Rate Charging

[DanG]

Hi everyone, I have a question on rate charging. Today I exchanged business cards with the Commercial Production Manager for ABC 15 T.V. here in Phoenix, Arizona which I am assuming is considered a large market city? am I right on that one? Anyways I did not get to talk to here very long at all since I was so busy at work but she wanted to know my rates. I guess I would like some info on Commercial T.V. Promos and Imaging in the Phoenix market that is fair enough to get me that job. Any ideas and feedback will help a lot since I need to contact her right away.

[bigbry]

Here's a ball park for you...
Radio: Local / Regional
:15 100
:30 150
:60 200
Radio: National
:15 250
:30 300
:60 400
Television: Local / Regional
:15 200
:30 300
:60 400
Television: National
:15 300
:30 400
:60 500

[ScottLarson]

Phoenix is market number 15 in the radio industry, I'm not sure how television market rates itself. I can't answer the monetary end of the question, but I'm sure there's someone in here that can. Hope you get the gig, it would be very lucrative.
Best of Luck
Scott Larson

[JoeActor]

My 2 cents: I've always charged more for the LA/NYC/Chicago markets, and left the rest at the regular rates. Mine are just a scoche higher than BigBry's...

Joe J Thomas
Joe J. Thomas Acting Portfolio

[JulieRei]

Thank you guys so much for the info!

I just had my first experience earlier today with a client asking me specifically for my rates and it caught me by total surprise.

[Jon Morss]

One place to start is with the AFTRA site. This could give you some sort of base line.
AFTRA

Also, check with Grant Holmes who has his own thread in the forum. Is seems to be in your area and should have a good idea with regards to rates.
Grant Holmes, Voice Over Artist

Jon

[billelder]

Most of my stations pay a flat rate per month for stagers and ID's. Some of them only use me as another voice for the occasional tag, promo or commercial. At that point it's a different deal altogether because I'm not giving market exclusivity.

A brief search of the web shows this non-union rate sheet (or the pdf here) from Voices.com that may help as a template. But, you have to use your good sense to judge whether those rates will price you out of your market.

[Julie Williams]

I can go along with the local commercial rates posted, but on national... needs to be at least $2000 for non union national spot!

Remember, as non union talent... airtimes are not tracked for residuals. So you are basically giving them a buyout. If you do a national for a product... and they have a buyout, you can never ever ever ever do a spot for that type of product again.

Don't give that away for $100!

My rates are typically based on AFTRA rates.

[dnegrey]

Good advice, Julie - thank you!

[avitoots]

Originally Posted by Julie Williams

I can go along with the local commercial rates posted, but on national... needs to be at least $2000 for non union national spot!

Remember, as non union talent... airtimes are not tracked for residuals. So you are basically giving them a buyout. If you do a national for a product... and they have a buyout, you can never ever ever ever do a spot for that type of product again.

Don't give that away for $100!

My rates are typically based on AFTRA rates.

I have to respectfully disagree with Julie regarding the non-union buyout. I have done non-union on-camera work and what I always require is a limited buy-out. If you have a limited buy-out then the client can only use the spot for the specified timeframe so you avoid the conflict issue. If they want to use it beyond that timeframe, they have to negotiate a new fee with you. If they run it without your knowledge after the contracted period, they are in breach of contract and have, in effect, stolen your services. I have actually turned down auditions through one of my agents because the client wasn't offering a limited buy-out.

There is a floor covering company that didn't do the unlimited buyout and, although the guys did a lot of spots so probably made some decent money, they ran for what seemed to be forever. Someone must have finally said something because they stopped running the old ads. Also, there's a guy here in Chicago who did some voiceover early in his career for a local junk yard. He has since become a staff member of one of the major stations. Within the last few years I noticed that when the spot runs on the station where he is a staff member they use the version with his voice. When the spot runs on other stations, they re-voiced the demo. Not sure what they did to make them re-do the VO on the spot, but they managed to make the client re-do the spot.

Arlene