Hourly rates as a 2nd shooter??

[Dawn Brennan]

I know everyone has their "price" but honestly I have never done work like this before. I have been contacted for a shoot in February to shoot for 3 Saturdays for 6 hours per day with a 1 hour lunch break. They are asking my rates for such work... basically shoot and hand over tapes (using my cameras).

I know to make sure its worth my while, but really, I have nothing going on from now until... well spring... so I can use the extra money, so I don't want to go in too high so that they go elsewhere. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[Ilya Spektor]

I usually charge $300 for a half-day (up to 4hrs) or $450 for a full day (up to 8hrs), overtime - $75/hr, plus expenses (tapes etc...)

[Lukas Siewior]

$50 per hour but $100 for first hour (to cover travel and other expenses).

[Dawn Brennan]

Thanks for responding... I like the $50 per hour after $100 for first hour... that would make me feel better about driving and using my equipment...

I think I'm gonna sleep on it before I get back to them... so if there is any more input...

[Philip Howells]

Dawn, I think I'd be a little more accurate about my charging.

1 find out what it would cost to rent the equipment you're using for the day - I doubt you can rent by the hour.

2 Then add the insurance and then your usual hourly rate - I can't imagine it'd be less than $50 for a competent camera op.

3 Add taxes wherever they'll affect you.

4 Add your travel based on published rates - in the UK the Automobile Association publishes a per mile rate of actual costs.

5 If it was me I'd also add a percentage to cover the fact that your client isn't having to do the renting and collecting of the gear himself. You could add a bit for depreciation but that would probably be included in the rental rate.

The biggest danger in these situations is under-selling yourself.`

[Jeff Kellam]

How many cameras are you using? 1 or 2?

Will you be using wireless which will use up batteries?

Is the travel to the site easy or will it consist of a bit of time and/or distance from home?

Are you sure you only need to hand over tapes? They have a deck which will capture from your brand of camera?

Is it going to be a fairly easy 6 hours or 6 hours of cold outdoor misery or equivalent? 6 hours in itself is a fair amount of battery and camera wear. If outside conditions or run & gun style, it's even harder on the equipment.

I would try to feel them out on their budget & cost expectations and be honest that you want the work and dont want to price yourself too high. But like Philip said, dont under sell yourself.

It would probably be best to unbundle the costs in a brief proposal.
1.Travel time. 2 hours @ $15 $30
2. Mileage at federal rate of $0.55 X 40 miles. $22
3. Tolls. $8
4. Parking costs. $10
5. Expendable materials - tapes $8 each - disposable batteries - etc. $48
6. Postage costs (how will they actually get the tapes?) $15
7. 6 hours of HDV video camera time @ $50 per hour, 2 hour minimum in the event of short shooting. $300

Example Total = $433