Law Firm - Day In The Life video, rate?

M

Mitzelblix

New member
Hello All,

Does anyone have any experience with charging for a "Day In The Life Video"?

I have been hired to do a 30 minute video covering the day to day activities of an older couple who take care of their quadriplegic son. The video will ultimately be used in court.

I've shot at their home a couple of days totalling about 12 hours, and I will be cutting it as well.

Luckily the firm has advanced me $1000. When I discussed the rate, I was thankfull that the lawyer I am dealing with hinted that I was low balling my rate for the market. I was originally thinking the total would be around a thousand.

Any advice would be really appreciated. I have looked for strings concerning this and researched for rates on the net with no luck.

I thank anyone in advance for your help!
 
Well, if the advance is $1000, I'm assuming you can at least ask for the same amount upon completion. A 30 minute video is pretty long, but I'm also guessing the production values will not be expected to be as high as a broadcast commercial or even a corporate video. Tough call because this isn't a terribly common gig. Given the dollar amount of the advance, I would think $1K or even $2k more would would be expected. Another consideration is who is footing the bill ultimately? Are you taking money from a family in a difficult circumstance or primarily from a law firm? That could have some bearing on your decision, too, I'm guessing.
 
Thank you gentlemen, your replies are much appreciated! This is definitely a start as far as what to charge. I think that's pretty reasonable.

In response to user, dustino, the money would be coming from the firm. They are ultimately betting on winning the case, therefore investing in money in the video. It will not come out of the pocket of the family.

This must not be a common gig. Has anyone out there ever done one of these? What about depositions? I think those are more common. What's a typical rate for those?

Again, not a topic that I 've seen on the forum?...
 
Generally, I would say that 1k per finished minute is the low end of what you should expect to charge for a corporate video. But it seems like this project is more of a legal document than a work of art, so you probably won't be spending much time on narrative curve and the right music, so the above figure might be high.

On the other hand, if the law firm can afford it, no reason why you shouldn't get it, and if you can turn in a product that is a real, honest document of this family and their struggles, and has an organic emotional impact, all the better for the case, right? In which case I would say feel them out on the 1k per finished minute quote. You might be surprised - they may not even blink, especially if they've already hinted that you were under bidding.

Robert
 
so you never discussed how much with them before you started shooting ..
based on 1k up front .. then i would say 1k in middle and another 1k at end = 3k total ... plus X$ for any more add on's , re-edit ...
 
well, there had been some discussion of the rate, but it was left a little open ended. i just wish that he would just quote me something, because he seems to know what others have charged.
i think i'll go with the 3k, maybe 3.5k, and go down a bit if it ruffles his feathers.
thank you all for your input! it will definitely help me make more than i had anticipated...

rob
 
make a couple of phone calls to some people in your area that do the same work and ask for some quotes doing the same work
 
If you are working for attorneys...get your money up front...especially if they are "betting on winning the case"......it is not unusual for them to lose the case and leave you hanging....

And your rates are low.
 
mano secreta said:
If you are working for attorneys...get your money up front...especially if they are "betting on winning the case"......it is not unusual for them to lose the case and leave you hanging....

And your rates are low.
Click to expand...
Brilliant advice. I mean, what are you going to do if the lawyers don't pay at the end, take them to small claims court?
 
i just did an internal video for universal studios. essentially a corporate video to introduce an new department. running time was under 4 minutes. 1 day of shooting, 4 days of editing, 1 day to mix, online and color correct. total budget was about $8600 with a 40% profit margin (meaning after everyone got paid, my company made about $3500).
 
I've heard the following number for broadcast quality work $1200/min. So if you are doing a 10 minute video it should be around 12,000 dollars. That's for primo work and assuming that you are going to hire a camera man with a 30.000 to 40.000 dollar camera. If you are shooting on DVX then it could be done for considerably cheaper.

FP
 
fu-pow said:
I've heard the following number for broadcast quality work $1200/min. So if you are doing a 10 minute video it should be around 12,000 dollars. That's for primo work and assuming that you are going to hire a camera man with a 30.000 to 40.000 dollar camera. If you are shooting on DVX then it could be done for considerably cheaper.

FP
Click to expand...

Always seems to me that you should charge according to the result you can get for them, not the equipment you're using. Don't sell yourself short just because you're not using the latest greatest HD flavor of the month. If you can give them a great video then you're worth every penny regardless of what you used to make it.

EDIT: Just noticed how long ago this thread was. ooops.
 
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