The most common email we get from prospective clients is some version of: we got three quotes and they ranged from $8,000 to $80,000 for what sounds like the same project. Are we being scammed?
Probably not by anyone. But you also weren’t getting quotes for the same thing. Here’s how brand-film pricing actually works, line by line.
The five things that actually drive the budget
Forget “day rate.” The five real cost drivers, in order of impact:
- Crew size and seniority.
- Shoot days.
- Camera package.
- Talent and location costs.
- Post complexity (edit, color, sound, VFX, music).
A two-day shoot with a 12-person crew on RED + Atlas Orion in two practical locations will land somewhere between $45K and $90K all-in for most US production companies that aren’t trying to lowball or gouge you. A one-day shoot with a four-person crew on a Sony FX6 in one location will land between $8K and $20K. The pricing isn’t arbitrary; it’s a direct readout of how much gets done on what level of equipment by how many trained people.
Where the money goes — typical mid-tier brand film
A real, slightly anonymized breakdown of a recent project — a two-day brand shoot for a SaaS company in Brooklyn, two locations, talent on-camera, hero deliverable + three cutdowns:
| Line | % of budget |
|---|---|
| Pre-production (treatment, scout, casting, scheduling) | 12% |
| Director + DP day rates | 14% |
| Crew (1st AD, AC, gaffer, key grip, sound, art, PAs) | 22% |
| Camera + lens package + grip/electric | 11% |
| Talent + casting fees | 9% |
| Locations + permits | 6% |
| Wardrobe, hair/makeup, art dept | 5% |
| Catering + transportation | 4% |
| Editorial (offline + online) | 9% |
| Color + sound + delivery | 6% |
| Music license | 2% |
The thing to notice: labor is 60%+ of every honest brand-film budget. Camera packages get marketed; people are what actually make films.
Why the same brief gets quoted at $8K and $80K
Three reasons, often in combination:
1. They’re not pricing the same crew. An $8K quote is one or two people on a small camera handling everything — director, DP, editor, sometimes operator. An $80K quote is 12 people, each excellent at one job. Both can produce work; they cannot produce the same work.
2. They’re not pricing the same days. “We can do this in a day” is sometimes true. It’s also sometimes a sign the company hasn’t actually scheduled what’s in your brief. An honest scope might be 2–3 shoot days with a half-day rehearsal, plus 4–6 weeks of post. A compressed scope means corners cut you don’t see until the deliverable lands.
3. They’re not pricing the same deliverable. A 90-second hero film with a music license, color grade, and sound design takes weeks. A “video” is something different — a 90-second cut from one location with library music and a quick grade can ship in a week. Both are technically videos. Only one is a film.
Honest pricing tiers (US market, 2026)
These are ranges we see across the industry, not our specific quotes. Use them as a sanity check on whatever you’re being quoted.
$5K–$15K — Content tier. One-day shoot, small crew (2–4 people), prosumer cinema (FX3, FX6, C70), one location. Library music, light color, fast turnaround. Good for: social cutdowns, talking heads, supplemental B-roll. Not good for: anything that has to read as “cinema.”
$15K–$45K — Mid-tier brand video. 1–2 day shoot, 6–9 person crew, mid-tier cinema (RED Komodo, Sony Burano, FX9), 1–2 locations, light talent. Real edit + color + sound design. Custom-licensed music. Good for: most B2B brand films, customer success stories, founder profiles, recruitment films.
$45K–$120K — Hero brand film. 2–3 day shoot, 10–15 person crew, top-tier cinema (RED V-Raptor, ARRI Alexa 35, Atlas Orion or Master Anamorphic), 2–3 locations, talent + casting. Full post pipeline. Custom score or A-tier sync license. Good for: launch films, hero pieces, anything that lives on the homepage for a year.
$120K–$500K — Premium brand campaign / spec. 3–5 day shoot, 20+ person crew, A-list director, premium glass, multiple locations, professional talent (not just actors — recognizable actors), VFX, custom score, the works. Good for: TVCs, top-of-funnel brand work for Fortune 500 companies, anything aimed at the AICP awards.
$500K+ — Feature-quality. At this point you’re buying the same crew that makes feature films and Super Bowl spots. Different conversation.
What you’re not paying for (and shouldn’t)
Markup on rental gear. A reputable shop bills the actual rental cost of cameras, lenses, and grip, sometimes with a small handling fee. Excessive gear markup is a sign the company sees the camera as a profit center, not a tool.
“Producer hours” you can’t account for. Asking what a producer is doing during pre-production is a fair question. The honest answer is: scheduling, casting, location scouting, vendor coordination, callsheet prep, contracts. If the answer you get is vague, push.
Editing that takes 3 weeks for a 90-second video. Industry standard for a hero brand film is 2–4 rounds of revisions over 4–6 weeks. Anything longer is usually scope creep, not justified labor.
Three questions to ask any production company
If you’re comparing quotes, the questions that surface the real differences are:
- “How many shoot days does this scope include, and how many revisions in post?”
- “What’s the camera and lens package, specifically?”
- “Who’s directing it, and have they directed something like this before?”
A company that can answer all three precisely is probably honest about pricing. A company that gives you ranges or “depends on the day” answers is selling you on a vibe.
Where Filmit prices
We’re transparent about this: most of our brand work lands in the $25K–$120K range. We don’t quote sub-$15K projects often (the math doesn’t work for our crew model), and we don’t pitch on $500K+ campaigns (those typically come through agencies, not direct).
When we quote, you get a written scope with the line items above, the crew names, the shoot day count, and the post schedule — not a one-line “production: $X” with no detail.
If you’re trying to scope a project and want a sanity check on the pricing you’ve been quoted, send us the brief. We’ll give you an honest range and tell you whether what you’ve already been quoted is reasonable, even if you end up working with someone else.