whats the wedding day rate in your city (or other freelancing opportunity)?

S

Shawnvfx

Well-known member
I live in vancouver, canada. So here the rate is around $20-40 CAD.

for $20, is just a guy showing up, like a student or something with less than 1-2 wedding exp.

for $40, is very rare, they expect you showing up with all of your professional gears and be the main shooter, doing a fantastic job.


Often, rate is between 25-30 (without gears) or 30-35(with your gears，like 5D).

and all other expenses are covered (parking, food, etc) by the company who hires you.

Gas is around 20-25.

no double pay after 8 hours, so if you shoot 15 hours (from 9 to midnight） its just $20 X 15 = 300


and for wedding pacakge prices, its like 1500-2500 for a simply coverage (5 mins highlight, and a 20 mins feature)

or 3500 - 6000 for cinmatic ones


corporate video is around 500-1500 (low - zero budget)

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what about your area ?
 
Can you please elaborate on wedding package "simple coverage" and "cinematic"?

Same for "Corporate video" - how long does one of these run typically?

I don't do weddings - most of what I do are archive recordings of stage presentations that run about 2 hours to 2.5 hours. I provide an intro and a credit roll at the end (minimal editing) and charge $175 per hour. If it's an amateur production then it's $175 for the event. I have to show up 2-3 hours in advance to do a sound check/lighting check (time I do not get paid for). The theatre provides the lighting and I typically can get an XLR feed from a mixer. The client gets a 1080/24p Blu-Ray disk (if they say they can read it). More than one copy of the archive and it's $20 per additional copy.

I am doing a documentary on a historical site. I expect about 20 hours of recording (7 setups required). The edited final will run 7-10 minutes.

My wife is a singer - a group of film school graduates did a documentary of her quartet - they recorded about 15 hours (13 venues i.e. 4 people at home/at work, extracts from 2-3 rehearsals and then 2 concerts) - what would you charge for this (say 25 hours including travel) followed by something like 15 hours editing?

Do any of these numbers seem out of line?
 
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This post is a bit confusing, maybe something is getting lost in the exchange rate? :grin: I'm praying this is an hourly rate you speak of. Oh wait, I see. Yeah, your #'s seem a bit on the low side.

When I shot weddings as a 2nd cameraman, my day rate was usually $400. $350 is the lowest I'd go for a buddy of mine who shot modestly. If I was a 1-man band or 1st shooter? Anywhere from $600 to $850 for the (excruciatingly long) day.

Heed filmguy123's advice from that recent thread: Only shoot rich people's weddings. They love to throw money at everything.
 
Some people are shy about sharing exact rates. I believe it's a disservice to the community.

I am paid as B-camera on weddings in two different ways, in Austin, TX:

1) Hourly. I make $35/hr + equipment rental. I charge $150/day for each camera package, $50/day for my Merlin, and then $25/day each for pretty much anything else (monopod, LED light, audio recorder). Sometimes I'm hired to show up for 4 hours with no equipment, in which case I'm making $140/day on the low in. Other days I'm bringing all my equipment and staying for 10-12 hours, so I make around $700/day.

2) Day rate. $350/day + equipment rental. When I was younger I shot B-camera for $300/day and didn't charge for my equipment. I was being taken advantage of, because the guy I shot for was one of these famous videographers whose prices started at $10,000 per wedding.

Good luck.
 
Drew Ott said:
Some people are shy about sharing exact rates. I believe it's a disservice to the community.

I am paid as B-camera on weddings in two different ways, in Austin, TX:

1) Hourly. I make $35/hr + equipment rental. I charge $150/day for each camera package, $50/day for my Merlin, and then $25/day each for pretty much anything else (monopod, LED light, audio recorder). Sometimes I'm hired to show up for 4 hours with no equipment, in which case I'm making $140/day on the low in. Other days I'm bringing all my equipment and staying for 10-12 hours, so I make around $700/day.

2) Day rate. $350/day + equipment rental. When I was younger I shot B-camera for $300/day and didn't charge for my equipment. I was being taken advantage of, because the guy I shot for was one of these famous videographers whose prices started at $10,000 per wedding.

Good luck.
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Hmm interesting. thank you so much for your info bro

I think its time to charge my equipments, im only making $30 per hour (no body wants to hire me for a date rate) without equipments

with my C100 + all of my 6 L primes +slider + monopod + Audio recorder, do you think $100/per day is fair or cheap ?

is this rate you specified is the same for all of your other works ?
 
kwkeirstead said:
Can you please elaborate on wedding package "simple coverage" and "cinematic"?

Same for "Corporate video" - how long does one of these run typically?

I don't do weddings - most of what I do are archive recordings of stage presentations that run about 2 hours to 2.5 hours. I provide an intro and a credit roll at the end (minimal editing) and charge $175 per hour. If it's an amateur production then it's $175 for the event. I have to show up 2-3 hours in advance to do a sound check/lighting check (time I do not get paid for). The theatre provides the lighting and I typically can get an XLR feed from a mixer. The client gets a 1080/24p Blu-Ray disk (if they say they can read it). More than one copy of the archive and it's $20 per additional copy.

I am doing a documentary on a historical site. I expect about 20 hours of recording (7 setups required). The edited final will run 7-10 minutes.

My wife is a singer - a group of film school graduates did a documentary of her quartet - they recorded about 15 hours (13 venues i.e. 4 people at home/at work, extracts from 2-3 rehearsals and then 2 concerts) - what would you charge for this (say 25 hours including travel) followed by something like 15 hours editing?

Do any of these numbers seem out of line?
Click to expand...

For corporate videos is usually 30 sec ad, it costs around 1000-1500 ( less than $50 budget, you need to provide all the lights, cameras, etc)

simple coverage means a 3-5 mins music video style wedding highlight ( you simply cut shots to the music, usually pop ) with a 2-3 hours of full version (just switch between cameras when editing, so pretty simple)

for Cinematic I mean, a 3-5 mins highlight (more documentary style, with voice, ambience sound, licensed music, etc), and a 15-20 short-film style full wedding coverage (it requires more skills and more professional equipments for this kind of video, check out stillmotion's work for reference)， this usually costs around 4500-6000 in my area (where stillmotion charges 13k)
 
Scott F said:
This post is a bit confusing, maybe something is getting lost in the exchange rate? :grin: I'm praying this is an hourly rate you speak of. Oh wait, I see. Yeah, your #'s seem a bit on the low side.

When I shot weddings as a 2nd cameraman, my day rate was usually $400. $350 is the lowest I'd go for a buddy of mine who shot modestly. If I was a 1-man band or 1st shooter? Anywhere from $600 to $850 for the (excruciatingly long) day.

Heed filmguy123's advice from that recent thread: Only shoot rich people's weddings. They love to throw money at everything.
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one man band for 2-3 cameras in my area costs around 1000-1500 (if client finds you, no agent inbetween), this cases happens so rare.

for your rate of $400 , is it usually like 15 hours ( from 7 to 10:30 ?)

by the way, SDE (same day edit) costs $500 extra on top of everything (clients price). usually its either the A cam doing this, or they hire a editor to do just this in the whole day, for a rate between $250 - 300
 
Shawnvfx said:
Hmm interesting. thank you so much for your info bro

I think its time to charge my equipments, im only making $30 per hour (no body wants to hire me for a date rate) without equipments

with my C100 + all of my 6 L primes +slider + monopod + Audio recorder, do you think $100/per day is fair or cheap ?

is this rate you specified is the same for all of your other works ?
Click to expand...

Yes, you need to charge for your equipment. Otherwise you're not just undervaluing yourself, you're also undercutting your city's entire market. $100/day seems too cheap for your equipment. Check rental house prices and charge about the same, maybe a little less. Whoever hires you can either rent from you or the rental house. If prices are identical, they still save their time by renting direct from you.

Day rates for commercial work, for me, are usually around $250/day minimum and increase from there.

Day rates for narrative filmmaking work are nonexistent at my level. The most I've been paid on a film set was $25/day and free food. I felt I was getting a better deal then than I do shooting weddings for my full rate. Actual rates in my area for non-union crew on narrative filmmaking sets are usually around $100/day. Keep in mind this is a city that has absolutely no money circulating in non-union circles (despite what the Top 10 lists will tell you).
 
for your rate of $400 , is it usually like 15 hours ( from 7 to 10:30 ?)

by the way, SDE (same day edit) costs $500 extra on top of everything (clients price). usually its either the A cam doing this, or they hire a editor to do just this in the whole day, for a rate between $250 - 300
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that $400 rate was usually just for ceremony & reception. Maybe a bridal or groom prep if the window was close. If it was an all day thing….more $$.

And I was only a cameraman, I could never be bothered to edit a wedding. (My brother-in-law's footage sits on a shelf to this day…)

I don't know about breaking it down with the whole shooting rate plus gear rental thing. Clients don't care about the specifics and are assuming you have the appropriate tools of the trade. I would say come up with a fair (to you) day rate or pricing structure that is all inclusive. Charge on the high side!

PS-You're shooting with a C100? (& some sweet gear) Set your goals higher than weddings. Look for corporate work! Best of luck.
 
Scott F said:
that $400 rate was usually just for ceremony & reception. Maybe a bridal or groom prep if the window was close. If it was an all day thing….more $$.

And I was only a cameraman, I could never be bothered to edit a wedding. (My brother-in-law's footage sits on a shelf to this day…)

I don't know about breaking it down with the whole shooting rate plus gear rental thing. Clients don't care about the specifics and are assuming you have the appropriate tools of the trade. I would say come up with a fair (to you) day rate or pricing structure that is all inclusive. Charge on the high side!

PS-You're shooting with a C100? (& some sweet gear) Set your goals higher than weddings. Look for corporate work! Best of luck.
Click to expand...

the funny thing is that Once I tell anyone who hires me for a wedding that I have a C100, they immediately say that they want me to use their 5d mark ii instead.

If I disagree I get no money, lol, cuz my rate is about the same as hiring 2 students (for wedding companies, more ppl is better, 2 students is always better than one professional, lol funny conclusions). and forces me to use that little on camera light from ebay. the end result is just so amateur. I feel like doing a $0 budget reality show.

anyways, its not my turn to say excuses to the clients. Im just worried if my public image is tied up with those low end productions.
 
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