BUDGETING FOR A COMMERCIAL VIDEO
I WANT A VIDEO AND/OR COMMERCIAL FOR MY BUSINESS
So, you’ve decided that you and or your business needs a video or a commercial for marketing and or advertising your services, your brand, your products or a combination of the three. Great!
Now, what’s that going to cost me? Can I even afford that?
Let’s break it down and clarify some things here…
In this day and time, you can’t afford not to have a video or a commercial of some type to promote you and your business or your brand. Not only is it essential for public engagement, but there is a rising need for B2B video and commercial material as well.
With that said, let’s jump right in and talk about some costs and terms associated with media and video production.
THE QUESTIONS
Quite often, I get asked the following questions:
Do you have a price sheet?
How much do you charge?
What’s a video or commercial going to cost me?
I usually respond with one of the following:
Do you have a budget to work with?
What exactly do you have in mind for the video?
I do have some set rates, but let’s talk about some details first.
BREAKING DOWN VIDEO PRODUCTION COSTS
Let’s touch on budget first, because that’s an important one.
If you have decided you want to make a video or commercial for you or your business or your brand, the first thing you should do is look at your budget. Do you have a marketing & advertising budget set aside? If the answer is no, you should consider doing that sooner rather than later. It makes things a bit easier when it comes time to do things like this.
The ideal situation is that you do have a budget set aside for this and you can say: “Well, my budget is X amount and we do not want to exceed that.”
Then I would reply: “Okay great, we can work within that budget and get the most out of what’s available to work with.”
Or I might reply: “Okay, that’s not quite enough to get you what you want or need here. Let’s look at what we do need and how we can get there, or let’s look at some alternative options for you.”
Now, let’s talk about what you have in mind for your video or commercial. Do you already have an idea of what you want to do? If so, that’s awesome and I can’t wait to hear it! If not, that’s no problem.
We often develop ideas and concepts on our end or we work with our clients to generate some ideas and concepts together. But it’s important to keep in mind that there are many factors that can come into play here that can and will affect the overall costs of your production.
We’ll start at the base rates. I have my base production rates and post-production rates, which account for me and most of my gear and equipment. In some rare instances, special gear might be needed for the production. Fret not, we can acquire that gear if necessary through various sources. That however, would be an added expense. Again, a rare scenario but a good example nonetheless.
In a lot of cases (but not all) we work with actors or models and if they are needed for your video or your commercial, they will need to be compensated for their time. We will often work with local/regional actors to keep costs down, but talent from agencies are also readily available to work with if you can afford them and it’s within your budget to do so.
Along with actors and models, we often work with voice over artists to track and record copy. If they are needed for the video or commercial, they will also need to be compensated for their time.
Any additional production or post-production crew members that need to be brought on will also need to be compensated for their time. This might be a sound operator or a visual effects artists, for example.
Like the actors and models, we can keep these expenses down by working with local/regional talent if available. Talent Agencies also have these people readily available if that is preferred and your budget can accommodate.
The list goes on and on and you can see how certain projects that require a lot of talent and crew can easily add up in costs. So, depending on what is needed for the video or commercial production, the investment can be rather inexpensive or it can be quite the opposite.
That’s what this is, by the way, an investment. You are investing in a tool for your business or your brand here. I want to make that clear. And like any tool, you have to make it work for you. Remember that.
With all of that said, we usually start at the base rates and go from there. If the idea or concept we have come up with for you and or your business or your brand requires more than what’s provided by the base production/post-production rates, we will look at what additional talent and crew are needed to pull it off and estimate costs accordingly.
That ultimately gives us an idea of what it’s going to cost to produce your video or commercial.
My hopes are that this clears some things up for you and makes the approach less intimidating. All you need to do to get things started is simply make contact and ask for a general estimate. We can take it from there and guide you through everything else until we reach a jumping off point. Then it’s Lights! Camera! Action!
WE CAN HELP YOU GET STARTED. CONTACT US TO START THE CONVERSATION.
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