• Location: Australia
  • Joined: May 14, 2014

Topic: My VA has gone AWOL. What now?

My VA submitted about 2/3rds of his lines and has disappeared.  I've animated probably 2 minutes of motion to his voice but now need the last 60 seconds.  The last I heard from him was 2 1/2 weeks ago.  20 days.  I've sent two overly polite emails and they've gone unanswered.

2 weeks is not a long time really, especially when real life gets in the way of a volunteer hobby project, but I'm starting to wonder how long is long enough, and what do I do then?

Should I wait 4 weeks and then look for a new VA (I'd select one of the failed auditions).  Should I wait 4 weeks then send a polite but final ultimatum?  Then wait how long after that?

The VA is a sweet fit for the role and I want to credit him for the work he's done so far, but I can't finish my job until he finishes his and I've got two other projects backed up waiting for attention.  I can re-cast and keep the footage if the pace is more or less the same.

I'm not stressing too much.  I have a lot of post-prod work to do on the 2 minutes I have but - how long is long enough?  I want to do the right thing by this guy, and this is a hobby and all.  What would you do?

Aka Fox
Youtube: My channel   Twitter: @animationantics
Best brick films: My selection
  • Joined: October 29, 2012

Re: My VA has gone AWOL. What now?

Sometimes it's helpful to put a little distance between you and your work. I'd put the project aside and work on something else for a couple of weeks. 28 days is a kind of legal requirement for many modern transactions, and, (assuming he's not injured or anything), if he isn't going to respond within that time, he isn't going to respond at all, probably. Then you can get someone else to step in, and make sure they record all the lines in one sitting!
If you can afford $5, I'd get in touch with people advertising on www.fiverr.com. Many of them are excellent and there is nothing like a little bit of money to encourage some professionalism.
Good luck.