How to charge for a long term project/travel documentary?

R

ReelFilmGeek

Well-known member
So I was recently asked if I'd be interested in shooting a 10 week travel documentary and wondered how you guys go about quote a price for something that spans over a long period. I've also worked on projects that expanded over a few years but I was just hired as a shooter and always wondered how you estimate a project that takes place over such a long period of time
 
Are you supposed to be just a shooter? If so, start out with your day rate x70 (7 days x 10 weeks) plus expenses and per diem for travel. Discount from there, if appropriate.

And don't forget to specify in your contract (you really need to get all of this in writing before you sow up and start shooting) how you plan to handle the additional days when the shoot goes over. Will they be billed at the discounted rate, or at your full rate? And per diem has to be continued for the extra days as well.

If you're doing preproduction or postproduction, then you need to also be compensated for that time.

Preproduction may be a handful of meetings over a few days or couple of weeks. It can also be two or three months of intensive, daily work. If it's an occasional meeting and they're buying lunch and then they're paying for a 70 day shoot, you may not need to charge a lot (or anything) for the preproduction meetings. If you're going to be the DP or director and you really need to be involved in preproduction in a granular way, then preproduction needs to be paid time.

If you're going to be involved in editing, well that can wind up being an open ended proposition. That gets paid at a daily or weekly rate for the duration of the edit. You may have a target window for how long you want the edit to go, but the reality may not come close to that.
 
Not like Arnie said because at 70 days of work EVERY producer expects significant discount. Ask how many shooting days they anticipate per week, how many travel days (half-day rate) and estimate how much prep you might have to attend to.
 
At the end of the day, how much money would you need to take the next 70 days to work on one project and only one project?
 
Lots of great advice here guys thank you! Still waiting to find out more information about this project but this info has been great. Will keep everyone up to date when I hear back about the project.
 
Was wondering if you got the bid for that project? if so what parts of the world would you be traveling, and have you decided what gear to bring?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top