Estimating - Production - Invoices
- Working out and accertaining production costs is a key skill for photographers
- Being able to price cots effectively and efficiently will make your persnoal work be more productive and will win you commissions if a potential employer knows that they are getting value for money
- Being able to account and bookkeep for incomes and expenditures in everyday life will help to stabilise your career
Paperwork
Estimates are based on the information/brief originally given by the client and should include:
- Agency and Client
- Photographer
- Job description
- Media use
- Right to a credit
- Exclusivity
- Fees
- Expenses
- Base usage rate
- Contingency (10%)
- Terms and Conditions printed on reverse
Working out a fee
There
are
no
standard
fees
in
photography
and should therefore
ideally
always
try and
get
an
idea
of
the client’s
budget
before
you
begin
an
estimate.
Your
fee
or
day‐rate
needs
to
encompass
not
only
your
creativity, experience
and uniqueness,
but
also
the
tools
of
your
trade, including
the
running
of
a
studio, equipment
purchases
and maintenance,
plus
other
miscellaneous
expenses.
As
a
rough
guide
here
are
the
fees
photographers
in
different disciplines
can
expect/hope
to
charge:
• Advertising
:
£1000
‐
£3500
per
day
• Design/Corporate
:
£500
‐
£1500
per
day
• Wedding
:
£500
‐
£2500
per
day
(mainly
weekends?)
• Editorial
:
£50
‐
£450
per
day
Working out a day rate
Quick points to consider:
- No one works 365 days, or 52 weeks a year
- Figure out how much income you need for fixed and non-fixed overheads - then divide that by how many days you will idealy work: 50 for newbies, 100-150 for more established photographers
- £400 a day is the figure to aim for
Fixed overheads
These can include:
- Rent
- Portfolio, test shots
- Marketing
- Mobile phone
- Stationary
- Banking and overdraft charges
- Repairs
- Insurance
Insurance
http://www.williamsoncarson.co.uk/ is an insurance company originally designed for the entertainment industry. It has since expanded to other industries, such as meat, catering, and travel, but still has it's strong creative industry base,
Non-fixed overheads
Examples of these include:
- Studio hire
- Equipment hire
- Assistant
How to calculate a day rate
cost of fixed overheads + cost of non-fixed overheads = the cost of producing one day's photography
the number of days worked
Questions to ask regarding a brief
- How many ads/portraits are required?
- Where will the ads be going – final format, portrait, landscape, DPS, 48 sheet billboard?
- Budget for locations?
- Is a casting required?
- Will the models need styling/hair and make‐up - if so, what budget?
- Will client and what other members of creative team will be on shoot?
- Ascertain how many days to shoot
- Ascertain what camera format to shoot in, 35mm/MF/LF
- Ascertain number of scouting and casting days required?
- Ascertain need for stylist and/or hair and makeup
- Ascertain how big the crew is for logistics and subsistence
Fees
&
Expenses
in
Real
Terms
- Commission Fee – Your personal fee for your talent and creativity, but will also include insurance and bought equipment costs
- Pre Production Fee – All the time you have spent scouting, calling, casting and organising the shoot. Fee will not always be met.
- Post Production Fee – Digital capture, RAW processing and retouching of files. A way of getting money back on your digital investments.
- Base Usage Rate ( B.U.R) – a percentage table indicating how much one can charge for licensing and future licensing dependent on certain factors such as geographical territory
Equipment suppliers
10% contingency
A 10% contingency rate
should be applied to any project in order to get funding. It gives an
extra 10% of the budget, just in case something goes wrong, that way
you have enough money in the budget to cover yourself in case of
unseen costs.
No comments:
Post a Comment