Comments

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  Alexis Serrano October 19, 2010 at 11:54am

  I always feel awkward when I am asked about my rates.
  I just got a lesson in knowing your worth.
  
  Yesterday, I took the advise of several of you and very politely turned down a job that was way too much work for what the client was offering.
  
  This morning I got an email from the same client, saying he had another job that was less work and four times the pay of the original job!
  
  If I had not been reading this forum, I would have probably taken the low paying job. Thanks
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  Patrick Sweeney October 19, 2010 at 9:36am

  Excellent points Bettye and Dan. Having sold brand name pharmaceuticals against generic drugs we never talked price with our clients, it was always about quality, efficacy and safety that we reinforced with our customers.
  
  Pat
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  Dan (Daniel Eduardo) Hurst October 19, 2010 at 1:09am

  Bettye Zoller makes a great point. My experience has been that 80% of the time (that's a guess) the client doesn't choose the voice talent on the basis of $$$.
  
  I did a little experiment with voices.com over the past few months (The only P2P sites that I am a member of are voices.com and commercialvoices.com). I should clarify that only about 10% of my business comes from P2P sites.
  
  However, I decided to see what would happen when I raised my rates with clients to whom I submitted auditions.
  
  I know this sounds weird, but I actually increased my percentage of jobs awarded!
  
  The bottom line: Don't sell yourself short. Your client doesn't!!!
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  Bettye Zoller October 18, 2010 at 12:54pm

  Do not fall into the mindset where you think the low bidder always wins the jobs. Often, the client or producer chooses others because he figures if you're that cheap you have to be inexperienced, new, (ignorant). If the job is an important one to him (her) or if the producer knows the complexity of that job, she'll probably go with the voice and engineering credentials and look at the talent's website etc. and then choose the voice preferred, even with higher pricetag. And remember, when you ask life for a penny, that's what life pays you! If you work for $50 and $150 over a long period, it will not be a career nor a living wage. And remember to get into the big money, the advertising agency jobs that pay residuals. NO you do NOT have to BE union. It is the producer of a union job who can put you on a union contract for that one job. And agents today book both union and non-union on the same jobs. This is a complex subject that I constantly strive to help my students and workshop attendees understand. How to get into the big money was the subject of a recent webinar I did for VOICEOVERXTRA and you can still order it from their site as a podcast. On another subject: Thank you Dan for your very nice mentions on the web re: my Oklahoma Workshops, OKC, for intermediate to advanced talents Oct 30-31 and for vo beginners there on Dec 4-5. Gonna be good. Best to you all. Gotta run. Voting early today before I go out of state.
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  Brent Halfyard October 18, 2010 at 12:42pm

  Excellent man good for you. I have two agents and so far all my work has been independent including a big US national, and recent video game for a NY company. Agents get me some auditions, but so far not one solid gig from my agents! Good thing I'm a go-getter
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  David Seys October 18, 2010 at 12:26pm

  No...my agent got me the gig and it is a negotiated rate! I get £400 (about $700) per 20 second promo for use in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East and there are 3 or 4 every week. I get more when they go worldwide. Not enormous, but I was just pointing out the rate per recorded hour as opposed to the $135 offered to me for 45 minutes.
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  Brent Halfyard October 18, 2010 at 12:09pm

  Yikes how can I get a gig like that! I do promos for a local TV Station and am looking to expand into more TV work-does your dad own the station or something?
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  David Seys October 18, 2010 at 12:04pm

  The other side of the coin is that there is one well-respected worldwide TV channel I work for every week....and the rate works out at $120,000 per recorded hour. I don't mind doing that!
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  Brent Halfyard October 18, 2010 at 12:01pm

  Agreed Bettye. Better to over quote ( Within reason) and not get the gig than to slave for 2 bucks an hour. We are worth it-you get what you pay for!
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  John Melley October 18, 2010 at 11:57am

  Thank you Gayle and Bravo David Seys!