Union and non‑union voiceover 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.
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.
Benefit contributions sit on top of the fee
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.
Where agent commission comes from
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 calculator prices term on both models, and usage and buyouts covers what you are actually selling when you sell a term.
How non‑union work differs
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.
Is union work worth it?
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.
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.
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.