How far will YOU bend over?
Written by Johnny George Thursday, 03 June 2010 16:41
I just had to write this in my blog for one good reason. I was stupified! Grrrrrrrrr.... That is a word, right?
I was checking out the available auditions on Voices.com when I ran across a budgeted narrative for 100.00. Now, if you know the SurePay system of Voices.com, you know that they keep a portion of that 100.00 for themselves. Ok. That will leave the talent 90.91 for their efforts.
Ok...so why am so dismayed? Well, I usually will not bother with the 100.00 jobs if my plate is full from my regular load. Well, I had a minute to peruse the info and check out the script they wanted the voice talents to audition for. When I opened the script, it wasn't a few paragraphs or a page for a hundred bucks....it was a 3,125 word narrative. Three-thousand and twenty-five words...for 90.91??? Are you serious? O-M-G! For you faint-at-heart mathematicians - that is almost 20 minutes of copy to be recorded, edited, converted and uploaded for 90.91 and even less if you were to be paid by PayPal which would take another 2.94 out of that!
For an average 3125 word narrative project, my rates, which are competitive, would span from a low of 20.00/min. to a high of 75.00/min. which translates to a low of 390.62 to a high of 1464.85. And this joker was lucky enough to get 20 people to respond and then one of those respondents will cut this lovely script and only be paid enough to possibly fill up their gas tank twice. (Your mileage may vary)
Who ARE these unscrupplus idiots who devalue our efforts and offer such a ridiculous rate or better yet - who are these morons willing to do it for that price? As long as there are bottom-feeders on both sides of the voice business - these rates will exist. And it's so sad to think that some feel that this is an appropriate fee to pay or that it's an acceptable rate to receive for that amount of work.
I don't care if you are brand new to the biz...figure it out or ask questions or challenge things like this to see if it's competitive. Don't settle for a low-ball figure or you'll be looking up to everyone for the rest of your young career. Set a standard. Or follow the advice of some of the pro's who are always available to offer their help on about every forum out there.
And you, Mr. & Mrs. Thrifty - please ask around and find out what a good rate should be for your project. The Internet is full of information today and there's just no good excuse for ANYONE not being able to make a judgement call on something that effects so many peoples wallets. This effects us all. Novice or pro. Clients who hire cheap labor are just like the scabs that do it out there in other industries like, clothing, construction, farming, etc... Look on the Voices.com Rates page if you don't know what to charge or receive. OMG! This should bother EVERYONE, because it touches all of us.
(Climbing down off my soapbox)
Ahhhhh...I feel better now.
Now I understand where your rant came from. However, you too are missing the point.
First, we're not talking about union rates, we're talking about FAIR rates for any and all voice talents. I'm not even charging for my expensive studio costs. Just a base rate for performed work. There is no union discussion here. If I were just starting out in the biz and I got the opportunity to record this particular script, even I would question if I wanted to get into this business for that ridiculous rate. This client has no idea what the value of a voice talents time is worth and they are showing it blatantly by asking someone to do this for a fixed rate of 100.00. Most of these jobs listed have a span of 100-250 / 250-500 / 500-650 / 750-1000 / etc... This client didn't even offer to have the talent quote between a range. They said they are paying 100.00 and no more. That is flatly UNFAIR and has nothing to do with union rates, retirement, health, etc.
The point I was making was for fairness. Not union-ness. There is a code of ethics in our VO community and we help each other. The unions have messed up our country in many industries and do not carry the respect they once had. The unions broke my father's business and closed it after 3 generations of fair treatment and wages, etc. for his employees. But that's another story for another time.
I play the "game" fairly and respectfully with my competitive rates. So do the majority of my brethren. I've paid my dues over the past 35+ years and worked for low rates many years ago - but they were at least reasonable.
Would YOU work for those rates?
BTW...I still love ya too.
The client is not the scab - you are. It's the clients responsibility as a business to keep their costs as low as possible. Economics 101, supply and demand. The only thing that will keep rates fair is if the supply for the demand(in this case vo talent) agrees to a minimum price and never undercuts it. For 75 years, hundreds of VO talent have worked together to set those minimum rates. It's called "scale" plus 40%. The 40% includes health and retirement benefits and the paymaster's fee for doing all the paperwork. You can ALWAYS charge more than scale+40%, but if you charge less, you're doing exactly what you're screaming to others not to do.
Don't know what scale+40% is for a particular job? Call Kim at 513.579.8668. Or contact me, I'll tell you the minimum.
I do think the world of you JG, but if you want things to change, you need to look in the mirror and start there.