What should be optional in a video production proposal?

In this template: Social cuts ($600.00 USD), Extra shoot days ($1,800.00 USD per day), Drone footage ($550.00 USD). Optional lines sit next to the base price with a switch, so clients choose them without a follow-up email.

Pricing guide for videographers and small studios

How much to charge for video production

Updated October 23, 2026. Example prices in US dollars from the video production template.

Example starting total$5,400.00 USD

Short answer: Price video production as one fixed line (brand film at $4,800.00 USD) with a starting total of $5,400.00 USD, then 3 optional lines (social cuts, extra shoot days, drone footage) the client can switch on, and a quantity the client sets within your limits. Set your own numbers; the structure is what gets accepted.

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Below: the price lines from our video production quote, what is fixed, what the client can switch on, and how to show it so the client accepts instead of haggling.

The example pricing

Line	Example price	How it is sold
Brand filmScript, one shoot day, ninety-second film with two rounds of changes	$4,800.00 USD	Included
Social cutsThree fifteen-second vertical cuts with captions	$600.00 USD	Optional, on by default
Extra shoot daysA second location or a second day	$1,800.00 USD per day	Optional, off by defaultClient picks 1 to 3
Drone footageExterior and site shots, where permitted	$550.00 USD	Optional, off by default

Starting total with the defaults on: $5,400.00 USD, before the client chooses among 3 optional lines, with 1 quantity the client sets within your limits. Example prices in US dollars; the template works in 16 currencies and every number is yours to change.

How to present it

Photography and video sell on the deliverable and the day. Say how many finished pictures or minutes, when they arrive, and how they arrive, and the price stops looking arbitrary.

Price the shoot as one line and everything else as options: extra edited images by the number, headshots per person, drone, twilight, a social cut. Clients rarely ask for extras by email; on the page, with a switch, they choose them.

Usage rights belong in the proposal, not in a later invoice. A short licence line next to the price protects you and avoids the awkward conversation when a client puts the work on a billboard.

Questions people ask

How much should I charge for video production?: Price video production as one fixed line (brand film at $4,800.00 USD) with a starting total of $5,400.00 USD, then 3 optional lines (social cuts, extra shoot days, drone footage) the client can switch on, and a quantity the client sets within your limits. Set your own numbers; the structure is what gets accepted.
What should be optional in a video production proposal?: In this template: Social cuts ($600.00 USD), Extra shoot days ($1,800.00 USD per day), Drone footage ($550.00 USD). Optional lines sit next to the base price with a switch, so clients choose them without a follow-up email.
How do I present video production pricing so it gets accepted?: Photography and video sell on the deliverable and the day. Say how many finished pictures or minutes, when they arrive, and how they arrive, and the price stops looking arbitrary.

Why this structure gets accepted

One fixed line the client can say yes to. Brand film is priced as a whole, so the conversation is about the result, not the hours.
Options on the page, not in follow-up emails. Social cuts, Extra shoot days, Drone footage sit next to the base price with a switch. People choose what they can see.
The total moves as they choose. On a Quote and Sign page the client toggles lines and sets quantities, watches the total update, and signs with their name. What they chose becomes part of the signed record.

Put it in front of a client

Open this pricing as a real quote, change the words and numbers, and send the link. Your client reads it on a phone or laptop, picks the extras, and taps Accept. You both get the signed PDF.