A lot of your points were addressed in other correspondence with the client (talent fees, retouching, etc.). And yes we called the tech/scout day location scouting in this estimate. Although we have our standard language we usually default to the client jargon to avoid confusion on their end. Catering, RV and client workstation, only a portion of which were our financial responsibility, were provided by the TV crew. We made sure to clarify all of this in other correspondence through the estimating process.

Thanks for offering your valuable insight.

Each client is different when it comes to cost consulting and invoicing. We’re almost always required to provide full backup of all receipts and invoices. One client even required a backup/invoice from the photographer for travel days. This is a negotiable point, though. I know one photographer who will offer a discount if they don’t have to provide backup receipts or rather charge a premium if they do.

granted you probably have more experience at this than me but, why would you offer more usage and original imagery for less money thank a stock image?

is not the fact that they are getting “catered” images and exclusivity worth more?

i always take the stock quotes off Getty and bid maybe 20% higher.

That may all be true but, I still say usage trumps all of that. I have a friend w/ a lot of pharmaceutical clients and his fees are much much higher and these are not daunting or logistically complicated shoots. most of them are in studio.

May I ask some questions?

How did you get to the stage of being asked to quote?
Did you have an existing relationship with the client?
Do you know how many other photographers you were competing with?
And,
Did you meet with the Ad Agency to fully understand the job before quoting?

Many many thanks once again.

regards
Matt.

-patrick

There is a lot more to it than that. If they could use stock without production expenses, they probably would. It’s hard to stay in business if pricing images like a commodity (rice, oil, copper).

This may be helpful:
http://www.cradocfotosoftware.com/fotoQuote-Pro/

I have a question: If you get an online quote for a given use at Getty or similar stock sites, do you use that same quote for an assignment shoot licensing or do you use a smaller quote? And if so, how much smaller on average?

I ask because with a stock photo there’s the percentage that stays with the stock agency and there’s the production costs paid by the photographer to produce that stock photo (usually). So the licensing value of stock photography IMO is bigger than a photo produced on assignment.

Am I right on this?

Is it a common practice to lump the creative fee and usage?

Since this is a couple years old would the market dictate the same invoice?

thanks,

Chuck

Please note- you have done an AMAZING job detailing all this and then sharing it. It is so needed. I just wanted to point those things out. I have seen photographers get screwed by not noting what was the responsibility of the client or film crew. But then again, fortunately this job was older and you didn’t run into these issues. I just want the folks who read this to consider these items. I guess I have been doing this for 25 years now, I am jaded!!! Thanks again for taking the time to write this for the photo community!!