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Permalink Reply by Anthony Scott on March 31, 2021 at 6:00am

Figure out how long it will take for you to produce your spot. Include all aspects of production, supplies, puppet and set build, testing, shooting and post-production. Once you know your total costs, then add labor, your time and anyone else's. Do you need to hire anyone else to help make a puppet, light a set, or are you doing everything? This will give you a number you can pitch. Sometimes they say yes right away, or sometimes they are shocked and say it is not in their budget. Depending on how much you want the job determines what happens next.

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Permalink Reply by Hans Jacob Wagner on April 3, 2021 at 2:08am

I would say it also depends on the use of the animation.

If it's a tv-commercial or an effect shot in a low-budget film.

Tv commercials are ofent on a tight schedule, and the money for airtime is extreme.

So, in that case, the cost is really not the issue as long as you can deliver.

Tried 3 episodes, 12 sec long, 5 characters, 4 sets, 18 years ago, 6 weeks production time, 100.000$ budget. Started immediately after the first pitch meeting. Shortest approval time ever. We went out of the room and were called back in after 3 min.

Had to hire 30 people (not cheap) and ended up almost not sleeping the last 6 days.

When it was done me and my partner had 10.000 to split.

The airtime they used, amounted to almost a million.

So in a retro perspective view, we were too cheap.

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