production and marketing costs

hi everyone,

can anyone give me a ballpark figure on how much production costs i would be looking at

to produce a 30 minute to 1 hour educational documentary? professional quality editing,

voiceovers, etc.

also, how much would it cost me to self market this same finished product?

any help anyone can give me would be most welcome,

best regards,

mark.

Mark, that's really difficult to answer without getting more info about the project. The budget can range enormously.

For example do you plan on shooting the footage yourself, or commissioning a videographer to shoot it, or purchasing stock footage? Then which format? DV, HDV, HD? Do you need to travel or is it local?

Voiceover costs vary enormously depending on who and where you want to record it.

There are so many variables so tell us a bit more about the project, where it's going to end up (broadcast, DVD etc.) and how much of it you're intending to do yourself.

hi again,

sorry, ok, i'm going to be doing the filming, planning the whole project, i just need a rough

figure as to how much someone would look at paying a guy to sit at a PC and edit it all

to broadcast/DVD production standards, and how much self marketing might cost afterwards.

i'm drawing up a budget currently and need some figures, i don't really have a clue as to this

part.

regards,

mark

Mark, still tuff to answer.

If you or a friend can do the filming, narration, editing, DVD authoring, graphics then not much at all, just your time.

Royalty free music cost a few hundred for about 60 mins worth.

If you hire pro's then it could cost you many $$$ ($10- $20,000 or more

Using any copyright music will cost $$$$

Glass press replication wil be anywhere from $3000 to $5000 AUD per 1000 units.

Thats the easy bit, hard bit is selling the things.

As was said, there are editors at many levels and prices. If this is a first major project, you might look at asking for about $90 per hour just for editing purposes. If you are being asked to film as well, thus your entire day is being taken up, then you need to set your own day for hire rate which could be from a couple of hundred to a grand or more depending on the client and yourself. If there are costs to you they should be listed on a spread sheet to show the client just what your expenses will be and then add in your own rate on top of that. All expenses should be paid by the client. They may include rental of lighting( which you can supply, audio systems and mics ( which you can supply), cables, studio, tapes and music. These are not free and they really do not have to be 'thrown in'. It is up to you. As Wags said, don't forget reproduction costs.

Now, if you are producing something and therefore, will be in charge of marketing your own stuff you must set a reasonable price for the product and figure out how many units you will have to sell just to break even for both your time and expenses. For example, most tutorial discs sell for between $49.00 and 90.00. Thus, we are talking of lots of units needing to be sold before you are back in the black.

Don't undersell yourself or oversell yourself either. I remember getting a call several years ago from someone who wanted to buy a film I had made for a Xmas gift for someone. The whole film was about 6 minutes and I said $90.00 thinking that with all the time and expense that went into it that that was reasonable. Like heck it was, they didn't buy and I learned a lesson. The public is not responsible for your time and efforts, just a single copy of the product. It is the client who sponsors the production who is responsible and not the, hopefully, many individuals who will buy it.

My more than 2 cents

Steve B)

yea, steve gives a good figure $90-$120 an hour for a pro to do post is pretty typical

thank you guys, for your time, most helpful.

that will be $110 please...

Mark, Don't underestimate editing time. Editing takes a long time and increases dramatically if you want special effects, fancy titling etc.. You also need to consider the edit ratio (footage shot : length of finished product). If you're asking a guy to produce a 1-hour production from 2 hours of footage that's obviously going to be a lot quicker than if he has to wade through 20 hours of footage. The more you can pare down the footage before giving it to your editor, the better. If you're only in a position to hand over raw tapes to the editor then give them the best list you can of in/out timecodes for the bits you want to keep. Likewise the more detailed script/story board you give him, the quicker and easier the job will be.

ok mike, when i've got back the $6000 of stolen camera that my insurers have decided not to cover i'll start saving for your $110

stolen camera!?!?!?!

yikes... that sucks, sorry to hear that