Marlicious and I are considering offering custom videos. I put a brief announcement up on the new www.marlicious.com and already had two people contact me. Both wanted specific costumes and mess, but only offered to pay a minimum fee, saying this is 'the going rate' because the video will be up for sale and we'll make our money that way.

Is there a 'going rate' for custom videos? I realize there is a difference if the video is to become the property of the person paying for it, or if it is simply theirs to view and the producer is able to sell copies of it.

I'm thinking that the specifics being requested might make the video a poor seller, so the person ordering must step up with enough capital to cover the expenses of shooting.

So is there a kind of ballpark price to order a custom wam video? Perhaps one for a video for exclusive sale to the buyer, and another if it may be resold to others.

Thanks for any input, I appreciate it! My goal is to have a fair price, but not lose out in the process either.

I do not believe there is a "set price" or "going rate" for a custom video. The cost should depend on how much the video will cost you to produce and your time. Since a custom video can be costly to produce, some producers offer a way to reduce the cost of custom videos to sponsors by offering them up for sale on their websites. The potential problem will be if the sponsor's idea will sell to others, because if it doesn't, you'll end up eating the cost of the video. That should be your deciding factor.

Thanks Edwin, great advice.

I think I'm going to go with a $200.00 'starting price' for scenes with no real specific clothing or mess, and ones which may be re-sellable as a download.

If someone wants real specific clothing and mess, further costs must be factored in.

We`ve done this 2 ways, the most popular is for people who want a fairly run of the mill custom, but wearing clothes of their choice is for that person to "Sponsor" a shoot. If we think we can sell the scene, we just get the person wanting the custom to provide the outfit. This works well for everyone.

The 2nd way we work is to charge our "session" fee and if the guy wants to come down and watch etc he`s invited. The video is then his for his sole use and we wouldn`t publish it.

Thanks, Dunktank, (or should I say 'tanks'?) LOL

I should perhaps clarify about the pricing. Someone PM'd me to say $200 is too steep, but if we're going to buy the clothes, buy the mess, take the time to shoot it and process the video segments, it's actually not a lot of money. As for someone wanting a certain scenario where clothing isn't an issue, and the mess is small or inexpensive, (shaving foam) we would be able to charge less. 'Sponsoring' a shoot is ok if the video is mainstream enough to sell afterwards, and it's another good option.

I cannot imagine that "custom shoots" would not be "custom priced". Until the idea is presented to you, you've got no idea what it is!

The only advice I have to give is that if you turn somebody down because they just don't want to pay anything fair...

Don't waste any time feeling guilty.

They're gonna try. They always do.

Nessie

P.S. $200 isn't that bad. It's your time, her time, whatever you need to buy...and then the shoot itself, followed by the cleanup...then you've got the editing into the final product too. And geesh, you are entitled to make something for yourself too.