budget Soon doing our first paid gig, no idea what price to ask for.

I

IlMonco

Hey guys! So first question for me here.

We've been doing music videos for bands of friends so far, just because it was a fun thing to do. We've been approached by people now (which is a good thing obviously) and they are looking to pay as well.
Unfortunately we have absolutely no experience in doing paid work so we have no idea what's an appropriate price.

As a reference, this is some work so far.



Our stuff is pretty much no budget, the cost is the time we put into it. Shooting, editing, building sets/miniatures, going to locations. You've been there, you get it.

So based on the quality of what we've done so far, what do you think we can ask for, for a 5 minute music video? The upcoming shoot will include visiting remote places, building a funeral pyre to burn some witches at the stake, stop motion animation, miniatures, among other things.

Thanks for the help!
 
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Why not get on YouTube and see who is doing similar work and posting about it, and then ask them? Tom Antos comes to mind, he's an independent film maker out of the right coast who's produced numerous music videos over the years. Watch a few of his videos, then drop him a line and pick his brain. Rea Indietalk's recommendation, Paul Wrighty, is a member of this group a valuable source of information. You don't need an exact price, you just need to get a ballpark idea of where to start your negations. And then negotiate.
 
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IlMonco said:
Hey guys! So first question for me here.

We've been doing music videos for bands of friends so far, just because it was a fun thing to do. We've been approached by people now (which is a good thing obviously) and they are looking to pay as well.
Unfortunately we have absolutely no experience in doing paid work so we have no idea what's an appropriate price.

As a reference, this is some work so far.



Our stuff is pretty much no budget, the cost is the time we put into it. Shooting, editing, building sets/miniatures, going to locations. You've been there, you get it.

So based on the quality of what we've done so far, what do you think we can ask for, for a 5 minute music video? The upcoming shoot will include visiting remote places, building a funeral pyre to burn some witches at the stake, stop motion animation, miniatures, among other things.

Thanks for the help!
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The UK music video market is lousy. £1,000 will buy you someone willing to do everything you've been doing. Sony paid a mate of mine £5,000 for vid. Technically it was £10k, but half went to the music vid producer who acted as an agent. Out of his £5k, he had to pay for everything.

I've seen really good videos produced for £5k GBP so that seems to be the random number that we work to in the UK. I saw one which was absolutely stunning and there's no way anyone made money on that. It was way too good with incredible practicals as well as greenscreen effects to die for. Amazing and £5k again.

So £10k is pretty high for the UK, although generally half goes to the agent / producer / originator and there's a ton of people out there shooting at around the £500 - £1,000 mark just for the love of it.
 
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I agree. I used to direct promos (years ago) but now people do them for next to nothing. Mainly to get attention - either to a post production studio or a director looking to increase his visibility - and to hopefully move into the more lucrative commercials market. That's what I did.

So to answer the question of what to ask for - don't expect much, don't lose any money on the job, and work out what you'll get (beyond payment - so I'm talking about marketing your career) from the gig. If it's nothing, then just budget your job and ask for that.
 
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