To be honest I think its best for me that I charge each client differently based on the difficulty of a project. It’s good to meet with the client and determine the length of the project, how much special effects or titles and editing that will be required, etc. I would charge as little as $12/hour if the project just is taking some footage and slapping it together without a sweat. But once you get into green screen, color correction, music, titles, etc. then I can charge up to $100 an hour max. It’s easy to determine once you ask yourself, if I get paid $___.__ total for this project, would it be worth it? If clients’ eyes are popping out of their heads at your price, then you’re probably charging a bit too high 😉
But I just make an invoice and list two or three things: Charge for shooting, charge for editing, and sometimes charge for DVD authoring if they want it. For shooting I charge per camera.
I’ve only been doing this for 3 years, and I’m sure you could get much better advice from a more experienced entrepreneur!
