How much to charge | Episode 2: Video Production Guide

If someone comes along and asks you to make a video for them, knowing what to charge can be tricky to work out.

In this video we are going to give you some tips on how to work this out.

Welcome to The Film Look and Episode 2 of the Video Production Guide.

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First I want to talk about working for free. This is something we all have to do to gain experience, and get footage for our showreels.

We have a video where we talk all about working for no pay on our channel if you want check it out.

If the first videos you make for someone are for free, it’s a great time to learn the process and work out how long it takes to make a video for someone.

Even if you are getting paid for the work this is a good practice as you’ll start to work out what to charge for different jobs, as some will take longer to shoot or edit then others.

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When you price for the job, tell your client how many days you are charging for pre production, production and post production. It’s good to do this is because your client might look at the price and assume it’s simply for the shooting day. Your client may only see you for the time when you are shooting, but remember this is not just the only time you have worked. You might have spent 1 day planning the shoot, and it’s going to take you 2 days to edit the video.

If you’re struggling to work out what price to charge, don’t be afraid to ask what their budget is as it might be a lot more than you were expecting.

It also might be a lot less than what you were going to offer; yes your hourly rate will be low but you're still getting paid for making videos, and at the start any pay is good pay. [Timelapse of the shoot]

Now you have this information, what is your time worth? That’s what this video is all about after all. I can’t tell you what you should charge as there are many different factors to consider.

First there is your level of experience, the more experience you have the bigger and better jobs you can get which you can charge more.

Who is your client? With some clients you can charge more for your services. Don’t expect every client to be able to pay you the same hourly/daily rate.

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A locally run coffee shop does not have the same marketing budget as starbucks.

Your location is important as well. In some city’s like London or New York you can charge more simply because everything has inflated pricing, but if you live in a small city or town there will be a price cap for video production.

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Finally, every project will be different in terms of how long it will take to plan, shoot and edit. 

A little piece of advice; in the film industry there is no such thing as a half days pay, so if the shoot is only 2 or 3 hours, you need to charge for a full day as you can’t really do anything else during that day when you are waiting to go to the shoot.

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Whatever you charge make sure you are always delivering the highest quality of video and service you can. It doesn’t matter if they are offering pennies, give them a video you think is worth hundreds if not thousands. You never know when they may need more work in the future, or when someone asks them if they know any good video people.


The Video Production Guide is a step by step series teaching you the basics of shooting videos for clients.

Episodes released Weekly:

Want to make videos for a client: https://youtu.be/bBkQpobfAjU

How to get the job: https://youtu.be/A1-09ESSZew

How much to charge: https://youtu.be/3Djuh-xTL6Y

Preparing for a client shoot: https://youtu.be/sDbbKaaPjc4

How to shoot an interview: https://youtu.be/8TRdmj0Ao4k

Shooting b-roll: https://youtu.be/RYc2y_dsexI

Editing and Feedback: https://youtu.be/ipMmMp-241o

The Client Video: https://youtu.be/X9VZTuxvT9w


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How much to charge - Video Production Guide

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