The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2022 - 28

Useful Links
ATA Audiovisual Division's
Mentoring Program
ATA Audiovisual Division
Resource Page
GoSub (offers a range of
online subtitling courses)
Netflix Preferred
Fulfillment Partners
Netflix style guides
(also links to style guides
of different languages)
Molly Yurick's
subtitling page
eventually take the leap and
specialize in subtitling.
Among many other things,
Mara helped me choose a
specialized course (discussed
below) to study the necessary
skill set. After the course, she
helped me prepare my résumé
and create a list of potential
clients. She's been a continued
source of support as I continue
to grow in my career.
Step 2: I took the specialized
course. In our mentoring
sessions, Mara helped me
understand that there's
currently a huge demand for
translators trained in the art
of subtitling. (Fun fact: In
2021, Netflix subtitled seven
million minutes of content
and dubbed five million
minutes of content.1
That's
There's currently
a huge demand
for translators
trained in the
art of subtitling.
more than 13 years of subtitled
content and almost 10 years
of dubbed content! And that's
just one of the world's many
streaming platforms.)
At the end of February
2020, with two months
of government-imposed
apartment lockdown ahead
of me in Spain, I decided to
take the online subtitling
course Mara recommended.
This self-paced course by
GoSub is designed to take
beginners from " zero " to
" subtitler " in just a few
weeks. And it did just that.
I learned the ins and outs
of subtitle translation,
including industry lingo,
timing technicalities,
reading-speed, and
character-per-line rules. By
the end of the course, I felt
fully prepared and confident
to present myself as a
subtitler to the world.
Step 3: I set up a rigorous
marketing plan. The second
I completed the subtitling
course I added a subtitling
28 The ATA Chronicle | July/August 2022
page to my website and
started marketing like crazy.
At the time, I didn't have
much professional experience
in subtitling, so I started by
highlighting my language pair
at the top of the page. Below
that, I included a list of genres
I had experience subtitling
and a list of subtitling tools
I knew how to use. (A link
to my page is included in
the sidebar.) Next, I created
a list of dream agencies
and companies I wanted to
work with and aimed high
from the beginning (why
not?). I started by reaching
out to all Netflix Preferred
Fulfillment Partners
within the first week after
finishing the course. After
that, I contacted handfuls
of subtitling agencies and
post-production studios. My
marketing plan included a
rigorous follow-up schedule
that consisted of sending
four follow-up emails to each
potential client, once a week,
for one month. My final
email had " This is my last
follow-up attempt! " in the
subject line, and that's when
I got the most responses.
Step 4: I started working
almost full-time as a
subtitler. Thanks to my
new skill set and clear
marketing plan, within just
NOTES
1.
one month of finishing the
online subtitling course, I
had almost full-time work
as a subtitler. By the time
September rolled around,
I was invited to test to
subtitle for the world's
largest streaming service...
and passed. My first subtitled
film was released on that
platform at the end of
February 2021. And I've been
happily subtitling ever since.
What My Business
Looks Like Now
I'm currently subtitling about
80% of the time, translating
10% of the time, and
consulting new subtitlers 10%
of the time. The pandemic
taught me a tough lesson.
While specialization is key,
it's important to have your
eggs in more than one basket.
I realize almost all my eggs
are currently in my subtitling
basket (which isn't ideal
either), but I plan to continue
to incorporate translation
back into my business as the
tourism and travel industry
picks up again.
I'm passionate about all
the services I provide, found
a niche I love working in, and
also feel more sturdy and
confident in my business
than ever before. And I guess
I have the pandemic to thank
for that.
Lee, Wendy. " Why Dubbing Has Become More Crucial to
Netflix's Business, " Los Angeles Times (February 28, 2022).
Molly Yurick is a Spanish>English translator,
subtitler, and consultant to aspiring subtitlers based
in northern Spain. Specializing in tourism and
hospitality translation, her subtitles can be found on
the world's largest streaming service. In addition to
participating in ATA's School Outreach Program, she serves as
deputy chair of ATA's Public Relations (PR) Committee and is a
member of its PR Writers Group. molly@yuricktranslations.com
www.atanet.org

https://www.ata-divisions.org/AVD/education/mentoring-program/ https://www.ata-divisions.org/AVD/education/mentoring-program/ https://www.ata-divisions.org/AVD/resources/ https://www.ata-divisions.org/AVD/resources/ https://gosub.ooona.net/ https://gosub.ooona.net/ https://npfp.netflixstudios.com/ https://npfp.netflixstudios.com/ https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/215758617-Timed-Text-Style-Guide-General-Requirements https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/215758617-Timed-Text-Style-Guide-General-Requirements https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/215758617-Timed-Text-Style-Guide-General-Requirements https://www.yuricktranslations.com/subtitling https://www.yuricktranslations.com/subtitling https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-02-28/why-dubbing-has-become-more-crucial-to-netflixs-business https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-02-28/why-dubbing-has-become-more-crucial-to-netflixs-business http://www.atanet.org

The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2022

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