VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

JackB · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:07 pm Post subject: My First Shot at Naming My Rate

Theoretical scenario:

I'm a young aspiring VO talent with no experience and nothing but a Macbook and Blu Snowball USB mic who's itching to do a low-profile gig of some sort.

I find an ad on Craigslist posted by a media company seeking a freelance VO guy for some short scripts.

The ad doesn't mention the name of the company, names/number of clients, size of target market or anything like that.

I start looking up non-union rates on the interwebz and come up with a very general idea of what to ask for.

I'm young dumb and full of...ahem ANYWAY, I really want to send my demo and suggest $75 per every 30 seconds of completed audio "as a general idea." and state that this will fluctuate depending on usage details and the size of their market.

Sound like a good first attempt at negotiating, or a career killer?

My head is spinning and I'm beginning to like it. Thanks in advance for your comments/suggestions/advice/donuts.
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- Jack

Yonie · CM Joined: 31 Aug 2011 Posts: 906

You'll get responses that vary wildly, but I wonder where you've dug up the 75$ per 30 seconds. Is that 30 seconds produced, or 30 seconds recorded? That quote sounds like a radio spot for a small local market.

You can do a forum search for, "Rates." There are many, many threads on this subject.

Philip Banks · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 3:08 am Post subject:

Start as you mean to go on and that means do not work for "Credits/experience", work like a pro.

If you have seen the scripts you should know roughly how long they will take you.

1 - Find local studio and ask the rates and get a cost for the time you need, including editing.

2 - Add to the above the cost how much you will spend getting you from your home to the studio and back.

3 - Add to both bits how much you want to earn.

The total of all the above is the price for the job.

To be taken seriously as a pro one has to start somewhere and that somewhere is DAY 1 - Job 1.

Hope that helps.

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 7:22 am Post subject:

it can't hurt to first ask what is their (the client's) budget ...
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DougVox · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:59 am Post subject:

+1 to what's been said above, especially to "To be taken seriously as a pro one has to start somewhere and that somewhere is DAY 1 - Job 1."

But wow...the scenario you describe is oddly specific for a "theoretical" one.
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