Voice Registry Podcast- Tracy Pattin talks to Ad Copywriter Colleen Wainwright
July 14, 2009 by: Tracy Pattin
Colleen Wainwright is a writer-speaker-illuminator who started calling herself “the communicatrix” when she hit three hyphens.
She spent 10 years as an award-winning TV copywriter crafting ads for brands like Wheaties, Gatorade and Jell-O, and another 10 acting in them for cash money. Since deciding she’d blow her brains out if she had to sit through one more meeting about which way the bears danced around the cereal box, Colleen spends her time teaching other creative souls how to talk about what they do in a way that wins them attention, work and satisfaction.
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New Technologies: Pros and Cons in today’s Voice-Over business
Thank You Tracy and Colleen,
One of the first things I was taught (back in the stoneage) was to never judge the copy or the client. That if I couldn’t find a way to make the script sound great, then I was doing something worng. It’s so nice to hear Colleen basically saying the same thing. I think that voice actors would all be served by adopting this as their mantra.
Odd to hear about the “no buttons” or improv thing. Maybe San Francisco is different, but it seems that the top bookers for commercial work here mostly all do slight improvisation to the script and many do buttons or add laughs, etc. I wonder if perhaps we get bookings despite the improv instead of because of it.
I would love to hear more on that from some other copywriters and broadcast producers.
Thank you Tracy and Colleen for taking the time to share these pearls of wisdom from the perspective of a copywriter/producer.
In the world of home studios, where the wizadry of instant auditions happens, there can also be a real sense of isolation from the process.
This interview brought me back into the feeling of collaboration with the copywriter. I will refer to it often to keep that feeling alive as I deliver auditions that reach our primary audience–the copywriter…and their primary audience–the consumer.
Thank you both so much.