Video Production Pricing Sheet: Build a Rate Card With AI

List every chargeable item once: pre-production hours, shoot-day rates by crew role, edit hours by deliverable, a fixed number of revision rounds with a price for extras, and a usage licence. Give an AI assistant your costs and target pay to draft the sheet, test it on past jobs, then check every total by hand before a client sees it.

Start from your own cost per billable day, not a market average. In the example below an owner-run studio that buys in crew by the day needs about $737 a day to cover $60,000 of pay, $15,600 of overheads and a 15% buffer, which rounds to a $750 operator day and a $90 edit hour. Everything else on the card is built from those two numbers.

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What the published guides give you, and what they leave out

Two 2026 pricing guides I read for this tutorial are typical. Filmmaking Lifestyle's March guide lists a solo social-content day at $1,200 to $3,500 and a simple local promo at $750 to $2,000, and suggests a 10% to 20% buffer for revision and scope risk. Viva Media's guide describes packages with one revision, three revisions or unlimited revisions within scope, and gives a commercial production-day budget of $5,000 to $25,000 over one to three days. Both are useful for orientation. Neither puts a figure on an extra revision round (Viva Media tells studios to quote an hourly rate for work beyond the included rounds but gives none), neither offers a method for pricing usage rights, and neither mentions AI at all.

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Those gaps are where quotes leak money. A budget range tells a client roughly what a film costs; a rate card tells you what to charge for this film, this week, with this client. The card is also what lets you quote the same way twice, and what lets an assistant help you build the next one from the last one.

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Start from your own cost per billable day

Work from what the business must earn. For an illustrative studio, the owner wants $60,000 a year in pay before personal tax. Overheads, leaving kit aside because it will be charged separately, come to $15,600: insurance $2,400, software $3,000, accountant and admin $1,800, vehicle and travel $3,600, marketing $2,400 and a contingency of $2,400. That makes $75,600 to recover.

Now count days honestly. A year has 365 days; take off 104 weekend days and 25 days of leave and holidays, which leaves 236 working days. Only about half are billable, because the rest goes on selling, admin, planning, travel and maintenance. So there are 118 billable days. $75,600 divided by 118 is $640.68 a day. Add a 15% buffer for profit and the bad months and you reach $736.78, about $92 an hour over eight hours. Round to a $750 operator day and a $90 hour for editing and producing. For kit, a $6,000 yearly replacement fund spread over 40 shoot days is $150, and a 15% buffer makes $172.50, rounded to $175 a day.

An assistant will do this arithmetic in seconds, and it will get one step wrong if you let it. Give it the inputs and ask for each assumption separately:

I run a one-person video studio and buy in crew by the day. Work out my cost per billable day.
Target pay before personal tax: $60,000. Overheads excluding kit: insurance 2,400; software 3,000; accountant and admin 1,800; vehicle and travel 3,600; marketing 2,400; contingency 2,400.
Working days: 365 minus 104 weekend days minus 25 leave days. Billable share of working days: 50%.
Add a 15% profit buffer. Then give the hourly equivalent over 8 hours.
Show each step, and list every assumption you made separately.

A good reply reads: "Total to recover $75,600; working days 236; billable days 118; cost per billable day $640.68; with 15% buffer $736.78; hourly equivalent $92.10." A common slip is to divide by all 236 working days and forget the billable share. That gives $320 a day, or $368 with the buffer, half the correct figure, and it looks plausible because the arithmetic is right. Check the day count before you trust any total, and ask the assistant to state the billable share as an assumption every time.

The rate card, block by block

A card is a list of units with a price each, grouped so a client can see where the money goes. Keep each unit small enough to total in your head. This is the card for the illustrative studio, built from the $750 day and the $90 hour.

Two points about the card itself. It lists units and rules, not a price per finished minute: the same two-minute film can take 40 hours or 90 depending on the interview material, the locations and how decisive the client is, so running time is a poor driver of cost. And it separates what you do from what you buy in, because bought-in crew and music need a markup that covers the risk of paying them before you are paid.

A worked quote: a two-minute brand film for a landscaping company

The brief behind the worked quote is illustrative: a landscaping company wants a 120-second brand film, an interview with the owner and one crew member, garden transformations as cutaway footage, three locations in one day, a licensed music track, lower-third graphics, captions, and two 20-second social cutdowns. Two revision rounds are included. Here is the quote assembled from the card.

Round it to $7,300 on the proposal, with $3,650 due on acceptance and $3,650 on delivery. Before sending it, run a check that catches under-pricing. The studio spends 53.5 of its own hours: 8 pre-production, 8 on the shoot day, 20 editing, 3 on cutdowns, 3 grading, 4 on graphics, 1.5 on captions and 6 on revisions. Bought-in costs are $1,390: $450 for the recordist, $350 for the assistant, $250 for the mix, $200 for music and $140 of expenses. Revenue less bought-in costs, divided by studio hours, is $5,914 over 53.5 hours, or about $110 an hour. If the whole buffer is spent, it is $5,250 over 53.5, about $98 an hour. Both are above the $92 an hour the studio needs to recover its costs and buffer, so the quote clears. A figure below $92 means the quote loses money, however professional it looks.

Revision rules that protect your edit hours

Revisions are the line that decides whether a film is profitable, and the one that rate cards most often leave vague. The fix is a short set of rules the client reads before they accept the quote, covering four things: what a round is, when a stage is locked, what extra rounds cost, and what is not a revision at all. Here is wording to adapt.

Revisions
Included: two rounds. Round 1 is on the rough cut; round 2 is on the fine cut.
A round is one consolidated list of changes from one named person, sent in one message or document within 5 working days of the cut being shared.
Approvals lock: once a stage is approved in writing (script, rough cut, fine cut), changes to that stage are a new edit, not a revision.
Extra rounds: $270 each (3 hours at $90), quoted before work starts.
New requests: new footage, a different structure, a different music direction or additional versions are quoted separately.
Turnaround: each round is returned within 3 working days of a complete list.
Studio errors: mistakes made by the studio are fixed free and don't use a round.

The "named person" and "consolidated list" lines do the most work. A film that collects separate notes from the owner, the office manager and the owner's partner will always have more than two rounds, because each person's note creates a new one. Making the client agree one voice is not rude; it is the only way two rounds can be enough. The tutorial on consolidating client revision feedback with AI shows how to turn three conflicting emails into one list the client signs off.

The hardest argument is whether a request is a revision or a new job. Settle examples in advance, because clients will test the line. These are decisions I would write into the terms:

How a missing rule shows up in past jobs

You can find where your own card leaks by testing it on finished jobs. Take three jobs, record the price, the bought-in costs and your own hours, and divide revenue less bought-in costs by hours. Compare each with the $92 an hour the studio needs. This prompt does the sums and asks for a diagnosis:

Here are three finished jobs. My cost-recovery rate is $92 an hour. For each, compute (price minus bought-in costs) divided by my hours, say whether it is below $92, and then suggest which rule or card line would have prevented any shortfall.
Job A: price $4,800, bought-in $900, 41 hours. Notes: smooth, two rounds.
Job B: price $2,900, bought-in $600, 38 hours. Notes: five rounds of changes; client restructured the film after the fine cut.
Job C: price $6,200, bought-in $1,300, 48 hours. Notes: two rounds; one extra cutdown requested and done free.

Job A: (4,800 - 900) / 41 = $95.12 an hour, above $92
Job B: (2,900 - 600) / 38 = $60.53 an hour, below $92
Job C: (6,200 - 1,300) / 48 = $102.08 an hour, above $92
Job B: three rounds beyond the two allowed and a restructure after approval. A priced extra-round line and a lock on the fine cut would have prevented it.
Job C: healthy, but the free cutdown is unrecorded scope. Add a versions line to the card.

Job B is the lesson. It lost about $31 an hour against the studio's cost, roughly $1,200 over the job, and nothing in the quote was "wrong". The card had no price for round three and no lock on the fine cut. Had the three extra rounds been billed at $270, the rate would have been about $82; with the fine cut locked, two of those rounds would have been new edits at their own price. Make the check a habit at the end of every job and keep the results. After ten jobs you will know whether your 10% buffer is too thin, which pairs well with the scope, budget and timeline proposal workflow for the document that carries the rules.

Licence fees: price the reach, not the file

A finished film has the same production cost whether it plays on the client's own website or runs as a paid advert, but it is worth very different amounts to the client. Usage rights let you share in that difference. The simplest structure is a base licence inside the production fee and uplifts for anything wider. The percentages below are my illustrative starting points for negotiation. I know of no single standard scale, so check them against what peers in your own market charge.

Apply the uplift to the creative and production fee, not to pass-through costs. For the brand film that base is the $6,640 subtotal less $140 of expenses and $220 of music, which is $6,280. Paid social for six months adds 15%, about $942. A second year of organic use adds 10%, about $628. Show these as options on the quote so the client sees what the base price does and doesn't cover.

One rule keeps you out of trouble: you can't license more than you hold. If the music track's licence covers online use for 12 months, do not sell a broadcast licence on the film. The same goes for releases from people on camera, which should match the usage you sell. Put the music and talent terms next to the usage options on the quote so the client sees the ceiling.

Where AI changes the card, and where it doesn't

If your editing software produces transcripts, captions and first-pass assemblies, measure what that saves on your own jobs, including the time you spend checking. Suppose assembling the interview footage falls from 6 hours to 2.5 and captions from 1.5 hours to 0.5, with review. The film's edit then takes 16.5 hours, not 20, and captions 0.5 hours. That is 4.5 hours or $405, about 5.5% of the $7,304 quote. The tutorial on AI rough cuts from a transcript covers the workflow, and AI subtitle accuracy and delivery checks covers what review the captions still need.

Don't turn a 5.5% saving into a headline discount. You have three better options: keep the price and take the margin, keep the price and add scope such as a third cutdown, or deliver a week earlier. Change a price only on the line that really moved, and only when a competing quote makes it matter. The lines AI barely touches are the shoot day, the crew, the licence, the revision rounds and the client's own decision time, and those are most of the card.

AI also adds new lines. A synthetic voice or generated footage is a deliverable with its own rights, disclosure and sign-off, and the tool subscriptions belong in overhead. For services built on AI itself, the AI video content agency tutorial is the better guide.

Three more quotes from the same card

A card earns its keep when it prices different jobs without being rewritten. Here are three more from the same numbers, the first with the assistant doing the first draft.

A tutoring centre wants a 60-second parent testimonial. Half-day shoot at the centre, one operator, two interviews, two rounds of revisions. Ask the assistant for a draft from the card and the brief, and tell it to list assumptions. A first draft may well charge a full day of kit at $175 for a half-day shoot, when the card says $90. The corrected quote: pre-production 3 hours $270, operator half-day $400, kit half-day $90, expenses $40, edit 8 hours $720, captions 1 hour $90, music $130, two revision rounds of 2 hours each $360. That is $2,100, plus a 10% buffer of $210, so $2,310. The assistant's slip was $85, or about $94 once the buffer is added; the habit worth building is checking each line against the card, not the total.

A removals firm wants three 30-second social videos shot in one day. This is where the card's versioning rule pays off. One shoot day with an assistant costs $750, $175 and $420, which is $1,345. Pre-production is 4 hours, $360. The first video takes 6 hours to edit and the second and third take about 3 each, so 12 hours, $1,080. Captions for three videos take 1.5 hours, $135. One music licence covers all three, $130, and one revision round per video is 3 hours, $270. The subtotal is $3,320, and with the buffer the quote is $3,650. Three separate projects would have paid for pre-production, the shoot and the music three times. The client saves, and the studio keeps a fair margin because the second and third versions really are cheaper to make.

An independent bookshop wants four short clips a month. This is a retainer. Each month has one half-day shoot ($400 and $90 for kit), 2 hours of planning ($180), 10 hours of editing at 2.5 hours a clip ($900), 2 hours of captions ($180) and one round of revisions per clip at half an hour each ($180). That is $1,930 a month. A 5% reduction for the monthly commitment brings it to about $1,834, quoted at $1,850. The retainer rewards the client for committing and rewards you with predictable work, and the card shows exactly what the discount costs.

Checking the card against your local market

A card built from your costs tells you your floor. It does not tell you what clients in your market will pay, so test it against three kinds of evidence. First, your own quotes: if almost every one is accepted without a question, try a 10% rise on the next five and see whether anything changes. Second, two or three local peers' public rates or quotes you have legitimately seen, converted into the same units: operator day, edit hour and revision round. Third, published guides, treated as orientation only, since they disagree and rarely cover revisions, licences or AI.

Adjust one block at a time, not the whole card. If peers charge less for edit hours but more for day rates, your clients may be comparing the wrong lines, and the card gives you the structure to explain it. For how to choose between a day rate, a project fee and a package once the card exists, the videography pricing tutorial covers the three models.

Finally, put a date on the card and review it every quarter with the past-job test. The costs it rests on change, and so do the hours AI saves you. A card that was right in January and untouched in November is a guess with a spreadsheet's authority.

Questions producers ask when they write a rate card

How many revision rounds should a rate card include?

Two is a common starting point: one on the rough cut and one on the fine cut. The right number depends on the deliverable and how many people approve it. Whatever you choose, define what counts as a round, price extra ones, and lock each stage once it is approved so the second round does not become a rewrite.

Should I publish my rate card on my website?

Publish starting prices for packaged work, such as a testimonial film, and keep the full card for quotes. Public prices filter out clients who cannot afford you and save time. A card without the brief can mislead, because two films with the same running time can differ by a factor of two in effort.

Do I charge less when AI speeds up the edit?

Price by deliverable and measured hours, not by a blanket discount. If transcripts and captions save you time, that saving can fund margin, a faster delivery date or an extra cutdown. Cut the price only when a specific line really takes less time and a competing quote makes the gap matter.

Do I need to tell clients I used AI in the edit?

Say so in your terms in plain words, especially for generated visuals or synthetic voices, and follow any platform rules for labelling AI content. For assistive tools such as transcripts and captions, a line in the contract is usually enough. Ask a corporate client early whether they have a policy on AI-generated material.

Further reads

• How to Price Photography Packages: A Cost-per-Shoot Model With AI — The same cost-per-shoot logic for photographers.
• Marketing Agency Pricing After AI: Retainers, Packages and Deliverables — Retainers and deliverables priced when AI speeds production.
• How Videographers Use AI to Edit, Caption and Quote Faster — How videographers use AI to edit, caption and quote faster.
• Subtitling Rates per Minute: What to Charge When AI Drafts First — Per-minute subtitling rates when AI drafts first.
• Freelance Day Rate Calculator: Set Your Rate When AI Speeds Up Delivery — A day-rate calculator for any freelancer.
• Videographer Software: Client Review, Approvals and Invoices Compared — Software for review rounds, approvals and invoices.
• Best AI for Filmmakers Selling Video Services to Local Businesses — A tool-by-stage guide for video producers with local clients: scripts, shot lists, rough cuts, monthly costs and the client-work checks that creator lists skip.
• AI Video Production Software Compared for a Small Studio — Tools grouped by script, edit, captions, voice, shorts and generated shots, with a three-editor monthly cost and licensing limits.
• AI Shot List Generator: Build a Shoot-Day Plan From the Script — A worked 90-second corporate film from script to shot list, schedule and call sheet, with the director's checks that catch what AI misses.
• AI Storyboard Generator From a Script: A Video Producer's Workflow — A beat-by-beat workflow for turning a client script into a storyboard with AI, plus a test for the frames that still need a human artist.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: two 2026 video pricing guides (Viva Media and Filmmaking Lifestyle), read in November 2026 and used only for what they cover and omit; all rates, hours and totals in the examples are illustrative.