Pricing and Licensing for first commercial job

[daniel_bergin]

Me and two film maker friends of mine have run a small photo and video service for a little over a year

now. A well known college in our area has picked us up and asked us to produce images and

interviews for an advertisement campaign. It will occur over the course of 5 days, possibly more, but

will require me to take portrait photos and shots of 19 athletes in action playing their respective sport.

This will most likely take place on a soccer field, football field, basketball court, etc. And in terms of

video they want 19 short interviews consisting of 5 or more questions at two different camera angles.

We still need to have on last meeting to discuss the scope at which they want to use the photos and

videos and discuss different scenes we have come up with for each athlete but they had mentioned

that they would like to use them on their website, bus stops, subways and trains. We still need to get

information on the duration of use and what not. But since we've never had a job of quite this scale

were unsure how to price the labor itself. We'd like to price the photo and video separately. Any

feedback would be appreciated.

[michaelmowery]

<p>Bill for each shooting day and whatever post production work is required. If your asking about setting a package price because you are thinking the numbers are adding up high, I can not answer that. Only you know what your cost of doing business is. It never hurts to ask the client what the budget is. The labor part should be easy for you to figure out. I am sure you have some idea of what is involved and what you would like to make. The bigger numbers can be the usage rights for advertising but you don't seem to be asking about that so I guess you already know what those numbers are. You are free to break down your labor rates however you like.</p>

[daniel_bergin]

@Michael I appreciate the advice. We've broken it down to cost per individual session with each

athlete and cost per day and they're roughly the same numbers so we feel somewhat comfortable

with that. Since this is the first job we've had of this kind we weren't sure if it was customary to

directly ask their budget. But at the next meeting well discuss that. In terms of pricing for usage

rights were still unsure with that considering we have barely any prior experience with liccensing. Any

idea roughly what would be acceptable for letting a photo be printed for advertisement on a subway,

train, or bus stop?

[tony_clark]

<p>The creative fee is pretty straight forward but it's all about the licensing fee on a project like you've described. I would ask what is their budget for Media Buy for the campaign, two to three years? On a Commercial project, you can look for 3-5% of the total budget including Media Buy for your fee both photo and video. How you divid it is between you and your partners. Is it a State or Private College? Is it a bid situation or are you the only party they are talking to? I would certainly keep the video and photo separate unless you'll be splitting it equally. As a side note, I hope that you have a written document covering your business arraignment with your friends or it could turn ugly later. </p>

[Ian Taylor]

<p>Personally I just charge a decent rate up front and give them their photos, they can do whatever they want with them. </p>

<p> </p>

[michaelmowery]

<p>While you can as Ian suggests, give a decent rate up front, it would be more helpful to know what the actual usage rates are so as to not over charge or worse undercharge. From there you can make a more educated decision on how much you charge. <br>

There are a number of resources that you can draw on to get information. I suggest to start with ASMP.org If you want to pay $50 per quote you can go to D65. Software such as Foto Quote is great.</p>

 

[photomark]

<p>This went up on the aphotoeditor blog today. It's unlikely you'll be aiming at these numbers for your first

commercial job, but I think it's helpful to see:<br>

 

<a href="http://aphotoeditor.com/2016/01/27/pricing-and-negotiating-lifestyle-shoot-for-a-pharmaceutical-company/">Pricing and Negotiating: Lifestyle Shoot</a></p>

[tony_clark]

<p>The post on Rob's site is quite different than Daniel's project. A Pharmaceutical project should have a larger budget than a College or University but the line items could be a good example of what needs to be accounted for. Perhaps a search of his posts will bring up a similar job.</p>

[daniel_bergin]

So we started the first two days of shooting and they both went extremely well. The athletes they

have selected are all star players who maintain high grades are involved with the school in several

other ways besides sports. They were hand picked all by the president of the college. Today I got a

call from the head of marketing saying that she was blown away by the quality of the photos and that

she'll be presenting the samples I had sent her to the president of the college. Yesterday we briefly

discussed usage with the marketing managers and she said that they'll want a full buy out of 19

photos AT LEAST. On top of several other pictures that were taken. This college brand has a division

that reaches worldwide. Theye also been known to advertise on sports stadiums and fields as well.

Considering who these athletes are and the area of usage I think were looking at a way bigger than

expected licensing charge. My assumption is that they'll want at least 30-50 photos.

[daniel_bergin]

Oh and in terms of the labor itself we priced it perfectly.

The total we came up with was nearly their exact

budgetime without having asked them what it was. So

we're very happy with that.