Price to charge per day FS700 + Odyssey 7Q

At $500/day, I invoice time on the telephone, as well as travel time and gas if the gig is out of town, sometimes in Albuquerque. By the time it's all said and done, it prolly averages 800-1000/day, with lights and dailies. Funny how some producers and AD's want to spend hours and hours on the phone telling me what they should be saying to the director. I'm just a camera driver, for pete's sake. Getting that info from the director is one thing, but, there's always strap-hangers that want to drag things out. But, knowing that it's on their dime helps a lot. And directors with NO storyboard. As cinematographer, many times I have to help develop their story in real time...sigh. Guaranteed the shoot takes over 8 hours....then the rate goes up.

Oddly enough, if you have your shyte together, I can be pretty cheap. But, if you're stumbling around, making more work than it needs to be, and wasting my time, it's gonna cost you. And sadly enough, this happens more than you think.
 
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Woodfin Camp agency used to rep a lot of shooters who came out of National Geographic in the 70's and 80's and 90's. These were people who were very good to begin with, and who got even better as they shot thousands of rolls of film per year for the magazine. A contract photographer (not staff, who got salary and benefits) would make a really decent living earning $375/day plus all expenses, seven days a week for six to nine months a year, and could shoot other jobs when not working for Nat Geo. When they'd ask Woodfin Camp what to charge commercial clients, his advice was, "What's the biggest number you can say without choking."

Here in the Washington, DC, area, it costs $325/day just to rent an FS700-- and the lens is another $60/day additional! That's not even including an Odyssey, and it certainly doesn't include a camera operator (http://www.dc-camera.com/sony_fs700.html). Decent assistants-- ones that can set up lights and put wireless mics on people without direction-- cost $50-$100/hr.

ALWAYS set your prices high, and then discount depending on conditions. That way, instead of getting a cheap videographer, they are getting an expensive videographer for a good price.

I'm sure we all take into consideration the conditions we will be shooting under when we set prices. If the shoot will be just setting up in a client's work area and won't require a backdrop, and the client is easy to work with-- AND gives me a check at the end of the day, instead of making me submit and purchase order and wait six weeks-- the rate will be much less than for a client who thinks he is a demanding perfectionist (in reality that type is not, they just like to bully and boss to make you think they are).

Backdrops, lights, audio, all these things take more equipment and time and effort, and if the shoot will require them I add on prices. I will discount often, but the stipulations are that I will get full use of any video shot for my own purposes and the client's site will link to mine, etc.

Back in the 1980's, as a still photographer my base commercial day rate was $2400. A full buy-out (client gets full copyright) was double that. Shooting for a commercial client for ads and articles that would go into "trade" publications was half that, or $1200, and photojournalism was half of that, or about $600. The philosophy was not that it was more work, but that the client was getting more use out of the product, and after a certain reasonable period of time the photographer got to use the images as stock, which was much more valuable in those days.

Granted, these rates were for shooters who worked at the top of the profession, excepting celebrity shooters who could command up to $10,000/day or more. Film was not easy to work with, and the people who could make it really sing were worth their salt.

My base day rate is still the same these days, unfortunately, for both still and video. I will discount often for non-profits and educational, etc., and give package deals. I've had clients use other shooters because they were cheaper, then come back and pay me more to do it right. For stills, though, I've taken to charging for use, at length of time (number of months) times the size. This works for both print and website. That way when the client says, "Oh, we just want it for a few copies of a brochure," you can come back with a price that will be reasonable-- for a few copies of a brochure. However, stipulated in the contract is a chart that shows what the client owes per 1,000 copies and the size. If they say they want to use it small on the back of the brochure for 1,000 copies, and they use it big on the front of the brochure for 100,000 copies, they have already agreed to the higher price, and signed the contract for it. And the contract stipulates that the photographer has the right to audit the client's books at any time to confirm use. Same thing with websites, how prominent and how long? Set your rates accordingly, if you can do so for that type of use.

However, these days we are mostly stuck with day rates, which clients tend to think of as an "all you can eat buffet," or hourly rates, which penalize you for being fast and good. Lately, I've been setting rates based on how much of a PITA the shoot will be, and if the client doesn't like the number they can go somewhere else.
 
Disambiguous66 said:
Lately, I've been setting rates based on how much of a PITA the shoot will be, and if the client doesn't like the number they can go somewhere else.
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+1
Love it!!! I don't have the time or inclination for shoots that are a PITA. And my rate goes up according to how much I want (or don't want) the job.
 
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