First paid project rates...

W

Wuffy

New member
Hi there, I'm new to this forum but have about 1-2 years of videography experience under my belt, and have the confidence to say I'm producing some good quality work now with a combination of Canon DSLR and Canon ProCam tools and the know-how to work them well.

I'm mainly a sports videographer, and I have been approached by a company in the sport to film a series of bike races across the country, 8 events in total (over about 10 weeks), each taking 2-3 days to get to the events/film and then editing once I'm back home. Filming each day would be from 10am-4pm (give or take an hour) and 5-6 hours editing, as well as sponsorship logo placements and releasing the videos to the client to upload.

This is my first large paid project after doing the same thing last year as a freelance videographer just to get my name out for opportunities such as this.

As its my first project I was wondering what sort of rates people would charge for a project like this, obviously its a lot of time going into the project and I'll be producing quality advertising and coverage for the team.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
 
2 people minimum. Don't try this alone! $500 per person per day shooting. $250 per person per day traveling. $40 per person per diem. All expenses paid (at least travel and lodging). It may sound fun to camp out, but unless it can not be avoided or is part of the production stay in a respectable hotel with beds and showers. $400 per day editing. By my count and your time estimates the minimum would be $20,480+expenses. I would ask for $35,000.
 
Yeah... No way I'm getting anywhere near that.

And I'm doing it alone. I have done it before, I can do it just as easily again, if not easier with the new equipment I have. I was thinking more along the lines of 250 a day filming, and a little bit more for logo placement.

Your prices are outrageously over the top IMO, no one will pay that much.
 
Business model? How much do you need to earn per hour to run a successful business? I charge what I consider middle of the road prices, at a day rate of $1500 including gear. Stating in your post that "your prices are outrageously over the top IMO, no one will pay that much", shows how inexperienced you are in business matters. My suggestion would be to sit down and calculate your expenses so you will know how much you need to earn per hour to meet your needs, rather than trying to price a job based on Internet answers.
 
As I don't have to full scope of your production and deliverables I can not say with certainty your in over your head. What I can say is my minimum is 50% less then at least on other professional. This is my business model. Deliver quality products at a price just under my competitors. $250 a day for filming would almost be doable if none of the gear was yours and you were entirely freelance with no above the line decision making.

This is not to say it can't be done. You could do it for free if you wanted. I recommend assessing David's suggestion in terms of your actual cost. Your gear will not be shiny and new when you finish shooting 8 bikes races across the country. Good luck and please understand I personally was only giving my professional opinion. It would be great for the community at large for you to post some samples and insights after production is completed.
 
As someone who's done similar cross-country shoots before, I'd say kgimedia's assessment is right on the money. Don't ever sell yourself short. Overwhelmingly, the clients who can't pay going market rates lack both an understanding and appreciation of the work that you do/will be doing. Unless you need the money, save yourself the headache.
 
Don't take offence but many of us professionals have kids to feed, and a mortgage to pay. A respectable client understands industry rates. Bidding low will always lead to heartache. When I started out, I made these mistakes. Projects always take longer than expected and the money quickly runs out. You're unhappy, and the work isn't fun anymore. The end product suffers, and you will unlikely never want to do another project with them. I stay away from cheap clients because they really don't appreciate your work, or simply don't understand. If you love what you do, the passion shines through and it will show in your work. Clients will come, be patient... it's worth it.

Bob


Wuffy said:
Hi there, I'm new to this forum but have about 1-2 years of videography experience under my belt, and have the confidence to say I'm producing some good quality work now with a combination of Canon DSLR and Canon ProCam tools and the know-how to work them well.

I'm mainly a sports videographer, and I have been approached by a company in the sport to film a series of bike races across the country, 8 events in total (over about 10 weeks), each taking 2-3 days to get to the events/film and then editing once I'm back home. Filming each day would be from 10am-4pm (give or take an hour) and 5-6 hours editing, as well as sponsorship logo placements and releasing the videos to the client to upload.

This is my first large paid project after doing the same thing last year as a freelance videographer just to get my name out for opportunities such as this.

As its my first project I was wondering what sort of rates people would charge for a project like this, obviously its a lot of time going into the project and I'll be producing quality advertising and coverage for the team.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
 
Wuffy said:
Yeah... No way I'm getting anywhere near that.

no one will pay that much.
Click to expand...

Its been said already, but worth repeating - most *do* pay that kind of rate (or more). It has simply been *your* experience that 'no one' will pay that much. Bottom line: its your client, charge what you want but please understand that the opinions offered here are of sound advice.


Jason
 
It's been repeated enough - but I'll add to the pile, the rates everyone's throwing around in response are pretty much in line with what I see in my market.

Best piece of advice I ever got when starting out was from the first guy who ever hired me to shoot for him - he told me I should aim for roughly 25-30% of the people I pitch to tell me I am too expensive. That was how he gauged his rates. If everyone accepts your rates then odds are you're too low. If no one accepts your rates then odds are you're too high.

Point is - don't consider what you think your clients can afford until you first consider what you think you're worth.
If you're as good as you think you are then there is no logical reason everyone should be able to afford you.
Trust me, there are plenty of things in this world I would like to have that I simply can't afford - same goes for other people in regards to my services.

That said - I know full well I did work when starting out for budgets that I would never consider today. I was building a reel, meeting new clients, and I had nearly zero expenses.
So, if it's a good opportunity and you truly feel it would help you build up some better material, then it might be worth doing it for less than ideal rates. That's a calculated risk you have to weigh.

But don't immediately go in with an incredibly low rate only because you feel the client won't pay something higher.
If you don't value your own worth in the market then no potential client will ever value it either.
 
After years of freelance and cheaplance I went into the meeting that allowed me to quit my day job and start my company with a quote that was 30% more then I wanted. My plan was to offer a discount during my pitch. The client asked for my price before I even started my pitch. He said yes before I had time to give him the discount. Only years later did I realize he would have paid twice as much as I asked.
 
I have the same sort of question as the OP... instead of starting a new thread, I figured I might as well add to this existing one!

I've been working full-time in government video production for the past 3.5 years, and would like to start freelancing on the weekends to earn extra money. I already have my own prosumer camera (HMC150), pro gear (tripod, mics, etc.) and editing equipment (Mac Pro, FCP7) that I've used to shoot/edit family get-togethers, a cousin's wedding, and occasional videos for a martial arts gym that I've attended for the past couple of years. The family stuff I do for free and the martial arts videos I shoot/edit at my leisure in exchange for classes. Here's a video I shot earlier this year of an MMA fight featuring one of the fighters from my gym:

(Forgive the shakiness during the actual fight, I could only use my monopod at cageside.)

A few months back I shot/edited a visiting instructor's seminar at my martial arts gym, which my coaches really liked. They recently asked me if I would be interested in shooting an instructional video (roughly one hour in length) sometime early next year featuring the same instructor, only this time as a contractor. Since this is the first paid freelance project with which I've been approached, I'm not sure what rate to charge them for my work. I was initially thinking about charging $30/hour for both shooting (which would only take one day) and editing, but after reading some of the posts in this thread, I'm thinking that amount may be way too low! I only have 3.5 years total shooting/editing experience and still consider myself a bit green, but I think I'm worth more than the average newbie. Any thoughts/advice on what I should charge for this "first" job?

EDIT: I haven't figured out how to properly embed YouTube video on this forum, but here's a link to a much shorter clip that's similar to the one posted above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSPe1X4o3hI

I don't have a clip of the seminar that I mentioned, but I'll try to upload one this weekend to give a better understanding of what the instructional video might look like.
 
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If it gives you any context and perspective. I'm 19, and I live in New Zealand. I'm pretty much the only one who does this sort of thing as its a growing sport, a bit like motocross was 20 years ago, but then again, there are hardly any companies here that produce opportunities such as the one being offered, so its a bit of catch 22, if I say no we're both in the red, I'd have to pay my own way to the races and he'd have no coverage, but I don't want to ask for to much and him say 'no we cant afford that' otherwise again we'll both be worse off. I suggested 250 per round as a base payment, and maybe more depending on what logo placements or sponsor placements he wants in the videos, he said he'd have a look at their company budget and get back to me within the next few weeks.

Earlier this year I did the same thing and it was all paid for by me, basically to get my name out and to show people I was actually out there doing it and I was getting 4-5k views per week uploaded just onto Vimeo and distributed through facebook and another forum.

Next year I'm going to be getting 15k+ views per week, with 8 videos possibly more that's a lot of advertising and coverage, especially in such a specialized market.

It's hard to find anyone here that realizes just how valuable it is.
 
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