Help-need pricing advice!

[eco_bach]

Just finished a pro-bono piece you can view here.
vimeo.com/28371245
A client wants to know how much it would cost to do a piece 'similar to' this.


As this was a learning piece for me and my first filmed interview, a lot of extra time was obviously spent, but a rough breakdown of time in days ( if I was to do everything again)would be 2 shooting days (1st day interviews, 2nd day all Broll) + 5 days total editing , color grading.


Of course this DOESN'T take into account all the time spent creative problem solving, both in the planning and post production-editing phase


It's obviously all DSLR based, and for the interviews, single camera with no sound person or assistant, just a lav mic into a ZoomH4N.
I own my own equipment, but rented a KinoFlo twice, slider and a Blackbird stabilizer, still under $300 total for rentals.




What would be a reasonable amount to quote (LOW to HIGH) for a similar project not including any music licensing fees?

 

[David W. Jones]

Jim, You need to sit down and establish your rate. Then things get much easier. Your hourly rate times the number of hours, or your daily rate times the number of days. Add in travel time if any, and any rentals like the Lighting and stabilizer. Only you can calculate your expenses, and only you know your experience level and how quickly you work. You say it took you 7 days to complete this project, so 7 days X your day rate + rental costs would be a good starting point. As you gain more experience you will be able to gage projects a little easier. Going by the number of hours it took you to complete this project at my rate, I would have billed $11K. But after viewing the project, I know from experience that I could likely knock out the interviews in half a day, and the B-Roll in half a day, and take a day to load and go through footage, and do the rough edit. Then a day for revisions with the client and finishing. So I would likely bill around $4500 for the 3 days work. It's been my experience that clients don't want you to linger on projects, and want things completed with the least amount of billable hours. I also don't know of many small businesses like this that have the budget to spend on a weeks worth of production/post work for this type project. But things are obviously different in your area.

All the Best!

Dave