Video Production Rate Card Best Practices

[Todd Terry]

[Mark Suszko] “That’s my gaffer tape speech”

Here’s mine, or more like an anecdote…

My mom was in the hospital last week, fairly serious in Cardiac ICU (she’s better and home now, thanks for asking)….

The air conditioning unit in her hospital room had two settings: ZERO and ARCTIC BREEZE. There simply was no in between, it was either a sauna or a 30mph-wind-in-a-meat-locker. We ended up putting up some loose towels to partially obscure/deflect the vents, all gaffer-taped up good so they were attached at the top and bottom but billowed out like a sail in the middle. I happened to have a roll in my bag.

Well, now I wish I had gaffer tape stock concession there. I bet I coulda sold 50 rolls of it that week. Almost every single nurse, orderly, doctor, therapist and every other visitor marveled “What is that great tape?”

I ended up promising to email links to at least five different people where to buy it.

Good stuff.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Nick Griffin]

[Mark Suszko] “it won’t remove paint…from the location walls”

Okay, Mark. I agree with everything you said EXCEPT that part. I’ve had gaffer’s tape pull enamel paint off wood surfaces. Other than that, especially things like marking spots on carpet and flooring with no residual marks whatsoever makes it worth $20+ a roll.

[Simon Roughan]

Hi Nathan,
if you look down a bit, I started a thread with more or less the same topic a couple of weeks ago. I too am a producer at a regional TV station in Germany, and believe you me, everything you and everyone else here has touched upon, is relevant here in Europe too. The sales people giving away the production without the slightest inkling of what is involved, is a constant thorn in my side. Lsat year, I started a topic looking for advice on how to deal with this particular situation, and have responses ranging from helpful and productive, to basically saying “quit if you don’t like it!” My biggest problem is that when they give a production away, the costs never go down on the accounting books. It looks like my job loses money. I do quite a few bigger jobs, with a (sometimes) healthy budget, but I also do a lot of these freebies. Mark said “That is to say, once a client gets a below-rate deal one time, they will always demand that rate, and worse, they usually blab about it to other potential customers and soon, you can’t get anybody to take that rate seriously, they think it’s just the starting point of a downward negotiation.” Thats where the shite starts.
When a company sells a custom kitchen, and advertises that over $5000 the oven is free, it doesn’t mean that they are giving the oven away. It means they are covering that cost elsewhere. Its still on the books. When you sign a mobil phone contract, and get an iphone for no cost, it doesn’t mean the $700 phone is a “giveaway”.
My sales team see the world through blinders. There is a world of difference between “You only have $5000? Then we can produce a spot for nada, and you get 3 weeks air-time” and “You only have $5000? For that we can make you a super cost-effective package, that includes the production of a spot, and 3 weeks air-time.”
But the sales people just cannot see it like that.
But anyway, good luck, and just know you’re not alone in this boot…
Simon

A picture is only as good as the glass it comes through. And the person using the camera has something to do with it too.

[Nathan Dupriest]

Thanks, Simon! It’s good to know that I’m not alone when it comes to these kinds of issues. I’ll check out your previous forum thread for some ideas/solutions.
I think the more perspectives I have from other video professionals, the more “ammunition” I can bring to the table when the topic of free production comes up. I’ve come to realize that I have to pick my battles. Some clients are too important to my station that whatever deal has been cut, it just has to be that way. But I can put my foot down to avoid some of these “built-ins”.
Thanks again for the support, and God bless in your video endeavors!
Nathan

[Stef Allan]

This thread is in serious need of a dissenting opinion.

Sure, there are standards that you use. But you want to decide what you consider your “standard” package. A dolly and a jib? Depends on the dolly and jib.

As for the same rates for 35mm film and miniDV, that’s crazy. It’s not just the stock, it’s the cost of the camera, its maintenance, and its peripherals. You’re not going to bill the same for an Alexa as you would a 5D. Decide what you consider standard, but cameras, HMIs, a dolly, and a jib should be line items.

You can always give your client a deal but you DO NOT want clients to assume that certain things are included. What happens when the house across town decides that they’re going to include free Corvettes for their clients? They get the work and you don’t but neither side makes money on the production.

Don’t nickel and dime but the big-ticket items should be line-itemed. This includes each individual actually working on set.

Also, markup is a funny thing. That’s where you make your real money. It used to be that industry standard was 50% markup. It still is for some things but it’s hard to get that for industrial/local-type productions. Personally, I feel the 2-5% is quite low. Why even charge markup at all if it’s 2%? Minimum should be 10%. But project management, contingency, and markup are all different things.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: What you charge for running a project, including everything from quotes to execution. If you’re the creative director for a station then you are probably salaried. This is where the station (or production company) makes the money to pay your salary. 10% of production cost is standard.

CONTINGENCY: This is what you bill in case your estimate was not adequate. Perhaps a computer crashes and you have to go out and buy one. Maybe the DP gets food poisoning and you have to bring someone else in after lunch (they still both need to be paid). You’re building a buffer with contingency so that this doesn’t eat at your profit. You don’t have to charge a contingency if the production doesn’t go into these extra costs.

OVERHEAD: This accounts for things that you can’t bill the client directly like rent, electricity, equipment, support staff salaries, etc. Overhead is not profit.

MARKUP: This is where you make your money. Don’t charge less than you think you should. Pick an amount and bill it, but you have to charge some.

The important thing to remember is that your client includes all of these costs in their own budgets. Sure, they’re going to want the lowest budget possible but it needs to be worth your time.

[Justin Legg]

Sorry I know the “let me know what you think” wasn’t directed towards me but I just took a look at your site and have some thoughts.

I’m not meaning to be harsh at all, but I felt like I took a step into the 90’s when I went on your page. I have a feeling you have a ton of great, new and modern work, your site should reflect that. I use square space for my portfolio website, stopped using wix years ago because of the clunky look their sites can give. The cleaner your site can be the better. For the contact page, you should have an email form rather than your actual email (this gives you a more of a pro look). The thing that confused me the most at first was the 3 pages labeled portfolio. Your website is literally your online resume so only include the top 3-6 videos you’ve ever made.

The reel you had featured was ok, but I feel like (either you should replace it or) there’s a few things you can do to improve it. First things first; take away the awkward titles in the beginning, its giving me a blast to the past. If you want some titles in your reel, make them integrated in a way thats more modern. I’ve never been a huge fan of titles in reels personally, but if you’re gonna do them you should do them in a style thats more relevant to today. Combine your two reels, they shouldn’t be separate and you should only show your best stuff. An awesome reel I stumbled upon recently is this one: https://vimeo.com/62144295 This guy’s got it down, I think it would be great to look at to come up with some ideas. His website looks great too: https://jasoncalhoun.net/

Sorry if what I’m saying seems harsh, I’m just trying to give you a push in the right direction.

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