Corporate pricing

[StudioAdam]

I'm writing a proposal for a corporate gig and am wondering what you all charge for

1. Day rate for shooting interviews and B-roll (need to do lighting),

2. Hourly rate for scripting,

3. Hourly rate for editing and post production.

Another thing, when figuring post production isn't the rule 10 hours for every edited minute?

thanks.

Adam

[AndrewMSV]

Hey Adam,
Good to see you here.

A very general general rule of thumb that I did was charge about 7x my wedding rates.

So if you're asking about $75/hour for wedding shoots and edits, then maybe about $525/hour is in order.

Or if you do per finished minute rates, the industry standard is $1000/pfm. My most recent corporate gig (which doubles as my very first! hee) I'm only charging about $450/pfm for a piece that is less than 8 minutes and $440/pfm for a piece that is more than 8 minutes.

This is very much on the low end. But I didn't mind charging less because it was my first corporate gig.
After this, I will feel more confident in charging more. (not to mention I will have a demo to show.)

I hope this helps!
Cheers!

[StudioAdam]

Hey Adam,
Good to see you here.

A very general general rule of thumb that I did was charge about 7x my wedding rates.

So if you're asking about $75/hour for wedding shoots and edits, then maybe about $525/hour is in order.

Or if you do per finished minute rates, the industry standard is $1000/pfm. My most recent corporate gig (which doubles as my very first! hee) I'm only charging about $450/pfm for a piece that is less than 8 minutes and $440/pfm for a piece that is more than 8 minutes.

This is very much on the low end. But I didn't mind charging less because it was my first corporate gig.
After this, I will feel more confident in charging more. (not to mention I will have a demo to show.)

I hope this helps!
Cheers!

I'd been breaking the quote down into several parts for the client.

1. scripting. this would include any meetings with them and getting to know their product/business.

2. shooting. I would show a per day of shooting cost here.

3. editing. This would include all visuals, narration, music, titles and graphics; all post-production.

I had been figuring time to script plus time to shoot plus time in post at 10 hours per edited minute. Am I shooting too high here?

thanks,

Adam

[Billy]

I'd been breaking the quote down into several parts for the client.

1. scripting. this would include any meetings with them and getting to know their product/business. Call it pre-production. Sounds better. :tongue: In our case it's one of the lowest priced items on our rate sheet.

2. shooting. I would show a per day of shooting cost here. Use a per day, half day, and hourly rate. This normally would include lighting and things generally associated with shooting. We have options for an audio contractor if it's something really demanding, audio-wise. Also add in a grip rate so you can add an assistant if the situation calls for it.

3. editing. This would include all visuals, narration, music, titles and graphics; all post-production. You may want to add a separate price for outside narration if they want that certain sound and don't like the voice you normally use.

I had been figuring time to script plus time to shoot plus time in post at 10 hours per edited minute. Am I shooting too high here? 10 hours per finished minute sounds way too high to me, or either we're editing way too fast. It would depend on the type of video you're going for, but I would think most of the corporate type stuff we've done is about 1/4 of that. Or are you saying from pre-production to final edit is 10 hours per minute? Even that sounds high to me. We just finished an 8.5 minute video and put about 25 hours total into it. If you want you can see that video at this url. (http://vipvideo.com/safeway/videos/wholeproj.wmv)

[rmckoen]

I'm writing a proposal for a corporate gig and am wondering what you all charge for

1. Day rate for shooting interviews and B-roll (need to do lighting),

2. Hourly rate for scripting,

3. Hourly rate for editing and post production.

Another thing, when figuring post production isn't the rule 10 hours for every edited minute?

thanks.

Adam


I havent broken up quote like that and I had heard about the rule of $1000 to $1500 per finished minute but of the commercial gigs I have done it has just been one lump sum for which some gigs are much better than others....

did a small training video....was only two hours of shooting.....maybe 8 hours of editing....and the charge was $2500....i guess $250 an hour...with the video being 45 minutes in length.....I just couldnt see charge $45,000 for the finished product.....it was one of my first commercial gigs and now that I am doing more I am charging more.....and eventually will get up to the $1000 per finished minute mark....

hope this helps...

rob

[StudioAdam]

Call it pre-production. Sounds better. :tongue: In our case it's one of the lowest priced items on our rate sheet.

Use a per day, half day, and hourly rate. This normally would include lighting and things generally associated with shooting. We have options for an audio contractor if it's something really demanding, audio-wise. Also add in a grip rate so you can add an assistant if the situation calls for it.

You may want to add a separate price for outside narration if they want that certain sound and don't like the voice you normally use.

10 hours per finished minute sounds way too high to me, or either we're editing way too fast. It would depend on the type of video you're going for, but I would think most of the corporate type stuff we've done is about 1/4 of that. Or are you saying from pre-production to final edit is 10 hours per minute? Even that sounds high to me. We just finished an 8.5 minute video and put about 25 hours total into it. If you want you can see that video at this url. (http://vipvideo.com/safeway/videos/wholeproj.wmv)

I'm still trying to figure out how to respond to folks in this forum.:-D

Right now I'll have two and a half to three days of shooting, I'm figuring 10 hours for scripting/pre-production and nothing too fancy for titles, graphics or post. It's going to be 8 minutes max (told him 5-8 minutes) and be used as a sales pitch to prospective clients. They'll also have a place to insert a special pitch to each client on their deal so this is the first of more to come.

I let them know my price would be between 10K-15K not knowing where we'd be and he's okay. don't wanna go overboard this time. Right now it's looking like around 8-10K total including pre, post, shooting (and hiring a shooter) and lighting for interviews. Sound in line?

thanks a mil.

Adam

[RatVega]

Right now I'll have two and a half to three days of shooting, I'm figuring 10 hours for scripting/pre-production and nothing too fancy for titles, graphics or post. It's going to be 8 minutes max (told him 5-8 minutes) and be used as a sales pitch to prospective clients. They'll also have a place to insert a special pitch to each client on their deal so this is the first of more to come.

I let them know my price would be between 10K-15K not knowing where we'd be and he's okay. don't wanna go overboard this time. Right now it's looking like around 8-10K total including pre, post, shooting (and hiring a shooter) and lighting for interviews. Sound in line?

thanks a mil.

Adam

Sounds like you have a pretty good basic agreement.

Don't be afraid to price up the pre-production and production phases (within reason) since they're unlikely to change much and you're covered with a decent rate if they want/need to re-shoot.

Post is the big variable; customers can get crazy if you're not careful. There is also the "degree of difficulty" issue, so a generous estimate is called for to cover a few re-dos before you get into serious change orders.

The estimate is also a way of telling the customer where the difficulty is; bear this in mind. An extra half day of production might cost them an additional $500-1000. Having to re-cut the back half of a tight, glossy 8-minute piece could easily involve 10-20 hours of post, so they need to understand that you're not just sticking film together. BTW, good titles (even simple ones) aren't that quick or easy when the audience is "external."

I recently did a 4-minute montage (with narration) piece for a company that took around 30 hours to finish. The Spanish language version needed to be about a minute longer. No sweat, right? It took about 12 hours to stretch the sequence and maintain the same tight feel...

Commercial work is all about flawless finish (IMHO) so be prepared to provide that and charge for it.

If you think like $100/hr for pre-, $1000-1250/day for production, and 40-50 hours of post at $100-125/hour you're in your initial cost zone and it's clear where the money is going. Special voiceovers are additional. You should wind up with a nice production, some profit, and the ability to finish at or below the "ballpark" price.

Your final product sounds like it's basically an extendable clip that someone will author for each target customer. This is where you want to be affordable. A good design might allow you to pick up the authoring business at a "bargain" price like maybe a couple hundred a copy.

Good Luck!