Regular collaboration with a post studio: how much should I charge and how? UK rates

Question

I will be soon starting to collaborate on a regular basis with a post studio based in another country. The job is clear: I will be mostly working on Foley, Dialogue and Backgrounds on 10 episodes for an upcoming animated TV series. On top of that there might be additional sound design work I will be asked to do for trailers and promos. All from my London home-studio.

At the moment, they want to hire me as a freelancer rather then any other type or full employment contract. My role will even involve flying there a bunch of times to work on location with their team who I have already worked with in the last 3 weeks.

This is my real first full payed job in the field (all my experience has been done with volunteer work) so I am quite lost with rates and so forth. To make things even more complicated I must take into account that it won't quite be a "typical" one shot freelance gig sort of thing. It's a full on collaboration over a period of several months.

What kind of contract should I look for; what kind of rates and how much do you think it's most suited for a role like this? Should I rate per day, week or month?

In my inexperience, I feel asking for a standard freelance rate ( of?!) it's not suited as it would end up being a lot more of what an in-house sound designer takes in a studio.

I am talking about UK rates.

Thank you very much everyone!

Giacomo

Answer 1

I personally have no idea what UK rates are.
Having said that - Sometimes studios have rates that they will generally pay freelancers or a series of rates based on budget, experience and what your tasks are. Flying there - Are they paying for room and board or are you flying in on your own because you need the project? Do you know what a standard staff sound editor or union (if there is one) rate is? At least in the US, a company hiring a freelancer has many less employment and health care fees than for an employee. If your new to being a freelancer the main thing you have to remember is that your essentially a 1 man business so you have to factor in things like gear, transportation, health care, studio space - any costs - as well as the business climate- to figure out a rate that works for you and your clients.