13 Part Series: Charge per minute or per episode?

[dubaifox]

I am wondering how some of your quote for an animation or TV series, where throughout a 13 part series, there will be some repeating of cues, or at least re-arranging of cues, throughout the episodes.

Do you charge per-minute of music used in each episode, or just charge a flat rate per episode?

The pitfall with charging per episode, is that you might get a director that just asks for more and more music,especially in animation (which we have had happen)

The challenge of charging per minute is that directors feel they are getting cheated when music cues keep appearing throughout a series, and feel they are paying over and over for the same cue.(yet repeating music is important to establish a style and cohesiveness in a series)

Any input on this??

Thanks

Paul

[mr.armadillo]

That's not easy.
What we usually do is:
- determine a flat rate for a max. amount of music including 2-3 changes or whatever you feel might be appropriate for that director
- charge for any additional change / overtime or extra work.

[jimlongo]

Standard here is XX dollars for 100 minutes of music.
Usually the composer writes for the first 4 or so episodes, and they save about 15% of the minutes for special cues needed later.
The post audio house does the music editing from the library of existing music.

[Postman]

On the series I've done where I was close enough to the composer to know this (5 or 6), there was a set price per show, with an understanding that unusual orchestration needs (extra musian hires) might result in extra cost. Yes, some episodes demand more music than others, but in return for that variable you are getting quite a bit of work! You have to try to budget for the most fair middle ground.
Also, in every single series I have worked on, the composer cut in his library cues. This allowed the composer to better customize going in and out of the library cues.

[jimlongo]

To be clearer, my post was referring to animation, that is what the op was asking about. In the case of live action it is often different.

[Postman]

Hi Jim, two of the series I am talking about were animated! In both cases the composer is the one who interwove library cues with new score, and budget was "fixed". Neither was a cost-per-minute-of-music basis. However, I know that in both examples the composer was able to collect extra money for abnormal music, such as a custom song or one-time live musicians, in certain episodes. Obviously, any type of deal can be struck, I'm just saying what I have seen. I never collected one extra penny for extra effects or mixing requirements. But, now that you mention it, I recall a third animated series I mixed about 15 years ago. In that case, after the first season the composer only delivered new score and I ended up cutting in library every week with the director. I'd forgotten about that one.

[jimlongo]

Hi Richard, I'm sure it's a regional thing, I can only speak for the animation business in Toronto.
The post audio design house is (almost) always responsible for editing music from a library created during the first few shows, and it's a budget line item. Some small percentage of the library time is left aside for special things needed down the road. Anything beyond that would be an extraordinary type of thing that would need to be negotiated.
The composer may be hired again in a second or third season for some additional music if the library is starting to get stale.