately started talking about other job opportunities. This was good. Will they also be slice 'n dice jobs when it comes to the gyara? It's hard to say right now. One of the amazing things about working in Tokyo is that sometimes, not often, because you were the trusted foreigner that stepped up to the plate, you WILL get rewarded... although it may not happen immediately. In fact, it may not happen for YEARS. But, in my experience, rewards (meaning bigger jobs, more money, better opportunities) do come forward. The key is learning how to gaman. If you don't know what that means yet, you will soon, and I promise to talk about it in my next blog.

Reporting from the front...