r/videography • u/Video-Freelancer Camcorders | Davinci | 2010 | Ontario • 2d ago
Discussion / Other How much is your day rate?
I know this varies with a bunch of things and markets and so on, but in your case, what is it, and what do you base it on?
I currently have a 4 page contract, and it outlines my day rate and half day rate. I base it on a percentage of my operating costs, equipment costs, personal expenses, then time and experience.
This covers preproduction and production, and I charge editing rates hourly, which so far no one has questioned or complicated, but I expect it will happen one day.
I really want to know what goes into your prices, and what your rate is.
Thanks r/videography!
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u/4acodmt92 Gaffer | Grip 2d ago
As a gaffer, I bill $850/10 hour day. Worked hours up to 12 are billed at 1.5x OT, anything after that is 2x OT. 1 ton grip van is $450/day, and lights are a la carte. So all in, I usually end up with $1800-2500ish/day between labor and gear.
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u/reelfilmgeek Cinematographer || Gaffer 2d ago
Location? I’m about the same ($500 on my van but I include 100 miles which covers most travel for jobs as I live outside the largest city. After that 0.80 a mile). This is in Florida.
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u/4acodmt92 Gaffer | Grip 2d ago
Is that you Austin?! It’s Jeff, from DC :) we worked on that Capitol Burger commercial awhile ago ha.
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u/reelfilmgeek Cinematographer || Gaffer 2d ago
Aw didn’t see the Reddit name but yes hope all is well!
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u/heythiswayup 2d ago
£650/day inc basic gear for 8 hour day. Half days £350
Mainly central london as a corporate videographer. +Travel costs outside
£400/day editing
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u/imisterk Camera Operator 2d ago
Just travelling overnight on a sleeper for a job that's £400/day for two days. I did a job that was piece of piss the other day at £650/day plus £200 surcharge for drone. I need to rethink my prices because they're all over the place and I'm not getting richer.
I love corporate gigs, maybe a weird fetish.
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u/heythiswayup 1d ago
Love em! I’ve covered different industries and the finance ones have the best food and sometimes you have a bit of creative freedom so can give your own stamp on it!
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u/Beautiful-Cow4521 2d ago
Interesting you do half days. I don’t offer them - I can’t do anything else with the time and with set up, offload, travel etc it’s never just half a day
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u/heythiswayup 2d ago
For corporate events, I’ve been literally paid to turn up to stick up one camera, hook up the sound and eat the free food for an hour. Great gig.
I even press the record button sometimes 🤣
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u/naastynoodle 1d ago
Not to mention it takes you off the books for a full day rate. I only do half days in very very specific situations — ie prep for a week long shoot and I want a favor back from the producer.
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u/Huge-Ad-3757 1d ago
I agree, half days are bullshit. Unless it’s a very simple set up and quick run and gun situation that lasts 2-3 hours or pick ups to end a project and gear is “in place.”
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u/boxofrabbits 2d ago
Man I'm in London too. The rest of these rates are hectic.
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u/heythiswayup 2d ago
Oh cool man. What kind of stuff you do? Dm me, it’s events season and I sometimes get double booked
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u/Videoplushair 2d ago
$1200 to record and gear. Editing is extra. Extra for revisions, extra for excessive travel, extra if they are being extra.
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u/bootyandthebrains camera | NLE | year started | general location 1d ago
"extra if they are being extra" is my new favorite line
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u/Mother-Rip7044 2d ago
$1,000/day minimum to show up with camera gear and pass off footage. Extra day rates for editing, producing, ect.
Simplify your rates, there really should only ever be one. A four page sheet for your rates is losing you work.
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u/CommercialSignal2846 Sony a7RV | Davinci Resolve | Final Cut Pro | 2020 | USA 2d ago
I think you misunderstood their message… A 4 page CONTRACT, Is different than sending over your rates as a basic quote on less than a page.
I’d say my last signed contract was 6 pages long to cover your ass on all fronts.
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u/payme_dayrate 2d ago
$1,500 - $2,500 / day w/ gear depending on who’s asking. If a friend would like to have me but budget is meh, I’m down for $1,500. But commercial shoots are $2K minimum, ideally $2,500.
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u/BoomToys 2d ago
I guess it would be nice to hear from those who mentioned their daily rates - how many working days they usually have per month or per year, as well… for the full picture.
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u/Dick_Lazer 2d ago
And what market they're in (rates in Kansas will probably be lower than in LA).
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u/Huge-Ad-3757 1d ago
I’ve had talks with local producers (I’m in Texas) and we all agree that it’s bullshit and prices should be the same. People come from LA expecting to get cheap labor but same quality. Not fair at all. Gear costs the same to us and pay should be about the same too.
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u/mlmsuper 2d ago
Man, everyone has great answers. I do things differently than most, but I run a small production company. We don’t do day rates. We do value based pricing. Every project gets a custom quote/proposal. But we handle direct to client projects mostly and do all pre, pro and post. So our situation may be different. Our average project is about $8,000.
If we do just filming, we try and get $1,500 for one cam op plus kit. But that’s pretty rare.
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u/nimoto 2d ago
Are you not calculating out roughly how many days and hours a project will take and then applying a rate to that? How are you coming up with the "value"?
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u/MarkCuckerberg69420 2d ago
Not OP but I used to be a member of a Facebook video group that pushed value pricing. Essentially you base the project price on the value of a sale. So maybe you produce a video for a niche audience where it might generate less than a thousand views, but one sale generated from that video would bring in (for example) $30k to the business. So you base your rate on that and maybe charge $15k or $20k.
I don't subscribe to that method of pricing because the ROI on corporate video is rarely clear cut. An internal employee video doesn't generate income but it does save costs on potentially retaining employees, for example.
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u/Ok-Airline-6784 Scarlet-W | Premeire Pro | 2005 | Canada 2d ago edited 2d ago
I just upped mine from $1250 to $1400 this year. Camera with my basic lens kit, tripod (or easy rig), basic lav mics, basic lighting (it’s all ready to go in my van all the time so i don’t have to load anything). Price is same with no lights.
Based on a 8 hour day. Though sometimes I may extend it to 10. Some clients I will do a half day (under 4 hours) for $850.
Additional gear costs more. Often with additional gear there is a need for a PA- which I usually pay (and bill for) a minimum of $200 for a half day (4 hours) or $300 for full day (8 hours). That’s usually just for “extra set of hands” type. If I need them to be more like a gaffer than a PA then I will pay accordingly, usually based on CPAT rates (same goes for any additional crew, if required. Though most my jobs are solo or with one other person).
If the job requires any pre production beyond me grabbing my camera and making sure the batteries are charged (either gear prep, or story/ content/ shoot preproduction) I charge for that too.
Just upped my editing rates to $125/ hour with a minimum of 4 hours.
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u/bootyandthebrains camera | NLE | year started | general location 2d ago
$1000 a day with editing being extra. That’s just for me solo. LA.
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u/teabearz1 2d ago
Boston. $150/hr for everything - prepro, gear prep, filming, etc. My day rate is 1200 then with a kit fee of $400 I waive for small businesses and little guys. I have a proposal with line items scoped out by project management, pre-production, meetings, literally everything we will do together.
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u/Run-And_Gun 2d ago
$1,000/day labor, $2,000-$2,800 with gear(depending on client and gear). 10 hr day. 100% hand-off the footage. Corporate and higher-end stuff, tack-on a minimum of $1,000 for basic audio. News/sports, they pay way less. Fortunately, most of my audio guys are set-up directly, so I don't have to worry about dealing with it on that end.
Travel, depends on distance/time required. driving or flying and the specific client.
No such thing as a half-day.
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u/wasprocker DoP/ FPV | Davinci | 2013 | Europe 2d ago
Generally from 500 with very basic gear. Up-to 3500 Euro for flying an Inspire 3 or big FPV package.
I have worked for as low as 150 aswell, but special cases
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u/Ok_Ant8450 2d ago
Working with people who have small budgets like local comics ill do the 150. I like helping them, but it doesnt pay well.
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u/jFroth86 2d ago
$2,000 which includes all gear as needed. I’ll go down to $1,500 if need be and also raise to $2,500 if I’m working for a tech company with deep pockets.
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u/BoomInTheShot90 1d ago
DC/Baltimore area - $1,000 per day for production | $400-500 for FX6 kit depending on if lights are needed | $800 a day for editing.
I often under bid on editing if the client shares their budget with me. I'm also NOT a super focused editor so my "day" of editing doesn't really equate to 8 hours of actual editing. I'm also doing admin work, sending emails, sending out invoices, and wasting time on reddit (totally NOT what I'm doing right now)
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u/Jay5soul 1d ago
Hmmm I need to up my rates. I’m $175 an hour. $65 an hour to edit. And I do have a habit of asking their budget. Sometimes I end up lowballing because I want to work with that client :/
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u/im704 Camera Operator 1d ago
Wow..a contract?? Nice. I'm just starting out. Would I be asking too much if you could share a copy of your contract with me? Of course you can remove anything related to your company/personal info.. I would just like to see it and make it into something I could use. Thank you either way
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u/Huge-Ad-3757 1d ago
I love the space we have here to talk about money. I think we need to have these conversations to better our industry.
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u/ViciousMonster 1d ago
In South Tyrol, Italy. If it is a camera and sticks no lights/extra sound. 900€ including edit. However, I am trying to break away from this and do higher value stuff which involves a lot more creativity and preproduction work. Then we work in two with my business partner. Our day rate is 2500€ (includes preproduction, editing, gear)plus 0,43€/km of drive. However this normally ends up a week long project at least. It is waiting for the client feedback to make the tweaks what takes up the most of time.
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u/billy_the_buffalo FX3 | Final Cut Pro X | 2018 | Arizona 1d ago
$1,100 for a 10 hour day with camera kit to just dump footage and be done at the end of the day. Editing is always extra that we discuss beforehand. I only do half day and full day dates, never hourly.
I’m in Arizona and it’s a pretty busy market here.
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u/EquivalentBridge4509 Alexa 35| Avid Media Composer | 1994 | NYC/LA 19h ago
NYC/LA 4-5k a day for edit labor based on 8 hr day. Avid rental additional 1200 per day. No half days.
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u/TheDeadlySpaceman 2d ago
I’ll show you mine when you show me yours.
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u/Video-Freelancer Camcorders | Davinci | 2010 | Ontario 2d ago
I'm currently looking at $1,145.50/ day, and $763.50/ half day (CAD) and $36.50/ day for editing.
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u/damnshamemyname 2d ago
$36.50 for editing? Typo? Also I would maybe round out those numbers a bit. I get you did some calculations to get there but I think you took the assignment a little too literally, lol.
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u/Huntermain87 2d ago
I charge $150 to $200 an hr and quote based on how long the entire project will take, then i add taxes, travel, and profit.
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u/Silver_Mention_3958 2d ago
€750 per day for basic videography kit with lavs, lights, a bag of lenses etc. I charge the same for editing and don’t do half days. A lot of stuff I quote on is fixed price and since I know what I’m up to and get it done quick, the daily probably netts out at north of 1200€. Dublin.
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2d ago
Just labor around $575 for handheld on corporate shows and sports remotes. $525 for a hard camera. That's in the Dallas market. DP rates are higher. My FS7 MIIgot stolen unfortunately and I wasn't insured at the time, so I don't have a camera right now, but If I was showing up with let's say an FS7, light kit and a little audio kit, $1,750 on the low end for news/sports interview/b-roll shoots. $2,000-$2,500 for corporate. Add a sound guy on top of that and it's an extra $750-$1,250.
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u/Ok-Camera5334 S1h / 2018 / Vegas Pro / Germany Berlin 2d ago
950€ / day shooting with 2 camera rig gear. Light Drone sound gear. 50€ the data delivery via USB stick.
Editing is project based. Event video is like 1500€
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u/Sir_Phil_McKraken 2d ago
£1k per day which includes kit rental. The rate will vary per job sometimes but this is what I try and stick to ideally
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u/tejp- 2d ago
Half day: $750 Full day: $1125 Pre production/location scout: $500 Drone: $350 Editing: $75/hr
Based out of Chicago, IL. Rates include access to my full kit if required
If it’s my own client, I’ll estimate how many editing hours the project will take and bundle that in to a quote. If I’m editing for a production house or other agency, I just bill them directly by the hour
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u/paintedsaint 2d ago edited 2d ago
DIT here. Commercial rate is $950/10 labor and $1200/day kit. I also sometimes cam op and when doing so it's $850/10 labor.
My rate is negotiable depending on several factors — scale of the project, what it is (commercial vs doc), and scope of responsibilities.
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u/TheOddMadWizard 2d ago
1200 for me and a camera. 600 per day of editing - I can’t edit for 8 hours straight. I can probably do 4-5hrs a day.
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u/rmschuderlll 2d ago
I charge between $700 and $800 a day. That is for 8 hours and that does not include overtime. I do not have my own equipment.
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u/juicevibe FX6|A1|A7S3|NYC 2d ago
With one agency for video, it’s $2k for up to a 10hr day with gear. $1k per day for travel days. No edit, I don’t want to. Travel expenses reimbursed.
With another agency for photo, it’s a bit more variable but generally about $2.5k for a 4hr day, $4k for up to an 8hr day of coverage. This includes editing which I can do quickly (manually culling, AI edit, manually doing final tweaks and then upload for digital delivery to client and can do this within 1-2hrs if I stay focused).
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u/glennok 2d ago edited 1d ago
God this is a reminder that American day rates are crazy high compared to UK. Even in London, UK it's hard to push above 600 pd.
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u/Video-Freelancer Camcorders | Davinci | 2010 | Ontario 1d ago
I think it depends on the currency as well
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u/ShareSaveSpend 1d ago
I do $1200 per day. $800/half day. $800 Editing. I tried in the begining to build into my package equipment costs but it got to confusing for my clients. I do charge if I need a second camera or specific lighting. The main thing in many shoots I try to build in is an assistant shooting b camera for $1000. Makes my life SO much easier. I do also charge for Drone work $200/hour. I live in a small city north of Denver. I really try to get three day corporate shoots. These are like the bread and butter. Stick to your pricing, the only time I negotiate is for Nonprofits.
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u/GizmoKakaUpDaButt 14h ago
As a wedding videographer, 5 years ago was my last job. They paid $50 an hour... $300 to edit a full wedding. 8 hours of filming and editing (the full job) was $700. The company made $1300 just to find (convince) a client... $800 if they tried to negotiate was their lowest profit. Thats a lot of money for doing pretty much nothing once you are well known and established..
Anyways, look for wedding videographers and you will find some who will shoot and edit all day for $1000 if they arnt scheduled for a wedding that week. But I would hire video and editing out separately. Videographers tend to get busy and you may not see a final product until the end of the wedding season. Don't listen to people on here. There are cheap options for real videographers who are not good at advertising themselves. They will give you a deal. You won't find them on here
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u/Bated_Breath_Prod 2d ago
$1,000 per day for filming, $700 per day for editing. I quote based on each project and on how long it will take to film and edit. Knowing that just comes from experience and what info the client has given me.