Pricing & Negotiating: Human Interest Video for a Restaurant

Concept: Testimonial video of a real customer and employees

Licensing: Internal and Web Collateral use of all content captured in perpetuity

Director: Lifestyle and hospitality specialist

Client: Large restaurant chain

Here’s the estimate (click to enlarge):

Fees: This quick-turn project popped up as a last-minute request to film a real customer and two employees discussing a recent positive interaction that took place at one of their restaurants. The main purpose of the project was to create a video to be shared at an internal town hall style meeting within the company, and there was a chance that the video would be shared on social media as well.

We were told that the team typically has an internal videographer that they use, but given COVID travel restrictions and their current workload, they needed to outsource this project. We were told that they anticipated paying $5-7k, including all fees, expenses, and editing. Keeping that in mind — and considering the very limited usage — I included a director fee of $3,500. I also included a pre-pro day at $500 to cover their time to line up the small crew and potentially scout the location.

Crew: We knew that the client wanted to keep the production very bare bones, so we included a small team consisting of a grip to help with equipment and lighting, as well as an audio tech to focus on sound capture.

Equipment: The director owned his own gear, and we included a modest fee to cover a basic camera/grip/lighting package. We also added expenses to cover the audio tech’s equipment.

Health and Safety: While the client didn’t anticipate the need for this, I noted TBD expenses to bring on a COVID compliance officer and associated testing/PPE expenses. While they ultimately didn’t feel it was necessary, I felt it was important to at least show that we were considering it — and that we could accommodate the need if desired.

Meals: The shoot would take place at a restaurant, so we reiterated that the client would provide meals during the shoot.

Misc.: I included a minimal expense for insurance, and added a small amount for miscellaneous and unforeseen expenses that might arise during the day as well.

Post Production: The client shared a sample video showing what they hoped to accomplish, and the editing was quite basic. Given the in-house capabilities of this director, and based on the budget, I included $2,000 for video editing, noting that this included up to 10 hours of editing time.

Results: The project was quickly awarded, and the shoot took place a few days later.

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