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How much should I charge to produce a documentary for someone?
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And i shoot beautiful hd footage with broadcast quality equipment. Do I need to get more specific? I normally charge 30 per hour and I have a very happy client base. I was simply asking if price dinamics should change with this being a project that will span a few months and not just a single wedding day. Do I need to give my social security number and license? My soul? To get a basic answer. Shit ill take a ball park figure, an example even. Anything. Are you professional? What color socks do you wear in the morning? Why is the sky blue?
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If you charge $30/hr now why not $30/hr for the doc if that’s a rate you are comfortable with? If you think you are worth more charge more. If you really want to do the doc but $30/hr won’t fit into the budget then you might have to charge less.
Has a shooting schedule already been laid out? Is it realistic for what the producers want to accomplish? I wouldn’t quote a flat fee because docs are inherently unpredictable and I probably won’t do anything shorter than a day rate honestly. If all you would be shooting is talking heads and ‘evergreen’ broll then that is easy to schedule, but if you will be following the subject(s) around like a fly on the wall that’s much harder to schedule for because if something big happens while you aren’t there you might have to drop everything, high tail it to where the subject is and start filming.
It’s hard to give budget-type advice with so little info because every budget is unique. I think this goes double for documentaries because you never know what might happen during filming.
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Sebastian, we’re all trying to help you. But for some reason you think I “have a problem” because I’m trying to help you determine rates based on experience. Never mind dude. I don’t need to be insulted by you when I’m trying to help.
Joseph said this “it depends on experience, equipment, market area (LA rate is going to be much higher than Kansas City rate).” My questions involved getting that information from you. But since you rather be rude with someone trying to help you. Figure it out for yourself, good luck.
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[Andrew Kimery] “It’s hard to give budget-type advice with so little info because every budget is unique. I think this goes double for documentaries because you never know what might happen during filming.”
Which is my advice is to — whatever you think you SHOULD charge — DOUBLE it.
My second bit of advice: when asking for advice, be a little more gracious about taking advice.
Tim Wilson
Vice President, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW -
How many days on production? Are you handing over rights to footage or sharing it? If this is b-roll for a documentary are you going to need to hand out release forms for all the people who walk through shot? Are you setting up and using jib or tracking shots? Do you need to record sound to an external device? If its HD, is it a format you are familiar with? Do you have assistants on set to do grip and lighting and focus pulling or is it you on your own humping kit around for a 12 hour day? Are you capturing footage during the shoot or after-tape or solid state? If this is for TV broadcast, what delivery format and what size of broadcaster is asking for it? Most pertinently, what budget has your client got for the whole production?
If you can’t be bothered to answer any of the simple yet hugely relevant questions that any of the professionals are asking you on this forum then just charge the same fee you charge to shoot a wedding. Each question hints at an additional skillset required and something that an experienced person would legitimately charge more for. You don’t need advice so why ask?
You’ve already been hugely rude to some vastly experienced professionals elsewhere on this forum in the last 24 hours so why on earth should anyone give you the answer to one of the hardest questions most producers get asked – “how much should I charge/how much CAN I charge”.
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Thanks and the conversation I was having was not directed at you
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Did I strike a nerve? Haha. 1st why are you following me around the forum? Second the guy had such a whacked out view of things. But that’s neither here nor there. If you noticed the first person that responded to my post, I thanked them very much. With you however you seem to try and belittle me and acuse me of not being a professional. You don’t know the first thing about me. So if your looking for a thank you…..thanks for trying to question if I’m a professional? I mean what the hell.
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Also, your largest problem is that your disrespectful and if by “disrespectful to other professionals” you mean you and Ned than the feeling is mutual. If you read my question instead of looking to start a witch hunt, you would realize that it’s a restrepo type documentary. So all those “questions” you seem to think I don’t want to address is perhaps because the type of project I’m doing is more gorilla run and shoot. My bad for not making that clear. But you and Ned are both rude, disrespectful, and arogent. Idk if you just have to much time on your hands or what but here’s a tip….the nazis came to grand generalizations of people based on nothing….look how that turned out . I’d rethink the way I speak to people, if I were you.
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Actually this has grown out of hand. I apologize for getting defensive and thank you all for trying to help. I guess my real question needs to be reformulated
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Actually this has grown out of hand. I apologize for getting defensive and thank you all for trying to help. I guess my real question needs to be reformulated
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