How much do people charge to make a film,movie,wedding shoots,Music Videos,etc?

JoeJITSU

JoeJITSU

Veteran
I was approached by someone and asked if I would make a movie. The movie would be about 1 hour long and he wrote the script and so forth. I told him it would depend on how many takes, where he would be shooting, and how long it would take entirely. He said that he needed even a per hour price. I told him that we should set up an appointment so I can go over his script and so forth. Also I will be shooting a wedding as well. My equipment is an HMC40 with wide angle lens, a Gh1 with various prime lens and a T2i. I have a xlr on my hmc40 with an azden mic as well as a boom mic. What lighting would I need to buy as well? Your answers would be greatly appreciated.

Joe the Noob
 
Is he just asking you to be his director of photography, or to actually make the entire movie yourself? I honestly wouldn't know what to charge. That would be so much work. I guess it boils down to what you think your time and energy is worth.
 
Well, It seems to me like he wants me to do the shooting for one and lighting and shot angles and so forth. It doesn't sound like he wants a professional movie. Because he keeps stating "short movie" and I tell him since its gonna be about an hour....Its not a short movie. Thanks for your response billy.
 
As I always tell my clients, the length of the final project can have very little bearing on how much time a project takes to produce. I've worked on three minute spots that have taken months, and hour long projects that were wrapped up much more quickly. Far more important are things like the kind of coverage he wants, the amount of camera movement, the kind of lighting, the amount of locations and set-ups, the size and experience of the crew, how detailed his planning is...

I sometimes bill hourly for editing, but shooting typically gets day rates.
 
2.000.000€/$

No seriously, Run away, I mean, if someone approaches you asking to give him a per hour rate to make a movie.. that means that he doesn't know what it takes to make a movie and won't really want to pay what the process of making a movie costs...

On the other hand if he wants to get you as DP only (lighting a camera head), in that case give him the chance to met and check the script, then give him your rate (I don't know how much, 600-700 a day? depending on the shoot days and budget..).
 
I had someone from one of our city departments ask me about a training video they wanted to shoot. He asked me how much I charge per minute of video.

I was shocked that someone thought of video production like this.
 
Carlos- its fairly common to talk in terms of charges per finished minute. Depending on the shoot, how many locations, how many days, etc. In the corporate video world here in the midwest it can range from $500 per finished minute on up..
 
Actually, it's not an uncommon way to quote a project. When someone asks what a video costs, my usual response is: "well, what does a house cost? Are we talking about a little starter home, or a 10,000 sf mansion?" That lets them think about it in such a way as they can understand how very different the pricing can range.

But still, for those who just want a "ballpark", the standard quoted rate we've used for years and years is: "$1,000 to $2,000 per finished minute." With the understanding that obviously that doesn't apply to super-short stuff like commercials, but when you're talking about typical corporate or industrial or infomercial type projects, it at least gives them a basic idea to start working from.
 
Joe, I agree that I would hesitate in working with this person. You could ask them what budget they had in mind. To simply say this is my price per hour is nuts without consideration of the script. I've made two feature length indy films we normally could only complete 4-5 minutes per day. At that rate the time it would take to shoot your film would be 2 weeks. but on the other hand I've seen some indy's do it in a week... which I think is insane.

JD
 
Barry I used to always say $1,000 per minute, but just shooting a talking head for an hour doesn't warrant a $60,000 video. However I would like to have that kind of a gig once a month at that rate.
 
No, and shooting a lawyer's 30-second TV commercial for $500 doesn't work either. :)

Gotta have flexibility in it; it's actually probably better the other way around -- charge $500 for the talking head for an hour, and $60,000 for the lawyer commercial!
 
Barry_Green said:
No, and shooting a lawyer's 30-second TV commercial for $500 doesn't work either. :)

Gotta have flexibility in it; it's actually probably better the other way around -- charge $500 for the talking head for an hour, and $60,000 for the lawyer commercial!
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lol!
Thanks...Yea I think I wont be getting back to him. way too extreme for me at the moment. I only have an HMC40 and GH1. what was I thinking?lol
 
Barry_Green said:
Actually, it's not an uncommon way to quote a project. When someone asks what a video costs, my usual response is: "well, what does a house cost? Are we talking about a little starter home, or a 10,000 sf mansion?" That lets them think about it in such a way as they can understand how very different the pricing can range.

But still, for those who just want a "ballpark", the standard quoted rate we've used for years and years is: "$1,000 to $2,000 per finished minute." With the understanding that obviously that doesn't apply to super-short stuff like commercials, but when you're talking about typical corporate or industrial or infomercial type projects, it at least gives them a basic idea to start working from.
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Bingo, I do the same as Barry, we usually figure it's somewhere around $1,000 to $2,000 per finished minute as well. But Barry's post was perfect, that's exactly right.
 
I am about to shoot a greenscreen promotion of 9 minutes with editing , throwing in pictures, text,videos in the background. I was thinking for something like this $100 a minute. what do you guys think? Or should it be a flat fee of like $600?
 
JoeJITSU said:
I am about to shoot a greenscreen promotion of 9 minutes with editing , throwing in pictures, text,videos in the background. I was thinking for something like this $100 a minute. what do you guys think? Or should it be a flat fee of like $600?
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It all depends on your local market and your level of expertise. Most of the guys posting on this particular thread would consider $600 for that job a giveaway. If you are just getting started or are in a small or rural market, you may not be able to get much more. Personally I would want at least $1000 for that job.
 
Hmm thanks guys. I guess he was the first one to ask me that and I wasn't sure how to answer him. Rather than throw out a random number and risk, I guess I wanted more of a sit down meet and get to know the client a little better.
 
JoeJITSU said:
I am about to shoot a greenscreen promotion of 9 minutes with editing , throwing in pictures, text,videos in the background. I was thinking for something like this $100 a minute. what do you guys think? Or should it be a flat fee of like $600?
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Hmmmm its hard to say without all the particulars of what the final product is. And me telling you what Id charge is not relevant to your situation. But, if someone said to me I want a 9 minute video, some greenscreen, then throwing in pictures, text, videos in the background - how much? Id say step this way and we will discuss it in a bit more detail.
 
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