Pricing for freelance work

[Janice DeMille]

I am looking at applying for some freelance work. It involves directing, shooting, editing and uploading to the web preroll for commercials and infomercials for a company in North Carolina. Any idea what I should ask for a fee and how to structure it?

thanks

[Don Bloom]

Very difficult to answer.
Geographics, demographics, competition in the area, your own skill and level of expertise, the scope of work; amount of time spent on the job and pre and post production, rental equipment or locations, your overhead and expenses of running your business, what you feel the job is worth and what you EXPECT to get paid.
All of these things and more come into play when figuring out a quote for a corporate client.
As an example I just picked up a new client- a nationally known cell phone provider. I'm doing this particular job for one division in one city of their market. Can they afford to pay big bucks-YES, but one of the questions I asked besides: 1) Who's you're audience 2) what's your message and 3) what's your delivery system, was 4) What's your budget.
No one will admit to their real budget because they're afraid that you will go to the extreme end of it but if they're budget is only say $500 and I know off the top of my head that it's say a $1000 job well it could be an uphill climb. Of course no matter what they tell me I know 2 things 1) they are lying to me and have anywhere from 10 to as much as 50 percent more than what they said and 2) I WILL NOT GIVE THEM A NUMBER YET!
Yes It's all caps -because I yell at myself everytime to remind myself NO NUMBERS not even a "ballpark" They could be in Wrigley field and I'm in Yankee Stadium - big difference. I get the info I need to make a well thought out estimate or Proposal, make sure I have as much of the info as I can get-cover my butt by including things like overtime costs or reshoot costs if they change their mind, graphics, music, voiceovers, talent, rent for any gear or locations or transportation etc. THEN I bring in a copy of the proposal, go over the details and try to sell it to them.
So having said all of that again it's very hard to give yo an answer but perhaps you can get a couple of things here to help YOU come up with the answer.

Good Luck,

Don

[Vito DeFilippo]

Great answer Don. I find one of the hardest things is to come up with a good proposal. I also ask "what is your budget." You get a great idea right away of what you are dealing with.

Going through the process of figuring out a quote is also great practice for future jobs, even if you don't get the first one.

You could also try the "okay, here is a proposal based on the budget you gave me, but you know, here's another proposal that would really kick &ss if you were able to spend this much."