Margin for Video & Film Production.

The production pricing problem

Video has a structure no other vertical has. Day rates for the shoot — director of photography, first assistant camera, gaffer, grip truck — price cleanly because rates are public-ish and gear has catalog prices. Pre-production and post don't fit a day rate. Treatments, casting, scouting, scheduling. Editing, color, sound, motion graphics, visual effects. The hours wrap around the shoot in ways no day rate can hold.

Day-rate logic sets a bad expectation, too. Clients quote crew rates back at producers and ask why an editor's "day rate" can't anchor a four-week cut.

Common pricing challenges

• Pre-production hours that disappear. Treatments, locations, casting, scheduling — 40–80 hours that rarely show up on the proposal and never as a line item.
• Post rounds without a ceiling. "One more round of revisions" eats the post fee. Without a versioned estimate, you absorb every change instead of pricing it.
• Owned gear that doesn't bill. If the camera package is yours, it's still gear cost. Shops that don't bill rental on owned kit leave 10–20% of the project on the table.
• Director time absorbed. The owner's hours running the project get folded into "overhead." The role-level cost stays invisible and the project never pays for it.

Versioned estimates for revision rounds

When the client asks for another round on the cut, save a new version of the estimate. You see exactly how the round moves editor, color, and sound hours — before you say yes. "One more round" stops being free.

Templates for explainer, brand, and event work

Build a template for explainers with the right pre-production, shoot, and post mix. Build separate ones for brand films, corporate, and events. New projects start from a proven structure — not from a day rate that ignores everything wrapped around the shoot.

Role-level cost across the project

You see the fully loaded cost of every role — director, producer, director of photography, editor, colorist, sound designer. Owned gear bills as a line item. Director hours stop landing in overhead. When post runs long, you see the margin move in real time.

Across the slate, every project carries its own margin score. The producer can see which spots are bleeding post rounds and which are tracking clean from pre-production through delivery.