Increasingly the amount of jobs posted for less than industry standard rates for voice over are appearing. Mandy is not in the appalling league of Fiverr.com , it is a respected and necessary casting tool. However, gernerally speaking, unless it is for a small local uk radio station, no voice actor should be setting foot in their studio for less than £150 minimum. Perhaps a mixture of employers being cheeky and employers not actually knowing what they should be paying, so why not give them a guideline if they are really that unsure?!
For example, if you would like an web explainer video, the BSF is £200-300 + online usage
This is a UK INDUSTRY STANDARD RATE
I understand that Equity is of no help to us voice actors and that Mandy cannot directly copy other rates cards online, so why not just create their own?
Then there will be no excuse for jobs to be posted AND ACCEPTED for £70.
Absolutely agree Karis. Mandy whilst not in the league of the exploitative sites needs to raise its game.
In particular there seem to be a lot of jobs for specific nationalities which are priced way under industry rates. These seem incredibly exploitative and verging on discriminating on terms of nationality/race. Wheb employers are looking for someone who speaks Mandarin for example those jobs should be ABOVE industry rates as they are looking for someone with a very specific skill set.
The problem is market forces. As long as there are people willing to do the same work for less, the industry will advertise for less. This is why sites like Fiverr are a serious PITA but, sadly, are an inevitability in the evolution of our industry; market forces are king.
Demand v Supply: Now that every 'Tom, Dick & Harry' can set up a home studio, the supply has ballooned. This is why prices are falling.
What we need to do is to ensure we differentiate by quality. I'm on Fiverr - but advertise at industry rates which means I get very little work on there. (I take pride in one potential client telling me I was 'by far the most expensive quote I received from anyone else on here").
However, several jobs I have won on Fiverr, for example, were re-doing a cheap VO's mess. Client's need to be educated that you 'pay peanuts you get monkeys'. If they want a professional, they need to pay professional rates.
Mandy have been offered the opportunity to integrate the API for the Gravy for the Brain rate card into their site on several occasions, it is not that they cannot post or create a rate card it is that they do not want too.
I’ve noticed an increasing amount of better paid jobs on Mandy recently, so hopefully that’s an upward trend.
The ‘comment’ feature on jobs enables gentle feedback to clients re rates. I can only imagine that if they keep receiving nudges from us highlighting what a reasonable fee would be for that job (and how it’s broken down with BSF + usage); they will reflect on it.
I personally think there should be a minimum before posting a job, eg £200. There are very few companies that wouldn’t have this in their budget, it’s just about apportioning spend. Until some clients know they can’t get a voice over for 75 quid, we won’t see big shifts.
While there isn’t a union rate card yet for most of the work we do, the Gravy for the Brain one which Ben mentions is very helpful and I’ve pointed hirers to it on several occasions. If Mandy would please further consider integrating it, that would be a huge step in the right direction in my opinion.
This is a brilliant thread. Gentle nudges via comments is top. I didn't know about Gravy for the brain. So will check it out :-) one issue re rates in vo is that until you get a voice agent or booking, it's hard to know what they are. More transparency to everyone would be useful.
I completely agree. If we on every possible occasion "nudge" with a standardised note that the rate is unacceptable for expected work, perhaps this will urge Mandy to not even list a Job that does not meed "guide lines" as set out. Perhaps a flat minimum needs to be agreed upon because as long as anyone accepts the jobs without these reflags being raised, we will continue to see them more and more!
I wouldn't knock Fiverr fellow Voice Over professionals: at least there the artist can set their own prices- so nothing appalling if you say $50 for 50 words pro rata upwards. What I really object to about Mandy and I will not re-join once my subscription is set for renewal is that it simply pitches one vague job into the forum and if one is interested one can send in a audio tape of their audition script, when we all have a host of clips already on our profile . It is ridiculous to ask potentially 1500 people to send in audition tapes. The casting team will spend no more than 10 seconds on a fraction of these before they choose someone. As a result one can send in hundreds of audition tapes and get nowhere. On the unjustly much derided Fiverr, they do the hard work for us and hone down the relevant criteria for the client who then approaches us with their proposal for work. As an example last weekend I got 6 individual jobs on Fiverr, admittedly averaging only just over 100 dollars each, but work nonetheless, and in a year I have never got a single job from my premium membership of Mandy! The system here is unfit for purpose.
Sadly, I fear that the simple truth is that if these companies were happy to pay industry rates, they will approach Voice Agents. They don't want to pay those rates. That is why they come to Mandy.
3 years ago
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