Cost for commercial?

So there is a place here in Dallas that wants me to shoot and edit a local commercial for them. I have only done a handful of outside projects since my main job keeps me pretty busy and I feel like I am always underselling myself. I am paranoid of charging too much I guess and haven't taken the time to do some research on pricing for such projects.

This would probably be 1-2 commercial spots and a promo reel. I do all the shooting, editing, motion graphics. Should I do an hourly rate? I do work pretty fast since I do motion graphics/editing every day for my job. I feel like it might be best to do a flat rate on each video?

How do you guys charge and what do you consider high and low for a local 30 second spot? Just looking for a starting point.

Also, I already shot a lot of footage of their grounds for another project which is how I got this gig. I own the footage I shot previously and they want to buy the RAW footage from me as well. I have never sold footage. How do you go about pricing that?

Hey Brad, my best advice to you is to work up a line item budget. Rates vary wildly around the country so I'm not sure what things cost there in Texas. But, the easy way to figure it out is to make yourself a list and put some figures next to it. Then give yourself a 10 - 15% contingency. 5% if you think you can get away with it. If you're really not sure, hire a line producer that can do it for you. Unfortunately, there's no one budget to rule them all.

Just re-read your post. If you just want a flat number, very low end would be around 10k per spot. Seeing as you're doing practically everything, you may want to charge a bit more. But if you can build yourself a basic budget it will become a building block for all your future work.

Hey Joseph can you break that down a bit? I'm curious what you might be looking at in terms of shooting/post hours, etc etc... this would be super helpful to understand how you would generally break it down!

Thanks!

Consider this post:

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/01/determi ... e-walters/

Consider this post:

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/01/determi ... e-walters/

Hey Mike, I think the article Innerspark posted explains it better than I ever could. I totally agree with their Proactice stance. Check it out, very informative. Keep in mind though, especially when you own your own gear, or are doing most of the work yourself, where you can cut costs for your client, especially if you're just starting out and want to build a client base.

Consider this post:

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/01/determi ... e-walters/

+1

Just read the article, may be a bit more info than you need. Here's the short of it for a small crew on a smaller budget. Just fill in your own info for what you think you need.

Insurance (sometimes avoided, but a good idea to have. You usually can't rent gear without it, and it would suck for something to go wrong and not have it. Weigh this dearly, you can sometimes rent someone else's production insurance instead of bonding a new short term policy.

Equipment ( what do you have, what do you need to rent) Dept's included: Camera, G&E, Sound - Also, Production equipment, ie, tables, chairs, tents, printers, paper, once again, what can you do without.

Expendables - things like tape, gels, batteries, compressed air...

Crew - Try and come up with decent rates, but who of your buddies owe you favors, or will help you for the hell of it. Extra hands are great but experience will make a difference. How much can you "realistically" do yourself. ( this should just be prod not post )

HMU/W - this is part of crew but there will be other expenses, like kit rentals. Keep kit rentals in mind, it's one of those costs people forget about, that goes for all your crew, but usually negotiable. If you decide you don't need this at least have someone powder noses and go over wardrobe with client before the day of.

Art Dept: Do you need special sets or props? Extra labor to build or fabricate those? Do you need to rent a studio? I've seen a garage do just as well if your building a set and shooting MOS.

Craft Service & Lunch - sometimes the most important part of the day. Everyone will appreciate this.

Basics Food times
Typical shooting day is 12 hours
Start with breakfast and feed them lunch 6 hours after call. Lunch can usually be 45 mins. 2nd meal comes 6 hours after that. Budget for all these even if you don't need it.

Transportation - Don't forget about gas. A lot of people budget the trucks and forget the gas and tolls. It's usually more than you think.

Production Help - everyone wants to do it all themselves but a good production manager can make a big difference. Especially when you're trying to focus on shooting, not, who's picking up lunch. If you know someone who produces or is good with logistics, maybe not even in the industry, team up. They will become invaluable. If you're creative, find your match in someone who is business minded. And some of those crew members w no experience can be PA's. Treat them well and you'll build loyalty and hopefully a team that will make your work easy.

Client - they usually change their minds, make sure to charge them for it.

Post Production - this can be tricky, especially for those wizards who do it all themselves. Give yourself a decent hourly or day rate. Always make it worth your time. But also, keep in mind what you'll get out of it. Might be worth it to put some extra time in since in the end, it's what your showing to that next client. Don't forget about things like hard drives. Figure out how you want to charge for that. Usually worth it just to buy drives for their project and bill it.

Pre Production - Should have been up top, but don't forget to charge them to plan the whole thing. Especially if you end up doing any pitch work, synopsis, story boards, scripts or what have you. And charge for the paper and ink.

This is all pretty simplified but I hope it gives you the gist.

Best of luck and happy shooting.

Awesome! Thanks Joseph and innerspark... super helpful!

Any advice on approaching companies (and who to approach)? Do you just try the marketing vp?

Thanks again! Off to read the article...

Thanks Guys! Very Helpful.