Posted by Steve King on 10/06/05 21:40

"Larry J." <usenet2@DE.LETE.THISljvideo.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96E77D881F59Cthefrogprince@68.6.19.6...
> Waiving the right to remain silent, P.C. Ford
> <meoh@mouse-potato.com> said:
>
>> On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 20:05:07 GMT, "Larry J."
>><usenet2@DE.LETE.THISljvideo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Waiving the right to remain silent, P.C. Ford
>>><meoh@mouse-potato.com> said:
>>>
>>>> On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 11:37:44 -0700, P.C. Ford
>>>> <meoh@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
>>>>>We did a 10 minute
>>>>>video (was supposed to be 5-7 minutes) for well under 5
>>>>>figures.
>>>>
>>>> Should have said well under _4_ figures. Can't count this
>>>> morning.
>>>
>>>Less than $1,000 for a finished, ten-minute video..?
>>
>> No ,no, no. Sorry, my mind is in a dozen places today.
>> Well under 10k. There you go.
>> And thanks for the head-up on that.
>
> Well, many producers sill swear by the tried and true, $1,000 per
> finished minute, as a general rule.
>

The $1K per minute may be close as an average, when a great variety of
routine corporate jobs are taken into consideration. But it often doesn't
help for a specific job. My jobs vary too much to have a 'rule of thumb'
that stands up. Travel comes to mind among things that can dramatically
affect the budget. A single shot can sometime make a video and at the same
time knock the $1k per minute formula on its ear: an aerial, waiting all day
for the CEO to break free for fifteen minutes, a large lighting setup for a
product shot, car rigs, and on and on. Of course, there is the video that
simply documents an event, often a static shot that may run for thirty
minutes or an hour, that kicks the formula in the other direction. That's
why my budget form, added to and noodled over for a few years, helps me get
specific about expected costs in people, time, and materials. Reasonable
mark-ups are built into the spread sheet. It provides confidence and
discipline and insures a profit barring catastrophe.

Steve King

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