How to price a car dealership commercial

[Walter Biscardi]

No different than you price any other project. Your day rate for the shoot and your standard editing rate for the Post.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html

Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Joe Cinquina]

Thank you for your reply. I just have one problem, this is my first job like this where I have to think about procing those elements. What should I charge for the day-Shooting, the editing? the animation?

In the past i have done corporate for my company.

Thanks.

Joe

[Kris Simmons]

An experienced production company would charge in the ball park of $1400 per day for a two-person shoot. That would include a director/videographer, sound technician/production assistant, camera/tripod, one light kit, two wireless microphones and a shotgun mic with boom pole.

As far as editing is concerned, you would charge anywhere from $100 to $300 per hour based on your experience and market.

I have found that local car dealerships typically don’t like to spend a lot of money on their commercials so it might be a challenge to get more than $1000 for all your efforts. If this is the case, try to get them to commit to multiple ads over the course of a year so that you can give them the “volume discount.”

Kristopher G. Simmons
Video Business Coach
https://MindYourVideoBusiness.com

[Walter Biscardi]

[Joe Cinquina] “I just have one problem, this is my first job like this where I have to think about procing those elements. What should I charge for the day-Shooting, the editing? the animation?”

Then you’ll have to charge less than most other folks unless you come to this project with a ton of prior experience and accolades.

Around Atlanta, the going rate for a good photographer with equipment is around $1,200 – $2,500/day depending on the gear. Sound / grip person – $350/day

Editing runs from $50 – $650/hour depending on the room and the operator.

Car dealerships are notorious for not wanting to pay diddly for their spots so we don’t do them here. The only way to make any money on these guys at all is to get them to sign a 10 – 12 spot contract. If not, you’ll be putting in about three times as many hours as you’ll get paid for.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html

Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Bruce Bennett]

Joe,

When I directed car dealership spots, we always shot exterior shots of vehicles at an angle/45-degrees so that you can see the front and the side at the same time. The dealer managers demanded that from us.

Bruce

Bruce Bennett,
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC – http://www.bmmp.com

[Grinner Hester]

3-5k is a fair number for these spots.
I usually don’t shoot the car spots I edit but I have seen no reason to cut breaks as little as I do em so I just charge my hourly rate. Assuming you need a minimum of a grand a day for your time and overhead, thats how I started at 3k. A day of shooting, a day of editing and a day for graphics and animation.
That said, don’t let me make your day rate $1k. Figure up what you need based on your overhead and expertise.

[Steve Wargo]

We don’t do anything for under $2500 for a basic project and what you’re describing would start at around $3500 and run to around $5k.

If you’re asking us how much to charge, I would have to suspect that you are new to the business. Do you know what is required by the TV station or cable company? Most of them still rely on getting a BetaSP of the product, properly formatted in broadcast specs, like SMPTE Bars, 1K Tone, proper Slate, starting the TC at 00:58:30:00 etc. Do you know all of this?

Do you have the ability to deliver a proper finished product to the media that is running the spot? You can’t just cut a commercial together and drop a dvd off at the tv station, in most instances. Some of the smaller markets do that but they don’t do it here. Check on this before you get too far. If you need to have it transferred, find a post house now that will do it when it’s ready and make sure that you provide exactly what they need. This could kill your project down the road.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut Pro systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck

[Craig Seeman]

So many answers and numbers but ultimately it’s what does it take for it to be profitable for you and meet your potential client’s needs. What gear do you have?

The low budget version.
Shoot on 1/3″ 3 chip chip camera with tripod. Maybe a good small stabilizer. Don’t use an assistant. Don’t try to record any audio on location unless you and the client are ok with someone wearing a wireless lav.

Edit includes shots, a selection of stock music from your music library. Somebody from the dealership stops in to do the voice over. Create your basic graphics in Photoshop, After Effects, Motion. Don’t be afraid to use stock backgrounds or presets. You can probably edit the whole thing in one eight hour day. Do make sure everything is broadcast legal.

Deliver spot by creating MPEG2 Program Stream and use DGFastchannel. You won’t need to go out to DigiBeta or BetaSP that way.

If the client really is low budget you can do the above for about $1500 ($750 an 8 hour day). Believe it or not some clients may be ok with the above. If you act as the ad agency you can also get 15% for the media buy.

This is your one man band version of the job. Your objective is to make a profit you’re comfortable with. Be honest with the client though about the corners you’re cutting.

[Mark Suszko]

If they complain about the extra charge for undercoating the back side of all your luma keys, tell them they do that at the factory and you can’t take that off, but that you’ll go talk to your manager and see if you can make an “adjustment”.

More seriously, car dealerships have the rep they do regarding spots because it’s generally proved true over time. Go into this knowing you are dealing with the Devil, and everything said by them needs to be parsed and double-checked for loopholes. Others have discussed rates, I’ll add some side details. First, I’m shocked you have a chance at working for “Faustian Motors, home of the Hellishly Good Dealz” at all; usually the local cable company grinds these out at a shockingly low fee nobody else an match, if they agree to the time buy (placement) package from the cabe company. The good news for you is that their “free” productions usually LOOK like what they cost. Anyway, on to some rules….

Rule 1 is NEVER do the job for a flat fee, EVER. Always charge an hourly rate, and don’t charge half-days. Completion times are always an ESTIMATE; as in car repair, it may take longer and you will have to charge accordingly if it does. And always get at least a partial deposit in advance. Many folks here like working in thirds: a third up front, a third after the shoot or first rough cut screening, and the final third paid in full upon delivery of the approved final master. Pay your own expenses and any rentals or crew costs out of the up-front money. Adjust the amount of the first “third” to make sure this can happen. Never start the second project until the first one is all paid for, this rule must be set in stone and told to the client in advance. You are NOT a finance company, let them go to a bank to make money off the interest on someone else’s money.

Rule 2 is Never believe the proposition that if you do the first 1,2, or however many at a discount, you’ll get a lot more future biz at a higher rate. Repeat this mantra: “I am not a finance company”. My own personal rule is to walk away from clients that ever mention this proposition, but hey, you are already dealing with car salesmen, so it’s kind of too late for that… Still, any time they suggest a price “adjustment” for volume, suggest they have it happen on the “back end”, that is, no, you won’t drop your rate on these first spots, but if “we” establish a good working relationship now, you will start cutting them a volume deal on spot number five and after that.

Rule 3 is GET IT IN WRITING. What you are doing, at what rate, what deadline, what amount is paid down and when the rest is payable. What you will and won’t do if the deal is cancelled. What format and how many are you responsible to deliver. Who pays for errors and changes. How many changes allowed before a new deal must be arranged. ( My rule of thumb is, one set of free changes after the rough cut screening or first time they see the edited master, interpreted pretty liberally as long as the changes don’t require new elements. Mistakes they make like spelling, they pay for, mistakes I make, I eat. After a second screening, any more changes at that point are billed as a new job. ) Who owns the tapes shot and the shots done; will you be able to show people your spots in a demo reel. Will the client provide any stock footage, logos, or other elements.

Rule 4 is It COSTS WHAT IT COSTS. Build a reasonable profit into your rate, so that if you divide the time you spent into the money you made after expenses, you’re not working a wage that qualifies you for your own plastic name tag and spatula. While it’s right to pay attention to what others charge, don’t let that figure rule you: they can be low-balling, or have some other reason they can afford to charge too low. If you lowball first time out, it is HELL trying to get the rate raised later when it becomes apparent you have not been charging enough due to inexperience. Work out your true costs of doing business and your profit, add some margin on top for safety, see if you are somewhere AT LEAST in the upper middle range of competitors rates for similar work, then re-evaluate after the first job. Don’t take a too-low rate because its’ “good for your portfolio/demo reel”.

Rule 5 Is come back here and run things by the group mind here any time your spider-sense starts tingling or you just don’t know for sure. These guys are VERY smart and eager to let you benefit from their vast experience and avoid mistakes they’ve made. You have a HUGE resource and support team here working for you: USE IT!

[Steve Wargo]

[Craig Seeman] “Deliver spot by creating MPEG2 Program Stream and use DGFastchannel. You won’t need to go out to DigiBeta or BetaSP that way.”

Craig, Our cable company says “BetaSP Only” so before suggesting the above, it might be wise to have him check with whoever will be broadcasting the piece. We’ve delivered DVDs to other media broadcasters but each one has their own capabilities. The local channel that brags about being all HD cannot take an HDCAM tape while all of their news room is HDCAM.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut Pro systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck