Hello everyone,

I just got an email from someone asking me how much I would charge for shooting a pamper party shower for 2 hours. I'm not sure what to charge for this event and would like some suggestions. I am a beginning videographer with experience in doing weddings and an anniversary dinner. I just shot my first main camera shoot on a wedding today and it went terrific. I own a canon hv30 (with a whole lot of accessories attached) and I edit in Premiere Pro CS3 if that means anything. I haven't responded to the email yet so any suggestions are well appreciated. I just looked up what a pamper party is and it's a party where all the women involved are pampered at some type of salon and get massages or something of that nature. Also the place is about 35 to 45 minutes away from my home. Thanks in advance for your help and responses!

With a drive it's a 3.5 hr job. Plus editing. I'd ask aprox. $300 for a whole gig.

Thank you very much for the help! I really appreciate it!

I'd charge more like $800 with the final edit being no more than 20 minutes.

I would go with your hourly rate, plus tack on your editing rate as well, and travel time of course.

Or you can come up with a 1/2 day and day rates and go off of those.

For example, I charge $500 for a 1/2 day package (shooting only).

My full day rate (shooting only) is $750.00.

Any editing is $50/hour.

For a job like this I would charge $500 plus the hourly editing rate.

Thank you guys for all your suggestions. I'm really learning how to price different events. Thanks again!

Ferlon... let us know how everything turns out. I look forward to seeing a little bit of your work from this event. Good luck!

Steve

since you're starting out, I'd focus more on getting the job first. money can come later on by itself when you've proven to everyone that you are "worth the money". So my advice is, don't price your self too high first. 500 is the maximum I would charge if I were you, if not less...

I did my first 3 camera coverage for AUD$1500 and edit for weeks! I rented those cameras together with a red head and on camera light.

since you're starting out, I'd focus more on getting the job first. money can come later on by itself when you've proven to everyone that you are "worth the money". So my advice is, don't price your self too high first. 500 is the maximum I would charge if I were you, if not less...

I did my first 3 camera coverage for AUD$1500 and edit for weeks! I rented those cameras together with a red head and on camera light.

I agree 100% with santo. I thought the price that Lukas first suggested was perfect... You need to build a portfolio first. Sometimes that means holding off on higher prices.
Steve

Sometimes that means holding off on higher prices.


In MY market, there is some kind of "price telepathy" between potential clients: they all seem to know the EXACT LOWEST price that anyone in my market has EVER worked for. Be aware that it is possible that if you price yourself TOO low, you'll "never" be able to break out of that stigma.

Thanks again guys for all your advice! I ended up going with Lukas' suggestion, because I advertised myself on craigslist as a beginning videographer looking to building his portfolio. Should I have advertised myself this way or am I starting off wrong? I've heard others say as well that you don't want to get caught up in offering low prices because you'll never get out of it and others have said don't price yourself to high because you have to build your portfolio first. I agree with both of those suggestions so I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I haven't got the job yet but I'm hoping to get a call from her soon or an email (she contacted me by email through craigslist). Please if anyone has suggestions on how to advertise myself and get jobs to build my portfolio, I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks again everyone!

I think if you advertise as someone looking to build a portfolio then you have a good excuse for offering cheap rates. Then when you feel like you have enough finished work to sell yourself you can raise your prices and if anyone comes to you saying "well I know you gave your service to jane doe for $300" you can say "yes but I was doing that to get experience and build my business' portfolio, you are now hiring a professional with experience and a body of work you can use as a reference for how your final product will turn out"

My advice is to price yourself low while advertising as a beginning professional looking to build his body of work, then raise your prices!

I think if you advertise as someone looking to build a portfolio then you have a good excuse for offering cheap rates. Then when you feel like you have enough finished work to sell yourself you can raise your prices and if anyone comes to you saying "well I know you gave your service to jane doe for $300" you can say "yes but I was doing that to get experience and build my business' portfolio, you are now hiring a professional with experience and a body of work you can use as a reference for how your final product will turn out"

My advice is to price yourself low while advertising as a beginning professional looking to build his body of work, then raise your prices!

Thanks a lot for this, I was wondering how I was going to get out of the cheap prices when I got more experience but it looks like I was advertising the right way, thanks again!

I have never been worried about how i would raise my price in the future because I think if I were confident enough to raise my price, then I should already have the mentality of "take it or leave it" kind of thing. if you have good product to back you up, you will feel confident with the price you're setting for yourself. but another big factor is also and always.. how you sell the product... and how you make those clients see your product as GOLD...

I was in a meeting with an ad agency this afternoon and show them our first rough edit of a promo video. The creative director was able to very much convince the accounts people that the video was full of potential and full of beautiful imageries.. bla bla bla. Everyone was just listening and convinced about everything that he says. I wouldn't be able to put it the same way as he put it, eventhough I'm the maker of the video.. it is that skill that people have.. to convince others about one product... when people would think.. "If he likes it, then it must be great" have to learn that skill!!!!

Santo

With advertising on CL there seems always to be a problem - ppl would like to get everything for near free or free. I'd never mention anything about portfolio work. It tends to sound like you're a newbie and don't know what you're doing, so your services might not be worth any penny because you can't guarantee the quality of the final product. Instead you might present yourself as a small and independent videographer who does it out of passion. The more "passion" you put into your work the more money you're worth :-)

On the other hand I would not sweat over such a small and inexpensive video. Ppl don't really see how much work it needs - they want clean and stable image and good audio. Fancy effects are not the most important thing. I'd focus on filming the gig correctly - that will save you tons of time in editing. And that means you don't get a feeling that you worked for free.

For a "pamper party" I'd quote a price just high enough to make them go away! I don't want to shoot anything like that...

I no longer subscribe to the "do it cheap for experience" method. I've done it and it was darn near a waste of my time. Now I'm a proponent of the "act professional and people will be happy to pay you" philosophy.

For a "pamper party" I'd quote a price just high enough to make them go away! I don't want to shoot anything like that...

I no longer subscribe to the "do it cheap for experience" method. I've done it and it was darn near a waste of my time. Now I'm a proponent of the "act professional and people will be happy to pay you" philosophy.

I don't think any pros here will do cheap for experience in a pamper party.. Ferlon is obviously a newbi and he needs to do cheap for experience, even in a pamper party.

Thanks a lot again guys I really appreciate all these comments! As I read them I am finding out more and more about how to advertise and carry myself on the business side of video! By the way I don't know if I mentioned it but my first main camera wedding shoot went very well and I thank the Lord for it all, He truly did help me! Thanks again for all your help guys!