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
