That “n/c” item on the invoice

[Bob Cole]

Not sure what you meant by that, and I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think you can deduct a “n/c” from income. If you just mean your internal accounting, that is a very interesting idea.

[Mike Cohen]

It depends upon a few factors:

• Your business model
• Your relationship with clients
• Your client’s expectations

Your business model

How do you charge for projects? If everything is a la carte, then perhaps showing that you threw something in shows a sense of goodwill.
When I hire a video crew for a day rate, I either get:

Invoice A:
Red Epic Camera: $800
Tripod: $125
Arri Kit: $150
Kino Flo: $75
Video monitor: $150
Camera Operator: $550
Audio technician: $450
Audio kit: $175
Consumables: $50
Lunch: $25
Parking: $15
Mileage: $35
Power strip: $25 (I kid you not)
USB hard drive $79
Shipping: $35
White balance and focus: N/C (ok, I’m just kidding)

Overtime past 4 hours: $450/hour (I once had a freelancer stop the shoot to ask me if I was ok with going over 4 hours – a policy is ok but use judgement in exercising it)

or

Invoice B:
Red Epic camera crew $3,500/day

If it is a crew I have worked with before, I would prefer version B – I know what I am going to get and line item pricing per piece of kit is not really useful to me, and even less useful to a client who is not in production. For the first time, sure I like to know what I am getting, though one would still expect you to get the full capabilities of the crew.

Also, once I know the capabilities and philosophy of a vendor I know that they will bring everything they need to the table. For example a production group I use in LA brings several road cases to a live event, containing piles of extra kit and gizmos which they generally won’t need but if they do it is on hand. Costs them maybe an extra gallon of diesel to haul a few hundred extra pounds, but they show that they are ready for anything.

Your relationship with clients

Are these one and done gigs for hire, part of a larger project, or one in a series of ongoing projects, and part of a long term relationship?

The most important work is the next project, so do a great job on this one. If you throw in a few hours extra editing to make it perfect, most clients would be happy to know that, and unless you are giving them a bill for a set number of hours, just leave that detail out. The client will come to expect that you will produce a quality product.

If I check a file and see that it needs to be re-rendered due to some glitch, I certainly am not charging for that. Use your judgement.

Your client’s expectations

Along the same lines as the previous point. Most repeat customers hire you because of something you bring to the table that they like and perhaps can’t get elsewhere. So you do what you need to in order to keep the client happy and returning. If I get a request for say a 5-minute version of a 7-minute video, and it takes and hour to turn this around, I’ll just throw it in as good will. If you get asked for a price, and say “no worries – this was an easy one” the client will smile, say thanks, and hopefully volunteer to pay for the next one, buy you a beer or just keep the work coming.

Obviously if the request required a total re-work of the project then by all means charge accordingly, but depending upon the nature of the relationship, determine how much you need to get to cover your costs while helping the client out with what could be a last minute surprise on their end.

Thus the client expects quality work and that you are giving them their money’s worth, not that you are going to charge for every foot of gaffer tape or hour of rendering.

Your job as producer / editor / whatever, is to keep the client happy and promote future work.

Interesting thread.

Mike Cohen