Listing prices on website

[Josh Bass]

Do any of you guys NOT do weddings (instead, corporate, etc.) and list prices? I have messed with this approach but never really committed to it. One issue is I almost always have to rent gear as I am without a camera right now. I have colleagues in town from whom I can get a significantly better deal on a few select cams than I could get at a rental house, and so pass on the savings, but those are cams they also use so it's a little dicey to commit to saying "videographer/cam = X dollars" and that being dependent on that gear being available on whatever day a shoot ends up being.

Also, shoots vary so much it's hard to list package prices (do I need 1 cam or 3, just myself or a grip, etc.). Crew rates vary, so even a two man band can be different prices depending on who I can get that day. Etc.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Josh

Definitely not as you have no idea if you need a crew, gear, travel but I do have a costing for short promos that are a single camera shoot where the person just wants one location and a 3 minute clip on YouTube. Apart from that every job is going to different whereas weddings are fairly structured and you know what is involved.

Chris

[Josh Bass]

Yeah, and I thought about doing something for the most basic types of shoots ("me by myself half day/full day," "me with camera, one mic," "me with cam, one mic, light kit," etc.). Those are some more common configurations I find myself in.

[Chris Harding]

for smallish commercial shoots where I am just using one camera I tend to do a half day rate of $500 and a full day rate of $1000 .....I'm probably under costing a bit but doing these is usually just a couple of hours!

[Ian Atkins]

I offer three "Tiers" for promotional videography work, depending upon the length of the video, the need for narration/acting talent, etc. But I am clear that everything can be customized. But I agree with Chris...your rates should equal to your halfway and full day charges. But don't forget to included edited time in those ranges.

[Josh Bass]

How would you, though? With a wedding there is SOME standardization (with the exception of different religions' types of ceremonies, etc.), a corporate or other video could be ANYTHING. 30 seconds, 15 minutes. I would probably just list my hourly editing rate and say something about providing an estimate on number of hours based on our discussions.

[Ian Atkins]

Josh,
We're getting slightly off topic, but I actually disagree that there is no standardization for promotional videography. In fact, I would argue that there is more!
For example, we all know commercials run 15, 30, or 60 seconds. Usually they involve 1-2 talking heads and/or vocal narration. The rest in B-roll.

So, run with that. Start with what price should be associated with a commercial shoot and then grow from there to longer formats. The material doesn't matter so much as the length of the final product and the number of hours required to shoot it.

[Josh Bass]

I should change my middle name to Tangent. r

Youre talking about proper commercial lengths..Ive never worked on stuff like that. ive only worked on longer form promo pieces of the several minutes variety, everything from lots of talking heads to none.

[Chris Harding]

Correct Josh

A promo video for a company could be as simple as being in front of the owner at his desk doing a 3 minute talking head. It could also mean running all over an industrial site, waiting for staff or processes to become available and weather is even a factor ... not easy to price correctly and almost impossible to pre-cost

Weddings, even different religions, are normally much the same to a point but you still have the odd one that throws out your costing but 99% are fairly well planned and run close enough to schedule to keep within your pricing.

Chris

[Josh Bass]

exactly, and that brings us back...

I was thinking I could at least give folks an idea of a STARTING point for my pricing for those very simple packages (DP/cam/mic/lights for half day/full day). More specific discussions could take place aftet that if theyre not completely turned off by the intial quotes (which some folks are if their budget for everything including post is $500 or something). Help weed people out and everyone can avoid wasting each other's time.

[Ian Atkins]

Don't know how many of you subscribe to Wedding Wire, but I just received an email from them today that states:

"Why should I add pricing to my Storefront?
• 88% of couples want to see pricing details before contacting a vendor
• Adding basic pricing information pre-qualifies couples so you can focus on those who are serious about booking your business"


I don't know where they got this statistic from, other than polling their own audience. But nevertheless, it is an interesting number for sure!

[Noa Put]

I had a client with me a few years back who had inquired with a another videographer first who did not have any prices on his website, when they phoned him he said he could not say the prices over the phone as he did custom-made wedding videography and the price depended on what the client expected and he only could explain it when they visited him and after seeing a demo. The couple drove halfway the country to meet him to finally hear it was 5K while they had a much smaller budget in mind so they ended up with me :) They told me how frustrated they where having wasted so much time.