The short version
Video is the trade where the edit costs more than the shoot and nobody expects it to. Billing the filming day and leaving the edit as an open commitment is how a profitable shoot becomes an unpaid month.
What goes on a videographer invoice
Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a videographer document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.
- Bill the filming day as one line. A full day is known work at an agreed fee, including setup and wrap.
- Price the edit per finished minute. Three finished minutes at a rate reads as three minutes. An open edit has no end and no price.
- Name the deliverables and formats. How many cuts, at what lengths, in which aspect ratios. A social cut down is a separate deliverable, not a free byproduct.
- Put drone, permits and specialist kit on their own lines. They carry real cost and sometimes real paperwork. Folded into the day rate they disappear.
- State the revision rounds on the edit. Two rounds on the rough cut, further rounds priced. This is where video projects overrun.
- Say what the music license covers. Licensed tracks have terms. Whether the fee includes one, and for what use, belongs on the invoice.
The lines a videographer invoice usually carries
These are the lines the generator opens with when you pick Videographer. The figures are a starting point to type over rather than a going rate: this site runs no pricing survey, and the number on your invoice should be the one you charge.
| Line | What it covers | Qty | Opens at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-day filming | A day on location with camera, audio and lighting, covering the coverage agreed in the brief. | 1 | $1,400 |
| Editing (per finished minute) | Assembly, cutting and titles for each finished minute, including one round of changes. | 3 | $250 |
| Drone and aerial footage | Aerial coverage where the site and conditions allow, flown to the rules for the area. | 1 | $400 |
| Color grading and sound mix | Grade the picture for a consistent look and balance the audio so dialogue and music sit together. | 1 | $350 |
Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $2,900 before tax.
A worked videographer invoice, filled in
This is the same job as the table above, written out the way it would leave your phone. Every figure on it is a starting point rather than a going rate, and the tax line is shown at ten per cent purely so the arithmetic is visible: set your own rate, or none, per line.
INVOICE
Bill to
Your client name
Client address
Work carried out at
Job address
Job or order reference
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-day filming | 1 | $1,400 | $1,400 |
| Editing (per finished minute) | 3 | $250 | $750 |
| Drone and aerial footage | 1 | $400 | $400 |
| Color grading and sound mix | 1 | $350 | $350 |
| Subtotal | $2,900 |
| Tax at 10% | $290 |
| Total due | $3,190 |
Late payment. State your own rate and when it starts, so it is agreed before the due date rather than argued after it.
Subtotal $2,900, tax $290, total $3,190. The parts worth copying are the structure rather than the numbers: the job reference next to the client, every line separately priced with its count showing, the tax on its own line, and terms that name a number of days instead of saying on receipt.
Finished minutes, and why the edit is the real product
Clients price video by the shoot day because that is the part they can see. The edit is where the hours actually go, and pricing it by finished minute is what makes that visible without an argument about your evenings.
Put the count on the line: three finished minutes at your rate. Then a request for a fourth is arithmetic rather than a favour, and a request to cut six social versions from the same footage is clearly a new line rather than an afterthought.
If you bill the edit hourly instead, cap it or stage it. An uncapped hourly edit is the arrangement most likely to end with you writing off time you actually worked.
Rough cut approval, and the revision that never ends
Video revisions are unusually expensive because each round can mean re-cutting, re-grading and re-mixing. Round five on a video is not the same cost as round five on a logo.
Get approval on the rough cut before you finish anything: color, sound and titles all come after, and doing them twice is the waste. Record the approval alongside the fee so the milestone exists on paper.
Name the included rounds and price the rest. Then a client who wants another pass is making a purchasing decision rather than a request, which changes how many passes they want.
Drone, permits, music and the costs clients never see
A video invoice carries more third-party cost than most creative work, and clients underestimate all of it.
Drone work may need a licensed operator and permissions. Locations may need permits. Music almost always needs a license with its own term and territory, and stock footage the same. Each of these belongs on its own line at cost, with any handling fee named separately.
Where a license has a term, put the term on the invoice as you would an image license. A track cleared for one year of social use is not cleared for a broadcast campaign, and the invoice is where that distinction should first appear.
Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how videographers price the work
Video is priced by the project, because the client is buying a finished film rather than a day of filming. Day rates exist for crew work, but for anything you deliver yourself the project price with defined rounds is what keeps post-production from eating the job.
| Model | Where it wins | What it quietly costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Project fee | Brand films, promos, event coverage, anything you deliver finished | Post is where projects overrun, so the revision rounds have to be in the price |
| Day rate for crew | Shooting for an agency or another production, as a hired hand | Someone else owns the client and the license, and your rate is the ceiling |
| Retainer or content package | Ongoing social and marketing output for one client | Scope drifts month by month unless the deliverable count is written down |
Define the revision rounds and the delivery formats in the price. Video is the discipline where a client can request a change that costs a day and sounds like it costs nothing, and the only defense is a number agreed before the edit starts.
Working out what to charge
This guide is about what goes on the document, not what the number should be, and nobody should hand you a rate for your own market. What the site can do is the arithmetic: the freelance rate calculator works back from what you need to earn, the service price calculator prices a service against your costs, and the profit margin calculator checks what is left once the job is done.
Writing it on your phone, in five steps
Most videographers write the invoice standing next to the work rather than at a desk a week later, and the week later version is the one that gets details wrong. The generator is built for the first case.
- Open it with your trade already chosen. The videographer invoice loads with full-day filming and the rest of the lines already on the page.
- Put the client and the job reference in first. It is the part you will not remember accurately in three days, and on agent, landlord or contractor work it is the reason the invoice gets paid at all.
- Edit the lines rather than starting from empty. Change the quantities and the rates, delete what you did not do, add what you did. Keeping the descriptions means the wording stays consistent from one job to the next.
- Set the terms to 14 days and add a payment link. A due date that is an actual date gets chased. A link and a QR code means it can be settled before you have packed up.
- Send it before you leave. The clock on your terms starts when the invoice arrives, not when the work finished, so every day it sits unsent is a day added to getting paid.
Getting paid once it is sent
Put a due date and your terms on the document, because an invoice without them is hard to chase. Add a payment link and a QR so settling up is a tap rather than a transfer somebody has to set up. When part of it lands, the receipt maker records it as a part payment and prints the balance still due. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter to go with it.
Five dates decide whether a videographer gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.
Mistakes that cost videographers money
- Billing the shoot and leaving the edit open. The edit is where the hours are. Price it per finished minute.
- Social cutdowns treated as free. They are separate deliverables with separate effort.
- No rough cut approval. Color and sound get done twice, and the second time is unpaid.
- Music license unstated. Term and territory matter, and the invoice is where they should first appear.
- Drone and permits inside the day rate. Real third-party costs that vanish when folded in.
Videographer invoice questions
How do I invoice for video work?
Bill the filming day as one line, price the edit per finished minute, name the deliverables and formats, put drone and permits on their own lines, and state the revision rounds. The generator opens a videographer invoice with filming, editing, drone and grading already listed.
How should I price video editing?
Per finished minute is the clearest unit, because it puts a countable number on the invoice and makes an extra minute arithmetic rather than a favour. If you bill hourly instead, cap or stage it.
Are social cutdowns included in the edit fee?
Only if the invoice says so. Cutdowns are separate deliverables with separate work, so they belong on their own line with their own count and aspect ratios named.
How many revision rounds should a video invoice include?
Two on the rough cut is a common default, with further rounds priced. Video revisions are expensive because each pass can mean re-cutting, re-grading and re-mixing.
Do I need to put the music license on the invoice?
Yes, with its term and use, in the same way an image license is stated. A track cleared for a year of social use is not cleared for a broadcast campaign, and the invoice is the record of which was bought.
How do I bill drone footage?
As its own line, because it carries real cost and sometimes a licensed operator and permissions. Any permit fees belong on a separate line at cost.
What should a videographer invoice include?
Your details and the client, an invoice number and date, filming days, editing by finished minute, deliverables and formats, drone and permits, music licensing, revision rounds, the total and your terms.
Free videographer invoice template
The free videographer invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 200 designs, and exports a print-ready PDF with no signup and nothing saved to a server. If you would rather edit a file offline, there are 72 Word templates, 72 Excel templates with the totals already calculating, and 72 fillable PDFs.
Invoicing guides for related trades
The same billing questions come up next door. These four guides cover the trades closest to videographers, and each one sits alongside its own free template.
Every trade has one: see all 46 invoicing guides, or go straight to the 46 free invoice templates they describe.
Everything on this site, set up for videographers
The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to videographers rather than in general. The five marked links open with videographer already selected.
Make the document
Five of these arrive with videographer already selected, so the first line reads full-day filming rather than nothing.
- Invoice Generatoropens set to this trade. The videographer invoice this guide describes, priced and ready to edit.
- Quote Generatoropens set to this trade. Quote first: always, with rounds and deliverables listed. Converts to the invoice without retyping.
- Receipt MakerRecords a deposit or a stage payment and shows the balance still due.
- Recurring InvoicesFor videographers billing the same client on the same day every month.
- Purchase OrderBill against a client purchase order, or raise one for a supplier of your own.
- Work OrderBrief a second freelancer with the scope and the deadline in writing.
- Cost Estimatoropens set to this trade. Build the job up from materials, labor and margin before you quote it.
Templates and files to send on
The same videographer lines, in whatever file the client accounts team wants.
- Videographer invoice templateThe template this guide is written about, with the videographer lines already on it.
- 200 invoice designsopens set to this trade. Put those lines in any of 200 designs and keep the one you like.
- 72 Word templatesEdit offline, or send a file a client can fill in themselves.
- 72 Excel templatesThe totals calculate themselves, which matters on a long line list.
- 72 fillable PDFsType into the fields and print, with nothing to install.
- Google Docs templatesCopy to your own Drive and edit from a phone.
- Google Sheets templatesSame totals, shared with whoever does your books.
- Blank invoice templatesA plain document for the commission that does not fit a standard shape.
- Quote templatesA priced quote on paper, for a client who wants the figure before the work.
- Estimate templatesA ballpark that is explicitly not a fixed price, before the brief is settled.
- Receipt templatesProof of payment for a client who needs it for their own records.
- Work order templatesThe scope, the site and the authorisation, before anybody drives out.
Work out the number first
This guide is about the document. These are for deciding what goes on it.
- Freelance Rate CalculatorWork back from what you need to earn a year to the rate a videographer has to charge.
- Service Price CalculatorPrice a service against your own costs rather than against what somebody else charges.
- Profit Margin CalculatorCheck what is actually left on a videographer job once materials and time are paid for.
- Break-Even CalculatorWork out how many projects a month cover your costs before anything is profit.
- Discount CalculatorSee what a discount actually costs you before you offer it.
- Sales Tax CalculatorAdd or strip tax on a figure before it goes on the invoice.
Get it paid without the awkward email
Terms of 14 days is the shape this guide assumes. Deposit: fifty per cent on booking is normal.
- Payment links and QR codesA link and a scannable code on the invoice, so paying is a tap.
- Late fee calculatoropens set to this trade. Works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter.
- Payment terms guideWhich terms actually get invoices paid, and the exact wording to use.
- Deposit invoicesWhen to ask, how much, and how the final invoice shows the balance.
- Chasing an unpaid invoiceThe reminder, the call, the overdue notice, then what comes after.
- Progress billingBilling a long job in stages so you are not funding it yourself.
- Invoice numberingA numbering system that never repeats and never skips.
- Change ordersPricing extra work in a way the customer has already agreed to.
Read next
- All 46 invoicing guidesThe same guide, written for every other trade on the site.
- 46 trade invoice templatesEvery trade, each opening with its own lines already priced.
- Invoicing glossaryPlain definitions of the words on an invoice, a quote and a job.
- The blogLonger pieces on quoting, billing, tax and getting paid.
- All 24 toolsEverything on the site in one list, including the ones not named here.