Pricing videography packages against Los Angeles and Chicago market rates

What to take away

Why these two cities set the reference rate

Los Angeles and Chicago anchor pricing for most American videography shops. Los Angeles is the entertainment and commercial hub, where crews cluster around studio and agency work. Chicago serves corporate, agency, and industrial clients that want a local crew without flying one in.

An owner in Denver or Atlanta writing a rate card usually benchmarks against one of these metros. That is reasonable. Both have deep crew benches, published wage data, and enough competition that rates reflect real supply and demand.

The two markets are not interchangeable. Los Angeles rates carry a premium for on-camera polish and access to talent. Chicago rates reward reliability, repeat corporate work, and lower overhead. Mixing the two without knowing why they differ produces a card that loses money in one city and loses bids in the other.

Clients now shop both markets. A Chicago agency may hire a Los Angeles crew for a national campaign, then ask a Chicago shop to match the rate. Knowing the underlying cost structure is the only defense in that conversation.

Start with a clear method for how to price videography services, then compare the metros line by line.

BLS wage data as a pricing floor

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes occupation and wage data owners can use as a floor, not a ceiling. The BLS occupation statistics for crew role wage data cover camera operators, editors, and related production roles by metro.

If a staff editor in Chicago earns a certain hourly wage, a freelance editor billing through an LLC must charge more. The multiplier covers self-employment tax, equipment, insurance, and the weeks nobody books.

Regional employment data shows whether a role is scarce or abundant. The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages covers both metros, and scarcity drives day rates harder than talent does.

The May 2023 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release gives a usable anchor.

As a typical range, the median hourly wage for camera operators, SOC 27-4031, was roughly $28 to $31 nationally, and roughly $33 to $38 in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro. The same tables carry Chicago metro figures, so check the current release for your year and metro.

Wage figures also anchor negotiations. When a client calls your editor rate high, published numbers plus the freelance multiplier beat asserting that your rate is fair.

Non-labor costs need their own source. BLS business cost statistics help you price insurance, depreciation, software, and facility costs, which owners who price only labor tend to forget.

What the data will not tell you

Wage data excludes gear rental, insurance, and profit, and it lags the market by a year or more. Update your card with your own booked-rate history. The videography pricing and profit discipline works the same in both metros: what you book decides what you can charge.

Day rates by crew role

Day rates are role-based, not project-based. A ten-hour shoot day looks identical on a call sheet in either city, but the line items cost different amounts.

The ranges below are planning figures for non-union commercial and corporate work, not quotes. They assume a ten-hour day, standard kit, and local crew.

The gap is not uniform. Editing shows the smallest spread because postproduction travels over the internet and clients compare editors nationally. Gaffing and color show the largest spread because those roles depend on local labor supply and facilities.

Set your own rates by starting with the role, then adjusting for client, schedule, and deliverables. A DP who also operates camera is not two line items. A colorist who also conforms is not one either. The same logic drives videography pay rates and labor costs in every market.

Overtime, travel, and kit fees

Most day rates assume ten hours. Beyond that, bill time and a half. Kit fees are separate and belong on the quote as their own line.

Package structures: half-day, full-day, multi-day

Packages bundle crew, gear, and time into one number the client can approve. That convenience costs you flexibility, so build packages from your role rates instead of inventing them.

A half-day package covers up to five hours on set. It suits interviews, tabletop, and b-roll pickups. Price it at 60 to 70 percent of a full day, because setup and strike consume nearly the same hours either way.

A full-day package covers up to ten hours and is the standard unit for corporate shoots, brand films, and event coverage. Include one camera, one operator, basic lighting, and sound in the base. List upgrades separately.

A multi-day package covers two to five consecutive shoot days. Discount the day rate 10 to 15 percent at three days or more, because prep and travel amortize across the run.

A worked package, two cities

A Chicago agency books a two-day interview shoot: one DP, one camera operator, a gaffer, and basic audio. Using the planning ranges above, crew cost lands near $4,600 for two days. Add gear at $600, insurance and prep at $400, and a 35 percent margin. The package prices near $8,500, or about $4,250 per day.

The same crew count in Los Angeles prices closer to $11,000, because the role rates are higher. That difference is the market, not the scope.

Use a quote template with pricing examples so the client sees what is included and what is not. Ambiguity around overtime and gear is where margins die.

Present packages without capping your upside

List the package as a base, then attach add-ons: second camera, teleprompter, drone, extra interview setup. Add-ons protect margin when scope grows. Bundle the scope, never the rate.

Postproduction: editing, color, sound, delivery

Postproduction is where most shops undercharge. Editing is not a day rate in the client's mind; it is a finished deliverable, and clients compare quotes on the final number.

Price editing by the day or by the finished minute. Day-rate editing suits open-ended projects with revision cycles. Per-minute editing suits tightly scripted explainers and social cuts. Pick one and state it.

Color grading is a separate line. A colorist in a calibrated suite charges for the session, not the timeline length, and a half-day minimum is normal beyond a basic correction.

Sound design and mix are separate again. Dialogue cleanup, music licensing, and mixing to broadcast or web loudness standards take time. Music licensing runs through the rights holders or a library subscription, and it is a pass-through cost, not a favor.

Delivery is the last line and the most forgotten. Exporting masters, cutting platform versions, and uploading to client systems take hours. Price delivery as a line item or fold it into a package with a stated number of versions.

Revision rounds and approval

State the number of revision rounds included. Two is standard. Additional rounds bill hourly, and the client should know that before the first cut.

Overhead differences that explain the gap

Overhead explains more of the Los Angeles and Chicago gap than wages do. Los Angeles rents, insurance, parking, and permitting cost more. A small soundstage day typically runs from about $2,000 to $5,000 in Los Angeles and about $1,500 to $3,000 in Chicago, before power, crew, and parking.

Permitting differs too. FilmLA issues film permits for the City and County of Los Angeles, and the Chicago Film Office, part of the city Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, issues them for Chicago. Both publish fee schedules and require a certificate of insurance naming the city.

Typical permit costs run from a few hundred dollars for a simple shoot to more than $1,000 a day once you add monitors, lane closures, or a fire safety officer. Treat those as typical ranges, because fees change and insurance limits vary by location.

Labor rules add cost. The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement enforces the state wage orders, including meal and rest break rules. The Illinois Department of Labor enforces Illinois overtime and meal requirements. Owners who ignore these rules absorb the cost later as a claim or a reshoot.

Equipment costs are closer than people assume. Cameras, lenses, and lighting rent at similar national rates, though local availability moves last-minute pricing. The bigger overhead difference is space and people, not gear.

Sales tax treatment for equipment and services differs by state, and business registration runs through each Secretary of State. Ask your CPA and the state department of revenue how each applies to you.

The BLS statistics by geography let you compare metro-level costs before you set a number.

Your own overhead is also the foundation of videography profit margins and break-even planning, because every package must clear fixed cost before it earns profit.

Financing equipment and expansion

US Small Business Administration loan and contracting programs can fund equipment and growth. Treat that capital as a cost with a repayment schedule and include it in overhead.

Building a rate card that holds up in either city

Build the card from roles, overhead, and margin, in that order. List every role you bill, then assign a day rate using local benchmarks and BLS wage data.

Calculate monthly overhead: rent, insurance, software, gear maintenance, administrative time. Divide by the billable days you expect. That is your overhead per day, and every job must cover it.

Spread the same $4,500 over 10 billable days and overhead per day is $450. Spread it over 20 days and it is $225. The card has to clear that number before margin applies.

Set a target margin and write it down. Most healthy shops aim for 30 to 40 percent gross margin on labor and 20 to 30 percent on gear. Your numbers may differ.

Assemble packages from roles and overhead. A full-day package is a bundle with a defined scope, not a discount, and the bundle price still has to hit the margin target.

Review the card quarterly. If you win most jobs at your asking price, you are underpriced. If you win almost none, you are overpriced or targeting the wrong clients. The BLS glossary is worth reading once so you know what each published figure measures.

Rate card checklist

When to discount, when to walk away, how to quote travel

Discount when the client lowers your cost or raises your volume. A multi-day booking, a retainer, a flexible schedule, or a shoot at your own studio all justify a lower number. Discount the scope, not the role rate, so the card stays intact.

Walk away when a client asks you to absorb permit costs, insurance, or overtime. Those are real costs, and covering them erodes margin on every future job with that client. A low price today becomes your ceiling tomorrow.

Travel is a pass-through, not a negotiation. Quote mileage, flights, hotel, per diems, and travel days separately. Travel days bill at roughly half a day rate because the crew is not shooting.

For Los Angeles work, include parking and permit runner costs. For Chicago work, include downtown parking and neighborhood access fees. Small lines, but they protect the package price.

If a client pushes back, offer a smaller scope at the same rate rather than a bigger scope at a lower rate. Track win rate by client type: losing every corporate bid while winning direct-to-brand work is a targeting problem, not a pricing one.

Quoting travel to a third city

When you move a crew from Chicago to Los Angeles, bill the Chicago role rates plus travel. The client is buying your crew, not the local market rate.

Common questions

How much should a full-day videography package cost in Los Angeles?

A full-day package includes a DP, one camera operator, basic lighting, and sound. It typically prices from around $4,000 to $8,000. The price depends on crew depth and gear. Postproduction is quoted separately, and the planning ranges in this article are not quotes.

Are Chicago videography rates always lower than Los Angeles rates?

For most shoot roles, yes, but the gap narrows for editing and motion work that clients source remotely. Chicago rates also hold up well on repeat corporate and industrial work, where reliability matters more than polish.

Should I use BLS wage data to set freelance rates?

Use it as a starting point. Freelance rates must also cover self-employment tax, gear, insurance, and downtime. They must also cover profit. Payroll wage data includes none of these things. Your own booked-rate history is the better target.

How many revision rounds should a postproduction package include?

Two rounds is standard for corporate and commercial work. State the limit in the quote and bill additional rounds hourly, so scope creep does not eat the margin you built into the package.