The Game Industry Professional Excerpt

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The Game 
Industry 
Professional
Akash Thakkar
Getting (PAYING) Gigs
Now, judging from what I keep hearing from my email list, the vast majority of you 
are interested in getting some new gigs under your belt. Namely, gigs that pay you 
some of that sweet sweet money.
This can be one of the most mixed up, controversial, and terrible parts about work-
ing in game audio, so hopefully we can demystify this process a little bit for you.
Now, so you're aware, this advice will be skewed toward those who are currently (or 
planning to be) freelancing in the game industry. Of course, if you already work at a 
company, you would be paid hourly or be on salary. If you need some help for nego-
tiating in this respect, I highly recommend the book Nail It by Ted Leonhardt.
That being said, even if you do want to work at a game company eventually, work-
ing as a freelancer for a bit can give you the experience you need for a company to 
bring you on board.
Who do you want to work for?
Here's what most of us tend to think when we're working in game audio:
"I'll work with anyone. I just need to work on something!"
While this doesn't sound like too bad of an idea to get some experience, it can be a 
massive waste of your time and actually result in you getting less work.
So what do we do instead? We need to determine exactly who we want to work for 
so that we can spend our energy wisely.
The Game Industry Professional - eBook Excerpt
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS EXCERPT
1. How to start getting paid gigs
2. How to focus your efforts toward getting 
the right gigs for you
3. How to start thinking about money
Getting Paid Gigs
1Copyright © 2015 Akash Thakkar
Imagine if you knew exactly which prospects to target before going 
to a networking event. If you know who you want to work for, then 
you can focus on those people and ignore any other distractions.
Using the two-qualifier method
We're going to learn about something that is used often in the busi-
ness world to narrow down target demographics. It's called the 
two-qualifier method.
This method simply allows you to quickly and easily show you 
what type of prospects you'd like to work with. The formula works 
like this:
 
[Type of prospect] who are [qualifier #1] and [qualifier #2]
 
So for example, you might have two-qualifier statements that look 
like this:
 
Indie developers with teams of 2-50 people on the West Coast of 
USA/Canada.
 
AAA game studios that make first person shooters and have audio 
budgets of at least $100,000.
So you know, your qualifiers and type of person can be basically 
anything. You can pick qualifiers depending on location, budget, 
game engine, timelines, or whatever else you can think of.
And as a last word on this, you do not need to adhere 100% to 
your two-qualifier method right away! This is used simply as a 
guide to make sure you get where you want to go. If you're just 
starting out, and want to work for games that have budgets of 
$200 million, then your two-qualifier method will steer you in the 
right direction so that you can take the small steps necessary to 
get there.
Wait, but why?
At this point, most of you are probably wondering what the point of 
all of this is. You're also likely wondering why money hasn't started 
falling from the sky yet.
Well now that you have a type of developer you would like to focus 
on, you now have a somewhat clearer view of what sorts of steps 
you should take in the future. 
For example, I have absolutely no desire to work for a big game 
studio. In fact, I turn all offers from bigger companies down. Be-
cause of this, I can wisely spend all of my energy working on my 
indie freelance career.
But, if you do eventually want to work for a bigger company, your 
steps will be completely different. You would likely create a differ-
ent set of demos, work for different types of games, and look in 
other places for your next gig than I would.
Simply put, your two-qualifier method will help you determine all of 
this, even if you don't have the luxury of picking your clients just 
yet. 
Alright, let's talk about money
Creative people suck at making money.
Why?
Because none of us are comfortable talking about it. Simple as 
that. We use phrases like "oh, the money doesn't matter", or 
freeze when people ask "so how much do you charge?" before we 
stammer out a useless response.
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Of course it matters. We need to eat, after all. In this section, we'll 
be covering how to ask for money, thus becoming more comfort-
able talking about it.
So how much do you charge?
Let's learn about a way to give confident quotes that are both fair 
to the client, while also getting you enough money to pay for your 
second Tesla.
So, there are a couple scenarios that can happen when someone 
asks "What are your rates?"
 
Scenario 1: At a networking event/local meet up
You might start running in to this question fairly frequently at meet 
ups as you start networking more and more. If this happens to you 
and you do not know these people super well, or you know very 
little about the game, then stop. Do not give them a quote under 
these circumstances. Talk about the money later!
Why? Simply because you won't be able to provide any sort of ac-
curate statement about money at this point. If you know very little 
about the game, their deadlines, their budget, etc. then it will be 
difficult to give any sort of accurate quote. 
So, here's a script for you that you can use to defer the money con-
versation to a later time:
"I would love to chat about my rates, but I'd like to hear more 
about the project to see if we'd be a good fit for each other first."
Did you see the key words in there? 
"A good fit for each other"
This shows that you're more than just about the money. You really 
care about being the best person for the job. It shows that you 
don't say yes to just anything (even if you currently do). You can 
then keep chatting about the game, then follow up later via e-mail, 
or at a client meeting.
Scenario 2: E-mails or client meetings
Now, when you're meeting face-to-face with a potential client out-
side of a networking event, or speaking to them over e-mail, then it 
can be a different story. That's when you can give them your 
quote.
Some advice about charging as a freelancer: Almost every client 
you will encounter will much prefer being charged a flat rate. None 
of this $1200 per minute of music or $40 per sound nonsense. 
Nothing hourly. Just a flat fee. 
This is simply because the client will know exactly how much 
money they'll have to part with up-front. It won't feel like they're 
writing you a blank check. Although people will tell you it's "indus-
try standard" to charge a per rate (per minute, per sound, etc.), 
know that there really is no standard and this method will make it 
as easy as possible for clients to pay you.
Now, on to how to quote. This is one of the most simple and effec-
tive ways to get a fair payment without undervaluing yourself. 
Here's are two scripts for you:
"For this kind of project, my normal rate is [flat fee], but I know 
you're a small indie studio, so how much of that number do you 
feel comfortable paying?"
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"For this kind of project, my normal rate is [flat fee], but I know 
you're still unsure how much you'll be getting from Kickstarter, so 
how much of that number do you feel comfortable paying?"
What this does is put the ball in their court. They see what your 
normal flat fee is, and then can do their best to reach it. You'd be 
surprised how often they meet, or get very close to your given 
rate.
Now what you charge as your flat fee is completely up to you. Your 
rates will also change from project to project. Here are a few 
things to consider each time a new gig comes up:
Deadlines
Overall game budget
If hiring subcontractors is required (live players, voice actors, 
etc.)
Amount of sound/music needed
If this project will be fun to work on
If you'll need to buy any new hardware/software for the projectPotential travel expenses
Anything else you can think of
While I can't give you exact numbers for you to plug-in, just know 
that this method will work in getting clients to pay you fairly. Do not 
be afraid to overprice yourself when quoting your flat rate. Remem-
ber, the ball is in their court, so they will do their best to meet your 
rate in most cases.
You're going to lose clients
Let's be honest here. Not every single client you run in to from 
now on will be willing to pay you what you deserve. There will be 
times where people will choose a cheaper option, or balk at your 
number and move on.
This is totally fine. What you're doing when you first start charging 
more money for your services is filtering out low-paying clients. 
You're becoming more of a professional. It may take some time 
and tweaking of your numbers to find the sweet spot, but this is 
time well invested if you plan to make a living off of game audio.
Here's what to do:
This assignment is more involved than the last one, so let's break 
down what I want you to do for this chapter:
Write out at least one two-qualifier statement to help you deter-
mine who you want to work for. Feel free to write as many as you 
want, however!
Write a script that you can use to defer the conversation about 
money to a later time. It doesn't need to be perfect, but something 
you can easily remember when the situation pops up.
Let's review Chapter 2:
In the last chapter, we started talking about how you can start get-
ting paid for your work. We discussed the two-qualifier method, as 
well as reviewed some scripts that can help you out when it comes 
to charging for your work.
Now, before we begin with Chapter 3, don't forget about your 
goals and systems! Apply them to each and every lesson. Always 
think "how can this chapter help me?" 
Getting Paid Continued
Alright, let's answer some common questions about charging cli-
ents:
1. How strictly do you enforce 'right to request X amount of 
changes' from clients? At what point (if ever) would you refuse to 
make further changes on work you've provided?
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Personally, I offer unlimited revisions to clients. That being said, I 
can only do this because of the fact that I have developed a sense 
of which developers I can trust. Generally speaking, most people 
go with three revisions per asset, and then start charging more per 
revision after that. You can stipulate this in your contract, during a 
meeting, or in an email before you get started.
2. How do you decide on flat-fee rates? I’m assuming you’d have 
to hear what they want you to do and then would you make the cal-
culation or per minute or per sound effect, but without mentioning 
that to them? That way you’re just giving them the flat rate rather 
than the open-ended amount? 
For determining flat rates, sometimes I do a calculation like you 
mentioned, and sometimes I just throw out a super-high number 
and see how close they'll get to meeting it. If they have the 
budget, they'll just pay me without batting an eye, or if they have 
less money and can't meet my amount, they'll give me some extra 
concessions like longer deadlines.
3. I would always want to retain the rights to sell my music. Is that 
something I specify when asking for money?
Yes, you should definitely retain those rights! And yes, you will 
want to stipulate that when you're giving your quote. Most every 
non-AAA studio will be totally okay with this.
There will be rare occasions where the studio will want to keep the 
music rights to themselves. In that scenario, you can lower your 
rate a little bit in exchange for the music rights. Again, this will be 
somewhat rare with indies.
Also, just to be clear, the studio will still have the rights to use your 
music however they see fit (trailers, in-game, commercials, etc.) 
for as long as they please, but you will still retain the ownership/
album rights.
4. I wanted to get one part clarified about charging flat fees. When 
is the fee collected? When the contract is signed? After the game 
is finished? Half when the contract is signed and half when the 
game is finished? I’ve always been unsure about this.
This can be totally up to you. It can be half up front and half later 
on, a third up front and two thirds afterwards, or all of it afterwards. 
It really depends on you and their budget.
Most of the time you'll get some portion up front, and some after 
the game is done, however. It's quite rare to get the entire pay-
ment up front, though it's happened to me a few times. 
--
This marks the end of this excerpt. If you’d like to continue reading 
and get more free training, then sign up for my newsletter (which, 
if you’re reading this, you likely already have) and check out my 
Youtube channel.
You’re also always welcome to get in touch: 
akash@akashthakkar.com
Thanks so much! I’ll talk to you soon!
-Akash Thakkar
http://www.akashthakkar.com/
https://twitter.com/akashthakkar
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