Same Day Edit...Poll
 

So, on average, what do you charge to do a same day edit? I realize market areas are unique and the degree of artistic expression in each edit varies, but let's get a good cross section of the nation.

So, let the posts begin.

Hi Tom,

Pricing a SDE is a balancing act. There are many things to consider. If you pay for an additional person, that adds to your cost. That is the single biggest out of pocket cost if you already have a laptop and everything else to produce a SDE. So it depends on if you need to bring along an additional person and what the cost is.

Another thing to consider is the added stress. Some people love producing SDEs, but for others, the stress is so high that they feel they must be compensated properly.

Yet another item that usually affect the pricing of a SDE is what you are already charging for the wedding production. If you are charging $1500 for the regular wedding, then it would be tough to sell a SDE for $1500.

If you start doing SDEs and they become a big hit and you are the only one offering them in your market, then it would be easier to charge a premium for SDEs. Supply and demand.

SDEs are an incredible marketing tool, so some will price them very affordably and write off the expense as advertising.

So bottom line. When we do SDEs in our market we charge $1000. When videographers bring us in to do a SDE in their market under their company name, we charge $1500 plus travel expenses.

We're just starting to do more SDE's and are charging $500 for the first few. That does cover my extra shooter and planning to get everything ready. We are currently the only ones in the area offering these so if I keep booking them and they pick up a lot once we're doing more, then I will raise the prices....as mark said, supply and demand. I'm willing to charge a little less just to do them and get those people talking about them. The marketing potential there is HUGE!

Matt

Excellent point

Well, that's disheartening. You guys are pretty well known in the industry, I'd just assumed you were making more than that for a SDE add on.

I have never done SDE but if I were to do one, I would charge $ 500 (pay editor $ 250 perhaps).

For those who do SDE is this the work flow you do?

Bride Prep- hand tape to editor after shoot for upload
Groom Prep= hand tape to editor after shoot upload
Church- get second shooter to take money shots hand tape to editor upload
Park- hand tape to editor after shoot for upload.( would this be pushing it too far?).

Hi Ethan,

I'm sorry to disappoint you. We feel that our SDEs are worth $1500, but they are a very good form of advertising which is why we sell them locally for $1000. Tulsa's metro area population is about 800,000. If we were in a top ten market I'm sure we could get more for our SDEs, but then again, if we were in a top ten market, we would probably averaging more than our current $4500 for our wedding films.

Mark - hopefully I didn't ruffle your feathers with the $1000 comment, I was just surprised at that figure because of the name you've carved out for yourselves in the industry. I understand your pain with the small market pricing, my area is a good bit smaller than yours. I've grown increasingly frustrated with the earnings potential with weddings compared to the time invested in each project. I guess that boiled over into my post a bit. I'd be pretty happy to average $4500 per gig.

Quick question. Does your $1000 include an extra shooter and editor as well as on site projection/display?

Hi Ethan,

Don't worry, no ruffled feathers here. The $1000 does not include projection, but does include the necessary manpower or womanpower. ;-)

Hi Noel,

Trisha and I tag team with the editing and shooting before the ceremony. During the ceremony we use an nNovia drive for the front camera. If it's possible the back camera sends a feed to a laptop, but this isn't always possible.

We don't have park sessions very often in Tulsa. Typically the photographer does about 30 minutes of pictures and then the reception starts. Most weddings here don't even have a formal cocktail hour. I wish they did because it would buy us more time.

We usually have a third person join us during the ceremony. That way once the ceremony is over Trisha becomes the primay editor and I shoot with the third person. Our workflow is always evolving. Many times Trisha does almost all of the editing and other times I get more involved. It just depends on the circumstances of the day.

Thanks for sharing you workflow Mark. I am not planning on doing an SDE anytime soon, if I do it for the first time , it would be for free and a suprise for the B & G during reception.

Can you FIND a qualified editor for $250?

I think i I could find one. Have never looked for one honestly but judging by emails I received from people willing to shoot for free to get a feel of a wedding shoot I think I can find one.

I read this and just had to add a side comment. I can't speak for all markets, but in our market none of my brides know anything about "well known" videographers. Most of them start the planning process without even thinking about a video.

I just found your comment interesting because it's easy to get lost in our own world, and think that brides know more than they do.

We offer SDEs in two forms; one as an add-on to a package, and the other as a stand-alone package. As an add-on we offer the SDE at $1500 with the same number of people as intheir original package (2). We also offer a premium option with a third cinematographer for slightly more. The stand alone SDE only package is $4900 and includes 2 people. We are a small company that tries to be low volume, so we need to price our SDE only package higher as it means we can't book a regular cinema package or a photo/cinema package.

So far, the SDE as an add-on has been VERY popular with the majority of our couples getting it (some of our packages do have credits though, so it wouldn't add to their cost to choose this option) and the SDE only package has also been rather popular. The great news about that is that the extra 5-8 SDE only package we will do this year mean we can produce some pretty wild SDEs in not having to focus on anything else and we can also take home no backlog.

P.

Wow, I'm amazed that people are willing to pay you guys to just do an SDE. That's awesome for you guys, though, because like you said .. after the wedding you're done!