Receiving a promotional video quote with line items like "1st AC," "grade & conform," and "music licence buyout" can be disorienting for clients without a production background. Understanding what each component covers — and why it costs what it does — helps clients make better commissioning decisions and helps studios present their quotes more effectively.
Creative development and scripting
For anything beyond a simple brief, creative development involves developing the concept, writing the script, and creating a storyboard or shot list. This can take two to five days of producer and creative director time on a professionally developed promotional video. Clients who skip this phase often get on set without a clear creative direction — which costs more in production and post than proper pre-production would have.
Production crew line items
Common crew line items in a promotional video quote: Director (responsible for the creative on set), DOP or Director of Photography (camera and lighting), 1st AC or Camera Assistant (focus pulling, equipment management), Sound Recordist (on-set audio), Production Assistant or Runner (logistics and set support). Each has a day rate; multiply by shoot days to get the total crew cost.
Equipment and facilities
Equipment costs cover camera hire, lens package, lighting, audio, and any specialist rigs (gimbal, slider, drone). Location costs include studio or venue hire, permits, and any required dressing or art direction. Catering for the crew on shoot days is a standard, expected cost — typically £30–£60 per person per day.
Post-production line items
Post-production costs include: offline edit (initial assembly and rough cuts), online edit or conform (technical tidying for delivery), colour grade (visual consistency and mood), audio mix (sound levels, music integration, dialogue clean-up), motion graphics (titles, animations, data visualisations), and visual effects if required. Each is typically priced per day of work at the relevant specialist's day rate.
Licensing and delivery
Music licensing is a significant and frequently underestimated cost in promotional video. A sync licence for a well-known track for online commercial use can run from £500 to several thousand pounds. Royalty-free music libraries cost less but still require licensing. Delivery costs cover export in multiple formats, upload to required platforms, and any encoding or hosting setup.
Revision rounds and change fees
Most quotes include two to three revision rounds in the base price. Additional rounds are charged at the editor's hourly rate, typically £40–£100 per hour. Significant scope changes — adding a product, changing the central message, reshooting a scene — require a change order and may involve additional production costs. Get change policies in writing before signing off on any project.
“Ask any supplier to explain line items you do not understand. A professional studio will welcome the question.”
Standard promotional video quote line items
- Pre-production: creative development, scripting, storyboarding
- Production: director, DOP, camera, sound, AC, location
- Post-production: edit, grade, audio, motion graphics
- Music: licensed track or royalty-free library fee
- Revisions: number of rounds included and over-round rate
- Delivery: export formats, platform upload, hosting
Frequently asked questions
Is it normal for a promotional video to cost more than the original quote?
It should not be, if the original quote was scoped correctly and change orders were managed well. Cost overruns almost always trace back to unclear scope at the start or unmanaged scope changes during production.
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