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Careers > Realtime Captioner > Realtime FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- Realtime Broadcast Captioning:
Education & Training - Court Reporting Students
I'm a court reporting student
and know that I want to be a captioner when I graduate. What
can I do now to help me reach that goal?
The primary determining factor here is whether your school
offers a program in captioning. If they do, then you're a
big step ahead, because you are learning about current events,
learning how to write television material, such as news, sports,
entertainment, finance, etc., and, you have
a broad understanding of the requirements of captioning and
the goals that you will need to set for yourself in terms
of writing speed and writing accuracy, as well as depth of
knowledge and dictionary.
Please keep in mind that just because you want to become
a captioner upon completion of the program doesn't mean that
you will automatically qualify for a position as a captioner
or that you will immediately land a job as a captioner. With
this thought in mind, you must also keep a focus on your judicial
skills, as well, by practicing and testing in Q&A, as
well as learning everything there is to know about judicial
reporting, both freelance and official environments. Hopefully,
this is just the beginning of a long and successful career
for you, so be patient and open to the various options available
to you and know that all areas of reporting and captioning
offer unique and rewarding opportunities to you.
Additionally, understand that there is a whole lot more to
court reporting than writing on your machine. Before you can
plan to enter the workforce, you must learn as much about
the field as possible related to procedures, technology, professionalism,
employment opportunities, as well as understanding the difference
between working as an independent contractor vs. an employee.
No student can possibly be prepared to enter the reporting
and captioning workforce without having a broad knowledge
of the field in general. Developing this broad knowledge base
is not the sole responsibility of your instructors...it is
yours, too. So, how do you develop that knowledge?
- By becoming a student member of the National Court
Reporters Association and also of your state association.
- By reading the Journal of Court Reporting and keeping
up to date on all areas affecting your profession.
- By becoming an active participant in online student
discussions and learning to network and learn from your colleagues.
The relationships that you build as a student will carry long
into your career as a court reporter and/or captioner and
will bring you numerous opportunities for growth.
- By attending student seminars at state and national
conventions
- By joining specialty online forums that are directed
to your area of interest
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What speed is necessary
to caption?
No less than graduation speed of 200-225 wpm. The syllabic
density of captioning material will be far more difficult
for you to handle than the normal judicial material. I have
heard from many reporting students who call me and say, "I
can't get the speed requirements in school, so I'd like to
become a captioner." Captioning is a highly specialized
end of the reporting field and demands the best of skills...speed,
accuracy, and a broad range of knowledge in all television-related
areas.
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Can a student really be
hired as a captioner directly out of school?
Absolutely, and it has happened, but in most of those cases,
the recent graduate has applied for an in-house position,
where we can watch them more closely and provide intensive,
high-end training.
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Is there a captioning job
I can do while I'm in school using my skills? I've heard that
I can do offline captioning to better prepare myself for a
job as a live captioner.
VITAC offline captioners are typically journalism or communications
majors and are hired for in-house positions in our Pittsburgh,
Washington D.C. and Hollywood, California, offices. It is
my advice to reporting students to stay focused on the task
at hand, namely getting through the speed requirements and
completing the reporting program. As you know, reporting is
a very difficult program and demands all of your time and
energy to be successful. I would suggest the same advice relative
to scoping and proofreading for working reporters. While this
experience is valuable to your career, it is more important
that you focus on your reporting program and give it your
full attention. There is plenty of time to learn the field
and make money...get through school and get into the workforce!
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Would you recommend that
a student attend a captioning boot camp while still in school?
It depends on how far into the program you are and also on
the content of the boot camp. I would not recommend that any
student under 200 wpm sign up for a boot camp. I would also
recommend that no student attempt a captioning boot camp if
they have not taken captioning courses in school. There's
good reason for this, and none other than we don't want the
student to be "blown away" by the level of writing
expertise that it takes to become a captioner. Keep in mind
that even the most experienced court reporters may take, literally,
years to develop their writing and dictionaries and knowledge
to the point that they are qualified to caption. And these
are highly skilled writers. What I would recommend for all
students who have an interest in captioning is to attend seminars
that present entry-level information on preparation for a
career in captioning. Additionally, boot camps and workshops
with intense agendas not only move at a rapid pace, but are
normally rather expensive to attend. Gather your knowledge
about captioning through state or nationally sponsored reporting
events or through online forums and seminars until you are
ready to participate in a full-blown boot camp.
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Required Skills & Training - Students and Working Reporters
I want to work for VITAC.
What can I do to improve my chances for hire?
Just as you must be a qualified writer and well versed in
court procedures when applying for an official court reporting
position, and just as you must know the art of freelance deposition
reporting before applying to a firm, so too must you know
the business of captioning before entering. What does that
mean?
First and foremost, you must be able to write television.
The first round of the application process for a remote position
is submitting first-run files from television programs. What
are we looking for in these files? As near perfect translation
as possible, because that is your job as a captioner...to
provide near perfect translation of television programming.
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How do you reach near-perfect
translation of television programming?
Hundreds of hours of diligent practice and building of dictionaries
to support television material. And you cannot begin to build
a dictionary of television terms until you have solidified
your realtime writing skills. In other words, if you still
have word boundary issues or conflicts in your writing, you
can't possibly build a dictionary of television terms if they
will present mistranslations in your work. So, first, the
realtime theory that you are using must be solid...rock solid.
No conflicts, no word boundary errors. Any captioner will
tell you that you have far too much to think about while you're
on the air, in the way of trying to write verbatim, encountering
words and names for the first time ever (and fingerspelling
them), worrying about transmission of captions, anticipating
commercial outs, etc...the last thing you have time to be
thinking about is writing theory! A solid realtime theory
is a baseline qualification before you can even begin to train
for captioning.
Once you're sure that you're writing with a good theory,
then it's time to get moving on the practice. If you've been
a judicial reporter for your entire career, the move to captioning
material will be absolutely overwhelming. Some of the most
highly skilled reporters that I know were left feeling as
failures when they began training for captioning, including
myself. I was blown away. In broadcast captioning, the cadence
is different, the terminology is different, the syllabic density
of the material seems to be at least ten times that of the
judicial writing in which you've developed your expertise.
The news particularly is very difficult to learn, but no
captioner hits air without a broad-based knowledge and skill
in writing news. Think about it...in a half-hour deposition
or hearing, the topic remains the same. In a half-hour newscast,
there could be as many as 20 different stories...from local
news, to world politics, to the latest in entertainment news,
sporting events, and human interest stories. There is simply
no way to allow yourself to trail off and get comfortable.
However, just as you perfected your judicial writing, so
too, with diligence, will you perfect your writing for television.
I've often been asked, how do you possibly learn to write
television material at such high rates of speed and accuracy?
The answer is simple...just as the best in judicial reporting
have perfected their writing in highly technical matters.
It's all about words. Just words. Just going back to the basics
of steno theory with a strong emphasis on learning everything
there is to know about your chosen specialty. Captioning is
news, sports, entertainment, finance, home shopping, human
interest...you name it, it's on television.
Therefore, to become an expert captioner, you must become
aware of and stay aware of all areas of news at all times.
Any skilled reporter or captioner will tell you, you absolutely
cannot write what you don't know. So, how do you become an
expert captioner? Or an expert reporter, for that matter?
By broadening your knowledge as much as you possibly can.
By reading as much as you can. By making words the most important
thing in your career, because, after all, isn't that what
we do?
We are experts in words. It is our responsibility...our job
is to know the words and translate them for our end users,
be they the Court, attorneys, students, or television viewers.
A colleague of mine says, "In order to be a good captioner,
you must have respect for the field of captioning." What
she means is that you must have respect for the difficulty
of the job, as well as the perfection that is demanded for
a job with so much exposure to the public. A poor captioning
job is a poor reflection on captioners and reporters as a
whole. That's what is meant by "respect for the field."
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Is it true that broadcast
captioners don't need to be verbatim?
False. Broadcast captioners must be as near verbatim as possible.
The best truly are. However, as captioners, we are unable
to "stop the speaker" and, therefore, must have
the ability to edit the text as required. For instance, if
the speed gets away from us for even a moment, we must find
the best way to get readable text to the screen the best we
know how, and that may require editing insofar as condensing
the content as best we can so that the meaning is conveyed.
If we encounter a word or a name that we are unsure is in
our dictionary, or we are unsure of the spelling, we are then
called upon to fingerspell that word or name to the best of
our ability. Again, we are not able to stop the speaker, so
we must be trained to deal with the situation the best that
we can.
In 2005, it is absolutely unacceptable for us to "substitute"
words in place of words that we are unsure are in our dictionary.
Word substitution was common back in the early days of captioning,
late 1980s, early 1990s, however, captioners are much better
trained these days and should be fingerspelling unfamiliar
words or words for which we are unsure there is a dictionary
match. It has been my experience that reporters who approach
captioning with the intent of "substituting words"
normally do not become the best of captioners. This is understandable
when you realize that replacing a word with another word causes
hesitation and therefore leads to a loss of content or inaccurate
translation. Quite simply, if you need to substitute a word,
it's probably because you're not familiar with the word that
was spoken. So, how can you substitute a word if you don't
know the original word? If it's just a matter of uncertainty
that the word is in your dictionary, it should be fingerspelled.
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How large must my dictionary
be in order to caption?
There is no magic number in terms of the size of your dictionary.
There are great captioners who have huge dictionaries of 200,000-plus
entries, and there are other captioners who are just as good
who have no more than 60,000 entries. The key is how well
you have built that dictionary and how well you can write
against it.
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For students and working
reporters hoping to caption, what would you recommend as practice
material?
This one's easy...anything and everything that you can get
your hands on. Keep in mind, even if you're working at 225
speeds, you can't just turn the television on and expect to
be able to write the news. It's very difficult and takes a
great deal of time and practice to one day master. What will
help you reach that level of mastery is to practice any type
of literary material available to you, whether from speed
tapes or books on tape or lectures. And I can't stress enough
the importance of reading. You must understand that a reporter
cannot write what they don't understand. Ask the best of them.
In writing a simple accident case, they can write it with
near perfection without even thinking about what they're hearing.
As the material reaches outside of their knowledge base, the
writing becomes increasingly more difficult.
The key is, obviously, the more you know or the more that
you broaden your knowledge base, the better reporter you become.
Theory is theory. You know how to write words. But do you
know the meaning of and the spelling of the word?
If you do, the writing is the easy part.
With that said, once you're ready to tackle the news, you
want to be sure that you understand the content before you
start to write it. How do you do that? By reading about the
content...the newspaper. I would highly recommend a subscription
to the "USA Today." It's a good topical source of
daily information. At first, read only the first page of each
section of the paper (news, sports, entertainment and finance),
highlight the proper names and any words that you don't think
are in your dictionary. Read the articles for "content,"
so that you are sure that you "understand" the story.
Remember, you can't write what you don't understand! Then
enter those names and words into your dictionary. In that
way, when you sit down to write the news, though it will seem
very fast, the terminology won't sound as foreign to you.
Practice in 15-minute segments. If possible, record your
practice material. When you have completed the 15-minute practice,
go back and review your file WORD FOR WORD to catch any and
all errors. Determine why the errors occurred...an untranslate
that requires a dictionary entry, a misstroke, an improperly
written word (theory problem), a misheard word. Learn from
the 15-minute take, make entries, then write the same segment
again. Write it many times, if necessary, with an eye toward
perfecting your writing and learning from the errors that
you made.
Remember, you're training to become a captioner. It is imperative
that you learn from your mistakes. Your goal as a captioner
is always 100% accurate verbatim. When you apply for a captioning
position, your writing will be evaluated from top to bottom.
It will be read for content, and it will be read for accuracy.
You will be hired only if you can produce accurate translation
as near to verbatim as possible. No easy task, but nonetheless,
you are providing the text of television to millions of viewers...it
MUST be accurate.
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So, how do I know when
I'm ready?
When you have no more than 3 errors per file page, and that
includes correct punctuation. To reach this level, you must
stay focused, write with extreme accuracy, build a sophisticated,
useful dictionary and challenge the speed.
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I've still got writing
issues and/or theory problems that bring down the quality of my
writing. What can I do to correct the remaining problems?
Realtime is a necessary foundation to captioning. There are
many things that will require your full attention when you
are on air. Writing issues cannot be one of them! You must
master your realtime theory BEFORE you attempt to caption.
Start by attending realtime seminars and workshops given by
your state association or by the NCRA, some of which are now
given online. There are several books on the market that will
correct your realtime translation problems, one of which is
Realtime Captioning...the VITAC Way , which can be purchased
through the National Court Reporters Association.
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What are the most common
areas of weakness for caption trainees?
Number translation, fingerspelling, weak dictionaries, and
lack of proper names. These four areas are most definitely
the areas where transitioning reporters and students face
the greatest challenge. All four areas must be mastered before
a trainee is ready for air.
Numbers must translate in realtime as they would appear in
final form. A captioner must have the ability to fingerspell
any word at any given time in a broadcast. Dictionaries must
be "equipped for captioning," which allows the captioner
to write any type of story with no degradation of quality
translation. Television is all about names...they MUST translate!
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What is meant by "fingerspelling"?
A Captioners must have the ability to spell words letter
by letter when they are unsure of a translation. And no, by
today's standards, it is very rarely acceptable to "replace"
the word with a word of like meaning. Chances are, if you
didn't understand the word that was said, you are not likely
to know of a replacement word.
VITAC expects captioners to fingerspell any and all words
which the captioner is not absolutely certain are in their
dictionary. This may seem outrageous, but it is, in fact,
the quality standard by which today's captions are measured.
In order to get proficient at fingerspelling, a captioner
must first be sure that each individual letter is programmed
into their dictionary in a way that will join the letters,
the translation of which will appear as if the word was actually
entered in the dictionary. The viewer will not know that the
word has been fingerspelled letter by letter. Secondly, and
obviously, this skill must be mastered at a very high rate
of speed, so that no other text will be lost. One good way
to practice fingerspelling is to make yourself a list of words
and spell each out letter by letter, and see how fast you
can get through the list without making a mistake. Keep in
mind, you must have an extremely high rate of precision in
fingerspelling, because any fingering error will result in
a long and unreadable translation.
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What are these captioning
boot camps all about?
The captioning boot camps will give you the competitive edge
in competing for realtime captioning positions. Over the past
several years, VITAC has hand-selected employees directly
from the VITAC Captioning Boot Camp held at Stark State Community
College in Canton, Ohio. The Boot Camp is 24 hours of intensive,
concentrated instruction in broadcast captioning. The topics
include: history of captioning, dictionary development, dictionary
management, improvement of writing, broadcast technology,
caption format, speaker IDs, descriptors, forcing and blanking,
sending credits, captioning music, research and preparation,
evaluation of performance and equipment needs. The class size
is limited to 20 students.
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What are the necessary
steps for a working reporter to retrain as a captioner?
1.) Perfect your realtime by taking courses or purchasing
books
2.) Read for content the newspaper on a daily basis, also
" Time " or " Newsweek " magazines, highlight
words that you do not know and/or words that are not in your
dictionary.
3.) Build your dictionary with these new words. For a quicker
dictionary build, purchase programs that are on the market
today.
4.) Practice, practice, and more practice in all forms of
television programming.
5.) Monitor and/or participate in on-line forums for captioners.
Read related articles published in NCRA's Journal of Court
Reporting and also in the Captioning Community of Interest
section at www.ncraonline.org
.6.) Attend captioning seminars, workshops and boot camps.
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Do I need to attend the
VITAC Boot Camp or any other training?
While it is not necessary to attend a captioning boot camp,
it is a plus when applying to captioning companies, as they
know that you have an understanding of dictionary development
and management, technical knowledge of the captioning environment,
research methodologies, etc. Remember, it's an edge that you
have in your attempt to be a "stand-out" among hundreds
of candidates.
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What captioning software
does VITAC recommend?
When shopping for captioning software, do your homework.
Know the leaders in software and ask for the names of users
to contact directly.
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What are some of the resources
you would recommend to learn more about captioning?
There are several:
Realtime Captioning...the VITAC Way , written by Amy Bowlen,
FAPR, RDR, CRR, CBC, and Kathy DiLorenzo, RDR, CRR, CBC.
Alternative Realtime Careers and Inside Captioning written
by Gary Robson.
Related articles on NCRA's website for the Captioning Community
of Interest
The Broadcast Captioning Group at Yahoo.com
Conduct a broad search of the Internet for captioning-related
material
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Can I come to VITAC to
train for captioning?
Unfortunately, no, not unless you are hired to work for us.
Application for Employment
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Where do I send my résumé
and cover letter?
Amy Bowlen
Manager, Realtime Captioner Training
VITAC Corporation
101 Hillpointe Drive
Canonsburg, PA 15317
or email to Amy-B@vitac.com.
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What types of programming
do I turn in with my employment application?
We ask for one-half hour of first-run material in text format,
from NBC Nightly News, the CBS Evening News, or ABC World News Tonight.
Send your files to Amy Bowlen at Amy-B@vitac.com.
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What will you be looking
for in review of the files that I send?
Near-perfect verbatim translation. A tall order, we know,
but again, that is the job for which you are applying. We
will perform, literally, a word-for-word reading of your files
to evaluate readability, content, understanding of the material,
dictionary development, ability to fingerspell, etc. Since
we will be reading every word of the file, I would strongly
suggest that you do the same before turning it in. As it's a
first-run file, no editing or changes can be made to the file
once it's written and before it's submitted.
This word-for-word reading of a file must be the process
that is followed by every aspiring captioner or new captioner.
It is, in fact, the only way to truly perfect your writing...reading
every word, deciphering and diagnosing each and every error,
and implementing a resolution so as to avoid the same or similar
error in the future. Every error is made for a reason, whether
it is a fingering error, a mistranslate, an untranslate, an
unknown word, or a key adjustment error. It is not sufficient
to say, "Oh, that was just a fingering error," or
"Oh, that was just an untranslate." Again, you must
diagnose the error and put into place a resolution that will
eliminate the same or similar error down the road.
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How do I know if I'm ready
to send in a file?
A good indicator of when you're ready is an average of no
more than three (3) errors per page, including punctuation.
When completing a word-for-word review of your file, you will
count the errors. If, during a half-hour broadcast, you find
no more than an average of three errors per page, you're ready
to submit the file.
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You don't really count
punctuation as an error, do you?
Absolutely. Understand that the caption viewer receives only
two to three lines of text at a time. If the punctuation is
not added or is incorrect, the material then becomes difficult
to follow and, once the viewer realizes where the punctuation
was supposed to be, the beginning of the sentence, or perhaps
whole sentences, are now removed from the television screen.
Therefore, it is imperative that a captioner can punctuate
correctly during the realtime. Obviously, there's no opportunity
to go back and add the punctuation at a later time. Remember,
it is the responsibility of the captioner to provide the correct
words and punctuation to the viewer. Quite simply, it is your
job .
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If all I submit to you
is a text file, how will you know if I'm missing some of the
content?
We will. We've been writing captions and watching captions
for many years and can instantly recognize when someone is
providing "generic" captions, where pronouns and
articles are substituted for proper names, e.g., "this
woman, that woman, this bridge, that street," or "he
said, she said, they went," etc. While we won't know
if you missed a word here or there, we are familiar with the
way in which news is delivered and the density that typically
accompanies a certain type of program, and the "flavor"
with which sportscasters speak, etc.
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Once I have qualified
through a live captioning session or on-air simulation, what is the next step for in-house
or remote employment?
If VITAC is hiring, we will set up a phone or in-person interview
with you, depending on your location, during which time we
will together attempt to find out if, in fact, this job is
for you and if you are the person for the job. We will discuss
the job requirements, the kind of work schedule that you can
expect, the type of income you can expect, what VITAC expects
of you and what you, in turn, expect from us.
If you are hired for an in-house position , we will discuss
relocation issues, as well as a start date. If you are hired
for a remote position, we will bring you to our Pittsburgh
headquarters for approximately one week of training that will
include instruction on the software and hardware, your communication
with the office both on and off the air, your connection to
our internal network, and various other company policies and
procedures. During your stay in Pittsburgh, you will also
meet with our Human Resources team to go over your compensation
and benefits package, and you will also have an opportunity
to meet the people with whom you will be interacting on a
regular basis once you arrive back home and begin your new
captioning job.
If VITAC is not hiring at the time your writing files qualify,
we will hold your application until hiring is resumed and
will contact you at that time to determine your interest in
pursuing employment.
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The Work Environment
What are the benefits
of working from VITAC headquarters in Pittsburgh?
Nothing can ever replace hands-on training in an environment
that touches upon all areas of captioning...from personal
one-on-one training in writing style, dictionary development,
accuracy, research and preparation, file review, to a complete
hands-on look at the running of a captioning company, working
with production coordinators, offline captioners, information
technology specialists, as well as engineers specializing
in broadcast technology.
The training that is provided by in-house captioning experts,
insofar as skilled writing and captioning technology, is unparalleled
to any training that you can receive in school or through
mentorship.
If you are a qualified student with an interest in captioning
and are able to relocate, I would highly recommend an in-house
position. There is a minimum two-year employment requirement
for in-house positions, a small investment to learn from experts
in the industry to ensure professional success for a lifetime.
Many students and working reporters have relocated to the
Pittsburgh area for a two-year period, or longer, only then
to return to their hometown or relocate to another area of
the country. The skills that they take with them will, in
fact, last a professional lifetime.
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I'm unable to relocate.
What are my chances of working remotely for VITAC?
This is an easy one...you've got to be good. You've got to
be trained in captioning. Approximately 99% of all captioner
applicants want to work remotely. So, of these hundreds of
students and working reporters who are trying to land remote
captioning jobs, you've got to be the stand-out.
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I would prefer to be an
independent contractor, not an employee. Do you hire independent
contractors?
At the present time, no, VITAC does not hire independent
contractors. Due to the high-profile nature of our work for
national networks, it is necessary for VITAC to train its
captioners in new software and technical procedures, as well
as it is necessary for us to maintain high quality standards.
To that end, we must have the legal capacity to provide that
training without fear of violating independent contractor
laws.
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What is the benefit of
being an employee of VITAC?
The most valuable benefits are the upgraded training, the
guarantee of a minimum number of program hours and, probably
the most important benefit to the new captioner is the ongoing
technical support, both hardware and software, that is provided
to you.
Additionally, as an employee, you are eligible for company
benefits such as health insurance, which includes vision and
dental care, plus life insurance, long-term disability insurance,
and a 401(k) program.
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Does VITAC provide my
equipment and software?
As a VITAC employee, all of your equipment and software is
provided.
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What kind of schedule
can I expect to work? How many hours on air per day will I
write?
One thing that a captioner's job is not is a 9:00-5:00 schedule.
Many reporters call me and say, I want to work when my kids
are in school. Join the club...the average reporter is 30-45
years of age with school-age children. Your captioning schedule
will vary from company to company and will also vary depending
on your skill level and the work that is currently available.
You will probably write fewer hours as a new captioner than
you will as an experienced captioner.
As a captioner for VITAC, the schedules are set by quarter.
You will bid on a 15-hour block of hours that will be set for a period of approximately
12 weeks, allowing you some semblance of order in your work
hours. Additionally, you may choose additional hours up to
the minimum 22 weekly hours, or more hours, depending on the
schedule and your desired earnings.
In terms of programming, you will be limited in the number
and type of programming to which you are assigned, though
we will train you in all types of programming, including news,
sports, entertainment, finance, etc. Keep in
mind that as a new captioner, you will invest at least one
hour of prep and post-mortem work before and after your program.
The amount of time that it takes for you to prepare for an
hour of broadcast will lessen over time, as you gain experience
and become more confident in the depth of your dictionary.
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Do I have to work on the
weekends?
At VITAC, yes. Due to the amount of weekend work that we
have, all captioners are required to work at least one weekend
day.
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Will I work holidays?
Count on it. Think about it...television is always on. In
fact, on holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, there
is probably more live programming broadcast than on any other
day of the year. There are many special broadcasts such as
Bowl games and parades, and the news is on every day of the
year.
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Can I keep my official,
freelance or CART job and still do captioning on the side?
As a beginning captioner, this would not be advisable. Unless
you're breaking into captioning with only a few hours a week
(under 5), you need to realize that captioning is one thing...captioning
WELL is quite another, and will take your complete focus to
prepare for your program hours, caption them, and do the appropriate
follow-through. We always say, you must first "respect"
the art of captioning before you can take it on. Curiously,
we oftentimes get calls from reporters saying, "I want
to wind down my career now, I think I'll caption." Or,
"I'm not yet qualified to do court reporting, I think
I'll start captioning." Reporters must keep in mind that
captioning requires topnotch skills for a very unforgiving
audience.
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What is the earning capacity
of a captioner?
Your earning capacity will depend on the number of hours
that you caption. The hourly range for captioner fees varies.
You will hear within the industry a wide range of fees per
program hour, depending on the type of program that you are
captioning, your experience level, and the company for whom
you are working. When interviewing with a captioning company,
get an idea of the number of hours you can expect per week,
an idea of the time of day you will be working, how much overflow
you can expect outside of your normal schedule, etc. Remember,
your hourly rate goes a lot farther as you become more experienced
and therefore invest far less prep time before the show and
file review following the show.
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Can I specialize in certain
programming?
No, not with VITAC. We expect all of our captioners to master
all types of programming, and we consider it our responsibility
to be sure that you are trained in all areas. Remember, you
greatly increase your flexibility and availability if you
are able to caption all programming.
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For any additional questions, please contact Kathy DiLorenzo
at Kathy-D@vitac.com
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