corelann
Enthusiast
May 9, 2007, 10:06 PM
Post #6 of 6
(4821 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Re: [Video Schmideo] How Much to Charge?
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
It is so true that funeral/memorial montage production, and memorial montage projection service isn't for the faint of heart, or everybody, but it CAN be quite lucrative if you don't mind the occasional intensity and all nighters.
There are occasional weeks where we're actually producing two montages a night and providing two projection services a day...but the average is two, maybe three gigs a week - rarely on weekends, for some rhyme or reason - well, maybe Sunday.
Funerals are fairly simple to videotape, edit and produce, resulting in a much higher dollar return per hour invested (usually) than any wedding WE'VE ever produced. Compared to weddings (10-12 hours shooting, often two cameras and operators, plus 40 or more hours editing, give or take...), funerals often are two hours or less, single camera, and I can edit the average funeral into a quality production (always more than is anticipated or expected by the client family) in less than four hours (two hours shooting, one hour travel, four hours...) So, less than an 8-hour work day, and I average about $100 per hour. I can live with that. I'm sure there are others who cannot.
From one funeral company alone we average $40k gross a year, and that is soon to become even more as they are considering a special proposal we made making it possible for the facility to provide a basic montage for EVERY family client who signs on with them for a service at any level.
Our theory is that we will get THAT many more client families interested in acquiring projection services for the showing of their memorial video as a result. The funeral home offers this as a value added service, tacking on a small percentage over the special pricing we provide them. We make it affordable and strive to keep the productions simple and basic, knowing that the constant source of eyeballs will generate other business along the way.
Our memorial montage work, when projection is included, brings close to $100 per hour, on average. Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions, and major headaches, and sometimes we lose out because the family is so over the top and inconsolable that anything ANYBODY does is "all wrong" and we all lose money on the deal. Sometimes I can see right through these people, others are genuinely distressed over things that went wrong. Comes with the territory.
More exposure will bring us other gigs as well as we constantly promote that we provide video for ALL CELEBRATIONS OF LIFE!, telling these people that we do special projects for "happy" events too. A minimum of one out of every two families we do memorial montages for come to us with other projects, from live celebrations and events, weddings and more, to special montage projects.
So, while we get and do the occasional corporate/small business/special interest project, we focused on developing and serving a seriously "underserved" market - funerals, memorial montages and projection services.
We've picked up music instructional video, service or product promotion video and other small business projects, often by using direct mail, watching the papers for ribbon cutting ceremonies or grand opening events (especially for small businesses), and also scanning publications for area new businesses or enterprises we can contact in person, by phone or direct mail. When the effort is made with some conviction and persistence, something can usually come of it.
Our pricing for most anything we do is usually based on a $100 per hour average - shooting and editing, and we loosely indicate (for those who insist on "ballpark" estimates before getting serious) that it will take "about" one hour per finished product minute. That is a very loose reference point, and many, MANY other factors come into play.
If you aren't careful, and do not stipulate the limitations, clients will get the idea that you'll travel ANYWHERE, and shoot for the rest of your life, give them a dozen preview and change edits, blah, blah, blah...
Leave no line on your bid or proposal empty. Our policy is to overstate our guarantees, limitations and exclusions, rather than taking it for granted that everyone is on the same wavelength.
"Your quality of video productions and integrity are unsurpassed!"
David R. Curtis
|
