In considering how to provide the best access for video products in your next conference, you might be wondering how to hire an interpreter. Plenty of agencies will sell you the idea that they’re experts in the space but when you transition from shooting the content to editing, the bill suddenly goes up.
Most agencies don’t know anything about production, timelines, expectations on set or anything about the editing process. It’s rare to receive a well rounded quote from the larger players because they only work on an hourly basis which can be incredibly costly when last minute changes happen. The costs can pile up from the cancellation charges, urgent requests and tight turn arounds. It’s important to work with an entertainment interpreting agency with an expertise in interpreting on set and in production.
Daily rate production interpreting
Interpreting in a production setting requires intimate knowledge of what it takes to produce and distribute accessible content. Experts in this arena will tell you that charging an hourly rate will increase the costs to clients exponentially. This is due to ignorant interpreting agencies attempting to practice outside of their scope.
A daily rate for interpreting services will retain services and allow flexibility for when things change on set last minute and require updates to the schedule. Daily rates are also incredibly helpful for working in editing as often post production interpreting services are needed sporadically and not on an hourly basis. Billing for hourly production interpreting limits the client to a specific schedule with an increase in fee should the interpreter need to be called back.
Video editing interpreting
Often interpreters are needed to interpret or translate videos for other projects. Charging these on a per project basis is ideal as the client is given a range and can better forecast all expectations before making a final decision in hiring services. Interpreters with a background in video editing and with knowledge of products like Premiere Pro, VideoLeap and .io applications reduces the amount of time wasted to account for a learning curve. Sending any available interpreter to a project in order to land a contract is often a far heavier burden on the production budget than it is to find an expert and send them the first time.
ASL captioning and subtitling
Creating SRT files for content in ASL can often be a challenge and it’s not always evident where to find services. Many agencies will provide an interpreter who has never done this things and will bill preparation time then used for that ASL provider to learn the process. Working with Deaf captioner and Deaf transcribers can often speed up the process and reduce the amount of the final invoice. It is incredibly important to find people who are experts in ASL transcription and captioning ASL content in order to create the best final product possible.
