How to Hire a Voice Over
Create a Realistic Budget
Now that you have developed a profile of what you are seeking in a voice actor and what services you require it is time to think about cost. Quite often smaller companies have no idea what to spend on a professional voice over and information on the internet can be overwhelming and too vaguely broad. Most voice over talent will provide rate sheets for clients if you contact them. If you are working with a talent agency or advertising house they can help you generate a budget as well.
Create a realistic budget and let potential talent know what you are able to spend up front: “How you approach the talent has a great effect on your ability to get the voice you want for your project,” says DB Cooper, an American female voice talent based in Maine. “When a potential client comes calling, they are either looking for ‘a voice’ or they are looking for ME. If you start by asking me what I’d charge to do a job, you aren’t really talking about me; you’re just prospecting for a deal. I’ll tell you what my minimum session fee is, and it either fits your budget or it doesn’t.” It is also possible the voice actor you really want is willing to accommodate you. “If you call asking for me specifically for your job, you may find I’m willing to work within your budget,” says Cooper.
No one likes to pay more than necessary for any service but be honest in your assessment. Voice over rates are all over the map and so is the level of talent available. If your budget is at or above the industry average you will find a large pool of talented voice artists to choose from. If you have a modest budget you can still find talent, perhaps less experienced, willing to work with you.
Tags: actor, audition, Bob Souer, Brian Hart, Brian Mishkin, Caryn Clark, casting, DB Cooper, hire, professional, Stephanie Ciccarelli, talent, Todd Ellis, VO, voice, voiceover
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 2:20 pm and is filed under General, Voice Over. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:00 am
How to hire a professional voice | Voices Of Advertising says:[...] friend Brian Hart has prepared a superb article covering all the bases of hiring professional voice talent for your project. If you’d rather, you can download his article as a [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Brian, thank you for this terrific reference. It answers all the important questions and makes the process of finding us and hiring us very doable.
I am sure I will be quoting you and sending this forward.
Jane Ingalls
February 19th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Jane, thank you very much for taking the time to read it and to post a comment.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
uberVU - social comments says:Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by DavidHoustonVO: RT @HartVoiceOvers How To Hire a Voice Over article is live. A must read if you have never cast VO talent… http://bit.ly/bEcxWw...
March 10th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
This was a great read even for a beginner who is looking to get into the industry on how the atual working-recording, marketing, getting hired, getting paid-works. Thanks for taking the time to write this comprehensive piece Mr. Hart!
March 10th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
uh wordpress thinks i’m spam. i didn’t even figure the comments or this site was built on wp, but now that i look around i can see the anti spam WP protection. seems like they got their back end secured. anyways i came over from the vo-bb where this piece was linked and i read through all 7 pages and felt like i had learned a lot just by taking the time to focus and read through your words of advice. thanks! i will be following the site
March 10th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Lae, thank you very much for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you found the article helpful. Let me know if there’s every anything I can do for you.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
My Blog Title says:Another Title…
I wish more folks would use professional VOs….
February 9th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Hi Brian!
This should be mandatory reading for all those looking to hire a voice over talent.
Kudos for this awesome post!!!
February 11th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Morgan, thanks very much for taking the time to read it.
February 23rd, 2011 at 2:50 am
This is indeed the best article I’ve ever read on voice over hiring. It will save me lots of time and money. Thanks Brian!