Well, im 18. just started with this new company...AV Works in Ohio and were doing local music videos and commercials. I shot this with a GL-2.

1 in house Studio location shot (1 hour)
3 Different camera set-up's at one location (3 hours)
1 Concert Venue location (3 hours)
Editing (Appx 10-15 Hours)

Me being 18 still thinking that im getting a little underpaid because of that.

Right now were charging 500 Flat rate for a 4 minute max music video. comes with :

Studio location and 1 additional location for 500.
Each additional location is 100.

http://csxinfo.net/palumbo/TUN%20-%20Cleveland.mov

I think you may find yourself in a sticky situation. While I agree that you could easily charge 4x your rate you have to also consider what the market will support. IF you've got a lot of potential business, then by all means charge 2000 but if you don't maybe start at 1000 and work your way down if people sqwak and if they don't that's a pretty decent rate.

Cause it came to around 6 or 7 hundred. But i guess i also have to take into consideration that this is our first full length music video we've done for this company.

"how much would YOU charge "

well i'm not 18 .. i live in california - SF area ... after viewing the video ..
i might be able to do it for 25-30K ...

i liked the video and i liked the editing !!! your team has a future AND you should be charging MORE $$

2500 to 3000 or 25000 to 30000

hey, great job
they should be very thankful they paid only $500

I agree, that you can and should charge more

Prices vary by region and you don't mention anything about assistants and other gear (they were lip syncing to . . .? Did you use a car to drive to the locations)

Here's a formula:
Cost of living (housing, food, utilities, car for business)
Cost of paying off the gear and replacing every two years, maintenance, insurance, software upgrades, cost of consumables tapes, DVDs.
Cost of marketing, web page, etc.
Figure out what you need to make each month to pay for all of the above.
Assume you'll target 25 or so billable hours a week and the rest of the time is marketing, calling clients, doing paper work. Now you know what you need to break even every week. Mark up from that to actually have Profit. The Mark up depends on your skills (which are good).

I would also bill a daily minimum on a job. For example, all shoots should be a 4 hour minimum. Those one hour shoots can really mess with your schedule otherwise since you still have to go to/from location, set up gear, break down. Doesn't leave much time for another shoot that day.

"2500 to 3000 or 25000 to 30000"

K = 1000 ..so thats $25,000- 30,000 and in the LA music video world that is low budget ... that is paying ( as in payroll) everybody in front and behind camera , permits , all types of insurance, editing , equipment rentals etc = no freebees ...

Ill def. have to talk to my boss guy, haha. cause we def. need to raise the prices im thinking. instead of like, starting low and adding more, we should start high and work our way down is what your saying. The price of that video could of been that price as well since im only 18, i look extremely young, were just starting out and making a name for the company so it all just adds up to...can i really trust this kid on making me a music video i'll like... Even though im getting a DVX id really like to get a xl2 just for the big production looks which would make people think twice.

Giuseppe,

A ball park figure to start with would be $1,000/finished minute with a crew of 3. Your video was about 2.5 min long so that would be $2,500.

I sorta feel as if im being underpaid cause its basically me. there is no crew. the boss guy(we'll call him eddie from now on) doesnt do much. he kinda just puts his foot at the end of the dolly track so it doesnt run off haha. and he drove the Van so the car could follow behind us. You think we could really charge that much and get work still considering i live in cleveland?

If you are good, yes. I looked at your video and thought it was decent. The color looked a little washed out and it looked too much like video.

I should probably qualify my quote in the previous post. We shoot Beta SP and it's broadcast quality. Looks much nicer than most DV footage and can be tweaked to have a very nice film like quality. The $1,000/finished minute quote also includes proper lighting. The crew consists of a camera operator, a grip (me) and a production assistant (who takes care of the client and does make up as well).

Nobody on the set should be just standing around and when the camera operator asks for something you should already have it in hand. If not, run, don't walk to get it.

The X factor is overhead, insurance, etc. etc. etc. I have worked on videos with budgets from ZERO to budgets of a $900K. I dont do as much any more but most of them fall in the $5k range for indie bands, that is me and my gear and assistant, light guy and editor. Even on videos with just one set up I wont even think about it for under $1500 and they get ONE edit for that price....





ash =o)

what do you mean by one edit?

Bottom line on what "you can get" is "what you can get" Its not about age, its not about right/wrong, its not about underpaid. Think of it like buying a watch from a guy on the street. You make offers back and forth until you either have a deal or someone walks away. Same in the corporate world. WHen you are new, worry more about getting work. Onc eyou have enough work, start rasing your prices until enough works goes away so that you are not working 100 hours a week anymore.

No science, no right/wrong answers. Just what you can do and how good you are at selling and negotiating. See: Supply and Demand economics.

the only real problem is i dont do anything with the business. its all the other guy. so its basically telling him everything your telling me.

perhaps you should look around for another person that either knows a little about business or has the desire to LEARN the business end !!!

i have found most directors are terrible at business !!!
most have producers and reps that take care of the business end so they can deal with Creative end ...

you are just starting out and IMO your work deserves more $$$ ..
$$$$ it all depends where you are sitting .. most of the persons i know are making - directors 3500-5000 day , DP 2500-3500 day , Producer 750 + day + % to come in under budget, editor 500-750 day , gaffer 500-750day ...and most companys add on 17-25% of the budget for PROFIT/overhead ...now these are LA type rates for music video's ..yes there are many doing it for less and in the end they are all trying to get experience to move up to the next $$ level - at some point one has to decide that they are no longer going to charge X and set their rate to the next level - usually at 1st it may be slow ....BUT over the years i have seen when a company's want a 2500 a day DP they are not going to hire ( or even look at ) a 500 day DP..

what do you mean by one edit?


That means they get one edit for the price, they cant keep asking for changes. I usually build in 3 edits but they PAY for that as part of the budget.



ash =o)

Ohh, ok...never even thought of that. I hate when i have to change stuff though. especially at what were charging.

sure you're underpaid, but seriosuly look at it as experience. Sounds like this guy that you're working with is wearing clownshoes.... AKA doesn't know his business. It also sounds like you have enough ideas and initiative to try to get your own gig started. Underpaid is all relative to the market. I won't even try to do commercial spots out here in the college town I live in because the cable company charges like $40-50 for a complete edited 30 second spot!! How can someone compete with that?! Sure they look horrible, but it's a monopoly on the market... they build their production cost into their contract with other charges like airtime... When I was 17 and 18 I did 2 wedding videos where I was WAY underpaid. We shot with two panasonic 3 chip cameras (can't remember model).. there were 2 photographers per wedding and each wedding we charged $250. The first wedding was 3 hours away and we had to stay two nights out there. It was a friend's brother that was getting married so we were doing the family a "favor". By the time we paid for gas and food that weekend us splitting $250 barely covered expenses. Not to mention the editing time(no multi-camera synch back then)... BUT it gave us experience. The second wedding I hired a classmate from my broadcast technology class to help me out and shoot the wedding/reception for $50. I edited it and made $200. Sooo I guess what I'm trying to say is.. If you have a roof over your head and food to eat, each new job is more experience and at 18 you're not doin too bad a few hundred here and there... Try marketing yourself if this dude isn't doing much, or hire him to work on YOUR gigs. Best of luck! With a good portfolio.. or "reel"... you can raise your rate over and over... but to get good experiences sometimes you have to work for dirt!

Try marketing yourself if this dude isn't doing much, or hire him to work on YOUR gigs.

Yea, i would totally work for myself, but i dont know much about business/legallity issues or how to find the work. And the thing that makes me mad is, he doesnt do anything. At all. Except learn the "camera lingo" and tell people "we" do great work. It almost makes me mad that im buying a new camera tomorrow and he tells clients "were updating equipment"...sheeze, he should be saying "the 18 year old is buying a 5k$ camera, so wait..." Im not trying to get special treatment that im 18 either, cause it doesnt matter in my eyes, but i know that people look at me differently since in this business it's usually more expierienced people...

Yea, i would totally work for myself, but i dont know much about business/legallity issues or how to find the work. And the thing that makes me mad is, he doesnt do anything. At all. Except learn the "camera lingo" and tell people "we" do great work. It almost makes me mad that im buying a new camera tomorrow and he tells clients "were updating equipment"...sheeze, he should be saying "the 18 year old is buying a 5k$ camera, so wait..." Im not trying to get special treatment that im 18 either, cause it doesnt matter in my eyes, but i know that people look at me differently since in this business it's usually more expierienced people...

I'm 20 and do freelance work(graphics, web sites, videos) for people along with niche market "special interest" videos. The business isn't impossible to learn and owning your own business can be very rewarding, at least it is for me.

A sole-proprietorship is easy to setup and you just need to hire an accountant to take care of your taxes. I wouldn't waste my time with this loser, especially since you have your own equipment. Don't dwell on your age, I don't let people know how old I am unless someone asks, age is not a selling point.

well, i'll keep working here for another few months till i go to school, then after school im gonna try to move somewhere better. Atlanta, NY, Cali...i dunno. I dont really know where i wanna go yet, i just know what i wanna do so i dunno...we'll see

There are tons of jobs in ATL now since everyone is trying to be T.I.

Giuseppe,

The link to your video is down (or at least I can't get to it).