One of the first questions a new client asks is some version of "how much will this cost?" It's also the question most production companies are weirdly cagey about answering.
Part of that is fair. Every project is different and good estimates require knowing what the project actually is. But part of it is also that there's a real reluctance in the industry to be transparent about where money goes on a small shoot. That opacity doesn't help anyone. So this post is going to lay it out.
The Numbers Most Clients Have in Their Head
When someone with no production background imagines what a video should cost, they're usually working from one of two reference points. Either they've seen what a wedding videographer charges (a few thousand dollars for a full day) and assume commercial work should be in the same range. Or they've heard about a Super Bowl spot that cost millions and have no idea what's happening between those two numbers.
The honest middle ground for a small commercial or branded piece is roughly $5,000 to $50,000. A short documentary might run $15,000 to $100,000 depending on travel and timeline. A polished branded ad with talent, locations, and a real production crew is rarely below $25,000 if you want it to look professional. None of those are precise numbers. They're the range you should expect to operate in.
Where the Money Actually Goes
Take a hypothetical $25,000 branded video. One shoot day, two locations, one on-camera talent, finished piece around 90 seconds. Here's roughly how that breaks down.
Pre-production is around 15 percent. Concept development, script, storyboards, location scouting, casting, scheduling. This is the work that happens before anyone picks up a camera, and it's the work that determines whether the shoot day runs smoothly or falls apart. Skimping here is the most expensive mistake you can make on a small project.
Crew is the biggest line item, usually 30 to 40 percent. Director, DP, sound recordist, gaffer, production assistant. On a small shoot you might combine some of these roles, but you can't eliminate them. A good DP is the single most important hire for the look of the final piece. Day rates for experienced people in major markets run $750 to $1,500 per role, sometimes more.
Equipment is 10 to 20 percent. Camera package, lenses, lighting, grip, sound, monitoring, support gear. Some production companies own their core kit, which lowers this line. Others rent for each project, which is actually often cheaper for the client because you're only paying for what the specific project needs.
Talent and locations together are usually 10 to 20 percent. Talent fees vary wildly depending on whether you're using union actors, real people, or someone the client knows. Locations can be free or thousands per day. A coffee shop after hours might be $500. A specialized location with permits and insurance can be $3,000 or more.
Post-production is the line that most often gets underestimated. Editing, color grading, sound design, music licensing, motion graphics, revisions. For a 90-second piece, expect 20 to 30 percent of the total budget here. The "finished" version a client sees in the first cut is rarely the version that ships. Two or three rounds of revisions are normal, more is common.
What You're Actually Paying For
The cost isn't the camera. Cameras are commodities now. You can rent a camera package for $300 a day. The cost is the people who know what to do with it.
A great DP frames a shot that solves a story problem in three seconds instead of fifteen. A good editor finds the cut that makes a piece work instead of the one that's technically correct but flat. A skilled colorist gives a piece a look that distinguishes it from every other piece shot on the same camera that month. None of this shows up as a discrete line item. All of it is the difference between work that lands and work that doesn't.
This is also why the cheapest bid is rarely the right choice. A $5,000 video and a $25,000 video are not the same product at different prices. They're different products. The $5,000 version will probably look like a $5,000 video. That might be fine for the use case. It's important to know which one you're actually buying.
The Things That Push Budgets Up
A few common drivers. Travel adds up fast: flights, hotels, per diems, equipment shipping. Multi-day shoots multiply almost every line item. Multiple locations require more setup time and often more crew. Specialty equipment (drone, jib, gimbal, underwater) brings its own operators and rental fees. Talent that has to be cast (vs. real people the client knows) adds casting fees, agency fees, and usage rights. Original music is more expensive than library music. Animation and motion graphics scale fast with complexity.
None of these are bad to include. Each one is a deliberate choice that should be tied to whether it serves the final piece. The job of a good producer is to keep that conversation honest, so the client is choosing what to spend on rather than discovering at the end that they ran out of budget on revisions.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A few anonymized examples from real conversations, because the abstract version of this is less useful than seeing how a specific choice moves the number.
A wellness brand came to us wanting a brand film shot at a specific boutique hotel in the desert. They'd seen a similar piece from a competitor and had the location locked in their head. Shooting there meant flying the crew out, two nights of hotel, a location fee, and a generator because the hotel couldn't support our lighting load. It added roughly $18,000 to a $40,000 budget. We suggested a similar-feeling location inside a two-hour drive, with the same architectural language and better light. The client looked at both options side by side and picked the closer one. The final piece tested better in focus groups than the original concept would have, and the $18,000 went into a second shoot day and real post sound design.
A corporate client wanted custom wardrobe for on-camera talent. Five executives, full looks built by a stylist, tailoring, fittings. That's a real line item: stylist day rate, purchased wardrobe, tailoring, return handling. Close to $6,000 on a $30,000 piece. We asked what the actual concern was. It turned out to be that one executive had been unhappy with how he looked in a previous video. The real fix was a better DP, a wardrobe guideline email sent a week before the shoot, and thirty minutes of hair and makeup on the day. Total added cost: about $800. Everyone looked better than they would have in the stylist version, because the real problem was framing and lighting, not clothing.
A tech company asked for a drone package on an interior product shoot. They'd seen aerial footage in other brand videos and wanted it. A licensed drone operator, the rental, the insurance rider, and the extra half day added roughly $3,500. The ceiling in the space was 12 feet. A drone was the wrong tool. A jib gave us the sweeping overhead moves they actually wanted for a fraction of the cost and looked better in the final cut.
A restaurant wanted a specific director of photography whose reel they'd watched repeatedly. Great DP, $2,000 per day rate. The shoot was a one-minute social piece that didn't require his particular style. A capable DP at $900 per day would have delivered the same final result and saved $1,100 on a tight budget. The client was surprised to hear this said out loud. That's the point. A good producer tells you when you're paying for a name you don't need.
The pattern across all of these is the same. The client had a specific vision in their head, and the specific vision was more expensive than the actual creative need. Talking through what they were really trying to achieve almost always revealed a cheaper path to the same or better result. None of this is about talking clients out of spending money. It's about making sure the money they spend is doing real work on the final piece.
How to Be a Good Client
Be honest about your budget upfront. Production companies aren't trying to take your money, they're trying to figure out what's actually buildable. Telling us $15,000 when you have $30,000 just means we'll design a $15,000 piece and you'll be disappointed it's not a $30,000 piece. Tell us the real number and let us tell you what's possible inside it.
Have a clear creative brief. An earlier post on this blog covers what that looks like. A good brief saves real money because it prevents the wrong work from being done.
Build in contingency. Five to ten percent above your stated budget for things that come up. They will come up. Weather changes, talent gets sick, the location falls through, an extra day in post is needed to land the cut. None of these are anyone's fault. They're just part of production.
The clients we love working with most are the ones who treat us like a partner instead of a vendor. Open about what they need, honest about constraints, willing to talk through tradeoffs. That conversation produces better work for everyone.