Commercials, documentary and music · Kingston

We will tell you what your budget actually buys

A production company with its day rates on the website. Commercials, documentary and music video, crewed from a bench of about thirty people we have actually worked with.

Brief us See the rates

What we shoot

See everything

6800.00 Commercial, one shooting dayCrew of nine, camera and lighting package, a truck, insurance and everybody fed. Post is quoted separately because it depends entirely on what we shoot. 3200.00 Documentary, one shooting dayCrew of four, run-and-gun package, sound recordist included. Most documentary work is five to fifteen of these days. 4600.00 Music video, one shooting dayCrew of seven and a lighting package that can do something. Location and permits are extra and we will get them. 1900.00 Corporate and interviewCrew of three, two cameras, proper sound and a lit set. The most-booked thing on this page and the least glamorous. 1250.00 Edit, grade and mixPer finishing day, with two rounds of changes in the price. A ninety-second commercial is typically four to six of these. 900.00 Treatment onlySix pages you can take to anybody, including another production company. About a third of the people who buy one do exactly that.

Why the rates are public

Most of a first meeting is guessing what you can afford

It is a waste of your afternoon and ours, so the numbers are on the site instead.

A shooting day has a floor: crew, kit, insurance, a truck, and people fed. Publishing that floor means the first conversation is about the idea rather than about money, and it means you can work out on your own whether to call us at all. Roughly a fifth of the people who read this page do not, which is the point.

The company

Frames

6 photographs

Shooting since: 2013
Crew on the bench: ~30
Staff: 4
Budgets we talk down: 1 in 5

The four of us, and the bench

Nadia Chung Producer Runs every budget and every schedule. The reason freelancers get paid in fourteen days.

Kwame Bailey Director Commercials and music video. Writes the treatments and keeps them to six pages.

Lisa Anderson Director of photography Shoots almost everything that leaves here. Owns half the lighting package.

Errol Byfield Editor Cut, grade and the conversation about what is not working. Sits with clients rather than sending links.

How a job runs

1
The brief, and a number

One conversation. What it is for, where it goes, and what you have. We will tell you in that call if the number and the idea do not meet.
2
A treatment worth reading

Six pages, not thirty. What we are making, how it is shot, who is in it and what it costs, itemised.
3
Two or three shooting days

Crewed from people we have worked with rather than from a casting of freelancers. You are welcome on set and most clients come for one day of it.
4
Post, with you in the room

An offline you comment on, then grade and mix. Two rounds of changes are in the price and a third has never yet been refused.

What clients say

4.75 out of 5 · 8 reviews

★★★★★

Told us on the first call that our number would not buy the idea.

★★★★★

Same four people across five months. Nobody swapped out halfway.

★★★★★

The rate on the website was the rate on the invoice.

★★★★★

They will not let you sit at the monitor. By ten in the morning you see why.

★★★★★

Two rounds of changes included and the third was never refused.

★★★★★

We bought a treatment and took it elsewhere. They did not mind at all.

★★★★★

Not cheap. The budget was itemised before we committed, though.

★★★★★

Freelancers paid in fourteen days. Ask around what that is worth here.

Read all the reviews

Money and logistics

The things clients ask once the idea is settled.

Are those the real rates?

They are the real floor for a shooting day: crew, kit, insurance, transport and food. A full budget is that plus whatever the idea needs — locations, cast, permits, build — and we itemise all of it before you commit.

Why publish them at all?

Because otherwise the first meeting is us working out what you can afford, which wastes an afternoon. About a fifth of the people who read the page never call, and that is the page doing its job.

How many rounds of changes are included?

Two, in every quote. A third has never been refused. If a job needs a fourth the brief was wrong, and that is usually at least half our fault.

Can we be on set?

Yes, and most clients come for a day. We will ask you to sit with the producer rather than the monitor, for reasons that become obvious by about ten in the morning.

Do you shoot outside Kingston?

Across the island regularly and overseas three or four times a year. Travel and accommodation are a line in the budget rather than a surprise at the end.

Who owns the footage?

You own the finished film outright. Rushes we keep for two years and will hand over on request at any point; after two years they are deleted and we will warn you first.

Can we just buy a treatment?

Yes, for nine hundred dollars, and you can take it to anybody including another company. About a third of the people who buy one do exactly that and we have never once minded.

Search the site

A number and a deadline is enough

Tell us the budget first and we will tell you if it works

We are not going to use it to price up. About one enquiry in five ends with us saying the number and the idea do not meet, and suggesting a smaller idea that does.

Brief us