Overview
So, what's a "reasonable" budget? A long-standing "rule of thumb" for producing "videos" is that you should plan on spending around $1,000 per finished production minute. However, we have seen this rule of thumb in publications going way back. Even a popular book marketed to video makers published in 1996 states the rule of thumb at $1,000 to $2,000 per finished production minute. While it's true that production equipment has become less expensive, the price of labor has gone up and the largest cost in this business is labor. Audience expectations in terms of glossy image quality, picture resolution, cutting-edge graphics, quick cuts and other expensive factors have also increased. Most "national quality" 30-second TV spots familiar to your audience cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and many exceed $1 million. A low-budget 2-hour feature film costs around $85,000 per finished production minute. The Lord of the Rings trilogy cost almost $500,000 per finished production minute.
It is reasonable to plan on spending between $2,000 and $5,000 per finished production minute for video. (Keep in mind though that we are likely to recommend a shorter video than you currently have in mind.) The average project of our video production division has a low 5-figure total budget, so feel free to honestly share your goals and budget constraints. If we believe we can help you accomplish your goals for your investment, we will! And we have nothing but happy clients, so contact us about your project today.