Many makeup artists are faced with the big question. How much should you charge for your services? If you have an agent, this little dilemma is usually avoided, but if not, how do you judge what you should be paid. Quote too high and you will never hear from that potential client again. Bid too low and you may get the booking and a few more besides, but then when you ask for the going rate, you find suddenly, your services are no longer required!
I usually go via the BECTU pay rate guide. For those not in the know, BECTU is a union for people in our profession as well as camera men and other technical staff. You pay a monthly subscription and not only get representation (which was a Godsend when I was hired, via my agency, to an American TV production company, who then left the country without paying my fees as arranged. It was £1000s of pounds and neither I or my agency could get them to pay up. BECTU contacted them and I was paid within a week!) That alone was worth the monthly subscription, but you also get discounted Public Liability Insurance, equipment insurance and MAC Pro card (£10 instead of £25) as well as a host of other perks and I would recommend any makeup artist to seriously consider joining.
Once you know the minimum you SHOULD be asking, you can tweak it accordingly. Ask yourself a series of questions. Will this be a regular booking? Will I be required to do make up AND hair? Will fee include travel? (for me anything outside M25 incurs travel expenses), if the fee is low, will it benefit me in other ways? (magazine submissions are notoriously low paid, but a good editorial tear sheet can be worth it's weight in gold for your portfolio). You can ask how much the budget is, but to be frank, unless the production company just landed from planet moron, they are not going to tell you their budget is limitless and you can write your own cheque. The answer is always that they have a minimum budget!
Basically, there is no right or wrong answer. Some you win, some you loose. So pick a minimum amount you are prepared to work for and stick to it, (an unhappy make up artist sitting around bitching about how much work she has to do for the money she's being paid, is no good to anyone), but above all, don't feel uncomfortable about asking or discussing money, living on air is not the new Atkins!!!
I usually go via the BECTU pay rate guide. For those not in the know, BECTU is a union for people in our profession as well as camera men and other technical staff. You pay a monthly subscription and not only get representation (which was a Godsend when I was hired, via my agency, to an American TV production company, who then left the country without paying my fees as arranged. It was £1000s of pounds and neither I or my agency could get them to pay up. BECTU contacted them and I was paid within a week!) That alone was worth the monthly subscription, but you also get discounted Public Liability Insurance, equipment insurance and MAC Pro card (£10 instead of £25) as well as a host of other perks and I would recommend any makeup artist to seriously consider joining.
Once you know the minimum you SHOULD be asking, you can tweak it accordingly. Ask yourself a series of questions. Will this be a regular booking? Will I be required to do make up AND hair? Will fee include travel? (for me anything outside M25 incurs travel expenses), if the fee is low, will it benefit me in other ways? (magazine submissions are notoriously low paid, but a good editorial tear sheet can be worth it's weight in gold for your portfolio). You can ask how much the budget is, but to be frank, unless the production company just landed from planet moron, they are not going to tell you their budget is limitless and you can write your own cheque. The answer is always that they have a minimum budget!
Basically, there is no right or wrong answer. Some you win, some you loose. So pick a minimum amount you are prepared to work for and stick to it, (an unhappy make up artist sitting around bitching about how much work she has to do for the money she's being paid, is no good to anyone), but above all, don't feel uncomfortable about asking or discussing money, living on air is not the new Atkins!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment