What to charge for Editing?

jchan0806

jchan0806

Active member
I'm a newbie to the business of video editing. I've been getting a lot of people asking for quotes. So far, I've been quoting flat fees because I don't know any better and me wanting to secure the job. I've done a few videos and I definitely been putting way more hours than I've charged.

Is there way I can give better quotes based the hours of footage and other assets they require ie. graphics, titles, music, sound mixing, color correction. separate charge for dealing with non-synced audio. Is there a formula to calculate?

Should I log my hours and charge hourly? I want to give my client a figure they can expect so they don't think I'm cheating them, but I don't want to cheat myself too.

Thanks!
 
I charge by the day. and honestly I determine my rate by asking them what their budget is. if it's a doable sum, I work back wards form their number. actually I give them a proposal that's over their number to see if they'll meet it. but generally, once I get their number, I detail.

for other gigs where I can't get access to the client's budget, I charge a daily rate -- one rate for editing, another for edit bay rental, another for media storage... basically I squeeze them for all i can and exceed their expectations for the cut.

The proposal also puts a lock on the number of days for addressing notes, exactly what is being delivered, et cetera. I don't like surprises or subsidizing other people's businesses. No freebies.
 
Hi there.

The best way to start is to call small to mid-size production companies in your area.
Simply ask them their hourly rates for editing. This is a good way to get an average.
If they ask why, you can tell them you have a client that is looking to produce a
short video/commercial/etc. They'll be more than accommodating.

My hourly rate is $100 per hour, which includes editing, titles, graphics, colour correction
etc. I charge for my time, rather than the specifics of what I'm doing. When I client asks for
a quote, I calculate how long it will take me, then charge accordingly.

Your rates can vary depending on the size of the project and the type of client. When I'm
quoting a fund-raising video for example, which might take 50 hours to edit (5 days @ 10
hours per day), I might drop the cost to $4,000 if the client is a non-profit.

Alternatively, if the client wants you to take care of all the decision making (acting as your
own producer), you might want to raise the cost accordingly. I do this when corporate
clients just want a finished product, and don't want to review the raw footage or look at a
paper edit. You're essentially doing their job, and you should be compensated accordingly.

I'd suggest a 25% increase for those occasions. It's often a easy way to get the client
involved in the project - which can save a lot of hassle.

You asked about properly estimating projects. This is tricky, and usually comes with
experience. I grossly underestimated the first few projects I worked on (and occasionally
still do). You'll get more accurate with practice. When I started in this business, I
accepted the fact that I would be under-estimating editing jobs, because it was more
important to get them, earn some money and begin to build a client list. It's no big deal
if the first few jobs took you 15 hours and you charged for 10. That will average itself
out in the long run.

One final note. I will be raising my rates to $125.00 per hour soon, as I'm upgrading
to an HD edit suite. The resources you have do ultimately affect your rates, but I
wouldn't worry to much about that now. Since people are asking you for quotes I'd
concentrate on getting the jobs. Work begets work after all :)

I hope you found this helpful. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions!

Good luck.

Peter
 
Thank you for sharing. I really appreciate it. I'm still building up my client list, but I really low-balled myself on some big projects. I'm not talking about hours. The difference was maybe a week or more !
 
Wow.

Wow.

Wow, $100 per hour, that's insane!

I usually pay between $200 and $300 for a 2-3 minute cut project, which probably takes the editor maybe 8 hours of total work including additional changes and whatnot. At least, I think it's in that ballpark based on overseeing these a lot before. I won't pay for someone's "editing system," though, I have my own and have been happy to lend its usage for my work so an editor working from home at their own convenience is working from home, at their own convenience, that doesn't get extra money paid to them. It gets them less gas spent driving ;) It's kind of just a package deal.

In general $25-35 per hour for editing is pretty fair in this industry based on how many people are good at this and know what they're doing inside and out. $50/hr is more like professional motion graphics work, up to $75/hr for the really good artists.
 
from the recently released movies, i would not say a lot of people are "good at it".

reading a manual of an nle, does not make one "good at it", it's a rare talent to be good.
 
I work hourly, but also backwards figure that rate based on what the edit requires in terms of graphics, audio, complexity of the edit and such.

Don't undervalue yourself. $25.00/hr seems extremely low to me.
 
Amr Rahmy said:
from the recently released movies, i would not say a lot of people are "good at it".
Click to expand...

Not always true - the issue with editing and movies is that you don't know what they had to start with. If you start with garbage and make it palatable, then you are a good editor. Taking good material and making it great is also a good editor. That's why it's called the invisible art. Very hard to to judge what makes a good editor based on the finished piece. While it can be used to judge some of the criteria, it can't be the only thing you judge by.

Michael
 
JonathanLB said:
Wow, $100 per hour, that's insane!

I usually pay between $200 and $300 for a 2-3 minute cut project, which probably takes the editor maybe 8 hours of total work including additional changes and whatnot. At least, I think it's in that ballpark based on overseeing these a lot before. I won't pay for someone's "editing system," though, I have my own and have been happy to lend its usage for my work so an editor working from home at their own convenience is working from home, at their own convenience, that doesn't get extra money paid to them. It gets them less gas spent driving ;) It's kind of just a package deal.

In general $25-35 per hour for editing is pretty fair in this industry based on how many people are good at this and know what they're doing inside and out. $50/hr is more like professional motion graphics work, up to $75/hr for the really good artists.
Click to expand...


I don't know WTF you are smoking or where you are located, but $150-$175/hr is the going rate for an editor with a suite in my area.
 
Yeah, I was working maybe minimum wage or worst on a few projects.
$50/hr is fair I think for me. I have about 2-3 years semi-pro experience.
 
Right, yeah good luck with that. Why don't you respond to posts about editing with telling them you're new but you charge $100/hr for editing. Let me know how that works out for you.

I live in Los Angeles. This is where filmmaking happens. Editors are a dime a dozen. It's an extremely important job, and nobody values a great editor more than me, trust me. My last editor saved my butt big time by re-editing a project that wasn't going very well, we needed new eyes on it, and the client really liked what we did with it and it basically saved the project.

Now he has since done three more videos for two more clients, and they loved the videos. But editors make $150-300 per day for corporate work. That's reality. That's what someone like me pays and I come away with very happy clients who keep on booking work, and we do high-end work, too, we are not a small-time videography, one-man-does-all type of deal. In fact we charge too much money for a lot of companies to afford, because we don't do work for GMC or big-time names, just your regular mid-level companies that are cash-strapped. If we paid $100/hr for editing we'd have to charge our clients $10,000 for a virtual tour instead of $5,000 for a high-end package. Nobody would buy it.

If you can charge $5,000/hr even for editing, hey, awesome, go you! But realistically, as an employer, I can tell you that when I put out an ad looking for an editor I had 100 applications inside of 48 hours and of those, 6-12 good options depending on the type of work. Most people are out of a job at any given point in this industry and are happy to be working at all.
 
Not just in the US, $25 per hour is a crazy amount. As a user, I can see you wanting to pay that, but as a provider, I wouldn't work for that - and to be honest, anyone who does would have to string out the job to make it last longer. Want a new power socket, or a water leak repaired? God - these tradespeople charge way over these rates, and ordinary consumers pay it!

If it is your editing equipment, and your premises, then paying this for a full time, salaried, permanent job may well be fair - but this isn't what you're offering. They pay their own taxes, own expenses, own insurance, own ... everything. While they are working for the peanuts on offer from you, they'll miss decent work at the industry rate.

here in the UK, we have the BECTU union, who set minimum pay rates.

The current rate for a freelance editor for a week is 1345UKP ($2000)

That's double your rate, and bear in mind that this is a week - if you are paying daily rates, let alone hourly, it's going to be much, much more.
 
Very few people do this full time dude, you have to remember that. Most editors are doing other work too or have a number of clients. If you can do editing work on your own time it's great pay, that's what I'm saying, you have to be insane if this doesn't register. I'm not sure what part of this doesn't get through to people, it's like when I explain this I may as well be talking to my concrete wall.

This is reality: In Los Angeles, MOST people wanting to get into the film industry have to work a day job, and those jobs pay $8-15 per hour, waiter, valet, desk job, whatever it is. Jobs with some flexibility perhaps, or a regular day job that pays just ok. Working retail. You name it. Now you have someone like me who says, you're good, I want to hire you to do my editing, and you're trying to become an editor, and I pay you $25-50/hr, depending how fast you work and depending on the project. You think that's bad? Dude, their day jobs are paying WAY less than I pay them! And best part? My work doesn't have to be done immediately, it can be done from home, in your jammies, etc. I say hey ok I need you to get me this project by next Thursday, and you say ok this is 6 hours of work that has to be done in 6 days, then I have another 2 hours of work re-editing the video after the client gives feedback, then I'm done.

If they are good enough to quit their day jobs and work in the industry, they either get a salaried position like you describe, or they have enough employers just like me to cover plenty of hours. $25/hr is still $200/day and that's $1,000/week, more than most people make.
 
I think the biggest discrepancy here is who you are working for and what your experience is. In NYC an average freelance editor, working on cable tv shows, probably makes $500 - $600/day. Yes $50 - $75/hour. Edit facilities rates vary greatly - but a full service facility (with pro editors, equipment, client service people, etc) usually runs about $250/hr. And yes, this is much lower than it used to be. Many of these houses can't make it in today's market because the software and computers are so much more accessible to the everyday person. Now if you're editing from your home (or home office) $500-$600/day is not unreal at all. Having said all of this, I think that if you're starting out and able to get some clients who can pay you $250/day - go for it. But, don't feel like that is the rate forever. Get experience. Get better. Prove your skills and then hopefully bigger budget projects become a reality. Indie projects tend to be lower budget and local businesses also are not used to these rates and likely wont pay them. But, I can speak from years of experience in broadcast tv. It depends where you are looking to end up - geographically and in the clients and material you edit. Just remember you should love what you're doing if you want to work in TV or Film because there are plenty of other jobs that are probably easier to get with less stress involved and often pay better. Just my 2 cents... ;-)
 
jchan0806 said:
I want to give my client a figure they can expect so they don't think I'm cheating them, but I don't want to cheat myself too.
Click to expand...
That's smart business. Clearly you understand the importance of having a good relationship with your client. This is paramount to long term success. At the end of the project the editor should feel fairly compensated for the work done and the client should find value in the money spent on the editor.

Unfortunately some producers see very little value in the skill set that editors bring to the table. Producers of this ilk are commonly referred to as "bottom feeders". They are simply looking for the low bid.

How do you identify a bottom feeder?
It's pretty obvious, they say stuff like this:
JonathanLB said:
Editors are a dime a dozen.
Click to expand...
JonathanLB said:
Most people are out of a job at any given point in this industry and are happy to be working at all.
Click to expand...
JonathanLB said:
Dude, their day jobs are paying WAY less than I pay them!
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The upside is that there are decent clients out there that understand the value a good editor brings to the table.
 
The terms bottom feeder, dime a dozen are all pretty unkind phrases and not helpful in a respectful debate.
 
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