Asking the Right Questions to set Voice Over Budgets
When hiring a voice over talent and fixing your budget for your project, current and accurate Voice Over Rate Guides help you to hire voice over talent and fix your budget. There are many variables to consider to come to the correct figures. Especially relevant are these questions:
- Union or Non-Union talent?
- What size of market? Which domestic or international markets?
- Duration of use?
- Which media? Web Usage is not inexpensive anymore, and is now more in line with conventional commercial broadcast.
Union Voice Over
First, let’s look at the current rates for Union Voice Over Talent. Here is the link to the SAG-AFTRA Corporate/Educational and Non-Broadcast Voice Over Rates. Even as a non-union voice talent in a ‘Right to Work’ state, I use these standards as an important reference. There are lots of things to consider when looking at Union rates. There is a weighted ranking of US cities for Wild Spots, for example. If your commercial is digital only and below a certain budget, you can charge lower rates. Wrapbook has a good explanation of the SAG/AFTRA rates here.
Non-Union Voice Over
If you have selected a non-union voice over talent, The Global Voice Over Academy (GVAA) has an excellent rate guide for Non-Union voice over work. As well as detailing non-union and union rates for radio, television, corporate, and E-Learning voice overs, it features a breakdown for rates by US markets. Most noteworthy is the newest addition to the rates: the overview of Digital Broadcast and/or Web Usage. This is crucial as ‘internet only’ isn’t an excuse anymore for low budgets. Furthermore, the internet is now just as important as television or radio and in many cases has greater reach and impact. The GVAA guide Web Usage covers:
- Commercial Web-Only: Paid Placement, Pre-Roll
- Social Media Usage
- Non-Commercial Informational Web Videos
- Internet Streaming Radio
- Internet Closed Platform Radio
- Digital Greeting Cards
- Podcast Intro/Outro
The National Association of Voice Actors also encourages use of the GVAA rates for non-union voice actors, and the SAG-AFTRA rates for union actors. Additionally, they have helpful contract templates for broadcast and non-broadcast voiceovers at their Rates Page.
International Voice Over Rate Guides
Gravy for the Brain put out a comprehensive voice over rate guide for all types of media for the UK market and several international markets. It’s an essential resource for figuring out international voice over rates. Need a handy drop down calculator for a 30″ Regional TV Spot in Brazil? This guide has you covered! Plus, it will give you the Low, Medium, and High range for rates.
Additionally, French voix-off talent Thomas Dormoy discusses various rates in France in his blog here. I find that his rates are the same as my experiences with working for French clients.
One of the better European markets for requiring American English voice overs is Poland. As a result I’ve had the pleasure of working for many producers and talent rosters there, and the rate guide at Mikrofonika is thorough and well-presented. Hence, it gives a good benchmark also for Eastern European markets. And they have great creative projects too, like the one below where I play Leon the Cat!
Remember, just as no voice over talent is one-size-fits-all, rates will vary depending on the market, usage, and experience level of the talent. However, it is great that for both producers and talents alike that SAG/AFTRA and the GVAA have put together such comprehensive voice over rate guides. Most importantly, they both have addressed the prevalence of Web Usage/Digital Broadcast and how it should be paid for accordingly.
Finally, if any of you have access to rate guides in various international markets, please write to me. I’ll add them to this post and be sure to credit you. Thank you!
All the best,
Lance