Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Rates and How to Charge Them

I keep encountering this problem where I see our lovely newbie aspiring MUA's not really knowing (and even being totally misinformed) how to charge rates.  I very well know that it depends on what sort of medium you are giving a rate for.  Giving a rate for Bridal and giving a rate for Commercial are two completely different things.

Bridal/Personal Client Rates:
Bridal rates are usually done by the number of people or looks (ie: Bride $XXX, Brides Maids $XXX) or you might even offer a package deal (ie: 5 people for $XXXX).

TV, Film, Print, Advertising, Commercial etc.:
A professional working Makeup Artist who does this for a living (pays rent, feeds family) charges rates by Half Day Rates and Full Day Rates.  Half day hours are 1 - 4.5 hours and Full day hours are 5 - 9 hours.  This means that you stay for the whole shoot doing touch up's and changing looks as needed or as per discussed with the client.

Charging per look, per face or hourly will make you look unprofessional and green.  Think of it like this, if you leave your home, charge $75 and you only do one look/face....then all you made was $75?  Now that's not right is it?  How are you to make a living off that?

Another thing I wanted to touch on really quickly is KIT FEE's.  Please understand that a kit fee is something that is used ONLY in the world of Film.  There is no such thing as charging a "kit fee" for a test.  If it's a test, then its a test and no one gets any money.  If you want to charge for a test then call it a TESTING RATE.  Usually testing rates are half of what you would normally charge for a half/full day.

Please charge and set your rates accordingly and don't undercut your peers.

I hope to have cleared this up for some people.  Any questions, fire away.  I'm always happy to pay it forward.

Mixing it up

New Work!!

All colors mixed by yours truly.