I tend to talk a lot with younger programmers/designers about rates and negotiating them. Normally, this subject isn’t something I feel I can really put in writing since it involve a LOT of disclosure of my rates as well as my personal approach of how to press for what I want. But this week I shot my first commercial, and I feel I learned something valuable in this negotiation. Before you negotiate your rate, ask if you get prep time first.
I’m not in New Mexico at the moment, and a commercial came up in the Pacific Northwest. The Production Manager was ready to talk money with me. I know that in general commercial rates are higher than Feature and Episodic rates, so I had a number prepared that I felt good about. But since I’m so used to longer forms (and I benefit greatly from my Best Boy and Gaffer in ABQ pushing hard to get us prep hours) I never thought to ask about prep time before stating my rate. And now I wish I had.
The gaffer is a great person I met on a tv show when I filled in for a programmer friend who had gotten Covid. But since I filled in for another person, I didn’t have the Gaffers fixture inventory in my template already. So I met the gaffer at the shop to prep. Patching and flashing, working three new fixtures into all of my color palettes, the usual “horrific sacrifice of time to the Astera update process” plus two fixture profiles that were’t in Eos and one that wasn’t documented well, and I ended up spending four hours in prep time off the clock.
It was a good reminder that even a small rig (around 20 lights or so) can take time to update, patch and work into my template. The contract I was on was based off a 10 hour day rate, so it’s understandable the PM didn’t authorize prep time. But that’s all the more reason to ask first, and then add 20-30% to your fee and kit rental. The worst they can say is no.
What is a small “think of this before you say your rate” that has been useful in your career? Hit me in the comments.
Photo by Ricardo Díaz on Unsplash
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