What rates should an FCP editor charge?

B

bmcc87

Member
I am a FCP editor. I am fresh out of college and trying to decide what reasonable rate to charge for editing is. I know final cut, motion, and soundtrack well and have used them for numerous projects. I have not had the opportunity to edit for many paying gigs yet though. I have heard some more seasoned professionals complain about young guys like myself undercutting their business by undercharging, however I wouldn't feel that a guy like me has the experience or the equipment to demand $175/hour.

Can anyone offer some help on this issue? What are the typical rates for FCP editors? What would typical rates for someone like myself be?
 
Hiya:

This is DVXUser stock answer #358 to your stock question, it is asked almost on a daily basis all over the net.

It all depends on how good you are (as judged by your prospective clients, not yourself), how badly they need you and most importantly, which market you are in. It also depends on your reel, if your reel blows people away more than if it it skimpy with a bunch of no budget student films. Also, clients have very little imagination or vision, in a way, they are like a 4-5 year old child, they only believe what they can see, meaning that if your reel contains say, music videos and indie torture porn films that are so popular these days and they need an editor to do their corporate presentation, you aren't getting the gig. They will not look at your skills, they will look at your experience and if you don't have coporate presentations, you aren't working for them in most cases.

I can give you some rough numbers. A good friend of mine is editing a new network show. He makes about $2,000.00 per day. But that is network, so it is at the top of the pile. I hire editors all of the time for the DVD bonus material/cable docs that I mostly produce and the rate is going down, it used to be $400.00 to $500.00 per day, but the studios and clients are now wanting to pay more like $350.00 per day due to the economy.

Also, another tip. Nobody cares that you are an "FCP editor". If you are an editor who ONLY knows FCP, you are limiting yourself and hopefully you also are conversant in AVID. But the main point is that depending on what the type of media outlet is, producers either will not care what software you know or use if you are editing on your gear OR they will only consider you if you have experience editing on THEIR software system or if you are on off-line editing duty and the project will be on-lined elsewhere. In the professional world, while FCP is used and used a lot in certain types of programs, some other types of programming are edited almost exclusively on AVID still and you need to know AVID.

I think the question for someone in your position is, "will anyone hire you to edit professionally?" for any amount? If so, you will then negotiate the rate. Generally, in LA, an assistant editor, which is what it sounds as if your reel will probably support, you could probably get about $250.00 to $300.00, if we are talking about the entertainment business. If you are talking about corporate or weddings/events, you can get whatever you can, could be much higher if you are good at selling yourself. See what I mean? I am in LA and rates here are different than Des Moines or Miami or Tokyo or ?? And it all depends on the types of clients you can land and what types of projects they work on.

Good luck,

Dan
 
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Being union or non-union only factors in the type of project you work on. Is it Union? Then you need to be a union member. If not, then anyone who has the ability can work on it. Many projects pay Union scale, so the pay isn't the issue, it is the show type.

I have not heard of $2000/day for an editor. Most I heard of was $1200. I don't make near that, and I edit broadcast shows in LA. Average rate out here is between $350 (LOW LOW end) and $750 (hot ****) a day. But there is no way we can get these rates in Indiana or Kentucky.
 
Shane Ross said:
But there is no way we can get these rates in Indiana or Kentucky.
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And those rates are even almost unheard of in LA or NY but he is a supervising editor and does some work that in other formats a producer would do. As we all know, reality television is an editor's medium, not a producer or director's medium. I've heard of certain very hot feature editors making even more, but there are very few editors at that level.

I know, when he told me how much he was making, I was seriously considering buying an AVID and getting up to speed on it. Then I remembered, "oh yeah, I like editing but being stuck in an edit bay for months at a time makes me insane". And I also remembered that he is at the top of his game, a supervising editor on a network show, there is nowhere else for him to go up. That's why I like to produce and shoot too, different locations, people and experiences!

Dan
 
bmcc87 said:
I am a FCP editor. I am fresh out of college and trying to decide what reasonable rate to charge for editing is. I know final cut, motion, and soundtrack well and have used them for numerous projects. I have not had the opportunity to edit for many paying gigs yet though. I have heard some more seasoned professionals complain about young guys like myself undercutting their business by undercharging, however I wouldn't feel that a guy like me has the experience or the equipment to demand $175/hour.

Can anyone offer some help on this issue? What are the typical rates for FCP editors? What would typical rates for someone like myself be?
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If you have no professional experience, then you probably can't charge very much at all. The problem is, there are thousands of people going around saying that they are FCP editors just because they happen to have some software on their computer. That doesn't make it so.

If you're serious about being a professional editor in LA or New York, then you should definitely learn Avid as well. As a general rule, the FCP jobs pay less than the Avid jobs.
 
Definitely agree wth everything you said Jim. I was kind of surprised to hear from a couple of my friends on reality shows, it is definitely ALL Avid still for reality. Features are still probably 70-80% Avid. Trailers and promos are owned by FCP. Drama/comedy, I think it is still in Avid's favor with pockets of FCP here and there. Then there are "strip" shows, filler shows on cable nets that are all owned by FCP. Have you seen how many FCP edit bays Pie Town Productions runs? I think they have 50 or 60 FCP bays there, plus a lot of their off-liners work on FCP laptops from home.

The higher you go in the business, the more it is still dominated by Avid. To me, marketing yourself as an editor and not knowing Avid and only knowing FCP is like walking with one leg, it can be done but it makes getting around difficult.

Dan
 
I began editing linear in Los Angeles in the 80's. I had a complete AB roll BetaSP system. Back then, I was charging $150. per hour. When D2 came around, and the job required more 3D moves,etc., I would be the supervisor editor in a large post house in LA. They were charging between 300. to 400 per hour. For the smaller jobs, my BetaSP, Toaster,and then later, a 3D Genie, made alot of money for me.

Now, today, in the non-linear world, prices have dropped. Because everyone and their mother has an editing system. I'm lucky, I have alot of experience, and can still charge 150 to 175. per hour. I usually won't budge, but they try. Now, with inflation, I'm making less than I was 10 or 20 years ago. But, that's showbiz.

Oh, my first non-linear system was a Plum with Premiere 2.0. Plum went out of business early, but worked great with my BetaSP deck. My first job on the Plum was an herbal intro for QVC. Great qaulity and neat 2D moves with Premiere. Next, I bought a SpeedRazor with a Matrox DigiSuite box. Great picture, worked perfect. Made a ton of money with that system. Now I have a GrassValley Edius system. Really like it. RealTime with any type of video file. I never owned an Avid. But, if I was called to edit 35mm films, I would have bought one.

It won't be long where every junior high school kid will have a HD kick-ass editing system. So, be prepared for lower rates.

This also applies to video camera work. In L.A., there are thousands of camera guy's. I have lossed jobs to the $150. per day shooter. And it shows. I've seen alot of crap on the web and local spots,etc. There is still some high-end work. When I DP and shoot a national infomercial, I can charge $1,600. per day. You need to shoot the large 2/3 rd inch cameras. I have 3 broadcast cameras, but my HPX500 is working the most. If I need true HD, I'll rent a different camera. But, there hasn't been much call for HD in my business, maybe 10 percent.

JohnnyD
 
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Hello everyone, just wanted to share my experience. Soon after graduating I was offered a job editing two 10-a-month 1-min informercials for a local TV station. The day I was interviewed I was asked about my rate and I said $30/h. My now boss told me I was asking too much and for someone without former job experience, he was willing to pay $20/h. I was hungry and needed to work desperately to start paying off some school debts but thought his offer was too low. We settled for $25/h after agreeing to work on a "flexible" schedule. After really hard work, and many improvements, the spots went national. A year has passed pulling sh*tty hours, sometimes having to write scripts and direct talent and still working with the same rate, supposedly due to recession (this is what I'm told, every time I ask for a raise) Union editors working for the news in the same station, make $40/h to start... This I found recently. I'm going to re-discuss my rate with my boss next week, or else I will go Union (and will probably find myself working less hours, but hey, I don't want to f*ck up the system...)
 
Hi eL:

Just out of curiosity, is this for Spanish language TV? I know someone who has gone through the same thing at one of the largest Spanish language tv outlets that is located near LAX.

Dan
 
Hi Dan:

You bet, I first I thought the rate was fair... you know, coming out of college and everything, but then found about Union wages and their rates change dramatically according to whatever task you are doing: lowest is $40 for editors, and if you produce the whole thing (pre,pro,post) you can charge as much as $80 hourly, downside most union people are not getting called as much as before, cause of the recession and budget cuts...
 
It is quite a balancing act these days between keeping the work coming in versus not getting ripped off by working for too little money. My biggest client requested that I take a rate cut when freelance producing for them for the foreseeable future. I did and have been working for about 20% less, but at least I am working.

Hope that works out for you man,

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Definitely agree wth everything you said Jim. I was kind of surprised to hear from a couple of my friends on reality shows, it is definitely ALL Avid still for reality. Features are still probably 70-80% Avid. Trailers and promos are owned by FCP. Drama/comedy, I think it is still in Avid's favor with pockets of FCP here and there. Then there are "strip" shows, filler shows on cable nets that are all owned by FCP. Have you seen how many FCP edit bays Pie Town Productions runs? I think they have 50 or 60 FCP bays there, plus a lot of their off-liners work on FCP laptops from home.

The higher you go in the business, the more it is still dominated by Avid. To me, marketing yourself as an editor and not knowing Avid and only knowing FCP is like walking with one leg, it can be done but it makes getting around difficult.

Dan
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Looks like I'll be applying for Pie Town in the future! :)
 
puredrifting said:
Have you seen how many FCP edit bays Pie Town Productions runs? I think they have 50 or 60 FCP bays there, plus a lot of their off-liners work on FCP laptops from home.
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I'm working on an Avid union show right now with someone who had worked at Pie Town. They are definitely a low budget shop that pays on average $200-300 less a day than other places.
 
Jim2000 said:
I'm working on an Avid union show right now with someone who had worked at Pie Town. They are definitely a low budget shop that pays on average $200-300 less a day than other places.
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Pie Town is definitely a "machine", I think that they have something like 15 or 20 shows on the air. Hint: they are just like everyone else in town, they may start people lower, but if you have the chops, they pay very well if you become integral to their workflow.

D
 
Meh. There was a time when people hired "typists".

I'm not sure the OP is necessarily interested in becoming another cog in the machine, having to learn Avid because the system uses it. Nor did he specify what type of editor he wanted to become. Instead people posted based off assumptions and automatically believed this to be another "how much do editors make" post. Definitely annoying threadjacking, not the place to come and tell n00bs what the real world is like rather than answering his question.

As for undercutting, you do realize by asking this type of question you are asking the some of the same type of people who complain about undercutting, which by the way is not limited to college grads, established individuals are doing it to keep their old ways going. People are having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that everything they do is losing value and things are changing but they are not as fast.

No offense but it's getting annoying to hear people who have been in the business a while whine about today's world.
 
Learning Avid doesn't make you another cog in the machine and learning FCP doesn't make you a maverick. They are both tools that editors use to tell stories and it would be a shame to have to use an inferior tool for the job, or miss out on the job entirely, because you only knew how to use one and not the other.

For being based on a vague question doesn't really have an answer (asking what your rate should be is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string) I think this thread has some good info in it from people who are new to the industry and people who are more established.


-A
 
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