What to charge - 10 min corporate?

F

finchy

Well-known member
Hey guys,

We were approached today by a pair of guys who build custom spec PC's for the Home and Business market, to produce a set of 9, (roughly) 1min videos and 1 roughly 2 minute intro video for their new website.
The videos will be used to basically explain the different packages that they offer and help people understand what they will need to buy for the purpose that it is going to be used for. etc etc

They, like us are just starting out in business and are really keen on us doing the work and are not intending to ask anyone else. They are going to apply for funding to a national (UK) business funding organisation to get funding for their new website, as well as the series of videos.

Basically i'm wondering how to price this work for them... i really dont want to under cut ourselves, especially as they are not actually paying for the work themselves... yet i dont want to blow them away with a big price and have them not get the funding...

I really want to go to town on these videos because i feel that alot of (the right) people will view these videos and it could bring more work so i'm keen to bring in a separate lighting gaffer, possibly a grip and someone to do motion GFX etc (usually i shoot/light/edit all our work). I would also like to use some talent, to do pieces to camera for the intro video and also V/O work for the other vids... other extras will be needed also.

I think it could possibly take 3 days to shoot all of these 10 short videos... it may take longer as i dont want to be rushed like in the past and id want to shoot them on location...office and house (sets possibly)

The costings that i am unclear about and which i feel with make this budget go sky high are the Pre and Post production... in the past we have done charity videos where we didnt really charge for each of those but i know it has to be done!
Im planning on sticking 10-15% onto for company fee though.
I may just end up charging a flat fee for Pre and Post and not doing it by day because i feel that will get complicated at this point in time....

Id like to offer abit of a discount because from the budget because of the volume of work that they have given us... not too much though! :)

Anyway, if you guys have any input as to how you would go about pricing this up.. what would you do?? id really appreciate it!

Sorry this was so long winded too!

Many thanks in advance

Tom.

(Im planning on using an EX3 w/DOF adapter and cutting it at home on FCP) :)
 
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A few questions come to mind.

1. What kind of pre-production are we talking about? Scriptwriting, talent search (auditions),
crew booking, location scouting? How may days to you think this will take.

2. What equipment do you have vs. what you have to rent

3. What will you be doing yourself vs. what you have to outsource.

4. How fussy is the client? Do you have to work in multiple drafts, re-edits, etc.

An easy way is to figure out a cost is to calculate the total number of days you
expect the project to take, then multiply that by your day rate. Add in the
outsource costs (crew, gear, music) and add 15% for the business (company fee).

I just finished a similar project, 15 videos for a client website. There were 2 shoot
days, 5 editing days, motion graphic opening, original music, no talent

Scriptwriting $1,500 flat
Cameraman x2 @ $750
Soundman x2 @ $500
Makeup artist x2 @ #300
Gear rental x2 @ $300
Editing x5 @ 1,000
Motion graphics $600 flat
Music $500 flat

Subtotal = 11,300 + 15% business fee

Total = $12,995 Canadian (+ applicable taxes)

Now day rates will of course vary widely, and I'm not sure what the standards are
in the UK. I recently learned on this forum that my prices are perhaps a little lower
than in the US and UK, but hopefully this will provide a decent guide.

Like yourself , with charities and small to medium sized businesses, I tend not to charge
for a lot of pre-production. I do enough of the work myself (shooting, editing) to
make it worthwhile.

Hope this is helpful.

Peter








An easy way to work out a price is to image someone hired you as freelancer
 
Thanks alot Peter!
Sorry i didn't go into more detail with locations and talent etc, i just thought i had written too much already haha

We will be renting 95% of the kit... we only have some redheads with some gels and sandbags etc.... we may be able to get a good rate if it is over 2-3 days of rental...
The clients are great! two young lads who are keen to help us out with out business, as much as we are with theirs!
They will assist us with the script writing (quite alot of technical info) and hopefully have a hand in arranging the locations as they have some contacts with office spaces.

I feel like 3-4 of the videos per day should possible... provided it is planned well, i guess that will be the best way to ensure everyone gets paid well but we dont end up ruining their funding application haha

The thing i find with pre-production is, its sometimes hard to estimate how long it will take because you end up waiting days for people to email/ring you back about locations/props etc so i never know what to charge, i think a flat fee would be best.

Let me know if you need to know anything else!

Thanks for anymore input in advance! :)

Tom
 
finchy said:
The thing i find with pre-production is, its sometimes hard to estimate how long it will take because you end up waiting days for people to email/ring you back about locations/props etc so i never know what to charge, i think a flat fee would be best.
Click to expand...

I agree. I now understand the Hollywood term "development hell", pre-production can
take forever if people aren't getting back to you.

I'd just roughly figure out how long pre-production would take full-time if everything went
perfectly. In your case perhaps 5 days, then charge your producer day rate for those days.
Whether those 5 days are all in a row, or spread out over a month, you're still getting paid
for your time.

Another costs saving tip - try to shoot over a weekend. Rental houses will normally give
you a weekend rate. As well, studio fees (green screen studio, etc) are often much
cheaper since large productions shoot Monday to Friday and the weekends are dead.

Good luck with the project!

Peter
 
Thanks for that man!
Yeah weekends are usually ideal but it depends on locations etc i guess...

thanks for your help peter!


Tom.
 
Just multiply your hourly rate by how many hours you think you'll put into it. Otherwise, just stick to your hourly rate.
 
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