I need to give a price quote and I have no idea what to tell them
 

Hi,

Last month as a "free" favor to my brother I edited with FCP, a 50 second piece for a political action committee that he works with. He was originally going to post/promote the piece himself. The group he works with liked it so much that they want to do monthly spots until what they are lobbying for gets signed into law or dumped this fall.

So happily it looks like I am getting some freelance work dropped in my lap. Problem is, I haven't done any freelance for over 20 years and I am not sure what to charge them. They need a number for their budget that they are submitting.

I edited for CNN on Betacam at the beginning of my professional television career then worked my way to the editorial/producer side. I'm no longer working for CNN (which probably wouldn't allow me to do this in the first place actually) and most of my contacts don't work much freelance.

Is there a rate card somewhere on the Net I can look at to see approximately what I should be charging for these spots?

The spots are fairly straight forward. (run 30-60 seconds. Combination of stills (with Ken Burns effect) and some video. There should be some layering of video and titles. There will also be about 6 versions of each spot where the difference will only be the address and phone number to call at the end of the spot. Right now I am pretty convinced there only be one rough cut with two recuts for minor changes they decide they don't like in the rough cut.

Since I am working in a different part of the country from where they are, I said I would charge by the spot and not hour or day rate. (Hope that isn't a mistake.) Over all I suspect about 5-6 ads.

Any prices, web references are welcome.

Bryan
Listen to the Wind

I cut 60 sec spots all the time. I charge $600 to $1000 for my basic interview style commercial. If they need voice over the cost goes up if they want an actor the cost goes up what ever it cost me to get them. Most of these spots are for the web.

My experience with political commercials is this: all video, stills and voice over provided to editor - $1500-2500 (the higher end is due to more motion graphics and/or quicker turnaround).

It also depends how much "creativity" you must put into it - do they have the look and layout predetermined or must you use your creative skills (which tends to take more time).

Before I got into video, I requested quotes for 30s spots for political commercials, and the 'editor' fee was $1500-2000 for very simple editing.