so, i've been contacted about covering a corporate holloween event (4-500 people, red carpet, etc) and need to submit a proposal by tomorrow. i mostly do weddings and family work and need some guidance on price! should i charge hourly? for the entire event? are there other pricing strategies that i don't know about? i just need to make sure that my pricing is appropriate. PLEASE HELP!
many thanks.
sean

For me I would put in a event price with number of hours to be provided, then include additional time as an additional /hr price.

I, in my mind, have a min hourly that I start my base quote with, then find out what they want you to provide?
will they be buying prints on top of your hourly, or do they want hi-res included with your quote?
how many images?
will you be doing couples portraits?
headshots?
awards?
random candids?

example, I'm doing a 50 person company dinner, so approx 90-100 people there

that will be about 40 couples portraits
the awards
headshots of 10 people (because I'm there with my lights)
no random candids

I bid my base of $200/hr for 3hrs, and $15 per 5x7 couple portrait with a min of 30 sold (normal would be $20 per, so they save $5 per)
webs of the awards are pro bono
headshots are $75 per hi-res edited image chosen (normal $125 per so they save $50 per)
so I quoted $1700 for the night + any additional sales, with 50% down to hold the date and the balance due the week prior

Make sure you have a signed contract & receive your payments on time, just like a wedding

hope this helps

thanks for the guidance. i've done plenty of charity events, but inkind donations are not quite the same as an invoice/contract! thanks again.

sean4230,
Would you digress from your question for a minute and tell me what you did for charity events? What did you do and did you cover your costs, but donate your time or what?

I have just been enlightened about charity auctions of works and how those creating the matted and framed works lose their shirt (no reserve, 10% donation of sale or non sale, etc.)

I just got a 2 hour corporate award ceremony / reception gig which is only a couple hours and my charges include:

$375: Photographer's Fee @ $750/day for .5 days
Post Production (basic digital editing included)
$300: Usage Fees @ $300 (Editorial, Promotional - Print and Online Publications within USA only, non-expiring)
$100 First Assistant @ $200/day for .5 days
$35: 1 Digital Media (DVD) @ $35/ea
$80: Digital Transfer @ $80 (FTP access for 60 days)
$8: FedEx ground shipping of DVD
$20: Parking/Tolls/Gas/Mileage (downtown parking fees)
$74.59: Tax

Total: $992.59

TTLKurtis wrote:
I just got a 2 hour corporate award ceremony / reception gig which is only a couple hours and my charges include:

$375: Photographer's Fee @ $750/day for .5 days
Post Production (basic digital editing included)
$300: Usage Fees @ $300 (Editorial, Promotional - Print and Online Publications within USA only, non-expiring)
$100 First Assistant @ $200/day for .5 days
$35: 1 Digital Media (DVD) @ $35/ea
$80: Digital Transfer @ $80 (FTP access for 60 days)
$8: FedEx ground shipping of DVD
$20: Parking/Tolls/Gas/Mileage (downtown parking fees)
$74.59: Tax

Total: $992.59


Do you find that your clients like that kind of breakdown?

I've always stuck to making my invoices as simple as possible: day rate + agreed extra time rates, usage fees.

They don't need to know what I pay assistants, or my costs for supplies, expenses, or that stuff. They don't need to think of me as a car salesman adding up line items to boost the final ticket. They just need to know how much it's gonna cost, and what they're gonna get.

(Of course, I do add those things up behind the scenes to make sure my day rate includes all my costs... )

justruss wrote:
TTLKurtis wrote:
I just got a 2 hour corporate award ceremony / reception gig which is only a couple hours and my charges include:

$375: Photographer's Fee @ $750/day for .5 days
Post Production (basic digital editing included)
$300: Usage Fees @ $300 (Editorial, Promotional - Print and Online Publications within USA only, non-expiring)
$100 First Assistant @ $200/day for .5 days
$35: 1 Digital Media (DVD) @ $35/ea
$80: Digital Transfer @ $80 (FTP access for 60 days)
$8: FedEx ground shipping of DVD
$20: Parking/Tolls/Gas/Mileage (downtown parking fees)
$74.59: Tax

Total: $992.59


Do you find that your clients like that kind of breakdown?

I've always stuck to making my invoices as simple as possible: day rate + agreed extra time rates, usage fees.

They don't need to know what I pay assistants, or my costs for supplies, expenses, or that stuff. They don't need to think of me as a car salesman adding up line items to boost the final ticket. They just need to know how much it's gonna cost, and what they're gonna get.

(Of course, I do add those things up behind the scenes to make sure my day rate includes all my costs... )


I'm using BlinkBid software - personally I think it's good to show them what's involved and be transparent in the breakdown. Now as for the actual numbers in that estimate... In this case I know I couldn't have charged much higher if at all - I actually got them to stretch their budget a little bit, and it seemed like the person in charge appreciated knowing exactly what she was paying for.

the breakdown is almost always used in productions and bids. clients want to know what they are paying for. i include one in every commercial shoot i shoot.

I like the breakdown as well.. the few events I've done, I just came up with the cost I am willing to take in my mind, and divided by the number of hours the event is. Then I use that number for the hourly charge, in the event the event run longer than agreed.

some of the client were sticker shocked by the cost. However, with the breakdown, it seems to make the cost more reasonable in my mind.