shatterkiss
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Edgar Maguyon wrote:
creative/post/license fees aside, doesnt most of the budget from a client or agency go into pre-production/production of a high-end editorial or commercial photoshoot? And only a small percentage of the money goes into the photogs pocket?
(ie: say a 50-100K budget including fees, maybe 10% of that will go into the photographers pocket with maybe some extra overhead/mark-up leftover money from the shoot if lucky; while the other 90%(or most of it anyways) go to pre-prod, crew, talent, artist collabs, rentals, permits, etc, etc.)
A photographer's net revenue isn't a percentage of the production budget or the "margin" created by marking up expense items on a major commercial shoot...generally it'll be a line item. You'll have your creative fee, your usage fees, then all of the production and logistics line items. Chances are you won't even have the opportunity to mark up those other line items, especially as more and more clients are employing cost consultants to keep those items under control. But your personal rate and the other budget line items aren't necessarily relative to each other.
Say you're hired to shoot a J.Crew catalogue. Maybe the rate is $4,500/day to you for a 5-day shoot, with an expectation of getting 15 shots per day for use in both print and web catalogues, but the contract specifies no additional usage fees beyond your rate unless the images are placed additionally. You might additionally submit a line-itemed budget that includes a shoot producer, location scout, 3 assistants, lighting and camera package rentals. The client supplies their own wardrobe stylists, hair and makeup, retouching and hires the models themselves. Then you've got the line items for T&E, air freight for gear, location transportation, RV for hair/makeup and changing, crafts services. They also have shipping and gear rental accounts, so that stuff gets billed directly to them. But all of those budget items are negotiated and set independently of your rate.
You may have the opportunity to charge for things that provide additional net revenue to you, like gear you already own or retouching services that can be provided by the staff of your own studio, but clients are frequently wise to it and may have contract terms that prevent it. On the other hand, I've heard of photographers getting hired to shoots like the above that also have a $500/day camera rental line item, then using both that and their own rate to fund the purchase of an H3D in order to avoid future rentals. Honestly, most of the big commercial shooters that I know of don't own much gear, even cameras, outside of stocking their own (often small) studios - why own when the clients are paying for rentals? I assisted one fashion and lifestyle shooter who owned maybe three Profoto heads and two old Pentax 67 bodies, a light meter, that was it. Everything for jobs was rented. He'd show up with the light meter, but usually his assistants used their own.
As far as marketing and reps/agencies doing most of that repping for you; wouldnt I/you(the photog) still have to spend a considerable amount of time and $$ to promote oneself towards these reps/agencies?
Not really. You spend several years of your career establishing yourself and your client base until you're earning a regular income, at which point you may become attractive to reps or agencies. If they take you on, it's to grow and supplement your business, not establish it. But it's unlikely that you're going to market yourself heavily to them - if you're working at that level you'll have the attention of the right people. They aren't going to work with you because of a persistent marketing campaign, they're going to work with you because of your reputation and balance sheets.
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