Billing Multiple Clients on a Common Project

[prosheditor]

I was looking through some old proposals and found a unique production situation I have not experienced since then. I had three seperate clients that wanted to produce an instructional video. They all had their own system to demonstrate and they were all going to pay identical production costs seperately and not split the cost of production. It never materialized because of their scheduling conflicts and the required travel to the shoot location but I was adequately paid for scouting locations for a few weeks.

Has anybody else had a situation like this? If you were approached by several people would you quote them a single production cost and allow them to split it or would you charge them for the entire cost seperately? Thanks

 

[The Thing on The Sticks]

My personal experience is that even though they may want essentially the same video most companies would be too concerned with the perceived risk of losing proprietary information to a competitor. Even if this is something as generic as a don't grope the interns video for HR, which lets face it would probably only have minor differences at best.

Now if you had too business owners that knew each other and were looking to save a buck than you might be able to play ball.

 

[prosheditor]

All three were in the same industry and were going to pay seperately. Each had their own established fanbase and knew each other well so it was friendly competition. They all had existing instructional videos but each one was ready to produce a new series.

I guess a better way to describe this is if production costs were roughly $10K per day for 5 shoot days, not including post which would be added later, would you be willing to divide $50K by 3 and charge each person $16.6K if that was their desired terms or charge all three $50K each for a total of $150K? I looked at it as three different entities so they should pay full production rates seperately. If all three were partners in one entity then $50K would have been fine. The production setup was to be the same with the only changes for each client being their custom lighting configurations and background setting, like a template. So basically it was the same platform with a different client's performance with their custom look. This is logistically convenient and very profitable for the production services provider because of the small amount of changes needed.

Three Clients

Total: $50K

Option 1: $16.6 x 3 = $50K

Option 2: $50K x 3 = $150K

Other than what the fire marshal says, I don't know how hotels decide how many people they will allow to stay in a single room for a specific rate, but if they charge $200 per night and they find out 10 people are in there to save money, I'm sure they don't like that when they could have split them up and rented more rooms to make more money. Ultimately, I guess it all comes down to what the clients are willing to do because they are the ones with the funds. Either way, on a big project like this you're still going to make alot of money but even more by charging seperately. So you have to decide if you're going to accept their potential terms of splitting a single cost or walk away from that decent but lesser paid project then find out some other yahoos ended up doing it for half.

 

[Douglas]

I can't imagine any scenario where I would find myself in this situation.

 

[prosheditor]

I can't imagine any scenario where I would find myself in this situation.

Well, even if you have not encountered it, what would you do if this scenario did present itself to you? The base question is this. Would you allow the total cost to be split between multiple clients as I described or would you charge each of them the full cost seperately? Thanks

 

[cyndygreen1]

If they all know about your setup and are willing to work with it, I'd cut them some slack and charge less than $50k each but more than the total divided by three. You'd have to be completely transparent about this though and have all sign contracts acknowledging. Who wrote the script? Who hired the talent? Need to factor everything in.

 

[Douglas]

Cyndy is correct. There are way too many variable and unknowns to offer any useful advice. Mostly, I would never allow myself to get into such a situation. How are you going to answer to 3 different clients at the same time who all may have different ideas and expectations?

Why don't you produce it on spec and sell a customized version of the final production to each of the three? And if there are three who want it maybe there are 4 or 5 or 10 out there who will also buy the same thing. A lot of local commercials (especially for ambulance chasing lawyers) are sold that way. The production company produces a spot with higher production values or better talent than a single client could ever afford on their own, but then they sell customized versions of the spot to customers in multiple markets. If you travel very much, you'll see the same commercial in another town with someone else's name on it.

 

[cameragod]

I have been ”pool” camera for two networks that wanted to split the costs. In the end I invoiced one the full amount and they billed the other for half of it. Was cleaner for all involved.

 

[marstaton4]

I have been ”pool” camera for two networks that wanted to split the costs. In the end I invoiced one the full amount and they billed the other for half of it. Was cleaner for all involved.

I have done the same thing but it was completely transparent to me. Mine was actually a live shot with the same talking head politician with the same shot that ended up on two different Sunday morning shows.

 

[prosheditor]

Ok, I understand about the unknown variables that can really get you into trouble if you're not careful. I did not say this clearly in my original post but everything was approved, so the terms were locked up and they agreed to pay seperately. So in any given scenario and assuming all variable concerns are satisfied from those that have replied so far, if the terms are locked up, would you prefer multiple clients that were seperate entities to pay full production rates seperately or allow them to split the full production rate? If you allow too many to pool together for a flat rate, the workload increases and therefore the pay decreases relatively. If they share the overall cost, you're going to make less than if they all paid seperately as shown in my previous post. So, do you want to make more profit or less profit? I don't know how else to say it. Hahaha!

If they all know about your setup and are willing to work with it, I'd cut them some slack and charge less than $50k each but more than the total divided by three. . . .

I don't know if you suggested reducing the cost because you thought $50K was a bit high or if you just used it as an example figure but that cost fit the scale of the project. The amount is immaterial. It could be $10. I was just wondering how others would have charged in a multi-client scenario as described immediately above. Thanks

. . . How are you going to answer to 3 different clients at the same time who all may have different ideas and expectations?

As I stated earlier, they all knew each other. These were instructional videos and each was to be the performer in their own series of videos being produced. What one thought of the others as far as creative ideas or whatever had nothing to do with it. They were all just taking advantage of a single production location and environment to get this done. It was kind of like a generic satellite party but much more elaborate. However, if a project was not as straight forward as this I understand what you are saying about the unknown variables creating potential logistical or legal nightmares. I guess I got lucky to get something so straight forward . . . but never actually happened. Hahaha

. . . Why don't you produce it on spec and sell a customized version of the final production to each of the three? And if there are three who want it maybe there are 4 or 5 or 10 out there who will also buy the same thing.

I don't work for free, however, we did produce a very short scaled down screen test with fewer cameras and less lighting and I did it for a reduced fee because of the potential payout and no external costs because I own all the gear, minus extensive G&E, and lighting. For the second part, as described above, this was not a generic insert stage green screen drop-in project. Thanks for your input.

I have been ”pool” camera for two networks that wanted to split the costs. In the end I invoiced one the full amount and they billed the other for half of it. Was cleaner for all involved.

Finally, a response closer to my scenario. Do you think they would have resisted or walked if you charged each of them a full rate? Not to diminish broadcast work but that and scripted field production are two different worlds. One usually has a realistic budget and the other one doesn't. Hahaha. So if you were providing production services on a field production project like what was described, would you split the cost like you did with those broadcast clients or charge each full price? Thanks

I have done the same thing but it was completely transparent to me. Mine was actually a live shot with the same talking head politician with the same shot that ended up on two different Sunday morning shows.

This is a just like what happens when a news network buys video from an independent shooter and is something I had to accept long ago. But it's not too bad for spot news/fill-in work. Depending on how hot your video is, you can sell it high or possibly set specific licensing terms but the usual terms allow for sharing with all of their affiliates and associated platforms. So if you divide several hundred parasites, I mean partners, into the typical $350 - $400 fee, the value is reduced to about $1 or less, $2 or $3 per parasitic enduser. Absolutely nauseating. But don't hate the player, just hate the game.