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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About...!
Pricing
Carlin Comm - Owner of BlueStar Productions - Seattle-HotShotz.com
What Gear I use

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Pricing!

Or why it cost so stinkin' much for a simple video job!

I wrote this when I was providing Wedding Video, which was becoming very Time Consuming and Expensive. At present I am not providing Wedding Video, so most of this doesnt' apply! But I thought I'd leave it up anyway, so if you're reading it, and have a question, feel free to contact me. Thanks!

Let me just start off with a simple statement. For about 7 years I purposely ignored how much time and energy I really put into my work. I was afraid to know. Honest!

Finally, I had to just say ENOUGH! There, that wasn't so bad right?

Let me take you through the process. Like I said, for years I was in denial, about how much time I was really putting into a wedding video. It starts like this:

So, after I carefully audited several typical weddings, I discovered that I was spending between 5 and 10 hours working on each hour I shoot. Some jobs are really short and simple, just trim the ends of the tape, dump straight to DVD. Still takes 1 to shoot, 1 to load on my computer, 1 to edit, Encode, Author, Burn... yup, about 4 to 5 hours.

Multiple cameras, backup sound system recordings, difficult audio situations like a meeting with 20 people talking, all add to the time.

A recent example, I shot 44 hours of tape in 3 days, at a training work shop. 2 cameras, so that 44 was actualy 22 hours in real time, but it still took 44 hours to load all the footage, so that's the whole first week just loading tapes! If I plug in my formula of 5 hours to edit 1 tape, that 44 x 5 = 220 hours... divide by 40 hours a week (I wish!) is 5.5 weeks. I had some other commitments also happening, plus life in general. I shipped that package out 7 weeks after the shoot, and I did work on it most days, often closer to 10 and 12 hour days.

I know how you feel. My rates seem extremely high, if you only look at the hour I am shooting video.

I feel exactly the same way. I knew a doctor a few years ago, who charged less to deliver a baby, than I did! I know this, because he told me when I gave him my bill!

This is what I have found... There are only a few ways I can stay in business. I can charge even more, I can find other things to sell, I can cut expenses, and I can take on more jobs.

You're probably reading this page because you think I charge too much, so I probably shouldn't tell you that I'm about to raise my prices :) By the way, I will be raising my prices. Fair market value is actually at least triple of what I currently charge. Seriously.

Option 2 - Expand my product line. Yes, I can find other things to sell, or other services to offer. In fact, that is why a few years back I started to offer digital photography, in addition to video. That's been a good second line for me, my "post" editing time is much less with photo. I'm also looking for other ways to generate some income, like selling some of my knowledge, consulting, training, and so on. But I really do like doing video, which is why I did it so long for so much under fair market value.

Doing more jobs isn't really an option, although I could start to hire a crew. But that leads to other problems, like hiring a crew, paying the crew, buying more gear, and I'd have to raise my prices again! With my current work load, I'm about topped out at 25 to 30 jobs a year.

There isn't much that I can cut out of what I do, from a material expense point of view. Gas costs everyone the same. Video tape is a commodity. Blank DVDs are fairly inexpensive. Even the cost of my gear, while substantial, isn't really where my cost comes from. Its my time. If a job takes me a month to finish, I need to figure out my monthly budget, and that job has to cover my budget. Or I'll be living under the bridge, and its really tough to edit video that way. Actually, I used to have a van, and I could work in it, but its not ideal, ok?

There's another way to look at it, actually several. I could cut back on how much work I put into that video in the first place. I don't like to compromise the quality, but sometimes quick and cheap is ok for the job at hand. I can also invest in faster and more efficient gear, which I do every chance I can. My wireless mic system (for about $600) drastically cut the time I used to spend fixing poor audio. Some jobs I record back up audio to my laptop or a digital recorder, which can save me some time. I do invest most of my income back into the business, as can be seen by the car I drive ($700 twenty year old Subaru, carrying about 10x that in gear typically!)

Or, like I once read... its not that the price of my service is too high, its just that you can't afford me!

Just kidding! Maybe a better way to say it, is I haven't sold you enough on the value of my service, or I haven't truly identified your need for my service. If its a wedding, compare the investment in video with the price of some other line items:

Of all the total budget for a wedding, only a few things will last beyond the actual day, and I provide 2 of them! Photos and Video :) So, do I cost too much? Or should we scale back on flowers a little?

I have a quote on my wall:
"Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck.
Your profession is what you were put on earth to do
with such passion and such intensity that it
becomes spiritual in calling."
Vincent Van Gogh

I used to make more money as a computer network technician,
and I was a pretty decent aircraft mechanic when I was in the Navy.
But this is Fun, and I really enjoy serving people this way.
Thanks for reading!
Carlin Comm.

This is the product and service I provide. I enjoy what I do. My time is expensive, but I think I'm worth it!