Videographer pricing and profit calculator
Video is the most edit-heavy service at an event. One filming day can carry three to five editing days once ingest, sync, colour, sound and revisions are counted.
Enter your filming and post-production hours to see what the film actually costs you, and the price that pays for it.
Include the revision round you always end up doing.
Licensed tracks are per-project, not optional.
Video archives fill drives quickly; charge the film for its own storage.
As a percentage of the purchase price.
- Direct costs£135.00
- Crew£250.00
- Travel£37.00
- Payment fees£33.20
- Overheads£288.89
- Equipment£308.33
- Your time£1,744.00
This film covers its direct costs but does not pay you your target rate of £32.00 an hour — you are effectively earning £21.06 an hour across 54.5 hours.
To pay yourself properly and hit a 20% net margin, price this from £3,220.28. Adding £1,320.28 would raise annual profit by roughly £23,765.10 at your current volume.
A 10.0-hour booking actually takes you 54.5 hours once setup, prep, admin and travel are counted — 5.5× the on-site time.
Overheads add £288.89 to every film at 18 bookings a year. Fewer bookings raise this figure, so a quiet year needs a higher price, not a lower one.
At 2 bookings a month, this kit pays for itself after about 11 bookings — roughly month 6.
You need about 31 bookings a year to take home £35,000.00 from this service — currently you are planning 18.
A 10% discount (£190.00) would cut this film’s profit to -£786.42.
- Overhead per booking = annual overheads ÷ (bookings per month × months trading)
- Equipment per booking = (purchase price ÷ lifespan + maintenance allowance) ÷ bookings per year
- True cost = direct costs + crew + travel + payment fees + overhead per booking + equipment per booking + (your hours × your target rate)
- Effective hourly rate = (revenue − cash costs) ÷ every hour the booking takes you
- Break-even price = cash costs ÷ (1 − payment fee %) − add-on revenue
- Recommended price = (cash costs + your time) ÷ (1 − payment fee % − target margin %) − add-on revenue
- Equipment payback = purchase price ÷ (revenue − variable costs − overhead per booking)
Results are planning estimates, not financial or tax advice.
If editing is not measured, video pricing is guesswork. Time one full film end to end and use the real number.
An unlimited revisions promise moves an unpriced number of hours into every booking.
Archived weddings cost money every year they are kept. Set a retention policy or charge for it.
Frequently asked questions
- How many editing hours should I assume?
- Use your own measured figure. Start by timing a single film from ingest to delivery, then enter that here — estimates from memory are consistently low.
- Should the drone be a separate charge?
- Enter its cost as a direct cost and its price in add-ons. The calculator will show whether it is adding margin or just adding work.