Shooting a series of training videos...pricing?

C Walker

C Walker

Well-known member
I'm fishing for an average flat rate to charge a client for shooting a series of 30-second training videos for their website. Simple lighting, one...maybe two cameras, one or two locations. Nothing major. Companies like TurnHere are doing 60-90 second commercials paying $250 to the filmmaker. That feels like too much for what this is, but that's why I'm asking here first.

Using DVX-100, FCP...in case that matters.

Thanks!
 
$250 way too cheap. Figure it this way:

Camera wear and tear, time to get to the gig and other locations, set up and teardown of the lights (however simple) plus hours on the bulbs, shoot it a couple of times because even if you get it right the first time it's always good to have a backup in the can, capture time into your edit system, editing, graphics, export and compression for the web...etc...etc...etc...

You're looking at least 1 full day to knock out a few of these from shoot to edit, and that's if they're really simple. All that time and gear I'd give them a quote for $1,000 a day and tell them the more prepared and rehearsed they are on shoot day the more we can shoot and get done.

How many of these are they wanting to do?
 
I agree with butcher, WAY too cheap! Look at one of the 30-second commercials running in your typical network prime-time program and count the number of shots in it. Putting together something that looks impressive - and if the client didn't want it to look impressive he wouldn't bother having you make it in the first place - is going to require much more than just setting up the camera, hitting the subject with a couple of lights, and punching the record button. Try to get a feel for what it's worth to the client, in terms of increased revenue or decreased costs, to have the pieces they want you to do for them and charge them accordingly.
 
Any company offering 250 for a turn-key production is in the business of gettng free content. They just offer an rediculasly low amount to attract students and to have something to write off. I often have realestate video companies try to get me to make walk through tours for them for 300 bucks. I simply can't make one of these in 3 hours so I pass.
Figure your hourly rate and multiply it by how long you feel it will take you. That's your bid.
 
Wow, thanks for all the responses. The current standing is about 5, 30-second videos. I'm sure the number will increase.
 
If you quote 500 bucks per "episode" they'd be coming out golden and you'd gain expereince in the process. I'd see this as a win/win situation.
Know this is not a normal rate. You are giving them a hella low rate in trade for experience in this scenerio.
If the natl average for a shooter with gear is 750/day and the natl average for a day of post is a 1,500 you are talking about 2k per segment easily if they shopped around in the real world.
 
What's the total minutes of all the videos? I usually charge "per finished minute" (includes everything except travel and lodging) in this case, which is negotiated before the project starts, and usually the rate comes to around $1000 to $1500 per-finished-minute. I did several 3-minute trainers a few years ago, and the total time was 15 minutes, so charged $15,000.
 
Yeah I'd charge per finished minute roughly as well, but when it's too small there is a minimum. I won't do anything for less than $4,000.

But generally $1,000 per finished minute is roughly accurate. A 3-4 minute virtual tour though is going to be $4,000 to $5,000. A 15 minute training video we can do for $15K.
 
You guys actually go by finished minutes? What if you're doing a graphic intensive piece and it takes you a week to finish a minute? Or if you're shooting a talking head conference going straight to DVD that runs 70 minutes? Do you charge $70,000?

We just figure out how long we expect it to take, add a bit for safety, then multiply by our hourly rate and give them a quote. Has nothing to do with total running time.
 
i agree with Butcher. I don't know how you could go by finished minutes when there is such a wide range of possible program requirements.
 
Well, it's rough, I don't go by finished minutes, I just find with a lot of projects it's probably a good general guidelines, that's all.

But hourly rate? No. Contractors charge an hourly rate, when I hire them. I don't have an hourly rate. And nor do companies in general. So I feel like on this forum we're always talking about two things, the videographers or one-man-band contractor types, and real companies. A company doesn't say, "Ok my company makes $100/hr." No it doesn't work that way. Companies have overhead, employees, insurance, etc. What I charge has nothing to do with an hourly rate and everything to do with a profit margin.
 
Production companies certainly do go by hourly rates. I don't own a company, but every company I've worked for has gone by flat rates for certain projects, hourly for others. Our hourly rate includes overhead, employee salaries, profit, benefits, etc...

You figure out what you need to make to cover costs, add what you need to make for profit, and divide by the number of billable hours you can reasonably charge per year and that's your hourly rate. Now you can charge just that, or you can use it to give a package price but you have to have a lot of experience to hit that number right or you end up grossly overquoting or going to the client asking for more money because you didn't bid right.

If we hire contractors, that's in addition to our hourly rate and is figured into our quotes. I would argue that to say companies (and I assume we're talking about production companies here) don't generally use hourly rates is false. Start calling shops and ask for rate sheets--if you're a competitor they probably won't give them to you, but if you were a client you'd see they do exist and are typically hourly rates.
 
No, it isn't false. I own and run a production company. I do not consider an hourly rate at all. I consider that this project is going to cost me $1,500 by itself, I have an employee to pay, I have insurance, I need to make money, my equipment ages, etc., so I'm going to charge $4,000 for it, or whatever it is. It's based on what I already know works with what I've already charged. And no professional company would EVER go back to the client and ask for more money once you've already signed a contract for how much you said it's going to be. If it's over, you eat the cost and you learn from your mistakes.

I have spoken to many other production companies and even secret shopped them and never seen anyone say they charge by the hour. It's always based on the project. Do you think music videos are charged by the hour? No. Production companies make music videos, too, some only do music videos, especially in the past. It was very simple. The budget is $350,000. You as the production company figure out the math and the production company always takes a 15% markup on the actual costs, director 10%, producer 5%. So the company would put together the pieces, and in the end make a 15% markup on the below-the-line costs. It has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone's hourly rates, except to say that they wouldn't take a project so small and pathetic that they couldn't pay their own hourly staff.

I can't think of a single example where a real production company does anything on an hourly basis, so I have no idea where you got your information.
 
JonathanLB. Could you provide us with a link to your companies website. You are often on here talking about the way you do things and you seem to do be doing well by your posts. Care to share some links?

Thanks
 
JonathanLB said:
But hourly rate? No. A company doesn't say, "Ok my company makes $100/hr." No it doesn't work that way.
Click to expand...

That's how it works here. I offer flat bids for turn-key projects because I know how long it'll take me. Otherwise, they know they are on the clock by the hour... per the norm.
 
Butcher said:
You guys actually go by finished minutes? What if you're doing a graphic intensive piece and it takes you a week to finish a minute? Or if you're shooting a talking head conference going straight to DVD that runs 70 minutes? Do you charge $70,000?
Click to expand...

The original post was about training videos.

Butcher said:
We just figure out how long we expect it to take, add a bit for safety, then multiply by our hourly rate and give them a quote. Has nothing to do with total running time.
Click to expand...

I bet that if you spent the time figuring out what your hourly rate translates to as a finished rate, it would be a stable number.

I can give a quite accurate quote within seconds of hearing the project requirements, and as a result usually get the job on the spot at the first meeting.

Another factor is that I don't do small jobs, and hourly rates are pointless because there's nothing that can be done in an hour (and if there is I usually do it for free, since it's just an hour and it will usually lead to more work.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top