You've
launched your voice-over business. You
market your demo. You network. You
audition. You get gigs. Now all you have
to do is get paid.
Union or Non-Union?
For AFTRA and/or SAG union talent,
getting paid in a timely fashion is a
benefit of union membership. It's built
into the union contract. Union talents
fill out a form at the session and then
submit it to a paymaster (someone
contracted with the union to handle
talent payroll). The paymaster ensures
that the talent is paid within a time
period specified by the union contract.
Non-union talent and financial core
talent doing non-union work are totally
responsible for collecting what's owed
to them. Financial core, if you aren't
familiar with the term, refers to less
than full union membership. Financial
core union members have paid the portion
of dues and fees dedicated strictly to
collective bargaining, excluding any
activity not directly related to
collective bargaining. You might call it
"union lite." Financial core members do
not have voting rights and cannot hold
elective office in the union, but they
also do not have to abide by union rules
and regulations.
Types of Clients
So, what payment policy should you, the
non-union talent, adopt? Just as the
Internet has changed the voice-over
business by making the home voiceover
studio possible, the Internet has
changed collection by making it possible
to take payment electronically. PayPal
is just one of a number of the online
options that make requesting immediate
payment possible, instead of sending a
paper invoice through the postal system
and then waiting for a paper check to be
sent to you. But before discussing
methods of accepting payment, let's look
at the various types of clients out
there and the payment policy that may
best apply to each one.
Most businesses base their payment
policies on assessment of risk.
Assessing the risk you take with a
client usually is a matter of simple
common sense. If an individual contacts
you through your web site and asks you
to narrate a wedding video or tribute to
a deceased relative, then probably it
would be wise to request payment up
front before delivering the voice over.
If the individual balks at paying up
front, then you can agree to voice the
script, play the voice-over down the
phone line to prove you did it, get
paid, and then deliver the voiceover.
Working with ad agencies and production
houses usually means giving up a little
control of payment terms. You can
request payment up front, but most ad
agencies and production houses expect to
be invoiced. You can put "due on
receipt" on the invoice, but that is
often interpreted as "30 days net."
There are some excellent ad agencies and
production houses out there that pay
promptly, but very often you will have
to wait 30 days or more for payment. Be
aware: many smaller ad agencies and
production houses have adopted a policy
of not paying you until they get paid.
In the ad biz, this means you can wait a
long time for payment.
(On a personal note, after waiting a
year for payment from a small agency for
a VO I'd done for a local electronics
and appliance retailer, I finally
reached an agreement to accept a color
television in lieu of cash. A couple of
months later, the retailer went out of
business, a victim of serious negative
cash flow! Did the ad agency ever get
paid? Good question.)
Doing voice work directly for mid-sized
to large corporations usually means
having to bill on a 30-day net basis.
This means, in essence, that you end up
offering 30 days credit interest-free.
The good thing is the risk of not
getting paid is usually low. Will some
companies push payment out 60 days and
even further? Yes, but again you'll
eventually get paid.
Payment Options
So, let's go through the individual
types of clients and your payment
options.
For individuals, request immediate
payment. As described above, play the
completed voiceover down the phone to
prove it was done and then ask for
payment. Once payment is made, deliver
the voice over.
For direct work with larger companies,
ad agencies, and production houses,
request immediate payment upon receipt
of invoice. If they say their policy is
30 days, try for 15. For long-form
voiceovers involving many pages and a
large talent fee, try requesting 50
percent up front and 50 percent upon
delivery of the project. Remember
everything is negotiable. You can even
barter for part of your fee. Remember
how I received a TV in lieu of cash? Of
course, keep track of your receivables
(what's owed you). When a client does
not pay by the due date, send a
statement. Make a polite but firm phone
call requesting payment. Be proactive.
Most people pay their bills. But for
many clients your invoice will not be
top of the pile, so to speak.
Payment via the 'Net
Now, back to collecting via the 'Net.
PayPal is a very popular site for
collecting or sending payments. Just
visit www.paypal.com and sign up.
Clients can pay by credit card or
through electronic transfer from a
checking account. You'll receive an
email telling you when the transfer of
funds has occurred. This makes it
perfect for collecting an up front
payment. As soon as you receive the
email, you can deliver the voiceover.
www.worldpay.com and www.verisign.com
are two other online payment processors
you can check out, too.
Want to take credit cards? You'll have
to open a merchant account in order to
accept them. It will cost you a fee to
open the account, a monthly fee, a fee
for each transaction, and a percentage
of each sale. Do an online search for
credit card merchant accounts and
compare costs and services to get the
best deal.
Direct wire transfer is a third
electronic payment option. Set up a
checking account used exclusively for
wire transfers. You supply the client
with your checking account number and
the banks routing number, and the client
transfers funds directly from his
account to yours. It works well and can
cost virtually nothing depending on the
deal on the account you get from your
bank. One of my TV imaging clients pays
by wire transfer. I email an invoice out
of my QuickBooks and usually the next
day the money is in my account!
With a payment policy in place, you'll
gain greater control over how and when
you get paid. Hey, it might be a really
fun business, but it's no fun not
getting paid.
Happy collecting!
©Peter
Drew
Peter
Drew, a freelance voice-over talent and
copywriter/producer with decades of
experience, is heard on radio and
television stations, corporate
presentations, web sites, and
messages-on-hold across America and
countries around the world. To send an
email regarding this article, please
visit Peter Drew Voiceovers at
http://www.peterdrewvo.com/
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