I charge $100/hour for everything involved in the project (from script writing, filming, sound, editing, etc.). If they want a bid, then I estimate it within a spreadsheet (based on previous times), but I still put in the $100/hour.

Of course, I don't charge for wedding or personal videos, since I do all of them as a favor. I only charge for my corporate videos. Even still, my average time for a corporate video (7 minutes avg) is 25 hours. So I create them for $2,500 which turns out to be REAL cheap (9 for GE, 7 for Motorola, etc.). I would pay $15 - 30k for a corporate video before I produced them.

My rates are based on my opportunity cost. I consult at $100 - $125 per hour (which is cheap, but I enjoy it), so I charge a similar amount since it cost me that much not to consult with the same time.

The only times I have reduced this rate is when I sub out through an ad agency. I go for $75 so they have room to mark it up. Mainly, because they provide some fun projects that I'm willing to invest in just for the experience.

Hope that helps,

Ted

Ken - just some questions - maybe also for everyone else as well.

In my post I tried to say that "editing" is not the same as "doing everything" but in what you and others are saying I wonder if the terms "editor" and "editing" are not clear.

You start off with:

Actually, if you have a pre-made authored DVD that looks like the final one you want done, it would be easier and fairer for everyone to price by the project.

And if you stop with that, it is not an editing bid - it is a DVD authoring bid. So you would figure how much for the encoding part and how much for the menu creation and how much for the actual final authoring and output to DLT. At it's core you can come up with a bid with not too many issues. A 90 minute film verse a 60 minute film would be a matter of the encoding time involved. How many menus and how deep they go is another variable, but still easier to deal with compared to an actual edit.

But than you go on:

So you're basically giving the editor a finished copy of what you want the final product to look like, say "make it just like that", using "this" source footage, and then get a firm bid. And "here's my digital juice backs/sounds I want in the mix" etc... so the customers' supplying the audio/visuals, everything that's needed (except titles).

Now, to me anyway, you are trying to "sneak" in extras and not wanting to pay for the work. Now instead of the DVD authoring package you seem to be asking for, you are coming in with unedited (raw) material that you want put together - which means you are wanting someone to do "everything" and wording it as if that is what an editor does. Which by nature is not what you hire and editor for. You hire an editor to edit.

And after that you say:

I'll never hire a video editor "by the hour", that's a license to steal.

So now we are back to why I am posting and asking you, and others - just what do you define an "editor" as? Because if anyone came to me and asked if I could edit I would say yes. But if they showed up with a DVD and told me "this is what I want handed over to me when you are done" I would say "That is not editing, that is DVD authoring."

I am not agreeing *or* disagreeing with how you work, I just seem to feel that more people consider an "editor" both as a Post-Production supervisor and DVD authoring specialist. And oft times the expectation is to hire and "editor" who will do it all..,which is what I was trying to say in my first post in the thread here.

Most of the rate cards I have ever seen will say something like this:

All post production rates are billed at a 1 hour minimum with ½ hr increments for labor and studio charges. Over-time charges of time and a half occur for all sessions over 8 hours between 8am and 8pm M-F. Overtime charges also apply for after hours and weekend edit sessions. Weekend sessions are subject to a 3 hour minimum labor charge.

A very random sample of rates and wording from various places that offer more than just one thing (i.e - they do editing and authoring for example):

Rendering : 30.00 per 10 minutes
Digitizing/Logging : 30.00 p/h
Editing : 60.00 p/h
Graphics/titles: 60.00 p/h
Color Correction: 60.00 : per 5 minutes
DVD Authoring : 75.00 p/h

======
Direct transfer to DVD : one hour - 50.00 / 2 hours - 70.00
DVD Authoring : 75.00 per master disc with Editing. Includes custom chapters and
menu design. Outside project call for rates.
Editing : 80.00 p/h deck to deck / 150.00 p/h NLE

=============
Promotional DVD : Most promotional video projects fall in the range of $5000 -
$10,000.
*Sample they give Includes - "everything" from shoot to edit to master for a cost of
$8930.00. However they base all of this on hourly rates including -

Video Editing : 60.00 p/h
Audio Editing : 60.00 p/h
DVD Authoring : 60.00 p/h
Digitizie: 60.00 p/h

=========
Audio Sweetening : 150.00 p/h
Sound Effects Library : 20.00 per cut
DVD Authoring : 75.00 p/h
DVD Master output : 300.00 each master
Edting : 50.00 p/h + Edit suite rental at 80.00 p/h

=======
NLE Editing : 175.00 p/h (4 Hour minimum)
Logging : 80.00 p/h
Sound Design : 195.00 p/h
Graphics : 150.00 p/h for design / 75.00 p/h for render
DVD Authoring : Inquire for rates
Tape viewing : 50.00 p/h

========

Interesting thread... not least because I was considering bidding for the project that Ken is discussing here.

So now we are back to why I am posting and asking you, and others - just what do you define an "editor" as? Because if anyone came to me and asked if I could edit I would say yes. But if they showed up with a DVD and told me "this is what I want handed over to me when you are done" I would say "That is not editing, that is DVD authoring."

Although I might have some issues with Kens suggestion that he cannot trust an Editor on an hourly rate... I can appreciate what he is asking for here. I have seen a copy of his sample DVD... so I can probably comment with a little "better" knowledge of the specifics here than perhaps others can.

Within the parameters that Ken defined... it would be possible, as an editor, to look at the DVD and say... OK... I know something about what is expected as an end result. It's pretty much a multi-cam edit... with two cameras... and the inclusion of some "slides". The DVD's are up to an hour in length.

Now... had I decided to actually bid for the work... I would have asked Ken a few more questions about the content and what was expected. For instance... how much original footage would be provided. If you have to look through 12 hours of video in order to cut down to 1 hour of finished project... then who is going to make the decisions for what is going to be included and what is not?

I can imagine a situation where I could price such a project based upon my own decisions as far as what should be included and what was not included. However... if the client needs to decide which portions of the captured video are dropped/included.. (as they are the subject matter expert).. I can't quite see how I could rely upon a "standard" or "Fixed-price" approach to the project.

I generally only produce fixed price contracts for a project where I am given almost sole charge of the project... with perhaps one review cycle.. where the review cycle is very well structured. This can only really happen if I have an intimate knowledge of the clients business and the subject matter being presented. I could perhaps offer a range of pricing... "From X to Y" based upon a "gut" feeling around how the process woyuld work. But... in the end... I would definitely feel I would be taking a risk.

So it is much more usual for me to bid a project such as this on a wide range to start off with... and follow up with a revised "fixed price" after having done the first couple of similar projects for a client. I would also usually very closely define the sorts of expectations I would have for the CLIENT and how they would function in the workflow.

In any case... as I said... I decided to decline to bid on this project... and wish Ken every success in finding a first-class editor to do his work. I'm sure he will find someone within this great group.

I decided get another job editing videos for a local wedding videography/photography company. They only pay $100-$150 per finished edited wedding delivered on DVD. The pay really sucks but I can edit one video per day.