0099: Use Union Rates To Help Maintain Your Dignity

Raw transcript:

I recently did a podcast episode on
making sure that you keep straight
the difference between how you price
something and what the value of that
voice over or acting service is and I
received a very heartfelt
and
vulnerable comment from one of my view
Heroes Pro members about this very
subject and I want to address how it can
affect us emotionally we’ll do that in
this episode of the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
so the comment I got from Bruce was one
of the greatest challenges I have when
beginning a new venture or dusting off a
skill I haven’t used for a very long
time is feeling worthy of charging the
same or even close to the people who I
perceive to be more experienced
established Etc than me this episode and
I think he’s talking about the episode
uh where I talked about price versus
value is also perfectly timed as I’m
just about to submit my first audition
for an audiobook so are there any
caveats to the perceived value
philosophy when you have absolutely no
track record
and not a single thing on your audiobook
resume while I wasn’t going to price
myself cheaply I did consider that
getting the chance to do my first one is
a significant value to me
so pricing myself below the SAG after
minimum for just this one didn’t bother
me but now I find myself mulling that
over I’d love to get feedback on that
well a couple things uh pop up when you
unpack this first of all there’s the
concept of multiple currencies
certainly money is a currency that we
can engage in when asking to be paid for
our services and another currency is
experience
uh yet another currency is exposure
um when you’re first doing projects in
voice over or acting you may find that
just getting the experience of getting
on set or getting into a studio and just
getting your hands dirty getting your
opportunity to flex your acting muscles
or your narration muscles your voice
over muscles and making mistakes on a
smaller stage with uh less risk to your
future career might be as or more
valuable than getting paid a certain
amount of money for it so there’s that
but in general I think dignity plays a
role here
dignity and not looking at this as a
competition or a race with other people
I’m sure there are plenty of people who
have gotten paid more money earlier in
their Journey than some actors make for
doing on camera or voice over projects
later in their Journey with more
experience and even more uh public
awareness of of their abilities and you
know exposure
so I don’t think there’s a direct
correlation between where you are in
your journey and where other people are
in their Journey uh a-listers get paid
different money all the time b-listers
c-listers d-listers if those things
actually exist
you know they too get paid very
different amounts of money
um based on the project that they’re
doing so my advice to you is simply make
a statement for yourself
I’m not in a race with other actors or
voice Talent I’m not in a
uh comparison Journey they’ve got more
than I do I’ve got more than they do I’m
ahead they’re behind I’m behind they’re
ahead don’t look at it as a competition
or a comparison to what others are doing
in the business because there are so
many different variables that can affect
your rate that it really starts to
become a little bit confusing to try and
do that and second
I want you to enjoy a position of
dignity
I want you to enjoy a position of
feeling Worthy
and that in many ways is simply making
the direct decision to give yourself
permission
to feel worthy of what you’re doing
now for some people that’s very very
difficult it really is there’s no proof
that they have that they’ve made it and
guess what here’s the Dirty Little
Secret sometimes for people like that
there will never be enough proof that
they’ve made it they will constantly
second guess where they are and suffer
from imposter syndrome so many of the
things that I’ve talked about on this
podcast are wrapped up in this comment
so I want to thank you Bruce for making
it but my advice to you my feedback to
you on this as you asked for
use union rates
to maintain your dignity
and feeling of worth
let me repeat that for you use union
rates
to maintain your dignity and feeling of
worth they give you a floor that if you
insist on putting yourself in a
competition or comparison or just
aligning yourself with what others are
doing and being aware of it and looking
over your shoulder and going where am I
the union has set minimums floors going
below that to me for a professional
actor or or voice Talent is an exception
rather than a rule I’ll do it for a
friend I’ll do it for free for a student
sometimes you know I still do uh student
films occasionally when I’m asked when
when I see somebody’s in need when a
friend has a son or a daughter or a
relative in in uh in film school I’m
open to that
um but for the most part I look at what
I do as extraordinarily valuable to my
production Partners I’m solving a
problem for them
and that means I’m good at what I do I
I’m skilled at what I do I’m uh creative
at what I do and so that’s worth
something and my dignity is also worth
something and so is yours Bruce
so I want you to think about this
the union has set rates that are
required for producers to pay actors as
a minimum
and unless one of those other
alternative currencies like uh
experience or exposure is really worth
it to you and that may be in this first
project that you have described
but it also may not be and if it is I
just want you to stick with that for a
very short period of time because once
you get that experience and with an
audio book it’s going to be multiple
hours so you’re going to have lots of
experience that you gain very quickly I
want you to move on to knowing your
worth maintaining your worth
and maintaining your dignity you’re a
professional
I believe in you
and I want you to believe in yourself
if this resonates with you I’d love to
know what your thoughts are in the
comments below I know this is something
that a lot of actors and voice talents
struggle with on a constant basis it’s
one of the hardest things to get over
because you don’t want to I get it you
don’t want to feel like I’m bragging you
know I’m bragging on myself listen it’s
okay
you’re good
you’re good it’s okay uh hit the like
button if you like what you’re hearing
subscribe to the channel uh there’s a
little subscribe button for you and a
bell that will help you be notified when
these episodes are released and again
let me know what you think in the
comments Below on veoheros.com I’d love
for that to be the case I’m David H
Lawrence the 17th I thank you so much
for watching and for listening and I
will see you in the next episode of the
video Heroes podcast
[Music]

from YouTube