[MacDV] on Pricing Slideshows

[Tim Selander]

I'm no businessman, but I figure you've got to at least cover your 
expenses. If you're shooting for a gross income of US$100,000 (your 
salary plus overhead of rent, gear, utilities, et al) and have 260 
working days a year, then you need income of about $385 a day. Charging 
only $150, you'd have to be able to bang out the job in like three 
hours, or you're shooting yourself in the foot, financially.

If this is not your primary income, or you want to offer a loss leader 
to get future business, or you live someplace lots cheaper than Tokyo, 
etc., etc., then only you can calculate how much to charge. I would say, 
though, that offering your services too cheaply can make the wrong 
impression on potential clients -- if he's that cheap, he must not be 
any good.

My 2 cents.

Tim Selander
Tokyo, Japan



Frank Garcia wrote:
> Sorry for the delayed response. I assume the discussion about the 
> slideshow pricing was referring to my query.
> 
> It's not actually DVD slideshows although I just did 5 for a Wedding 
> DVD. The project that I am querying about is actually an audio-narrated 
> project idea I'm pitching to a U.S. company, and it's for the web. It 
> will be audio based from an interview I do over the phone, digitized, 
> and then I'll "art direct" the photos to be taken for me, since the 
> subjects are out of town, and then have it delivered to me and then I do 
> the slideshow for later posting on the web to promote a project.
> 
> Responding to Ted: No color corrections, etc. unless needed but I am 
> going to aim to do zooms/pans/rotates to make the show kinetic. I may 
> also dip back into Photoshop for neato SFX because I took a course and 
> want to remember all that I learned.
> 
> I must be vague because I don't want the specifics of the project to get 
> out! :)
> 
> But essentially, this is a new concept and I don't want to over (or 
> under) charge so I wanted a ballpark figure. Someone on this group 
> previously mentioned $250 per slideshow. That, to me, is too much. I'm 
> currently aiming for something like $150 US per show, but will likely 
> provide a small discount, and so that our package deal of about 5 shows 
> isn't too hefty for the company. I want to grow with these guys so I 
> want them to be happy...
> 
> Thanks for all the replies. I must tender the pricing ASAP! I'm already 
> overdue because I'm waffling on this.
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