Corporate Rates?

John Foundas

John Foundas

Well-known member
I'm thinking about offering an "all inclusive" rate for some clients.
All shooting, lighting, transportation costs (in town), editing, licensed music, basic graphics pkg and 2 revisions.

I'm considering asking $1500 per finished minute.

Any thoughts?
 
It can get slightly confusing in the beginning but I offer a complexity scale. Would you charge $22,500 for a 30 minute 2 camera interview? Would you charge $750 for a 30 second commercial? I offer a simple "all inclusive" package with complexity multipliers.
 
Pricing by the minute is a bad idea. It's far too easy to get burned.

How many revisions does that include?
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Years ago there was a small time competitor in our market that published an ad for a package deal that included "unlimited editing". We considered hiring him for a job just to see if we could keep him busy for an entire year doing revisions to the edit for no good reason. And of course becuse the package price included "unlimited editing".
 
milksac said:
Pricing by the minute is a bad idea. It's far too easy to get burned.


Years ago there was a small time competitor in our market that published an ad for a package deal that included "unlimited editing". We considered hiring him for a job just to see if we could keep him busy for an entire year doing revisions to the edit for no good reason. And of course becuse the package price included "unlimited editing".
Click to expand...

ROFLMAO!!!!! I love that kind of "outside the box" thinking.....fantastic!!!
 
Hey John,
Generally $1000 per finished minute is ball park for certain small business videos. Way too low for commercials or fortune 500 corporate work. Pricing can always be tough. I find having a corporate rate for shooting and a separate rate for editing works well and then use them to bid based on time and materials needed to produce the final product. Sometimes there is room for negotiation, as in a documentary shoot or not-for-profit shoot. Generally, you need to start somewhere in the negotiations and then decide if its worth taking less home.

Package rates are not a problem if you are VERY clear about what's included: for $1500 in the NYC area, it would only include an hour or two of shooting and a half day of editing. No custom graphics. Cheap royalty free music.

Beware of the revisions. Clients deserve a say in the final product, but they can easily spiral out of control.


Remember, the IRS is going to take 35% or more of every dollar you make.


Jason
 
Thank you.
I'm in dc and I had a hospital ask for a quote.
7 minute project and I bid $5000 all inclusive.
They said I was too expensive lol.
It does seem to be a balancing act. I throw the $1500 rate out there but then discount it down towards that $1000 per price.
What would be a fortune 500 rate IYO?
 
If at $1500 per minute, would you charge a 10 minute speech for $15000?

I have trouble setting my price per minute of finish product as there are 'events' oriented videos that are just long in nature but very simple.
 
Every job I bid on starts from scratch. Basically I take what equipment and crew x how many days + location + estimated time in post = roughly my basement price. I will bid higher based on profit margins, taxes, etc but in the end you come up with a bottom dollar that you can live with. If they say you are too high but they are willing to pay you "x". As long as "x" is at or above that minimum you can move forward. As has been mentioned it all depends on the client.

The honest answer when they ask you "How much does it cost" is "How much can you afford?". But unfortunately it doesn't work that way. You have to develop a sense for where they want to end up and make a guess. I will usually ask "What is your estimated operating budget for this project?" and sometimes I get an answer sometimes I don't. But there is no magic rate per finished minute or hourly rate for all inclusive projects. Sometimes it might work out but you are really setting yourself up for three outcomes. Overbid= lost the job. Underbid= you regret getting the job (probably). Right on the money= you found a needle in a haystack. Now not every underbid job means you will regret it. I have taken on jobs for less then I would have hoped for and it worked out. Maybe it lead to something else or I just had fun doing it. But in the end it is up to you to decide what your time is worth. I did something for free to help someone who was in need and it felt great to be in a position to help. What is your time worth to you?

But unless you offer some sort of cookie cutter approach to your productions there is no consistent number without knowing the details of each project. And every project will be different.

Good luck,

Cole
 
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