How Much Should You Charge for Filmmaking? A Guide to Earning What You’re Worth
Does this sound familiar? You pour your creative energy into a video project, work tirelessly through the edits, and deliver a final product you’re proud of, only to look at your bank account and realize you’ve barely made any money.
I’ve been there. In my first year as a solo video production company, I made just $19,000. But three years later, that number jumped to over $60,000.
What changed? It wasn’t just about getting better with a camera. The real shift happened when I stopped trading my time for dollars and learned three powerful strategies for pricing my work. These methods transformed my business and my income.
If you want to stop undercharging and finally start earning what you're worth, this guide will show you how.
The Foundational Method: Day Rates and Hourly Billing
The most common and simplest way to price your services as a filmmaker is to use a day rate or charge by the hour. It’s straightforward: you get paid for the hours you work. Clients understand it easily, and you can quickly calculate a price based on the time they need you for a project.
Why You Still Need a Day Rate
Even with its flaws, you should absolutely know your day rate and half-day rate. It’s incredibly useful when another filmmaker or agency wants to hire you for their project. I made an extra $10,000 last year alone just from working on other people’s projects because I had day rates ready for them.
The Cons: Why Charging by the Hour Limits Your Growth
Despite its simplicity, this model has significant problems:
It puts the focus on you. The conversation shifts to "Why is it taking so long?" instead of the value you're creating.
It punishes efficiency. The better and faster you get at making videos, the less money you make because you’re billing for less time. Logically, a faster turnaround for a client should cost more, not less.
It creates an income ceiling. You can only work so many hours in a day, which means your earning potential hits a cap very quickly.
Your Action Plan for Day Rates
Calculate Your Rates: Look up your state or region's industry standards for filmmaking to determine your day rate. For example, in Oregon, I reference the Oregon Media Production Association (OMPA) guidelines.
Define Your Terms: A standard day rate is often based on a ten-hour day. A half-day rate is for up to five hours, but is typically charged at a premium, such as 60% of the full-day fee.
Create a Gear Rental Sheet: You should be charging separately for your equipment! I was leaving a ton of money on the table by only charging for my labor. Create a gear rental sheet so you can easily add those fees to your total invoice.
The Professional's Choice: Project-Based Pricing
This is the strategy used by more experienced filmmakers to land bigger projects and untie their earnings from the hours they work. With project-based pricing, you charge one flat price for the entire project. This is how I charge all of my clients now.
Shifting the Focus from Your Time to the Client's Needs
This method is so much better because it ties the cost to what the client actually wants. The price includes everything: pre-production, production, and post-production costs required to get their desired outcome. An elaborate shoot with a large cast and crew will naturally cost more, while a simpler project will cost less. Clients love this because they know the total cost from the start with no surprises.
How to Protect Yourself and Add Value
Project-based pricing also protects you from "scope creep"—when clients keep asking for more work without paying for it.
Outline Everything: By outlining exactly what the client receives for one price, you can set clear boundaries. I typically include two rounds of revisions in my project fee, with any further changes billed at an hourly rate.
Add an "Expedited Fee": If a client wants the job done faster, you can include an extra fee for the quick turnaround. You get to make more money for working faster—it's a win-win.
Your Action Plan for Project-Based Pricing
Calculate Your Costs: You can still use your day rate to calculate labor costs, especially if you need to hire extra crew.
Factor in Everything: Remember to include fees for editing, pre-production, gear, and any prop rentals needed for the video.
Use a Contract: Always include a contract with your invoice to keep everything clear, professional, and legal. This is how you build a real company, not just a job for yourself.
The Holy Grail: Unlocking Your Income with Value-Based Pricing
This is the Holy Grail of pricing strategies. Here, you don’t charge for your time, and you don’t even charge for the deliverables.
You charge for the value the video will bring to your client. The price is tied directly to how much the video can help your client’s business.
What Does It Mean to Charge for "Value"?
Let me give you an example.
Imagine you make a video for a massive company like Apple. If that video helps them sell millions of dollars in new iPhones, your work is incredibly valuable.
Now, imagine you make a video for a local pizza shop that helps them sell 50 extra pizzas a week. That's an amazing result for them, but the value is not worth millions of dollars like the video for Apple.
You might do the same amount of work for both, but the value you create is vastly different. You should be paid for that value.
The Mindset Shift: From Order-Taker to Problem-Solver
This strategy changes everything. You are no longer just a person who makes videos; you become a teammate and a problem-solver for your client. To do this, you have to ask good questions. When a client asks for a video, don't just ask how long it will take.
Instead, ask:
Why do you need this video?
What problem do you want it to solve?
What result are you hoping to achieve?
Your Action Plan for Value-Based Pricing
Learn from the Best: I learned this strategy from Chris Do. Using this method, we closed the largest projects in our business, around $20,000. I recommend checking out his videos to learn more.
Focus on the Outcome: Your goal is to create a custom solution that achieves the client's desired outcome. Bigger clients are happy to pay more for a solution, not just a video.
Find the Right Clients: The hardest part of this strategy is finding clients who understand this approach and being skilled enough to actually solve their problems. But if you can, you’ll earn more than 90% of other videographers.
Your Roadmap to Higher Earnings: What to Do Next
So, what’s your next step? Don't try to jump to value-based pricing overnight. Follow this roadmap:
Master the Basics: Start by learning your day rates and creating your gear rental fees.
Move to Projects: Begin implementing project-based billing with your clients.
Become a Partner: Focus on becoming a strategic partner for your client, not just an order-taker.
When you start thinking this way, I promise your income will grow.
