Every Sunday I will have an article sent to me communication Subscribers, share advice and insights into the business and craft of micro-budget filmmaking. For the most part, these posts are never shared on my main blog, but every once in a while I break tradition and share a post here for those who may have missed it.
The article I shared today has been posted to my weekly micro budget Last week’s newsletter was all about building and designing your best career. It was inspired by conversations I’ve had with countless filmmakers who all suffer from the same problem – they work longer and harder every year but are unable to increase their income over time.
Filmmakers run into this problem when they take on the wrong type of project, or underestimate their time and abilities. If this sounds familiar, this article is for you.
So, without further ado——
How to Stop Undercharging for Film Production Services…
When it comes to pricing, filmmakers fall into two camps:
1. A person who charges full price for his work and increases his income year after year.
2. Those who keep lowering wages until they are no longer a livable wage.
Unfortunately, most filmmakers fall into the latter category.
What differentiates those who make a good living at work is rarely talent, or even skill. This is a difference in pricing and customer selection methods.
I know countless truly talented filmmakers who struggle day in and day out to keep their freelance bills afloat.
On the other hand, I know many filmmakers who may be less naturally creative, but who are doing great financially – working less on projects that really matter, and measurably more their income.
This dichotomy exists in almost every creative (or freelance-driven) industry…
When I was looking for a photographer for my wedding a few years ago, almost everyone I talked to gave me similar prices.
Almost all of them were willing to lower their prices simply because I asked them to because they were afraid that if they didn’t, they would give their work to someone else.
But one photographer I interviewed took a completely different approach. He sent me his offer (which was at least three times the price of others) and very politely outlined his terms, which were fair but strict.
For example, most other photographers I’ve interviewed have the option to add a second photographer or assistant. This photographer doesn’t give you a choice at all. He wouldn’t work without an assistant, only accepting full-price jobs so he could take her with him.
This philosophy permeates everything he does—from pricing (which is non-negotiable) to post-production service, which has a very clear revision process and end date.
The bottom line is, we are not right for each other. His price was too expensive for me, and because I felt his work was no better than that of photographers three times cheaper, I chose to work with someone else…
But just because I didn’t work with him, that doesn’t mean his methods were any less effective. In fact, me saying “no” to him was exactly what he wanted.
He has clearly made a choice that he will only accept jobs that pay well, and he won’t compromise on that.
Even if this means he only works 1 weekend a month (whereas other wedding photographers work every weekend), that doesn’t matter – because his services are priced high enough to make this sustainable.
His job was to weed out people like me who weren’t willing to pay extra for his services so he could find people who would pay top dollar.
When other photographers offered to negotiate prices and bid against each other, he just said take it or leave it.
While most people (myself included) told him “no thanks” when they heard his price, some just said “yes.”
These are people who are indeed willing to pay a premium for service work and appreciate the structure of working within stricter guidelines. For obvious reasons, these types of clients are the best.
They are willing to work on your terms, pay your prices without competing with you, and will provide better material for your portfolio (as they are almost certainly investing in other areas of their activity or production as well).
So while most photographers are lowering their prices to compete for work with clients who don’t want to work on their terms, this photographer avoided the problem entirely.
He works fewer hours than they do, makes significantly more money, and has higher value clients (and referrals). Not because he was more talented, but simply because he had identified the type of work he was willing to take, and he refused to settle for less.
How you decide to price your services and select your clients will determine your career. This is true whether you work as a freelancer or run your own production company.
Don’t feel like you need to wait to have the perfect portfolio before you can take on a bigger job, or be willing to ask for more. It’s okay for clients to reject you. As I outlined in the example above, this is part of the process.
Your ultimate goal should be to build a client list that truly suits your purpose. Find people who are willing to pay you what you deserve, who are great to work with, and whose projects can help you get more work like yours.
If you take on every job without a system, you’ll never achieve your goals. Either you need to say “no” to bad opportunities, or you need to make it easier for non-optimal prospects to say “no” to you.
You can achieve this as long as you set some basic guidelines that define how much you’re willing to work and at what cost.
Wouldn’t you rather have a client pay $10,000 a month to work 1 day instead of spending less money dealing with 10 lower quality clients? Of course I will.
I’m sure most creative freelancers and entrepreneurs would agree. However, few achieve this level. Not because they are not good enough, but because they are afraid to ask for more.
Saying no to work can be scary when you don’t have much else to do. I certainly understand that, but that’s not to say the road is easy.
But if you’re willing to set some ground rules for yourself and only take on projects that absolutely meet your minimum standards for pay and quality of work, you’ll start to attract the type of clients that will change your career.
99% of potential customers don’t fit your vision of your “ideal customer”… That’s why your job is to find the 1% that do and provide them with the best possible service.
This is the first step we take to help us find better clients and ultimately make more money from fewer hours worked.
Today we can all make the decision to charge what we deserve and only work with clients who truly value what we do. It takes a lot of willpower to put this into practice, but I promise you it’s worth it.
That’s it for today…
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