Thomas Frank@TomFrankly• about 2 years ago

Dear video editors looking at this: For transparency, when @tonystoodios started with me 5 years ago, we started at $350/video and very quickly increased rate from there. "Length of video" is a garbage metric for setting a rate. Charge either hourly, or by average project complexity. A per-video rate can work well if you build a long-term relationship with your client, but be cautious about it in the beginning. Get a sense of the project's scope. Leading with, "I charge $300 per video" is a good way to find yourself underneath a 100-hour project, and realize you're making $3/hour. Trust me, I've been there. Just out of high school, I once quoted $50 for a project that ended up taking 80 hours. Lesson learned. A 10-minute assembly cut of talking-head footage might take 30-60 minutes (of edit time), but a 10-minute explainer with b-roll, motion graphics, etc can take 40 hours of work. It all depends. Keep in mind that edit time isn't your only time expenditure. You'll spend time waiting for your client to deliver assets, and if they expect you to render the video, that's time your machine is basically unusable. Consider all these factors when setting your rates. Use a contract, and include language about how you handle revision requests. Typically it's a good idea to charge hourly after the first round or two. When I did web dev, I charged $60/hour after 2 revision requests – and that was back in 2009, when I was 18. Stand your ground if asked to do more work than your negotiated rate covers. It's ok to give your client a bit of leeway in order to build a good long-term relationship, but don't let yourself be exploited. And let me put this part in bold: Your portfolio is everything, and it can include work you do for yourself. I have my eye out for motion graphics artists right now, and I couldn't care less if the work in an artist's portfolio was done for a client or for themselves. Don't let a cheap client try to pressure you with the old "work with me and I'll help you make more connections". There's merit to that – to a degree – but not to such a degree that you should allow yourself to be exploited.