What should I charge for an editing project?

DavidBeier

DavidBeier

Veteran
I've been hired for a project to take a bunch of fine arts footage (shots of paintings, dance perfomances, stage performances, music, ect) and compile them into a 10-15 minute video. The school that is hiring me wanted to know if I wanted to be paid based on hourly work or in one lump some. I think hourly makes more sense just for editing but I'm not sure how much to charge by the hour. This is MY old school and I want to give them a good deal so a fair but conservative price is what I'm looking for. Thanks.
 
I would say plan on 1.5 to 2 hours per finished minute.

Then you could add in machine rental time and materials and discount that out.

So -- let's say your time is $50/hour and machine time is 20/hour (you plug in your own numbers as you see fit...)

$750 for you
$300 for machine
$50 for misc tape and DVDs

Would you charge them $1100 and feel good about it?

CaptM
 
Hmmm probably have to lower that a bit but it's a starting point. Thanks. Is $50 an hour really the going rate for an small editing?
 
Although since I am beginner editor and haven't developed set rates yet, this is what I do. I see how much time it will take, and how long the actaully piece is. I then make sure that I give myself a fair price, usually about $10, $20 an hour. Next I calculate how many graphics I have to create myself as well as anything out of the ordinary...I consider that "Additional Labour". Since I am also working at a local resturant, I calculate how many days, or hours I have to lose in order to finsih the project on time. Once everything is tallied up, I then add on $100 - $150 as a creative fee. If you feel like you can make a peice really good, you can charge more and if you don't feel confident, you charge less, but don't tell them lol. Make sure that anything you buy gets added on as "expenses" and doesn't come out of your own pocket.


For your project, I would charge $500 just because It's your former school, but depending on how good you can make it, you may want to charge more.



Good Luck,
Andrei
 
I was charging $75 an hour for editing on ppro 1.5 . Now usually $100 an hour on FCP. Not that FCP is harder...... just because I can. People recognise mac and FCP and expect to pay more. I have a 15 second commercial edit in the next few weeks.. all footage provided in HD. Im charging 50000 yen, about $450 USD, but thats basically for one full extended day ........ probably edit from about 7am to midnight 1am to get a good result. Send them draft probably a few minor changes.... another two hours.

Viva la mac.

EDIT: this is for HD only. Surpisingly I have a few locals that get me to edit their own shot HD home movies on consumer cams every few months, but this is Japan.
 
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I charge $100 per hour so it is not far fetched to ask for $50 per hour. Don't forget that there is much more going on besides editing. Meeting the client, discussing what they want, material costs of tapes, DVDs, etc.
 
Oh, and don't forget the biggest amount of overhead you have- you have to pay for your Mac and FCP, right???

People that charge $10-$20 per hour will realize one day that there is more to running this as a business in order to become profitable- AND people will pay for it! No offense to you folks who are only charging that much.....
 
10-15 minute video? Anything less than that $1,100 quote and you're gypping yourself. I think it's going to take longer than you might think to edit this. Don't sell yourself short.
It's a "fine arts" school, they gotta have the funds for this. Bang 'em for $1,500!
 
the 450 a day sounds good. maybe you can tell them you will do the shoot for free, and then charge a per day price for the edit. whatever you think is worth a ten hour day. you're giving them a break by filming for "free" and then however many hours you end up putting into editing just charge the per day fee for. If you are not so happy with the final product then take something off of the final tally. just my suggestion.
jason
 
Deepfocus88 said:
10-15 minute video? Anything less than that $1,100 quote and you're gypping yourself. I think it's going to take longer than you might think to edit this. Don't sell yourself short.
It's a "fine arts" school, they gotta have the funds for this. Bang 'em for $1,500!
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I agree. $1000 is unheard of to produce anything of a decent quality. I think the younger crowd views things differently when it come's to money. A thousand dollars could be a pretty penny to to a 19 year old... but it aint (I'm 26, by the way). Shooting and editing is something that very few people can do. It's a talent, it's a lot of learning, it take's a lot of expensive equipment, and anyone that can do it shouldn't forget that. Hell, the price of just renting a camera for a two day shoot would cost a few hundred.

I did a school project last year that was sort of a "remember" for the seniors moving on. I got teacher interviews with words of advice for the students, shots of the school, and a few student interviews. I charged $3000, the school was pleased with the price, and they wanted me to do it again this year... but I was just too busy. They then turned around and sold the DVD's back to the students for something like $10-$20 a piece, and everyone bought them. You've got to remember that our equipment is not cheap, and upkeep is expensive. Schools have budgets for these type's of things, so don't sell yourself short by doing "favors". Doing this for under $1000 is not a favor, it's a rip off.

-brown
 
yeah where I am from, NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY (at least those who have done editing) appreciates the amount of hours put into editing a video and making it look decent and professional. I spent almost 20 hours on a wedding video for a friend, and he saw he final product and suggested changes that would amount to another 10 hours of work.. and you know what I am getting in return? I'm not even going to say it cos its embarrassingly little.. its cos its for a friend and its a lousy market here. After this, I won't be doing any wedding videos edit favours anymore... to be honest I was downright annoyed with my friend for under appreciating the AMOUNT of work involved...

I have a full time job so I do editing on a part time basis. just factor in the fact that I get say $250 a day on my real job, then the time I'd have to take away from my wife and daughter to do editing till late into the night, then you'd start to appreciate how much it'll cost to pay for editing... so pls don't go charging $20 an hour... cos you'll be selling yourself short and dragging the whole market down...
 
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Just as a tangent, how many people do you think use copyrighted music without permission in these school yearbook type projects? I'm just starting out in the bis myself, and so far have been using cheap unpopular music I actually bought the rights for- but it kills me to see people using popular music and getting ahead with it. Sorry not trying to hijack the thread.

I charge a flat platform fee depending on the project and then 50 bucks an hour on top currently- not including shooting. I charge 250 to show up for shooting and then 50 an hour thereafter. I'm making promos for people who are looking to charge between 3k and 8k on their sale, so I can't charge too much. I'm looking for clients selling in the 50-200k range, but haven't landed any yet.
 
Matty_g said:
i really don't think it matters what music they use for a yearbook project.
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It would appear that way as freely as you see people doing it, but whenever you take someones music and sync it to video (without express permission) even for non profit you're breaking the law and can be sued by the publisher.

http://www.videouniversity.com/copyright.htm
 
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