Budgeting Business and Recap 1/12/17 – Angus –

Reflection: 

Having a lecture on budgeting was very beneficial, it gave us a starting point to start our own budgeting. Being given a ‘standard’ of pricing and budgeting is incredibly useful as it isn’t that easy to find out by yourself, so having a lecturer that has been/is in that position is really helpful. We are getting first hand advice in our lectures which we can use to gradually build our own business. Learning about the legal paperwork was important as without it, you are just giving your work away for free, you need to be charging for bringing your creative aspect to the table, your time spent shooting, planning, post-production as well as licensing your images. Do not give them away!!!

Angus actually supplying us with numbers and figures is really helpful as we get to see a ball part figure, not just talking around numbers, we can actually see what we can hope to get a different stages/different roles as well as what we could be spending, and how/what we are spending it on. It is useful to see how many different aspects you have to take into account when starting your business and how much it will cost. It definitely made me think about and plan what I am going to do after graduating, in terms of getting a part time job whether it be in the creative industry or a more day to day job, while I can slowly build my business at the same time, well to start hopefully assisting jobs.

  • Search into competitions, for opportunities into practice, projects.
  • Need to keep shooting for yourself, outside of your uni project
  • Engage with emailing, contacting, making lists

Case Study part – Notes

  • What area do you want to get in to? commercial/editorial/portraiture etc
  • Attempt to get assisting work in the area
  • For the case study you need to look into that industry, how is the industry doing, is it evolving, is it at a stand still, how does the market work?
  • What is the current style, or set style? What has it been like prior
  • Main current people at the moment in that area
  • Ask the contacts you email about it
  • Where do they see them selves in 5 years time
  • Have you thought of going in a different direction?
  • Working with other photographers?
  • Understanding the context of where you want to be
  • Aligning the case study with your practical work
  • How do they deal with clients, edit, etc
  • How much input do you have with the where it is placed if its editorial
  • What do you do for other ways to get income?
  • Do you do your own work along side

 

  • Design a particular profile of your work, having the same for website, business card, blog etc. Using the same font etc
  • Start writing about your work now, brief description etc, ask tutors or peers what they think of it, or of your work
  • Professional practice week, evidence of going and how it helps/relates to your professional practice
  • Analyse different websites, business cards, Instagrams
  • Research and analysis to personal path
  • Needs to be reflective and critical (finished piece)
  • Thinking of potential audiences to show your work to
  • Professional engagement, critique, reflection
  • APPLY YOURSELF

 

Budgeting

  • Maximise how you budget your own personal work
  • Maximise equipment at uni
  • Need basic kit, hire/rent more specific kit for each individual shoot, then get the money back for it

Estimating, production, invoicing:

  • Working out and ascertaining production costs is a key skill for all photographers
  • You need to be able to price costs efficiently and effectively, so your personal work becomes more productive and will win you a commission if a client knows he/she are getting value for money
  • Be able to bookkeep and account for income and expenditure in your day-to-day life will go a long way in stabilising your fledging career.

Paperwork:

  • Estimates are based on the information/brief originally supplied by the client and should include the following:
    • Agency and client
    • Photographer
    • Job description
    • Media use/territory / time period
    • Right to a credit
    • Exclusivity
    • Fees – your creative part (yourself)
    • Expenses – stylists/assistants (they will give you their estimates too)
    • Base usage rate
    • Contingency (10%) back up?
    • T&C’s printed on reverse
    • Need to design own licensing template/invoice template etc ( do it on an existing job you’ve had or a hyperthetical one (For workbook)
    • What is it worth to you

 

  • Look at example in slides, for ideas/help
  • Usage rights = time period – will it only be useful for a certain specific thing, or could it be used by and bought by lots of clients
  • Location Fees, scouting etc
  • AOP- association of photographers – for business help. Website.
  • BEYOND THE LENS(BOOK) (business)

 

  • Who are the commissioners of photography?
    • Magazine/newspaper-editorial
    • Billboard ads (Ad agency/above-the-line)
    • Brochures
    • New Media- Websites, moving image etc
    • Picture editor
    • Art buyer
    • Designer/production
  • lighting hire, stylist, workflow assistant, hire of house/location

Working out a fee: 

  • There are no standard fees in photography and ideally always try and get an idea of the client’s budget, before you begin to estimate.
  • Your fee or day-rate needs to encompass not only your creativity, experience and uniqueness, but also the tools of your trade. Which include the running of a studio, equipment purchases and maintenance, plus other miscellaneous expenses.
  • Here is a rough guide of fees of photographers in different disciplines you can expect or hope to charge:
    • Advertising: £1000-£3500 per day
    • Design/Corporate: £500-£1500 per day
    • Wedding: £500-£2500 per day (Can be mainly weekends)
    • Editorial: £50-£450 per day
  • Negotiating licenses – great care is needed when assessing the exact needs of a client and estimating on a possibly commission.
  • The original negotiated commission fee would normally include:
    • One year UK or single country – any two media uses
    • Two years UK or single country – any one media
  • Negotiating Re-usage (base usage rate)
  • To prevent misunderstanding when negotiating additional usage fees and to enable the client to budget accordingly, the BUR has been established. It is the starting point for negotiating use of work over and above the initial commissioned media and time period. It is the figure to which the percentages in the following guidelines are applied.
  • It is suggested that the BUR should not be less than the negotiated day rate.

 

Editorial photography : Working out a day rate

  • Working out a day rate- maybe 50 days a year you will work at the start. Need to think of other streams of income, but also think about flexibility.
  • Ascertain how much income you need to cover your fixed overheads and your non-fixed overheads, then divide that by the number of days you will realistically work: 50 for newbies, 100-150 for established photographers
  • As a rule of thumb £400 per day is the figure you should be aiming for.
  • The following figures based on 75 working days per year – average for newish photographers.
  • Editorial photographers are notoriously not paid well
  • Editorial photographers now diversify: corporate, weddings, videography, PR
  • STILL, say no to bad to deals.
  • Rates and rights:
  • Don’t give work for free, a couple starting off, or helping out is okay, but as you get more into, you cant give for free.

Photographers fixed overheads – £13,000

  • This includes: (Prices are all approximates)
    • Insurance £1,500
    • Use of flat/share office £1,800
    • Repairs and servicing £500
    • Depreciation on £5,000 photo equipment £1,000
    • Sundry purchases £250
    • Petty cash £1,600
    • Portfolio, cost of test shots £1,250
    • Marketing £2,500
    • Stationary £250
    • Accountant fees £500
    • Banking charges and overdraft interest £750
  • Diagram shown belowScreen Shot 2018-03-09 at 16.21.18.png
  • Photographers non fixed overheads £17,000
    • Studio hire £250/day for 36 days – £9,000
    • Assistant £100/day for 55 days – £5,500
    • Hire of equipment – £2,500
  • Sub-total = £17,000
  • Fixed and non fixed over heads = £30,000
  • The cost of producing 1 days photography (which is the total figure divided by number of days worked) – £400
    • Realistically nobody pays £400 for editorial jobs, so you have to be savvy with how you syndicated your work and how to negotiate your rights to other potential clients: Stock, PR. It is possible to make £400 per day through editorial work, but you must hold onto your rights to work and don’t agree to bad deals.

Working Case Study:

  • If you are given a brief from a client, they will need an estimate based on the information given. So you will need to work out the following:
    • Shoot days (needed)
    • Production (pre and post)
    • Locations (scouting)
    • Equipment (required)
    • Models (casting)
    • Styling (props)
    • Assistants (how many)
    • Logistics (transport)
    • Subsistence (food/refreshments)
  • An example of a brief is below:Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 19.22.46.png

Questions which will be useful to ask:

  • How many ads/portraits are required? – So you know how many days to shoot
  • Where will the ads be going – final format, portrait, landscape, DPS, 48 sheet billboard? – So you know what camera format to shoot in, 35mm, MF, LF
  • Budget for locations? – So you can work out number of scouting days required
  • Is a casting required? – So you can work out number of casting days required
  • Will the models need styling/hair and make-up and what budget? – So you can find out if there is a need for stylist and/or hair and makeup
  • Will the client and any other members of the creative team be on the shoot? – So you know how big a crew size there will be for logistics and subsistence

Initial Estimate Figures:

  • 2 day shoot required to execute 2 portraits per day
  • 2 pre-production days required to scout for locations and cast models
  • 1 pre-production day required for PPM with client
  • 1 location required
  • 4 models required
  • Lighting/stands required
  • Stylist required for 2 day shoot/1 day prep and props/clothing
  • 2 assistants required, 1 digi
  • 1 van required to transport equipment and props (3 days)
  • Subsistence required for 10 people for 2 days

During the lecture we took part in a task, to work out the budget of the shoot listed above. We had to think about what we had already been told about costs, and put together the fees of the whole shoot. My groups estimate was below the actual budget. Working out estimates is difficult, it is hard to gauge the costs of each factor, for example I had no idea about costs of models, or the cost of locations. (obviously they vary) There is a lot of aspects that you perhaps don’t think about, and it all adds up extremely quickly. This small workshop was incredibly useful, it gave us a real sense of how we would be putting together estimates and without these lectures I would be hard to know what is the ‘usual’ costings. The real estimates are as follows:

  • 2 day shoot required to execute 2 portraits per day – 2 X £1000.00 = £2000.00
  • 2 pre-production days required to scout for locations and cast models – 2 X £350.00 = £700.00
  • 1 pre-production day required for PPM with client – 1 X £350.00 = £350.00
  • 1 location required – 1 X £1000.00 = £1000.00
  • 4 models required – Roughly £3600.00
  • Lighting/stands required  – 2 X £250.00 = £500.00
  • Stylist required for 2 day shoot/1 day prep and props/clothing – 3 X £500.00 = £1500.00
  • 2 assistants required, 1 digi – 2 X £500.00 = £1000.00
  • 1 van required to transport equipment and props (3 days) – 3 X £75.00 = £225.00
  • Subsistence required for 10 people for 2 days – 2 X (10X10) = £200.00
  • TOTAL = £11,075.00

Fees and expenses in real terms:

  • Commission Fee – Your personal fee for your talent and creativity, but will also include insurance and bought equipment costs
  • Pre-production fee – All the time you have spent scouting, calling, casting and organising the shoot. Fee will not always be met
  • Post-production fee –  Digital capture, RAW processing and retouching of files. A way of getting money back on your digital investments
  • Base usage rate B.U.R – a percentage table indicating how much one charge for a licensing and future licensing and future licensing dependent on certain factors such as geographical territory

Model Release form: If your project is going to be shown somewhere you need permission.

Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 19.51.51.png

Example of a License to use:

Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 19.52.49.png

Student programme- sign up!!!!! (AOP)

Term and conditions– on the back you NEED a term and conditions on the back!! ATTACH TERMS AND CONDITIONS!!! EVERY TIME

  • T’s&C’s must accompany all paperwork between client, photographer and third parties. An example of one is AOP, containing information on, copyright, ownership materials, usage, client confidentiality, indemnity, electronic storage (Shown below) Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 20.03.18.png

Basic Contact Law:

  • A contract is a legally binding agreement, made between two parties or more, and which can be enforced by the courts.
  • It is usually in the form of a commercial bargain: an offer, acceptance, or consideration (payment), and they do not have to be in written form. How ever a problem arises, a photographer has no evidence to base their argument on.
  • When a photographer first sends an estimate to a client, the terms and conditions should be printed on the back, so the client knows before agreeing to the contract.
  •  PURCHASE ORDER NUMBER, you should get one through!- you can claim expenses and up to 50% of fee if they back out

Client and photographer:

  • When the estimated figures have been accepted by the client, a purchase order should be sent to the photographer, which confirms that the client accepts the photographers T’s & C’s ie: the contract. The purchase order should be checked over to make sure the client does not have any particular conditions of their own.

Third Parties:

  • Most shoots include third parties in some capacity, and each will have some form of contract with the photographer. An indemnity clause in a purchase order will expect the photographer to indemnify the client against any third party claims. Photographers must insure themselves against any claims for this very reason.
  • Models and model agencies will usually have their own form of contract directly with the client.
  • Third parties include:
    • Models
    • Set builders
    • Model makers
    • Background artists
    • Stylists
    • Hair and make-up artists
    • Home economists
    • Location finders
    • Laboratories
    • Agents
    • Hire studios
    • Assistants

10% contingency:

  • Estimating and budgeting applies to any project, commercial, personal, to attain funding or for a community based project.
  • The arts council and all other funding bodies require individuals/groups to work out budgets to see if the project/idea is financially viable. Without a sound budget, no funding will be forthcoming.
  • In either a commercial estimate or a personal finance budget, always include a 10% contingency for all the unknown costs that inevitably appear.

 

Competitions:

  • Lewis Bush- he has a list of good competitions
  • fotographiemagazine – sign up
  • Royal academy – enter 2 submissions a year 15th feb 2018 deadline
  • AOP student & open £3- uwe is affiliated members