How much to charge for editing, post, shooting?

ruester

ruester

Well-known member
I keep getting asked the question "How much do you charge?" My hourly is $25 right now (for all three), but If someone comes to me with a project and asks "how much for the project..." I am clueless what to charge!?

How do you decide? or what determining factors do you use?

- and most importantly -

Please give examples of rates you've charged and for what type of projects (for editing and post mostly)

I honestly don't know where to start with that.

I am working on / have worked on things like actors reels, directors reels, anyone's reel, reality pilots / interviews - pretty much all of it (hopefully more film making soon as well)

Thanks everyone!
 
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When someone asks "How much do you charge"? Your answer should be "What is your budget"? Their reply will give you an idea of what kind of person or client you are dealing with straight from the get go. They need to know how much they are willing to spend on post production work. If it fits within your rates thats cool. You can negotiate the deal if you want to or you can stick to your rates and tell them thanks but no thanks if its not worth it for you to be involved.

Most people will say set their rates as to what you think you are worth in terms of your experience and talent. Keep things in mind like working on someone's project will take time away from you doing other things you like to do; putting wear and tear on your machine and equipment etc. Then you need to decide if the job is even worth you pulling your camera out to shoot something or spending hours editing.

Another thing you can do is to call around to some local production companies and see what their rates are for various shoots or for editing work and then base your rates off that. You may be able to find out the going rates by searching various production companies online. Some of them list their rates on their sites.

You can decide to charge an hourly rate if the shoot or editing is not going to be that long. You can charge a flat rate for each or a flat combo rate of shooting and editing. If you need more than one camera for the shoot and lighting etc., that needs to be added into your rate too.

Your are the boss of what you want to charge and how you are charging your client.

I usually charge $100 an hour for editing. A lot of people charge way more than that. I have a friend that charges $250 an hour for editing so it just depends. He's an awesome editor so his rates are high but your going to get a really nice product when its done.

i recently did a highlight reel for a Senior High School Football player and I charged him $180 for the 4 minute video. Now this was for a co-worker's son so I cut them a break on the cost.

Do you think your worth more than $25 an hour? If so, you need to step it up to a higher rate.

Unless your really hurting for work and need money bad, don't deal with people that try to get you to bring your rate down once you tell them or want you to do the job for free or for chump change. They need to understand they are paying for your time and experience. When they say, "I can go down the street to John Doe because they said they can do it for X amount cheaper" I would tell them to go ahead down to John Doe and when they don't do a good job, don't come back complaining!

Hope this helps you...

Also you should get this software called MACFREELANCE. Here is the site: www.macxware.com
It costs $39.99 and once you set it up with your rates and all your other info it will keep track of all the paper work. It even has a clock! So if your working on a project you can click START on the clock and go back to your editing application and work as you normally would then when your done for the day you go back to Macfreelance and click stop and it will calculate how much the bill will be for the time you worked on the project based on the rates you set up. Its a really cool application! I got mine locally at Office Max.
 
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Wow! Thank you very much! That was a mouthful and worth all of it. I hope somebody puts a sticky on this to benefit others with the same question.

I didn't know $100 dollars was even a plausible rate for what I do, I thought maybe feature film editors in a union made that much or more! I knew someone who was charging $55/hr to edit and thought "well, he's been around, I can work up to that" But this is an eye opener!

Thanks so much again!

Aza
 
Sorry for the short post but your rates are LOW.

I'm not sure I'd want to hire you, it would be one of those second guessing situations. Is this guy any good? Why is he only $25 an hour?

I think for where your at a flat fee of $400-500 a day is normal. It's a LOT of work.
 
DVX100Shooter said:
I have a friend that charges $250 an hour for editing so it just depends.
Click to expand...
I'm assuming he edits using his own gear. If you edit using your own set up you need to add to the hourly rate to offset the cost of purchasing and maintaining the hardware.
Without the gear a $25/hr is a fair rate for someone that is just starting out. Once you elevate your skills you can charge from $50 - $100/hr depending on how talented you are. For rates higher than that you'll need exceptional skills in a big market (NY or LA).
 
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I do use my own gear.

I appreciate all the feedback. I would definitely like to know what I'm worth.
Well... I have a link to one of the last projects I did here (it's about 10 min. long, for a shorter project click here This is my wife's actors' reel)

Thanks for any input I can get.

Aza
 
Using NBC's edit suite, for example, I charge 60.00 an hour. There's wiggle room depending on the project, but as a base standard, it's what this market will bear (SF bay area).

With my equipment, I'll charge up towards $100 per hour.

For shooting, I charge a day rate of about 1K, for me and my equipment.
 
Thanks BradFu, and everyone! DVXUser always comes through!

I have a related question - Where can I get a contract (fill-in-the-blank, template, etc.) for this type of work? Does anyone have one they use, is everyone using the same?

So far I have been really lucky and taking verbal contracts, or billing with Invoices and marking clearly my rates and hours - but what do I need to have/do everytime I take on a new client? I haven't gotten screwed yet, but I know it's coming.
 
Funny you should ask about contracts. I just typed up one last week. I actually did a little google searching and found a few and a friend of mine sent me a few examples and collectively I used excerpts from each to form a contract based on my wants, concerns and what I was agreeing to do or to deliver. Just make sure you think about everything when your typing up your contract.
 
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