Editing Rates

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kalapakiboogie

Member
Hi everyone,

Wasn't sure where to post this...

So there is a client that has contacted me and asked if I can compile a highlight reel for her son who is a high school basketball player. She has shot all the games and has all the footage. She wants me to take it and put together the best of his moments so he can send if off to colleges. Seems like it will just be some simple editing with a fancy DVD label and case. My question however is I'm not sure how much I should charge to edit this together for her. Is there a standard going rate for something simple like this? I know it will take some time but it shouldn't be hard. What should my hourly rate be?

Thanks in advance!
 
i charge £7.50 per minuet for footage that I've shot and an extra 50% ontop for other people's footage. With your own, you know what you have, what you want, and film it and whallop, its done in no time. with others it not quite like that.
 
Its a lot more complicated then just spouting out hourly numbers.

Its a dance between how much your services actually cost you and what the client is willing to pay.
 
Your going to love me for this...

I used to work for years in the video office of an athletic department of a PAC-10 school. *ALL* the tapes we received went into the recycle bin without being viewed. We didn't even bother to return them (cost too much money). And we got HUNDREDS of them. It's like that for almost all bigger schools.

Now if she plans on sending it to smaller Division III schools, that may be different. But if all she plans on doing it sending it to big or even just decent sized schools, it's simply a waste of time. There are people on staff whose entire or partial jobs is to find recruits. If her son is good enough to play for the big boys, somebody already knows about him. Otherwise, he's going to have to try and walk on.
 
Thank You Smifis

MadHMC150 said:
Its a lot more complicated then just spouting out hourly numbers.

Its a dance between how much your services actually cost you and what the client is willing to pay.
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Would it be wise you ask their budget and work from there? This a new thing for me so I just want to make sure I get it right the first time.
 
Mike Harvey said:
Your going to love me for this...

I used to work for years in the video office of an athletic department of a PAC-10 school. *ALL* the tapes we received went into the recycle bin without being viewed. We didn't even bother to return them (cost too much money). And we got HUNDREDS of them. It's like that for almost all bigger schools.

Now if she plans on sending it to smaller Division III schools, that may be different. But if all she plans on doing it sending it to big or even just decent sized schools, it's simply a waste of time. There are people on staff whose entire or partial jobs is to find recruits. If her son is good enough to play for the big boys, somebody already knows about him. Otherwise, he's going to have to try and walk on.
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Haha, well thanks for that info!!

I'm not sure what she wants to do with it or where she wants to send it yet. We haven't had out initial consult. I do know that her son goes to a small private high school so the sports program isn't that large.
 
Think of it like this, it's work, doesn't matter what they do with it as long as the money comes in, if they want to blow it, blow it on me XD
 
lol Mike,

thanks for the share, but I agree with smifis...

Smifis said:
Think of it like this, it's work, doesn't matter what they do with it as long as the money comes in, if they want to blow it, blow it on me XD
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Its not up to me to tell them their making a wise investment, just give them what they ask for (with your professional interpretation) and make it better than they expected.

I wouldn't ask for the budget up front... takes a rapport and trust in you before they will tell you an honest answer. You may get lowballed if you just ask right away. Got to put some feelers out there...

Thats why I call it a 'Dance' :)

UPDATE: where is it... oh yeah here is more info from a while back! http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=174711
 
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alright. thanks for all the advice everyone. I have one more question. Does anyone here know the general length of a highlight/performance reel like the one my client wants? I know it will also be dependent on the amount of material she provides me with and how much of it is actually usable, but is there a general accepted length for these things?

Thanks
 
Mike Harvey said:
Your going to love me for this...

I used to work for years in the video office of an athletic department of a PAC-10 school. *ALL* the tapes we received went into the recycle bin without being viewed. We didn't even bother to return them (cost too much money). And we got HUNDREDS of them. It's like that for almost all bigger schools.
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Gospel.

I was a college athletic coach with a top-10 team. Because we recruited internationally we did look at some tapes, but for the most part, these things just get chucked in the bin.

That said, a job is a job. Chances are they don't have a bunch of money, the kid couldn't get seen through normal channels, and they probably REALLY need this. Hopefully the kid is not a senior, or it's too late already.

I'd say charge them a couple hundred buck *IF* they are willing to log the tapes. Meaning they number the tapes, and give you rough time codes of the things they want in.

If they want you to search the tapes and find the best moments yourself, I'd give them a number that would make it worth my while.
 
kalapakiboogie said:
alright. thanks for all the advice everyone. I have one more question. Does anyone here know the general length of a highlight/performance reel like the one my client wants? I know it will also be dependent on the amount of material she provides me with and how much of it is actually usable, but is there a general accepted length for these things?

Thanks
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Depends on how action packed and quick the cuts are... and of course amount of footage...

You will probably bore most audiences after 5 minutes? You always can 'add' more later and charge for it...

I would shoot for a 2 minute.
 
kalapakiboogie said:
alright. thanks for all the advice everyone. I have one more question. Does anyone here know the general length of a highlight/performance reel like the one my client wants? I know it will also be dependent on the amount of material she provides me with and how much of it is actually usable, but is there a general accepted length for these things?

Thanks
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Ten minutes.. Fifteen tops. In all honesty, if the tape gets played, the only way a coach will watch more than 2 minutes is if the kid is really good, or the coach is really desperate. Find 10 seconds of intro material, then the best highlghts in the first minute. The rest can move at a slower pace.. .

If you don't know the game well, I am sure we can guide you on the kinds of things a coach will want to see.
 
Any time you give them something edited to look over, make sure you've got big ugly time code at the bottom. Or if you can think of a semi-offensive water mark, then the client can't walk away from the deal with a well edited product. And put a small notation on the bottom indicating which edit this represents. My clients often have multiple versions floating around for approvals, can be hard to keep track of things.

You can also score extra coin with the dubs. If they chose NOT to have dubs made (they'll burn 'em themselves) then pick a reasonable number that they might do, and charge 50% of that as a 'Mastering' fee for the Master DVD.

You should look at the footage first. Parents take the worst video, I swear. Factor in all the time it will take to transfer all the footage to your computer. Lord help you if all you have is wide shots from the back of the arena. This is going to be very hard to make visually exciting.

And don't forget, the kid's future professional basketball career rests in the quality of job you do.

This is not the simplest thing you could be doing as a beginner. A lot of the pro's around here wouldn't touch it either.
 
WpgCameraMan said:
Any time you give them something edited to look over, make sure you've got big ugly time code at the bottom. Or if you can think of a semi-offensive water mark, then the client can't walk away from the deal with a well edited product. And put a small notation on the bottom indicating which edit this represents. My clients often have multiple versions floating around for approvals, can be hard to keep track of things.

You can also score extra coin with the dubs. If they chose NOT to have dubs made (they'll burn 'em themselves) then pick a reasonable number that they might do, and charge 50% of that as a 'Mastering' fee for the Master DVD.

You should look at the footage first. Parents take the worst video, I swear. Factor in all the time it will take to transfer all the footage to your computer. Lord help you if all you have is wide shots from the back of the arena. This is going to be very hard to make visually exciting.

And don't forget, the kid's future professional basketball career rests in the quality of job you do.

This is not the simplest thing you could be doing as a beginner. A lot of the pro's around here wouldn't touch it either.
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Thanks everyone for the insight. I do have to start somewhere though so hopefully this will be a good experience for me and the client. If anything, this will give me more experience to do it better in the future. I would hope the the future of the kids basketball career lies within his skills as a player and not the way the footage is shot or edited. I am just a providing a means for the kid to be seen without showing all the stuff that coaches don't want to see. Most coaches are looking at the performance of the player.
 
PerroneFord said:
Gospel.

I was a college athletic coach with a top-10 team. Because we recruited internationally we did look at some tapes, but for the most part, these things just get chucked in the bin.
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I actually felt sorry for all those kids. These were all kids who actually thought they had a chance, and spent money on producing theses tapes (there are companies that specialize in this sort of thing) when in reality their dreams were never going to be more than that so it was all a waste.

But at least we had a steady supply of free VHS tapes. :huh:
 
Mike Harvey said:
But at least we had a steady supply of free VHS tapes. :huh:
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Years ago the station where I worked we shot on BetaSP but all on-air playback was 3/4", so when we got sent PSA's on SP, they would be dubbed to 3/4" and then the SP tapes were used in our cameras. I would often go out and shoot a story with a bag full of 5 minute tapes. Every now and then we would get a 30 second PSA on a 30 minute tape, made our day.

Tape... Hmmm... I'll never go back.
 
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