Charging to Shoot a Documentary?

V

VR_Productions

Active member
Here's the deal.

I am a filmmaker that has been commissioned by a friend to shoot a documentary for him. He wants to own all the rights and pay me for my time and take on the longterm investment of distributing it. He is kind of helping with story but he expects me to do all prep work, shots lists, etc...

The film will be shot in Africa and the trip will be six weeks in length. I will basically have to quit my day job to take this assignment but that is okay with me because I should be freelancing full time anyways.

I want to charge him two rates, a before we go to Africa rate that is higher and a day rate for while we are shooting because he is paying all expenses for the trip.

Would you suggest I charge like this, $400 per day for all prep work and editing done in the US and $200 in Africa per day for shooting?

If I quote too high he won't do it but too low and I screw myself. It will be all my own gear and creative input so that is why I am afraid to go too low.

What do you think?
 
Don't quote anything -- instead, ask him what he has budgeted for this picture. If he says he doesn't want to spend over, say, $50,000 -- then you know you're safe to go with $400/day in Africa too. If he says "I won't spend a penny over $5,000" then you know you can just walk away.

But if he's prepared to spend $50k and you quote $200/day, that'll mean you're pulling in $8400 for the whole job for six weeks, when he may have been content to pay twice that much. Or more.
 
Few things to consider.
1. Has he ever PRODUCED a documentary?
If he hasn't you may find yourself putting in a lot more time and effort to make this happen. Do you really want to be just paid outright for your time and more importantly your creative input, or would you rather also own a percentage of the finsihed product?
2. As Barry said, ask him what his budget is.
3. While travelling I would normally charge more for services, not less. You may say well I'm getting a free trip to Africa out of it, but anyone that has travelled extensively for work can tell you, it is not what they'd consider a "free trip". Your time is not your own to do what you want. You are usually tied to the production 24/7.
4. Make sure he covers insurance costs for your equipment (and your health) while travelling.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top