VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[COURVO]

'Came across THE most complicated word-count formula EVER in answering an audition the other day from Voices.

See it HERE

The client wanted a quote in base cost per word PLUS the discount factor. If you play around with the variables, you get different values...none of which are very encouraging.

Didn't see this in our archives anywhere, thought maybe some would find it interesting.


Courvo
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Dave Courvoisier - Las Vegas, NV
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"I'm not a news anchor, but I play one on TV."

[Rick Gordon]

I hear you Dave.

Word Count is a wonderful tool that is surprisingly accurate but it is used only to calculate the time it takes to record, edit and produce. Using their method a 2000 word project at .13 per word would pay $254. At 160 wpm (words per minute which is normal) the completed project would be 2000/160=12.5 mins in length.

You would triple that time to edit and produce.....and that's if you are really good....at all the steps.

The fee they suggest is hardly close. Keeping in mind normal rates, a project like that should be worth a minimum of $400 not including studio and production. In other words that is the "talent" fee.

Here are normal corporate narration rates which will stand up to any Union (and this is scale) and really just makes good common sense.

Print this, post it, consider living by it.

Up to 10 minutes $350.
Up to 20 minutes $550.
Up to 30 minutes $750.
Up to 90 minutes $900.

+ Studio + Production

Here is something else you may want to save.

Word Count divided by 160 wpm = final production length in minutes.

Studio and production fees vary widly and then you have to consider the client. One time? Long term? Extremely high profile? You may want to include studio and production fees or reduce them. Thoughts?

At CV we constantly use this method of calculating projects. It is 100% acceptable and they come back for more. As a matter of fact we educate our clients on using this formula. Then they know what we know so we know they know and that knowingly they will not be surprised cause we all know what we know and if everybody knows what is going on...they will all come to the party Know what I mean?

Cheers,
Rick
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[Deirdre]

People will argue with me about it, but another method of caluclation is per page.

It about equals what Rick has here.
12-point Times Type, double spaced, standard 1-inch margins.
Normal reading aloud is about 11 pages per hour.

For edited, ready-to-roll dry voice :
Sliding scale depending on the client.
Top dollar could be:
$150 per page for the first 3
$120 for the next 3
$ 90 for the rest.

It works out to about $100 per page on long-form stuff, but for shorter stuff you're not slicing your own throat by taking a smaller job.

Rick's per-word calculation saves you time in that word counts don't require you to re-block a script. Sometimes the per-page method is a good way to get a ballpark figure.

Rick also said in an ealier post:

[bobsouer]

Rick and Deirdre,

These are very helpful posts. Thank you!
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Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
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[Diane Maggipinto]

[Joniv]

I've just been asked to quote for an audio book which is 57,500 words. Using the .10 per word method I'd be quoting them $5,750.

I figure that would be about 400 pages, so if I use the $100/per page method, I'd be quoting $4,000.

This is the longest job I've ever had to quote. Do either of these scenarios seem right?
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Joni Lambert
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[bobsouer]

[Bruce]

57,500 words. That works out to be 6 hours of finished material in my book and maybe a total of 24 hours of work to create the finished product. $5,750. That works out to about $240 an hour for your time. Hmmm. Might be a bit high, but Bob's figure of $1,500 (6hrs x $250/finished hour) sounds a bit low to me at $62 an hour for the full project. I hope this helps.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[bobsouer]

[Joniv]

Thanks, Bruce. That's what I figured and that's exactly what I did.

Thanks!
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Joni Lambert
www.jonilambert.com