A GUIDE FOR VOICEOVER ARTISTS
How to invoice a radio station for voiceover
Send it to the station’s accounts payable, not just the person who booked you. Put the station’s PO or order number on every spot, list each spot by advertiser, title and length, state your terms and the due date, and say exactly how to pay you.
If the station sends you its own vendor forms or invoice format, use theirs. Everything below is for when it hasn’t.
Free. Copy it into your own document or email.
What goes on it
- Your business
- Your name or business name, address, email and phone, the way you want them on the check or the bank transfer.
- Bill to
- The station’s legal name, which is often the company that holds its license rather than the call letters, and the accounts payable email or address. Ask the station which to use.
- Invoice number
- A number you never reuse, in order. Accounts payable files and pays by it, and you will quote it when you follow up.
- Dates and terms
- The invoice date and the date it is due, with the terms you agreed, such as Net 30 (due 30 days after the invoice date).
- One line per spot
- The day you delivered it, the advertiser, the spot’s title, its length (:30), whether it was dry or produced, and the price.
- PO or order number
- The number the station gave you for the order, on every line it covers. An invoice that doesn’t match an order in the station’s system can wait while someone works out what it is for.
- Extras on their own lines
- A rush fee, a tag or a pickup for the client’s changes, each named, so nobody has to ask what the difference is.
- Total and how to pay
- The total due, and exactly how to pay you: bank transfer details, an address for checks, or PayPal. Add your tax ID only if the station asks for it on the invoice.
The template
Replace everything in [square brackets]. Add a line for every spot in the period, and keep the PO beside each one.
[Your name or business][Street address][City, State ZIP][Email] · [Phone]
Invoice
- Invoice
- [INV-2026-0001]
- Date
- [Month day, year]
- Due
- [Month day, year] (Net 30)
Bill to
[Station’s legal name]Attn: Accounts payable[Call letters], [Street address][City, State ZIP][Accounts payable email]
| Date | Spot | Length | PO / order | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Date delivered] | [Advertiser] “[Spot title]”, dry | :30 | [PO number] | $[Rate] |
| [Date delivered] | [Advertiser] “[Spot title]”, dry | :60 | [PO number] | $[Rate] |
| [Date delivered] | Rush fee, “[Spot title]” | [PO number] | $[Fee] | |
| Total due | $[Total] | |||
How to pay: [Bank transfer details, an address for checks, or PayPal]
Questions about this invoice: [Email]. Thank you!
INVOICE [INV-2026-0001] From: [Your name or business] [Street address] [City, State ZIP] [Email] · [Phone] Bill to: [Station’s legal name] Attn: Accounts payable [Call letters], [Street address] [City, State ZIP] [Accounts payable email] Date: [Month day, year] Due: [Month day, year] (Net 30) Date | Spot | Length | PO / order | Amount [Date delivered] | [Advertiser] “[Spot title]”, dry | :30 | [PO number] | $[Rate] [Date delivered] | [Advertiser] “[Spot title]”, dry | :60 | [PO number] | $[Rate] [Date delivered] | Rush fee, “[Spot title]” | | [PO number] | $[Fee] Total due: $[Total] How to pay: [Bank transfer details, an address for checks, or PayPal] Questions about this invoice: [Email]. Thank you!
Getting paid by a station
- Ask where invoices go before the first job
- Many stations, and most station groups, pay vendors through an accounts payable office, not the production director who booked you. Get the email address and any vendor paperwork first.
- Expect a W-9 in the US
- A US station will usually ask a new vendor for a W-9 before it pays the first invoice. Send it with your first invoice and nothing waits on it.
- Get the PO before you read
- If the station uses purchase orders, ask for the number when the order comes in and put it on every line. It is the easiest way to get matched and paid.
- Agree the rate and terms in writing
- An email that says your rate per spot, what a re-read or a pickup costs and your terms is enough. Point to it if a question comes up later.
- Bill regulars on a cycle
- For a station that orders every week, one invoice a month covering every spot is easier for both sides than one per spot. Bill a one-off job when it is approved.
- Follow up on the due date
- A short note quoting the invoice number and the amount, sent on the day it is due, usually does it. Resend the invoice with it.
FOR VOICEOVER ARTISTS
Invoices made from your orders
In SendScripts.to, a station orders through your link and can add its PO number when it approves your reads. Approved orders become one numbered invoice for that client: each spot on its own line with the order and the PO, pickups and any order minimum on lines of their own, the due date from your terms and your own payment details. It goes out as a PDF and a private link, and you mark it paid when the money arrives. We never touch your money.