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Negotiating Post Production Deals

hey all,

i'm almost done editing my no-budget feature and i was wondering how payment should be negotiated with composers, post sound and cg houses. flat rate would be best but i'm sure they probably won't go for it. what materials do they want if any to judge how much they will want? in the case for cg and composers, what's the average rate per shot/musical piece?

thanks a bunch!
 
For audio post I want:

Visuals as a hi-rez .mov or .dv QuickTime file. (w/ timecode)

Audio as OMF2

Additional Audio:
---- All the audio from the unused scenes (each clip appropriately tagged and a folder for each scene)
---- All room tones
---- All set wilds


I also want a good idea of the mood that you want to set, and some detail about the characters.

A way to communicate with the composer.
 
Why are you sure composers, post sound and CG houses won't go
for a flat rate? Most post people I've worked with here in Los Angeles
are willing to discuss a flat fee. They are also very willing to tell you
exactly what they want - both materials and fees.

I've never found an average fee for composers - they are all over
the map, from free to tens of thousands.

My suggestion on how payment should be negotiated is to talk
with the people you would like to work with and ask their usual
rate, then tell them what you need and how much you can spend.

In most cases the two of you will be able to come to an agreement.
When you can't, you move to your second choice.
 
most composers will have a rate card that sets out flat fees for time worked on music - usually by day or hour... but in my experience (and certainly the case with me) may be willing to be flexible and negotiable depending on scope, instrumentation, style, and of course the budget of the production.

But yeah, as Directorrik says, the standard of rates can be all over the place. Here in the Uk the musician's union has a suggested rate system, I'm not sure if there's anything like that in place in the US...
 
most composers will have a rate card that sets out flat fees for time worked on music - usually by day or hour... but in my experience (and certainly the case with me) may be willing to be flexible and negotiable depending on scope, instrumentation, style, and of course the budget of the production.

But yeah, as Directorrik says, the standard of rates can be all over the place. Here in the Uk the musician's union has a suggested rate system, I'm not sure if there's anything like that in place in the US...

yeah some of the vfx guys ive been talking to want like 500 a day! how do you guys negotiate the rate on? flat or per shot? and how about audio as well? im prob just gonna do a flat rate for the composer since i don't have too much music for them to do. and do you guys know any indie friendly vfx houses? thanks.
 
new question: when should i pay these guys? will they accept payment after services? this one guy wanted 25 percent up front which i think is insane since he's a private freelancer and could just take off with the money though he has good credits.
 
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