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Glenn Moore
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Joined: 24 Jan 2005
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 Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:31 pm Post subject: Industrial Narration rates |
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This topic may be rehashed but Im doing a fairly good-sized industrial narration tomorrow for a pretty big client and I think I may have low-balled my rate by about $100. I'll learn next time I guess.
But my question.....what/how do you charge for narration?
BY the page? BY the word count? BY the number of pages? BY the thickness of the pages? BY time? WHAT?
Input will be helpful as I decide future rates for projects like this. Thanks!
Glenn |
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mcm
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bobsouer
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:46 am Post subject: Re: Industrial Narration rates |
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| Glenn Moore wrote: | But my question.....what/how do you charge for narration?
BY the page? BY the word count? BY the number of pages? BY the thickness of the pages? BY time? WHAT? |
Glenn,
Mary has given you a link to a recent thread that addresses your question from a page or word count point of view and I think that's often a very good way to approach the question.
However, I usually quote based on recording time rather than page or word counts; especially if I'm just narrating and not editing anything. Under most circumstances my rates are $350 for the first hour for non-broadcast projects that are used in house and $450 for projects to be used for outside marketing. Subsequent hours are $200 each, billed in half hour increments. Few sessions that I do run past even a fraction of the first hour.
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Bruce
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:05 am Post subject: |
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Someone I know charges $15 to $25 per minute depending on the complexity of the piece and the deepness of client pockets, and has a $100 to $200 minimum for short pieces. He gets a minute count by dividing the word count of the piece by 150 to 160 words per minute. It takes this talent about an hour to record and edit a 20 minute narration so his hourly rate for longer narrations can run $300 to $500 per hour.
Some discounting might be used for ginormous projects or regular assignments.
B
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Diane Maggipinto
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:49 am Post subject: |
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There's also the finished minute rate, whence all is edited and your part is X minutes, for which you're paid X amount. I've been paid fom $40 per finished minute to a hunski per finished minute. This is not edit time, just finished product. The broadcast/in-house/out-of-house parameters are something to consider, also (she said to herself).
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Glenn Moore
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:04 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for he info everyone. I think I may stick with "per page" rather than counting words. I do try to get the script before I give a price though. This time I only gave an estimate.
Glenn |
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Bill
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:08 am Post subject: |
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I've done it on a per finished minute basis. Interesting to read how others do it, and then try to do the calculus to see if I'm in the ballpark.  |
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jasbart
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Bruce wrote: | | It takes this talent about an hour to record and edit a 20 minute narration so his hourly rate for longer narrations can run $300 to $500 per hour. |
I've thought about what you said regarding your friend who can voice and edit a 20 minute narration in an hour. It just doesn't seem possible to work that fast. I'm certainly not the fastest narrator on the block, but I've been doing this sort of thing for a really long time, and I would probably need at least 2 hours for just the reading, then at least another hour to edit it down to a finished product. Mind you when it leaves my place, it's done. The guy at the post house only has to move sentances/paragraphs around to match the video.
I'm also a little dubious of the Commercial Voices rate card (supposedly comparable to Union scale):
Up to 10 minutes $350.
Up to 20 minutes $550.
Up to 30 minutes $750.
Up to 90 minutes $900.
These rates may be the Commercial Voices scale, but they aren't close to union scale.
Jim |
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Bruce
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I've thought about what you said regarding your friend who can voice and edit a 20 minute narration in an hour. It just doesn't seem possible to work that fast. I'm certainly not the fastest narrator on the block, but I've been doing this sort of thing for a really long time, and I would probably need at least 2 hours for just the reading, then at least another hour to edit it down... |
120 minutes to record 20 minutes worth of material? I really don't mean to be mean, but I know a lot of producer/directors who would tear their hair out after about 5 minutes of studio time at that pace. Doesn't that get boring, reading the same material for the equivalent of 5 or more times over?
Admittedly this talent I know is maybe a bit faster than average, but he can cold read a 20 minute script in about 30 minutes (he used to be in radio so he's used to scanning ahead while he's reading). Then he can edit that down in about 30 minutes because he's gotten used to "reading" the graphic images in his editor and since he just recorded the material he can usually remember where he fluffed a line two, three, (or even four arrrgh) times in a row so he can cut out the stuff he doesn't need in an instant.
Note: scripts with prescription drug names don't count because even medical people can't agree on how to pronounce all those made up names.
The point of this thread isn't really about how fast you are, especially if the client isn't listening in. It's about knowing how fast you are and deciding how much you want to be paid per hour for your time, and coming up with a formula that gets you the pay you want almost every time. Three times length of material works for some, 9 times length works for you, and most people are in between somewhere.
B
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Deirdre
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | 120 minutes to record 20 minutes worth of material? I really don't mean to be mean, but I know a lot of producer/directors who would tear their hair out after about 5 minutes of studio time at that pace. Doesn't that get boring, reading the same material for the equivalent of 5 or more times over? |
I don't think it's "5 times over"
Nobody I know reads straight through.
Think of it like this:
A page is about a minute to a minute-and-a half of read-aloud text.
Normal rate in session is 11 pages an hour. Seriously.
20 minutes. would be about an hour and a half to 2 hours of session time.
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Rick Gordon
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Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | I'm also a little dubious of the Commercial Voices rate card (supposedly comparable to Union scale):
Up to 10 minutes $350.
Up to 20 minutes $550.
Up to 30 minutes $750.
Up to 90 minutes $900.
These rates may be the Commercial Voices scale, but they aren't close to union scale. |
Jim,
These rates are for corporate narration not including Studio or Production time. How far off are these rates according to your info?
Cheers,
Rick
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jasbart
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Joined: 26 Sep 2006
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Location: Gilbertsville, KY
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| Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:54 am Post subject: |
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| Deirdre wrote: | I don't think it's "5 times over"
Nobody I know reads straight through.
Think of it like this:
A page is about a minute to a minute-and-a half of read-aloud text.
Normal rate in session is 11 pages an hour. Seriously.
20 minutes. would be about an hour and a half to 2 hours of session time. |
I just pulled out a typical biotech script from my archives. One page, written in a 12 point font with typical margins and paragraphs, contains 407 words.
Even at a 150 word/minute clip (which is fast for technical narration) the length of this page of script would be 2.5 minutes.
Charging by the page is a mistake. Figure out a ballpark length using word count, and charge by what you figure is the finished length of the narration.
Jim |
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Deirdre
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| Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:18 am Post subject: |
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That must be a single-spaced page!
Page count is a ballpark estimate, so be sure.
I can see that word count will be more accurate, but in the case of the stuff that includes frame and file numbers that need to be discounted, it would take as much wrangling to get a correct word count as it would to block a page.
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jasbart
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| Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| Rick Gordon wrote: | | Quote: | I'm also a little dubious of the Commercial Voices rate card (supposedly comparable to Union scale):
Up to 10 minutes $350.
Up to 20 minutes $550.
Up to 30 minutes $750.
Up to 90 minutes $900.
These rates may be the Commercial Voices scale, but they aren't close to union scale. |
Jim,
These rates are for corporate narration not including Studio or Production time. How far off are these rates according to your info?
Cheers,
Rick |
One of the things that always bugged me about the AFTRA non-broadcast rate scale is that is was based on the length of the session rather than on the length of the narration. Thus a narrator who can get into the studio, read the script with few mistakes and get out...is actually penalized for his/her efficiency.
In the example Glenn gives, a narrator could finish a 20 minute script in 30 minutes, and according to AFTRA only bill for an hour session time. I on the other hand (using AFTRA scale) would bill $360 for the first hour, then $105 for each additional half hour. Depending on the content, that script could take around two hours = $570.
Here's the AFTRA non-broadcast rate:
NARRATION (FIRST HOUR SPENT IN YOUR RECORDING SESSION) (CAT.2 $400.50) $360.00
NARRATION (EACH ADDITIONAL HALF HOUR INCREMENT OF SESSION) $105.00
Rick: the quote that I found out of line is the one for a 90 minute narration. According to your scale you're giving the last hour of narration for $150 over the 30 minute charge.
Jim |
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jasbart
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Posts: 293
Location: Gilbertsville, KY
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| Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:28 am Post subject: |
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| Deirdre wrote: | That must be a single-spaced page!
Page count is a ballpark estimate, so be sure.
I can see that word count will be more accurate, but in the case of the stuff that includes frame and file numbers that need to be discounted, it would take as much wrangling to get a correct word count as it would to block a page. |
What do you mean by "block a page"?
Jim |
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