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Rate for editors?
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[Bob Andren] “and was wondering what the hourly/daily rate for an editor cutting on either FCP or an AVID would be for this.
I know rates vary from person to person, and are dependent on how much footage I will have and other variables, but I’m looking to get a general idea for a rate to include in the budget for a project like this. Most or all the footage will be HD.”
Bob,
A couple other points. Once you determine the hourly/daily rate, you will need to estimate how many hours/days the edit will take. That can vary widely. Of course, the more projects you create like this, the more accurate your estimate will be.
The other thing to consider is the speed of your editor. I’ve had clients cut down the number of edit days because of a fast editor (which is good and bad – something we could talk about at some length). However, if I were you, I would be looking for a fast editor who can keep the project moving forward and the budget on target.
As far as all HD footage, that really doesn’t change the edit time – but does affect render time. The edit itself shouldn’t take any longer for HD vs SD. Of course there are many variables to take into account when dealing with a mix of video flavors, i.e., uprezing SD footage, handling progressive and interlaced, etc.
Hope this helps a little,
Ed_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield -
I’m going to say it again with the hope that it starts to catch on…
DON’T SELL TIME!
Really, honestly fight against this.
It penalizes you if you’re good and fast. It rewards those who are inexperienced and slow. And it does little to value the experience and skill you accumulate over time.
A good editor who can do things that look great QUICKLY should be paid substantially MORE than someone who is inefficient – and time based billings honor just the opposite.
It’s a fine system for accountants and administrators – and DEATH to the creative spirit.
Plus, it’s the ONLY billing mode that guarantees that your critical inventory is always trickling away.
Bid the project. Bid enough to be OK even if it takes twice the time to do a GREAT job. Cuz in the end, that’s what will make you employable.
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[Bill Davis] ”
DON’T SELL TIME!”Bill,
I completely agree with you. Don’t sell time. But the point I was making related to the original question, what is the hourly/daily rate for an editor? I know guys who are making $250/day and others who are making $600/day. Who do you want cutting your program? If you say 250, then you know going in that the project will take longer since the editor is most likely still learning the ropes. If you say 600, you are counting on that editor bringing more to the table – including speed and quality.
Since I’m fast, I shouldn’t be penalized and make less money, true. But in fact, what is happening is that because I am fast clients are willing to pay more and get more quality programs completed. Is that bad for me? Only if the pool of clients is small and the number of projects limited.
When preparing a budget for an hour long doc, he needs to bill the time accordingly and shouldn’t sell time, but the project. And the only way to do that is to know how much time every step of the process takes.
Ed
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Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield -
How’s that work for ya when a place asks your hourly freelance rate? Some like to stick to that. Ya need to have one. Time is what we sell more oftent han not, like it or not.
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Thank you Ed, yes it does help. And thank you to the others who responded.
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You’re welcome Bob. Sorry we kind of highjacked the thread. And with that said…
Grinner, How does that work for me? Well, I just got a referral from a fellow editor. The new client called and asked about an edit on his system. After talking with him about the project, he asked my day rate and I told him. He didn’t say, Oh my God how much? He said, sounds good. I know I charge more than some editors in the area, but if a company doesn’t want to pay it, they’ll go find someone else and that’s fine. I don’t need grinders.
Ed
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Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield -
(QUOTE: I completely agree with you. Don’t sell time. But the point I was making related to the original question, what is the hourly/daily rate for an editor?)
Clearly, I wasn’t clear. 😉
When I said don’t sell time. I meant don’t sell time. No, not just “don’t” do it. Fight against it like you’d fight against a crack house setting up shop next door to your kids school.
And having/posting/establishing/listing on a form or writing on a wall an HOURLY rate is…. yep … selling time.
OK fine, yes, there are circumstances where clients FORCE you to quote them an hourly rate.
Along with that they will have a great desire to restrict you by budget, by deadline, and by focusing the discussion on the numbers and metrics that define THEIR viewpoint. And their viewpoint is often antithetical to what they really want.
Which is a video that blows the competition away, creates real brand awareness and/or drives some tangible results.
If upon viewing it, they actually LOVE your work – then a client thinking about what any hour you spent creating it cost – or how many of those hours it took to create – it is as rare as hair on a fish.
So here’s the secret.
You get to choose the balance of how you apply your brain to your work. You can let half – or even most of your productive time get caught up in pleasing the nice folks in the back office who ‘s jobs depend on comparing spreadsheets. They are important to keeping the customer, client, or corporation in business after all. But IMO if you go that path, at BEST you’ll toil for a long time as yet another producer in yet another company.
Or you can take a shot at being the fine artist rather than the commercial artist.
And to do so, requires thinking differently.
And one part of that thinking, in my experience, is to do everything in your power short of resorting to violence – NOT TO SELL YOUR TIME.
Maybe I’m wrong. But somebody out there right now is getting $10,000 to make a 10 minute video – and someone is getting $250,000 to make a video of the same length.
And I guarantee you the expensive one DOES NOT have 25 times higher costs.
What it likely DOES have is people being paid for their reputation and skill at delivering results – and those cats are NOT working for hourly wages.
Period.
For what it’s worth.
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