By Bryan Sheffield, Wonderful Machine
Concept: Brand narrative shoot in an urban location with 2 talent enjoying the product
Licensing: Web Advertising and Web Collateral use of up to 10 images in perpetuity
Photographer: Lifestyle/Environmental Portrait photographer
Agency: National Social Media Agency
Client: International Beer Brand
Here is the estimate:
Fees: The photographer had previously worked with this agency. While they wanted to specifically work with this photographer on this project, we were given a strict budget of $4500 for the shoot. This was similar to previous budgets the photographer had seen from the agency. We discussed a shot list and creative with the agency and let them know that while we’d like to see a higher fee, we could work within their budget for the photographer fee for a limited qty of images, but that additional hard cost expenses would need to be covered. We understood this work would be used on the brand’s social media channels, and while we would have liked to see increased fees, we understand each project has set limits and the photographer was excited to work with this agency again for a new client.
Crew: We added a first assistant at $500/day, which was appropriate for the given market.
Equipment: We included $600 for simple cameras/lighting/grip and $200 for hard drives.
Travel: When we initially estimated this shoot we didn’t know the location, but understood it to be local to the photographer. We included $75 to cover mileage and parking to cover the scout, gear pickup, as well as shoot day travel.
Post Production: As the budget was limited, we waived the cost for a first edit and retouching, for up to 30 minutes per image for the 10 selects.
Additional Production Added:
Originally, the agency was going to handle all locations, talent, wardrobe, and hair/makeup styling. About 2 weeks out from the shoot the agency asked us to put an estimate together to handle locations and casting/talent. At this point we already had a signed estimate for the shoot, so we created a second estimate to encompass the pre-production support items requested.
Fees: We included 3 Producer Days to work on the locations and talent search coordination. This fee would be for the photographer and/or producer to scout and book the locations, coordinate casting, as well as collect invoices, and facilitate payments. We estimated this could take 3 full days.
Locations: The client was seeking a high-end urban home (ideally) with city skyline views, as well as landscape views. We estimated location fees of $3,500, plus possibly $1,000 in permits. We added a TBD to this cost in speaking with the agency about the possibility of spending more if there was a location we found that the client loved. We also added 3 days for an additional location scout to assist the producer in the search. That person would also be our on-site property liaison during our shoot.
Casting and Talent: We estimated $4,000 for two talents based on casting from smaller agencies and friends and family. The fee would include the talent’s shoot fee, usage rate, and potential agency fees. We added $1500 for casting as a fee for the producer, to handle the casting. We noted to the agency and client that while the photography license would be in perpetuity, it would be beyond our budget to obtain perpetual use rights from talent. Talent use agreements would be Unlimited use for 1 year, with a note that the work could exist in archive form on the internet. All talent agreements and payments would be made directly by the agency.
Travel: $225 was estimated for mileage and parking (as well as a cup of coffee or two) for the producer and assistants to scout any potential locations.
Results: The photographer was awarded both the shoot and the pre-production support on the project! About a week before the shoot the agency sent us an agreement that was un-signable. The agreement sent our way stated this was to be a Work Made for Hire with full copyright transfer, no advance, and payments to be net-45… among other restrictive items that needed adjustment. We pushed back on the agreement and after a few days were successful in negotiating this project back to our proposed license terms, with a 50% advance (on both shoot and pre-pro support work), and a net-30 final payment, or upon first use of work as the photography license would not be conveyed until payment was made in full.
The shoot happened and was very successful! The agency and client had attendees on set and loved all the work. Upon delivery of the content, the client ended up licensing an additional 4 images at $500 per image, as well as expanding the license of an image for one year in-store POP for $2,000. The photographer was very happy with the work we put in to increase their fees, negotiate terms, and of course protect their copyright through this process.