How to Price Video Production: 2026 Rates and Markup

How to price video production: cost crew, kit, location and post line by line, add a production fee and contingency. 2026 video production rates inside.

By the CreativeBase team · Updated October 21, 2026 · 6 min read

To price video production, cost every day of labor, every piece of kit, every location and every post task the deliverables need (quantity × days × rate). Then add a production fee of roughly 15% to 35% and a contingency of about 10%.

The rest of this guide is each step, current video production rates, a worked example, and what to say when the client says it is too much.

In short:

Pin the scope first: deliverables, days, locations, usage, revision rounds.

Price crew by the day, kit on its own lines, then add your fee and 10% contingency.

When the client pushes back, take scope out. Never your rate.

Step 1: Pin the scope before you price anything

You cannot price "a brand video." You can price this:

Deliverables: how many pieces, how long, which aspect ratios, captions or not
Days: prep, shoot (and how long a day is), edit
Locations: how many, and whether they cost money
People on camera: talent, real employees or nobody
Usage: where it runs, for how long, in which countries
Revisions: how many rounds of notes are included

Usage moves talent and music costs more than anything else. If the client cannot answer, write your assumptions at the top of the quote. That list is what you point to when the scope grows.

Step 2: Price the crew by the day

Most commercial and branded crew quote a day rate for a 10 or 12 hour day. Non-union video production rates from NeedACrew's 2026 guide, for mid-sized US markets, with Los Angeles at the top (NeedACrew):

Role	Day rate (US, non-union, 2026)
Director of photography	$800 to $3,000
1st AC	$500 to $900
1st AD	$700 to $1,500
Gaffer	$600 to $1,200
Key grip	$600 to $1,200
Sound mixer	$600 to $1,200
Hair and makeup	$400 to $900
Production designer	$700 to $2,000
Art director	$500 to $1,000
Production assistant	$150 to $400
Editor	$500 to $1,500
Colorist	$700 to $2,500

For comparison, the Freelance Video Collective lists 2026 averages around $1,405 for a DP, $540 for a gaffer and $228 for a PA on a 12-hour day (Video Collective). Assignment Desk publishes medians from booked jobs (Assignment Desk). The spread is wide because the market is. Ask the people you actually hire.

Three things that catch people out

Kit fees. DPs with a camera, mixers with a sound kit and gaffers with a truck bill kit separately. NeedACrew estimates kit adds 5% to 30% to day pay. Give it its own line.
Overtime. A common non-union rule is time and a half after hour 10, double after hour 12. Price a realistic day and write the overtime rule into the terms, so a long day is paid by the client, not by you.
The real cost is more than the rates. NeedACrew suggests budgeting 1.25 to 1.4 times crew day rates to cover kit, overtime, payroll and contingency. Paying through a payroll company? Add its fees and employer taxes.

Step 3: Price everything that is not a person

The AICP bid form is a good checklist on any job, because it makes you look at every category once:

Section	What goes in it
Equipment	Camera, lenses, lighting and grip, sound, expendables, walkies, drone or gimbal
Location and studio	Fees, permits, parking, power, security, holding
Art, props, wardrobe	Rentals, purchases, the art director's days
Food	Crew meals and craft service, per head
Transport	Vans, mileage, parking, travel, hotels
Insurance	Liability and equipment, flat or a share of your annual policy
Media	Drives and backups
Talent	Session fees and usage, priced to Step 1
Post	Edit days, color, mix, music license, graphics

Step 4: Add your production fee

Your day rate as director or producer is labor. The production fee is the company: insurance, software, accounting, and the weeks spent bidding jobs you did not win.

Saturation's guide puts typical markups at 20% to 35% of below-the-line costs, and notes most production companies net 3% to 15% once overhead is paid (Saturation). On a job sold straight to a brand, 15% to 25% is a common start.

Two ways to show it:

As a line: "Production fee, 20% of production costs." Agencies expect this.
Built into rates: margin sits inside each line and there is no fee line. Some direct clients prefer it.

Pick one. A fee on top of marked-up rates is how quotes end up out of range.

Step 5: Add contingency

Contingency covers what you cannot see yet: an extra hour, a pricier permit, a prop that breaks. About 10% of production costs is usual.

Show it as its own line and say it is billed only if used. Clients accept contingency much faster when they know unused contingency is not profit.

A worked example

A one-day shoot for a fictional brand, two deliverables, one location:

Block	What is in it	Cost
Crew	Producer 3 days, DP 2 days (scout and shoot), 1st AC, gaffer, key grip, sound, HMU, 2 PAs	$8,300
Equipment	Camera, lighting and grip, sound kit, expendables	$3,150
Location and food	Location fee, permit, lunch for 15, craft service	$3,600
Art and wardrobe	Art director 1 day, props, wardrobe	$1,500
Insurance and media	Production insurance, drives	$1,050
Director	Prep, shoot and post	$5,000
Post	Editor 3 days, color, mix, music license	$5,250
Costs		$27,850
Production fee	20% of production costs ($17,600, the first five rows)	$3,520
Contingency	10% of production costs	$1,760
Price		$33,130

The video production quote template lays out the same structure line by line.

When the client says it is too much

It happens on most jobs. A good answer keeps your margin and changes the scope.

Ask for their number. "What has been approved internally?" A real figure turns a negotiation into a design problem.
Take scope out, not rate. Offer two or three versions, each naming what goes.
Hold the fee and contingency. A 5% fee on the same scope means you pay for the job's problems. If you discount, show it as a named discount line.
Move the terms, not the price. A client short this quarter may take the full price on 50/25/25 instead of 50/50.
Know your floor. Write down the lowest price that still covers crew, kit and your time. Below it, walk away politely.

Ways to cut scope:

Option	What changes	Effect
Shorter day	10 hours becomes 8, one fewer setup	Less overtime risk
One location	Drop the second location and the move	Saves a fee, a permit, travel
Smaller crew	No art director, DP lights with the gaffer	Saves labor
Fewer deliverables	One master and one cutdown, not five versions	Saves edit days
Narrower usage	Paid social, 1 year, instead of all media	Lowers talent and music
Client footage	Their product shots or stock for one section	Saves a setup

When the scope grows after approval, price the extra as a change order before you shoot it.

Doing this in CreativeBase

A price you can explain line by line, defend, and check against what the job really cost is what lets you charge properly on the next one. That needs the price to live somewhere after approval. In CreativeBase it does:

The budget: start from the AICP-style template (sections A to T) or import your own spreadsheet and share it with your company. Each line is quantity × rate × multiplier, with a separate actual.
Your rates, not guesses: the crew book keeps each person's last rate. Upload your rate card to Grizzo's Brain and ask Grizzo to propose a line; nothing changes until you press Apply.
The quote: generated from the budget as subtotal + production fee + contingency (10% by default) − discount, checked against the budget line by line. Send it by email or WhatsApp, or put it in the client portal for approval.
The Crew tab reads the budget: "Left to allocate" and "Open hires" show priced crew lines nobody is booked on yet.
Change orders go to the client for approval before you shoot, and count in the totals.
Reports: a cost report projects the final cost and margin while the job runs, and a wrap report compares estimate against final, so your next price is better.
No rate database of other people's rates, no payroll or union fringes, no sales tax line, no e-signature, and clients do not pay invoices through it.

Accounts start with a short call, where pricing is set. Clients and crew you invite use it free.

Questions people ask

How do you calculate the price of a video production?

List every person, piece of kit, location and post task the deliverables need, price each as quantity times days times rate, add them up, then add a production fee for overhead and profit and a contingency for the unknown.

What markup do production companies charge?

Saturation's commercial budget guide puts typical production fees at 20% to 35% of below-the-line costs, and notes most companies net far less once overhead is paid. Direct-to-brand jobs often start around 15% to 25%.

How much contingency should a video budget include?

About 10% of production costs. Show it as its own line and bill it only if it is used, with the reason on the final invoice.

What is a typical DP day rate in 2026?

NeedACrew's 2026 guide lists $800 to $3,000 for a 10 to 12 hour non-union day in mid-sized US markets. Experience, market and whether they bring a camera package move it within that range.

What do I do when a client says the quote is too expensive?

Ask for their number, then take scope out to meet it: fewer days, fewer locations, fewer deliverables, narrower usage. Do not cut your rate or fee on the same scope.