(VOXtra) – Do you wonder why some voice over agents charge their voice talent a 10% fee, while others take a 15% or 20% cut? Some have even inched up to 25%.

What's going on?

VO agent Erik Sheppard (pictured), owner of The Sheppard Agency, sees "a lot of questions about that lately. Talent are confused. Some producers are confused. Heck – even some newer agents are confused."

In a new episode of 'The Outspoken' - his YouTube video soapbox about the VO industry – Sheppard details the methods that agents use to calculate their fees, and why it's important for talent to understand this.

Essentially, he explains, "We get a percentage of the work that we do with you. We bring you a project, you audition, you get the project, and then we get a percentage."

But agents don't set their fees in the same way, which causes the confusion.

One calculation is set in stone: "If this is a union gig, it's capped at 10 percent," Sheppard says. "But for non-union, it's totally different."

In the video below, Sheppard explains the two basic ways that agents calculate fees, and why VO talent who have multiple agents might receive the same audition from those agents with different fees.

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