Fair price for studio time?
 

I just recently took my video career solo as a freelancer/independent producer. My work is mostly commercial and documentary, I don't have any employees (just hire crew on a project basis), I work out of my home and I don't have a dedicated studio space. I have some friends who own production company in town that does have studio space, and they are more than willing to rent it out by the hour or by the day. So here's my question: What is a fair price for studio time?

The specs for their studio: 20' x 30' area, 14' ceilings, ample power, sound dampening material on the walls, adjacent dressing room. Standard lighting and grip gear is available, which could be rented separately a la carte. It ain't no Hollywood sound stage, but it's adequate for most of my needs.

Anyone else have experience with rented studio space?

A key question for me would be if it's suitable for recording audio. If it's a place with occasional fork lift operations, trains passing, jets overhead, then that will double the amount of time you'd need in a pin drop studio.

That's also a fairly small area. big enough but not big.

I probably wouldn't pay more than $150 bucks for the day.

One place up here by me has space about that size and charges $400/ day. When I had to use it, the owner graciously threw in a tech to help set up the lights. More lights and equipment were available, but as an a la carte charge.

There's another place that has a room that's slightly smaller, but last quote I got from them was $800 for a 10 hour day and they weren't willing to provide a half day rate or throw in any extras.

$150 for an entire day sounds low to me, but then again, you might have a larger selection of places to go in your general vicinity.

Thanks for the feedback. The audio setup is decent, but it's not immune to a large truck rumbling by outside from time to time. There aren't many other options for dedicated studio space in this town, but it's usually not too hard to find alternatives.

In any case, I like the sound of $150/day. It seems a little low to me, too, but it never hurts to make an offer.

Simple answer.... Call them and ask!

A good way to low ball them is to say you'll come in during off hours.