Alright, well I would just like to say hello, this is my topic on this forum. I have a very important question, I was offered a job filming and editing these little promo vids for a mall in my area. The guy in charge of marketing and promotions came up to me while I was filming a demo and asked if he could get some frame grabs from my camera. I said yes and then he went on to ask me what I use to edit at home and what not and then he gave me his card and told me to email him. I emailed him and gave him those frame grabs from the demo(which actually looked pretty good for frame grabs) and he has been talking to me about doing these small vids no longer than a 90 seconds. He is asking me to name a price just to do one, I'm not sure what to charge him. he said they don't have to be fancy and he said if I pass the "boardroom budget test" then i might be able to do almost 30 of these. As you can tell I'm pretty new to this stuff(the business side of filming and editing) i've done small wedding vids for family and i filmed some stuff at conference over the summer, and got paid a good amount. So to end this and not make things so hard I'm just asking what would be the average price for doing something small like this. he said it would be an interview with the owners of the stores and some b-roll, he said he wants "edgy" nothing to smooth. If you need more info on the situation then ask, and if you can help me out that would be great. Sorry for the long noobish post. Thanks.
Getting paid.
- Thread starter TimmyTim
- Start date
First thing you ask is what the budget is. There's no such thing as a "boardroom budget test," there's what they're willing to pay and what you're willing to accept. People always pull this because they know that you tend to underprice yourself for fear of not getting the job. The truth is the job isn't worth getting if you're not getting paid enough, and they're not going to respect you anyway.
You decide how long the shoot is expected to take, how many people are going to be involved, what equipments you need, what expenses (tape etc.) are involved. You figure out how much time you're expected to do editing, the whole nine. That's your floor figure. Then you hear what they have to say and you make a decision.
One piece of advice: ask for half the money upfront, then 25% after the first cut and the rest after the final cut. Specify before hand that any changes beyond the final cut will cost extras so you don't end up with a thousand "suggestions" after you finished shooting.
You decide how long the shoot is expected to take, how many people are going to be involved, what equipments you need, what expenses (tape etc.) are involved. You figure out how much time you're expected to do editing, the whole nine. That's your floor figure. Then you hear what they have to say and you make a decision.
One piece of advice: ask for half the money upfront, then 25% after the first cut and the rest after the final cut. Specify before hand that any changes beyond the final cut will cost extras so you don't end up with a thousand "suggestions" after you finished shooting.
grinner
Carbonite Member
Timmy, you just have to decide what you think you are worth vs what your market pays. Sticking to by the hour is best most of the time. You'll get good at judging how many hours a project will take this way.
Sounds like if you offer these for a couple hundred bucks a pop, yu could build your first on-going relationship.
Sounds like if you offer these for a couple hundred bucks a pop, yu could build your first on-going relationship.