Concept: Multi-day Springtime photo shoot of winery scenery, landscapes, staff teams, and décor
Licensing: Publicity and Collateral use of all content created for 15 years from the first use
Photographer: Landscape, Brand Narrative, Lifestyle, Portraiture specialist
Client: Medium Sized, Global, wine manufacturer
I recently helped one of our photographers build an estimate and negotiate a project for a West Coast winery and wine manufacturer. The client brief described the need for seasonal photography to showcase their updated location, growing process, and selected growers/staff. The creative plan was for the winery to have images from 3 seasons and this Springtime shoot would be the first of the lot. The final use of the images would be used for web and print collateral purposes such as the client’s website, social media outlets, and marketing for industry events.
After reviewing the creative brief with the client, the photographer estimated that he could create about 20 images over the course of two shoot days (plus a tech scout day prior to the shoot to determine the best times of day for each scene).
Here is the estimate:
I added a note for Client Provisions to describe what the client was to provide. In this case, they would handle all crew lodging, location coordination/cleaning/styling, all staff coordination, and hair/makeup/wardrobe and props styling.
For the Publicity and Collateral use, I had initially estimated $6-7k per day for a combined creative/licensing fee for the use of up to 20 images. The photographer had not previously worked with this client, but we both felt that the final bottom line should come in a little under $20k. We put the photographer fees at $11,000 for the 2-day shoot. I added $500/day for the photographer’s travel day. The photographer’s home location was about a 2-hour drive from the location each way but we agreed to only bill for a single travel day. We added $750 for a tech scout day of the locations.
We added a first assistant at $550/day to help with lighting and camera equipment management. In addition to the shoot days, the assistant’s fee included the tech scout day (so they could familiarize themselves with the location and equipment needs) and 2 travel days.
We budgeted $1,300 for camera, lighting, and grip (much of which the photographer owned). We also included $320 for two hard drives.
The photographer and first assistant anticipated driving together to the location. So we included $240 for the estimated mileage and tolls with a buffer in case two vehicles would be needed. The client would be providing lodging on-site, but we noted this within the travel line items to reiterate this point. The client would be providing food for the team for the 2 shoot days, so we added $50/day per day for the photographer and first assistant for the 2 travel days and 1 tech scout day.
The photographer chose not to bill separately for production insurance in order to keep the bottom line under $20,000.
We budgeted $1,000 for the photographer to perform an initial edit of all the content and delivery to the client via FTP. While the use license was for all content captured, the client only needed a quote for retouching for the first 20 images. We added $1,250 for the estimated 10 hours needed to retouch up to 20 selects, this was a small discount from our recommended $150/hr.
The photographer was awarded the project. The production was a huge success and I received some fantastic sunset photos via text message during the shoot days. After a review of the image gallery, the client came back to the photographer with a retouching order for an additional 4 images, and a separate quote was presented for this work. Additionally, the client returned and requested an estimate for the Summer shoot with an increase to 4 shoot days. That project was awarded and executed in July 2023!
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