Photo shoot for movie

MJRPHOTO · August 19, 2009

I have been asked to go on a 5 week trip to photograph surfers during a movie shoot. I will be shooting portraits and action surf shots that will be used for promotion of the movie (posters) and DVD cover.

At this time I have very little experence at pricing a job like this. All of my work so far has been shoot and post to my site. Getting orders thru my site. I have done some day shoots locally that I was fine with charging a day rate and providing the client with a set number of prints.

Any insite on what to charge for a shoot like this and what to do with the images when done.

Should I keep copyrights and sell only the use of the images for this movie for a given period of time?

Any help with this will be great. Any job examples like this would be great.

Thanks in advance
Michael

Cygnus Studios · August 19, 2009

Charge your day rate.

The copyright and usage should be spelled out in the contract. Most smaller indie films will simply need a usage license, the length will depend on their needs.

Larger films will state that you are shooting for hire and they will own the copyright to all images. Of course they pay more for this.

You will have to work out whether you can use the exact image during the same time, or whether they will purchase certain images and the rest are free game.

bendruckerphoto · August 20, 2009

Work out a day rate that includes daily expenses like food and hotel, as well as of course, your photography. Then, work out expenses like equipment you might need to rent, air travel, a post processing fee, a usage fee, and other one time costs. Add those all up and give them to the film producer in an itemized list.

Angelo · August 20, 2009

the advice above is good.

remember that during this assignment you will be "consumed" 24-7, in that you will be away from home unable to attend to other business, so.......

compute your annualized "salary" and charge a weekly rate based on that just for starters...

example: $52,000 per annum = $1,000 per week

+ travel
+ accommodations
+ expenses
+ per diem

How far from home will you be? You might want to negotiate an additional round-trip so you can check in at home at some point in the middle of the assignment

rights to the images? the "rules" on this are all over the place and vary drastically based on the project. assume this to be a work-for-hire and be happy. if you get more, great, icing on the cake.

.

MJRPHOTO · August 25, 2009

Angelo wrote:

the advice above is good.

remember that during this assignment you will be "consumed" 24-7, in that you will be away from home unable to attend to other business, so.......

compute your annualized "salary" and charge a weekly rate based on that just for starters...

example: $52,000 per annum = $1,000 per week

+ travel
+ accommodations
+ expenses
+ per diem

How far from home will you be? You might want to negotiate an additional round-trip so you can check in at home at some point in the middle of the assignment

rights to the images? the "rules" on this are all over the place and vary drastically based on the project. assume this to be a work-for-hire and be happy. if you get more, great, icing on the cake.

.

Thanks for the responces. I will keep all of the above in mind when I am working this out.

Any insite for a per day rate that the independant movie industry is used to paying for this type of work? I know what the most I can get for the work I do now, but just do not want to leave money on the table if I can help it.

Sam · August 25, 2009

All good advice, but my first thoughts are what does the client expect? Do they have a budget?

If they say "hey dude this is gona be awesome, we are sleeping / partying on the beach and we will pay you $100.00 per day", you know that this isn't going to work.

I would have a pretty detailed contract to reflect the scope of the project, and exactly what services, deliverables, image rights, fees, expenses, processing and time needed to process deliver, etc.

The word "independent" film maker also raises the question in my mind with regard to their ability to actually pay. I would be requesting some upfront money.

Sam

Jonnyyaya · August 25, 2009

Some great advise has been posted here I have been on many shoots like this also. Don't overlook the small details of the whole trip. Pay close attention to what has been said above..

Independent Film Maker ?? Budget ??

Very True You will be Consumed 24-7

Movie Posters and DVD cover you might want to sell just those images?

Charge your day rate includes daily expenses like food and hotel air travel.

The copyright and usage should be spelled out in the contract.

Use of exact image or all will they purchase certain images and the rest are free game?

Going on ant trip like this you will shoot some amazing photos they will want all of them so be prepared you might want to negotiate any options.

Cygnus Studios · August 25, 2009

MJRPHOTO wrote:

I know what the most I can get for the work I do now, but just do not want to leave money on the table if I can help it.

Your day rate should be your day rate. The client is irrelevant. Charging one client more because of their budget is bigger will lead to problems down the line.

What you need to do, is charge extra for things that do not meet your day rate. If your normal day rate is $500 and includes 8 hours of shooting, with 200 images that is the rate that you quote.

If they want 10 hours and 400 images, you add that to your day rate. You add food and lodging, that sort of thing.

If your client can find publicly that your normal day rate is $500 and you want to charge $1000 because they are a bigger company, you will lose work.

Your day rate should be very specific so that you can adjust it accordingly without looking like you are trying to take advantage of larger clients.

Photo shoot for movie

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