Pricing a multi-layered job

[Michael Clark]

I'm working on putting together a quote for a commercial job, and in order to do that I am coming up with some questions that will help me know how to price it. It will be multiple days of shooting, some in a town an hour away, and some filming hours away in another state. Once I come up with the short promo for them, they'll use it as a pitch to a television network. Outside of "how long do you want the video to be" and "how long will I be filming in each location" (including travel and hotel stay), I am trying to think of questions to ask that will help determine price and other terms. I've never put something together for a television pitch video before, so I wasn't sure if I'd need to do any copyrighting type info, or a release for what it can be used for.

[Ethan Cooper]

I'm mailing you off list with suggestions. Good luck with the bid.

[Chad Dyle]

I'm sure Ethan's list is probably all you need, but we have done a few of these recently. We made a proposal that broke EVERYTHING down. It was in a town just over an hour away over several days. We listed how many hours of travel it was going to take as well as what was expected of us each day. After that we listed what was going to be delivered at the end. We didn't give each line a price, we just gave a total at the bottom and asked the client to verify everything and let us know if there was anything that needed to be added/changed.

HTH!

[Don Bloom]

In case it wasn't mentioned in Ethans list, payment won't be upfront nor should it wait until you deliver. Split it up. I generally do 3 payments. First due prior to starting the job. Second after primary shooting is done. Final when product is delivered (can also mean to be up to 30 days after depending on client and their pay system. Sometimes you have to wait) I got burned once never again.