What's a good starting rate?

N

nathanjrb

Active member
Hi,

I'm looking at going freelance in my spare time (I work 9-5) - I was just wondering what a good starting rate could be? (within the UK). I've done basic interview cuts for £300 - but I've also done 2.5hr multi-cam dance shows for the same price! I've usually just gone on whatever they can afford, which has been great to build up experience. But as I'm turning more pro I need to start providing consistent rates. So what should I base my rate on? I don't have any means of transport (public only) so I suppose taxi costs should be in there. A good friend of mine is a pro photographer and he charges in the region of £80ph for events and a package rate for weddings. Should I set my rate at an hourly basis? I'm good enough now to churn out professional looking shots and edits - but I don't want to set the bar too high for myself just yet. If any of you could give a good indication of your rates when you first started that would be really helpful. I realise everyone is at different levels of competence, but even just an idea will do :)

Many thanks!
 
ilauzirika said:
this could be a good starting point, just to make you think about all you have to cover with your hourly rate.
http://motivapp.com/freelance-hourly-rate-calculator
Click to expand...

The only problem with tools like this is that they don't take into consideration the market you are working in.

So if you are working in an over-saturated market, where X dollars is the going rate for the product you are producing, you can't charge more than the going rate and expect to get hired very often.

Some potential clients will be up front and tell you directly that $$$ is my total budget for this project, can you work with this and deliver a great product on time ?
 
Junior editor in NYC makes around $300/d. Editor makes around $500-700/d. This is for "quality content" - something that you can somehow talk about without embarrassment.
Editing is more structured than shooting so there is smaller fluctuation in the rate.

DP rates are vastly different than shooter - shooter is anybody with a camera who knows where the record button is - so any rate goes. On the other hand, a quality shooter can be had for $350-650/d. DP for double that.
This is in a saturated market such as NYC where there is lots of crews but also lots of shooting so there is a decent balance of power between those who hire and those who get hired.
 
Thanks everyone, this is really helpful :)

Currently in the process of branding and logo design - I think first few weddings/events will be for a very low rate (possibly even free for the first one) whilst I find my feet, before gradually increasing.
 
I don't work as a filmmaker fulltime, I typically do one or two fairly large projects a year for a couple of international coorporations that have been clients for many years. The rest of the year I travel.


But the way I would approach this is:

Consider a typical hourly rate that you would be making if you were starting out as an employee in a company doing what you want to do as a freelancer.

Update : I see now that you are looking to work part time. So this next paragraph is perhaps not all that relevant.
Add to that the costs of working for yourself, lack of sick pay, medical, office rental, the fact that you wont have work all the time etc. This usually about doubles the hourly rate for a freelancer.

Now when budgeting for a project, try to figure out how many hours it will take. Include hours for planning, shooting, editing, converting to deliverable formats. Usually people are to optimistic, and end up budgeting for too few hours. Be realistic.

Multiply your hourly rate by the number of hours you estimate for the project.

Add to that any expenses like travel and hotels if it means being somewhere for a long time. Add equipment rental cost if you need to rent gear. I used to own a lot of gear, and would then charge the client the same rate as if it was rented from a rental house.

Add the cost of anyone you need to hire for the project, like a good soundman, motion graphics designer, colorist etc.

Add the cost of any stock footage, music rights etc that you will need to purchase.

Add 10% for unforseen expenses.

That will get you in the ballpark. It all depends on your market of course, I'm not in the US so things may be very different there. There will always be those willing to work for less than you. Try not to be the cheapest, try to be the best. Always make your client happy, and overdeliver on quality.
 
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That is totally right, but this is just for him to realize which may be some of the costs related to freelancing, then you have to do a REAL market research, as you do before starting any venture.

TheDingo said:
The only problem with tools like this is that they don't take into consideration the market you are working in.

So if you are working in an over-saturated market, where X dollars is the going rate for the product you are producing, you can't charge more than the going rate and expect to get hired very often.

Some potential clients will be up front and tell you directly that $$$ is my total budget for this project, can you work with this and deliver a great product on time ?
Click to expand...
 
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