Claude, Midjourney, Runway, ElevenLabs, CapCut. No crew, no location fee, no talent day-rate, no equipment rental — which is the entire reason this costs a fraction of what a production company charges. The work still has to be good. That part never got cheaper.
I’ve spent twelve years in the film industry, the last six as a location manager on network and streaming productions. I know what a real set costs, what a real crew does, and what separates footage that looks expensive from footage that doesn’t.
That’s the part the tools can’t give you. Runway will generate a shot. It won’t tell you whether the shot is any good.
Sit through the credits on any of these and my name is under Location Managers.
Pick what you came for. Each one has real work attached, a local price, and a brand price — because a barbershop and an agency are not buying the same thing.
Short-form video, made in volume. The thing every business knows it should be doing and almost none of them sustain, because doing it properly takes more hours than a small business has.
The one piece everything else points at. A 30 to 90 second film that says who you are properly — for the top of your website, a paid campaign, or a pitch.
None of those numbers include a crew that shows up late or a location that falls through. Mine start at $1,500.
If you sell a physical thing, this is the tab. Product motion for e-commerce, skincare, food, apparel — shots that would normally need a studio, a lighting kit, and a day you don’t have.
Every clip below was made without a camera. No studio booking, no product samples shipped, no photographer. These play silently on a loop, the way they would on a product page.
For artists, and anyone whose name is on the work. Visuals that make an independent release look like it had a label behind it.
A music video used to be the wall between an independent artist and looking serious. Locations, a director, a crew, a colourist — five figures before anyone heard the song.
That wall is gone. The limit now is whether the idea is any good, which is the part I actually want to argue with you about.
Building a brand as well as a release? The Creatives page is where that starts.
Four questions. You get the one thing actually holding your content back — not a list of twelve, because you were never going to do twelve. No email, no signup, answer and it appears.
A barbershop and a brand aren’t buying the same thing, so they shouldn’t see the same price. Nobody gets quoted out of the room here.
Freelance editors charge $150–$400 per video.
Basic freelance packages run $300–$1,500 a month.
Agencies quote $1,500–$5,000 for one social piece.
Full-service agencies charge $3,000–$8,000 a month.
Production companies charge $15,000–$75,000 for this.
Comparable campaigns run $15,000–$50,000.
Tell me what you need and what you can spend. You get an honest read straight away — whether your deadline is realistic, which tier it lands in, and roughly what it costs. Including when the answer is that your budget doesn’t reach it yet.