“Just go ahead and read it.”

That was the advice I got from a production director some years ago. It was obvious that he was completely overworked and couldn’t muster the strength to pay close attention to the spot. I started asking questions, and he rolled his eyes and fired back, “Just read the damn script.” The fact is, I wanted to be coached. I wanted to be able to interpret the spot on my own terms, but really wanted to get more nuance and perspective so that the spot would just pop for the client.

Coaching is a big part of making a script hum — punching certain words … different deliveries … a slight rise of pitch. All of these things can make a huge difference. The thing to remember is that your voice talent is just “reading” a script, they are “acting” it out as well. Production people should be willing to wear two hats: producer and director. Coaching talent is far more a discipline of “directing” than of “producing.”

One thing we did is look at the philosophies of some film directors. It is amazing to see how varied their perspectives are. Some are more actor-focused, others are more script-focused. Some are easy to work with, some are just flat-out perfectionists who can make it a challenge to work with. Next time you’re coaching talent, pay closer attention to how you approach your direction and see if some kind of style emerges. If nothing else, it will make you more aware of how you approach radio creative.

One aspect of coaching that we’ve seen change over the years is how producers/directors use language to coax something out of the talent. Instead of the simple direction, we’ve heard things like, “Bring your voice up like you’ve just seen a ghost,” “punch that one word like your life depended on it,” “act like Don LaFontaine, then pull it back by half.” This tends to paint a better picture and lets the voice talent interpret the direction a little differently, resulting in some really interesting delivery.

The bottom line is that as a producer/director, you’re envisioning/hearing how the spot should sound first — and you are the expert. If you can get the talent to make it sound exactly the way you hear it, then you’re looking at a magical radio spot.

Previous 7Cs:

#5 - Casting

#4 - Correct/Collect

#3 - Copywriting

#2 - Concept

#1 - Creative Brief

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