Got offered $450/day to cut a 3-minute brand doc with six 15s cutdowns, plus a ‘clean mix’ and a quick color pass — 48-hour turnaround, Premiere-to-Resolve roundtrip. For work that’s pacing story beats, finessing J/L cuts, and building a soundbed from scratch, do you price per deliverable or just bump the day rate — what’s landing for you lately?
I price the 3-min edit at my day rate, but I line-item the six 15s and add flat adds for the Resolve roundtrip and the ‘clean mix’ so revisions don’t eat me alive… For a ‘48-hour turnaround’ I tack on a 25% rush and require picture lock before color. Are they expecting a loudness spec (like -24 LKFS) or just a tasteful mix?
I’d flip this to a rush project fee with a cap: like @lisa31, line‑item the six 15s, add a 1.5× 48‑hr rush and a small conform buffer for the Premiere→Resolve hop; spell out ‘clean mix’ = stereo, -14 LUFS, two rounds, and ‘quick color’ = balance pass only so you don’t inherit roundtrip gremlins. If they hold at $450/day, would they drop the Resolve pass so you can stay in Premiere?