What should a talent booker or talent relations freelancer charge?
Talent booking is sold per outcome, not per hour: the search, the booking, the month. A working booker in New York charges about $1,000 for a shortlist alone and $1,750 for a full search and booking.
The client pays the talent directly, always. Your fee is for finding, closing and papering; the talent's fee is theirs. Never let the two run through one invoice.
The menu
- Shortlist only, no booking: $500 to $1,000
- New talent search and booking: $1,000 to $2,500
- Rebook, someone you already placed with that client: about 65% of a new search
- Headliner, multi-talent or travel: $2,500 to $6,000, quoted up front
- On-site day, running the talent on the day: $500 to $900
- Kill fee once outreach starts: 50% of the booking fee
Retainers
A retainer is the month: up to four bookings, roster building, first look at your list, a weekly call. Priced about 20% under four searches bought one at a time. Three months minimum, billed on the first, or it is not a retainer.
- Retainer, up to 4 bookings: $3,000 to $7,000 a month
- Retainer+, up to 8 with an on-site day: $6,000 to $9,000
- Each one over the retainer: about half a search
Terms that hold
- 50% deposit before outreach starts
- Expenses at cost
- 12-month non-circumvention: they do not go around you to the talent you found
- Rates valid 90 days
The kill fee is the one clients push on. Hold it. Once you have written to talent on their behalf, the work exists whether or not the event does.
Get my rate card
Your level and city, and the card comes back with the search, the rebook, the retainer and the kill fee priced. Free, shareable.
Get my rate cardKeep reading
Written by Austin Bailey, RostrLab. Numbers are the same formula as the calculators on this site and inside Creator OS and Company OS. Not legal advice; for a contract that matters, have a lawyer read it too.