What to Charge?

T

Trent Morrison

Active member
Hi,
I recently shot and edited a short video (about 7 min.) that was the first real video job I've done. I really have no idea what to charge. The client just opened an Ice cream store, and the purpose of the video is I guess to show his friends, some of who own big corporations, and he's going to try to make a franchise out of his ice cream store if it does well.
I just shot some exterior time lapse and interiors of the building, a walkthrough of the building with the owner explaining how everything works, some ice cream production, and some customers' happy faces. There was only natural lighting, no dollies, or cranes or green screen, nothing fancy at all. I did learn that I need to invest in a microphone of some sort. I shot for probably around 5 hours total.

I'm 17 years old, and this was my first video job. I'm just looking for some suggestions on what to charge. Thanks!
 
You should have checked the Business section of the boards, or used the search option. Theres numerous posts about this and its really up to you. What do you think your time was worth? Charge somewhere from $200-$300. That's just my opinion and probably what I would consider charging for something like that. But again, its up to you and what you think your time was worth. Due to the limited equipment used then I think that shooting AND editing is worth about the above price.

Oh, and don't undersell yourself because of your age ot experience. If you think it's good and you put a lot of work in, then charge based on that.

-Kegan
 
Yeah charge based on time and production, age shouldn't be a factor at this point. Don't sell yourself short.
 
Steve_Arm said:
and always discuss money before doing any work.
Click to expand...

would you discuss a 200dollar production before the work with a 17 year old starter boy??? I am just 19, but I would not.
 
If 5 hours is the total work that you put into this. That qualifies as a full day for me and I would charge $500 , but since you probably aren't comfortable charging that I think that between $250 and $350 would be a good price for you. Remember that in most places if you are using a dvx it cost $150 -$200 a day to rent your camera so never charge less than it cost to rent your camera alone.


Also as Steve_Arm said always discuss money before doing any work. You wouldn't go work at Macdonald's without knowing how much money you are going to be making so this isn't any different
 
you should have talked about some cash before you did the work.

what happens when you say...hey i would like 500 bucks for this...and he laughs...as he walks away with the dvd u just gave him. im not saying that will happen. but, before you start working just talk about money and negotiate...

you could also count this as experience and move on...seriously...nothing wrong with doing a few free gigs starting out.
 
Just make sure that you meant for it to be free and that it's not free because you couldn't get payment. There is a word for that it's called Robbery.
 
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