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Union and non-union voice over jobs are priced by two different mechanisms. One is a published minimum that a producer has already agreed to pay. The other is a negotiation inside a band that working talent recognise but nobody publishes. Knowing which one you are standing in changes what you write in the email. It also changes what happens after you invoice.
What a scale agreement is
A scale agreement is a contract between a union and a producer. The producer signs it, becomes a signatory, and agrees to hire performers on the terms inside it. Those terms cover the session, the use of the recording, the reporting, and the payment schedule. The figures in the agreement are minimums for covered work.
People ask what scale is as though it were a price list. It is not. It is the lowest lawful number for that job under that agreement. Published union scale is a floor, not a ceiling.
Nothing in the agreement stops you being paid more. Talent with a track record, a booked-out calendar, or a producer who wants that specific voice is regularly paid above the minimum; the agreement only sets the point below which the deal cannot go. If the client wants you specifically, the floor is the start of the conversation, not the end of it.
How a union voice over rate is built
A union voice over rate is assembled from parts, and the agreement sets each part rather than a negotiation.
The session fee comes first. It pays for the recording session itself, for a set length of time in the booth. The minimum is the same for every performer booked to the same kind of role under the same agreement.
Use payments come next. Each block of time the recording runs, and each medium it runs in, carries its own payment. When a block ends, the producer pays for the next one or stops running the work. In a long campaign, this is where most of the money comes from.
Benefit contributions sit on top. The producer pays into the union's pension and health funds, calculated from your fee, in addition to what you are paid.
Agent commission, when an agent booked the job at scale, is added above scale rather than taken from it.
None of these parts is a number you invent. Your part is to know which agreement covers the job, so you can check the paperwork the producer sends you.
Who the obligations fall on
The obligations in a scale agreement run to the producer. The producer is the one who signed. The producer owes the session fee, the use payments while the use continues, and the paperwork, all of it inside the deadlines the agreement sets.
Your obligation runs the other way and is much shorter. If you are a member, you work under the agreement, and your membership rules restrict what covered work you can take outside it. That is the trade. You accept a narrower field of work in exchange for a floor, an enforcement mechanism, and someone to call when a payment does not arrive.
This matters when a producer asks you to absorb something. Reporting, late fees, and the cost of the agreement itself are not yours to absorb; they sit on the producer's side of the ledger by contract.
Who pays pension and health on union voice over work
The producer pays them. Pension and health contributions are calculated from your fee and paid on top of it, not taken out of it.
Union work carries contributions to health and retirement funds. These are calculated from your fee and paid by the producer in addition to it. They are not withheld from you; they are not a deduction from your cheque.
So the true cost of hiring you under a scale agreement is higher than the fee on the quote. A producer comparing a union bid against a non-union bid is comparing two different totals. If they tell you the union number is inflated, they are describing their own obligation, not your take.
The contribution is also part of your compensation, even though you never see it as cash; it credits towards eligibility for coverage. A union session is worth more to you than the same fee paid non-union, and the difference does not show up in your bank balance.
Does agent commission come out of your fee
On non-union work, yes. On a union job booked at scale, no: the commission is added above scale, so the minimum reaches you whole.
Agent commission comes out of the negotiated fee. On non-union work that is the fee you quoted; your number needs to account for the commission before you send it. Quoting your target take and then paying commission out of it means you took less than you meant to.
Under a scale agreement the structure is different. Scale is a minimum; commission cannot be taken out of it without dropping the deal below the floor. When a job is booked at bare scale, the commission is added above it, and the minimum reaches you whole. Anything negotiated above the floor is ordinary negotiated money, and commission comes from that in the normal way.
How term rounds in whole cycles
Union use is bought in fixed cycles. The agreement defines a block of time, the producer buys a block, and the recording may run for the length of that block. Partial blocks do not exist. A use that runs a few days past the boundary buys the next whole cycle.
This is why a small extension of a licence can move the fee by a step rather than by a fraction. The producer who wants three extra weeks on a cycle that does not divide that way is buying a whole cycle. Check where the boundary falls before you quote the extension, because the honest answer is often larger than the client expects and easier to defend when you can point at the structure.
Non-union term does not round this way; it is negotiated, so it can be written for any period you both accept. The VO Rate Calculator prices term on both models, and usage and buyouts covers what you are actually selling when you sell a term.
How non-union voiceover rates are set
Non-union work has no published figure behind it. There is no signed agreement, no floor, and nobody to call when payment is late. What exists instead is a band: the range that working talent report for that kind of job, that market, and that term.
A band is a description of the market, not a rule; it moves as the market moves, and two competent performers can sit at different points inside it for the same job. Where you land depends on your experience, the size of the buy, how badly the client needs this voice, and how much you want the work. Only the first of those is settled before the conversation starts.
So the non-union number is a decision and the union number is a lookup. That is the practical difference. The glossary explains the terms both models use, and voiceover rates covers how a fee is built up from the job itself.
Usage
Usage is what the client may do with the recording. On a non-union job you price it yourself, and it is usually the largest part of the fee. Name the media and the use before you quote. Usage and buyouts covers the detail.
Term
Term is how long the client may run the work. Non-union terms are negotiated, so they can be written for any period, but the period must be written.
Media and exclusivity
Media is where the recording runs, and exclusivity is what you agree not to voice meanwhile. Price exclusivity on its own line, because it limits your other work.
Market reach
Reach is the size of the audience, counted by markets and by territory. A national buy reaches more people than a regional one, and the fee should show it.
Session and usage on one invoice
Non-union work often arrives as one fee on one invoice. Split it into a session line and a usage line anyway. Separate lines let you renew the usage later without requoting the session, and they show the client what each part pays for.
Which kinds of voice over work are mostly union
The share of union work varies by category and by country, so treat this as a general picture, not a rule.
Broadcast commercials for national brands, network television and radio, and big-budget animation and video games are where union agreements are most common. Large producers make that work, and many of them are signatories.
Corporate narration, e-learning, explainers, most online content, small local adverts, independent games and much audiobook work are mostly non-union. Many producers of that work have never signed an agreement, and much of it is booked directly between the client and the performer.
Promos, trailers and phone systems sit in between, and depend on who produces them. Ask who the producer is and whether they are a signatory. That answer, not the kind of work, decides which side of the line the job sits on.
Should you join the union?
It depends on what you narrate and where. If most of the work in your categories is signatory, the floor and the contributions are a straight gain. If most of it is not, membership narrows your field before it pays you anything.
Ask yourself three questions. How much of the work you want is signatory work in your market? What would you have to turn down as a member? Can you meet the eligibility rules without taking work that membership would later forbid?
Consider the whole package rather than the fee alone. Contributions, enforcement, and a defined use structure have value that a higher non-union quote does not automatically match. Then weigh what you would have to turn down. This is not legal or membership advice; read the union's own rules, and talk to people working in your categories now.
What Financial Core means
Financial Core is a status some union members in the United States choose. It rests on American labour law, which allows a worker covered by a union contract to pay the part of union fees tied to collective bargaining without holding full membership.
A performer who takes Financial Core status can usually accept both union and non-union work. In exchange, they give up the rights of full membership, which often include voting, standing for office and, under some unions' rules, the right to rejoin later.
It is a contested choice. Some performers see it as a practical way to work across both markets. Many members and agents see it as leaving the union while keeping its benefits, and some producers and casting directors share that view.
The rules and the consequences depend on the union, the state and the contract. This is not legal advice. Read the union's own guidance and talk to a labour lawyer before you decide.
Right-to-work states and union work
In a right-to-work state, a worker cannot be required to join a union or pay union fees as a condition of employment. For performers this matters less than it sounds. A union agreement binds the producer who signed it, wherever the recording happens, and membership rules bind members wherever they live. Whether a job is covered depends on the producer's agreement, not only on the state you record in. Check the union's own guidance for how this applies where you work.
Questions people ask
Does non-union work pay residuals? Usually not. Non-union work is normally paid once for a stated usage. If the client wants to keep running it past the term, that is a renewal, which you quote and invoice like any other usage.
Is there a standard non-union rate? No. There is a band that comparable jobs usually pay, and it moves with the market, the media and the term. Nobody publishes a rate that binds a non-union job.
Can a union member take non-union work? Membership rules usually forbid it for covered work. Check your union's own rules, and read the Financial Core section above before you rely on any exception.
Who pays the agent on a union job? At scale, the commission is added above scale, so you receive the full minimum. Above scale, it comes out of the negotiated fee.
Does union scale cap what I can earn? No. Scale is the lowest lawful fee for covered work. You can always negotiate above it.
Working out your own number
We price both models from public and private industry sources, fine-tuned with input from industry experts. You pick the job, the market, and the term, and the calculator returns a defensible figure with the reasoning attached. It is a calculator, not an agent, and not a contract.
Your first three quotes are free. After that it is $2.99 a month or $28.70 a year. You set your own rates independently.