I will be shooting a three minute promotional video for a fairly new nonprofit that runs a ten-week intervention program for at-risk youth in the Los Angeles area. I would like to get a second opinion on the fee I am planning to charge them. I believe in what this organization it trying to do, therefore I am trying to give them a fair price. But I don't want to screw myself either.

Note: This will be the first time I charge, I am a college student, who has made three camp promo videos as a favor for my friend. (This is how I got this work)

I will be shooting with my Canon XH-A1 and HV20. And probably add my Redrock adapter for the family interviews. I have use of a lighting kit.
Edit on Final Cut Studio.

Based on what I have read here, this is what I plan to charge them.
5,000.00 for a three minute video.
Eight, ten hour days of shooting at campsite. (Bootcamp)
Four, half-days shooting at their facility.(Mentoring/Parent Classes,Graduation,Interviews)
Editing (will do the bulk of capturing during the eight days of Bootcamp)
Logo design
Narration (I will do)
Music
HDV tapes

The project will be shot over a ten-week period. (One week bootcamp, nine weeks of classes for the kids and their parents. Is this a fair price? How many finished copies should I give them. Is it appropriate to steer them to a duplication house if they want a lot of copies?

Thanks in advance

Fair for a first time? In my market, that would be a bit steep, even for a seasoned vet, assuming the music is royalty free and you aren't locating licenses. If they are willing, go for it. You certainly aren't getting screwed here. At that price point, as many DVDs as they want (within reason) would be appropriate (ie. 10 - 20)

Once again, this is coming from experience in MY market, with my 10 years of broadcast experience. Each market is unique.

Wow, I thought that was a deal for them. Let me be a little more specific. Initially, I told them 3,500.00 for a three to five minute video. Then they explained the Bootcamp schedule, plus the need to shoot at there location over a period of nine weeks. And they want a lot of extra footage to use for other projects in the future.

Bootcamp schedule:
8 days, rise a 5:00am, lights out at 9:00pm. (I would have to stay there the whole time, and the kids don't shower the first three days)

Is the price still to much. If so, how much is fair?

For my .02 worth - considering the number of hours you have to be there to shoot, I think your price is extremely fair for them. In fact, it is too low. Eight - 10 hour days plus some half days after that to shoot plus post? Not to mention the VO work and logo design. They are getting a great deal!

Cheers.

My position was based on Ruben being a first time producer and still in college. He MAY be wonderfully talented, but in my experience EXPEDIENCE comes with experience.

Again, my .02 with NO offense intended.

No offense taken at all by me - I was just waiting for others to jump into the topic. All Ruben has from the board so far is 4 cents. :)

$5k is more than fair. You're not giving away your services, but you're giving them quite a break which may or may not be appropriate considering your level of experience and the fact you've done free videos for them in the past.

If you as a client described this to me and asked for a price, I'd probably propose $7k to $8k.

If they didn't like that rate, then I'd tell them they're being unrealistic to expect me on-site every minute of every day.

Thanks for the info guys. I feel eight days is not necessary, but we will see what they say.

Thanks for the .06 cents.

ruben

The numbers seem out of order in some way to me.

Ten full days of shooting + family interviews to fit in a three minute video?

They will have a lot of footage for future projects!

So you can look at your time as $400 per day shooting and $1,000 for the editing.

I think is fair for your first paying job.

I would give them up to 50 dvds if you have the duplication equipment.

DVDs are cheap and are seen as a lot of value to the client.