Hiring Union Talent without the Paperwork
Did you known that you can have the best of both worlds without all the paperwork?
How many voice talents have you had to turn down for a job because they were members of a union?
Usually, it's the paperwork that keeps companies from working with union talent, not the fee for the work itself.
If you offer a job to a union member and state that it is a 'non-union' voiceover job, the union member will still be able to accept your job offer by following a new formula, deemed kosher by the union.
Pat Fraley, a professional voice actor, instructor, and union member is one such example.
A client offered him a job to voice a talking parrot. The job itself looked like it could cost about $500 to do, perhaps less as quote "non-union" job.
Pat quoted $1000 and the client was fine with that, but insisted that the job he was offering to Pat was still non-union. Would that still be OK with Pat?
No problem, says Mr. Fraley.
And why was it not a problem for Pat?
Although the fee was increased for the work, the client in question did not have to go through any hoops or do paperwork that would usually deter working with union talent.
When you work with a union talent and offer them a non-union job, the talent, according to the union ruling should do the following to accept the job:
By union ruling, members can turn a non-union job into a union job by taking the fee appropriate to a payroll company who tells them how much it's going to be and the payroll company act as a union signator. The job is thus unionized. The union gets paid, the agent gets paid, medicare gets paid, etc.
* These steps made by the talent save you time and the hassle of filling out forms.
Granted, not every job can be turned into a union job. The budget has to be high enough in order to qualify.
Here's a rule of thumb: The fee needs to be 40% more than the AFTRA or SAG minimum for this formula to work. In other words, non-union jobs that pay lower may not qualify to be 'turned' into union jobs.
Has paperwork ever stopped you from working with a union talent?
Let us know your thoughts and if this article was useful to you.
Cheers,
Stephanie
