Working out How Much to Charge as a Videographer
Something so many videographers struggle with when it comes to setting up their own business is knowing how much charge to clients. It’s an issue that I certainly had trouble navigating at the start of my journey with FOSTER Studios and even now, almost five years later, it’s still not easy. Nonetheless, I’m confident in my quotes and this to me is the most important thing - if you’re pulling numbers from thin air or feeling a bit uneasy about the proposal you’ve drawn together for a prospect then the chances are that it’s not going to accurately reflect the work involved for the project at hand.
The toughest part of putting together quotes is finding that sweet balance of presenting a number that’s not going to scare the client off so much that they never correspond with you again, but is also a fair reflection of what you are bringing to the table. ‘Scaring a client off’ might sound dramatic, but what may feel like a relatively low quote of say, £1,000, could be way beyond the expectations and means of the potential client you are pitching to. That amount of money isn’t going to be a huge outlay for a big corporate, but to a high-street restaurant or local gym, that is a significant sum.
I’ve worked with a hugely diverse range of businesses in the past five years - some that are well established and generally don’t quibble at quotes, whilst others may be just starting out or are much smaller organisations that have to be more frugal with their finances. Before talking shop, I think it’s really important to take the time to have a 10-minute chat with your prospect to get a feel for what they’re after and ultimately determine if they’re going to have the budget to make their vision a reality.
I put a lot of emphasis on having this conversation because it can be really easy to dismiss inbound emails from small businesses under the assumption that they won’t agree to your fees, but that couldn’t be further from the truth in some cases. For instance, our project with CoeActive Fitness, who are a very small dance/fitness company run by one person, were happy with the initial proposal and even requested more work further down the line! It just goes to show that even smaller organisations are willing to invest in video production if they genuinely believe it’s right for them.
But if you’re reading this the main question you’re likely grappling with is ‘how much do I actually need to charge?!’ The answer to that question is entirely subjective and depends on several things - experience, quality of work, equipment at your disposal and reliability to name a few.
That said, my secret formula for putting together proposals is to work out how much it would cost to hire in your equipment + the day rate at which you want to be paid. For example, let’s say it costs £300 to hire all your gear and you want to be paid £350 to do the actual shoot, your filming rate is £650. Then assign an editing day rate of say, £400, and based on your conversations with the client you estimate the job in hand will take two days to edit including amends - your project fee is going to be £1,450. You can list all that working in the proposal, but more often than not the client just cares about the final number and whether it will or won’t fit into their budget.
The beauty of this formula is that, for the filming at-least, you can be a bit flexible with the fees. Perhaps a job doesn’t require all the equipment, if you’re shooting an event with a single handheld camera and nothing else then you can bring the filming rate down slightly to be more accommodating. A good method is to have different rates for different situations e.g. full-day with all the equipment, half-day with a single camera etc.
Although I try very hard to stick to the numbers I’ve put together, it can sometimes be worthwhile having a bit of leeway with your costs, particularly if it’s for work in the charity sector or with smaller businesses that might be very well connected. Money is of course fundamental, but if you want to have a sustainable and reputable business model then it can be entirely advantageous to take a hit on the fees if you’re going to be collaborating with a client that might be able to open doors for you in the future.
