Realistic ranges, why the invoice is not what you receive, and how to price usage rights.
Reference ranges
Three benchmarks, to adapt to your situation.
A simple video, thirty to sixty seconds, shot with a product received, plainly edited, with no advertising rights: that is the market's entry price.
The same video with one year of advertising rights on all channels: count at least double.
And a monthly batch of four to six videos, with a fixed calendar: the unit price falls, income becomes predictable, and it is the only formula that builds a business.
One rule worth more than the figures: never compare your rate with another creator's without comparing the rights granted. Two prices covering different uses are not comparable.
What the invoice hides
Four gaps between what you invoice and what remains.
The withholding applied by some professional clients, which reduces the transfer but counts against your tax.
The contributions, due regardless of what comes in.
Unbilled time: prospecting, coordination, back and forth, administration.
And real expenses: equipment, transport, products bought for a shoot.
One habit corrects all of it: note every month the amount really available after those four items. That figure, and it alone, must guide your rates.
What is invoiced separately
Five lines, always separate from the production price.
Usage rights, with their duration and channels.
Category exclusivity.
Extra formats, square, horizontal, short versions.
Extra languages, including a co-official language.
And revisions beyond the included number.
Each of those lines is asked for free if it is not costed. Once written with a price, it gets paid.
How to justify a rate against cheaper distant supply
Three arguments, and none of them is talent.
The setting: a street, a shop, a home from there cannot be filmed elsewhere.
Availability: a retake asked for in the morning can be delivered in the evening, in the same time zone.
And administrative simplicity: compliant invoice, same currency, usual terms, no extra formalities for the client.
Those three arguments are said in two sentences in a quote, and they move the discussion from price to risk, which is the ground where you win.
What a price is made of
Six items to state separately.
Preparation and the scoping exchange.
The actual shooting time.
The number of versions delivered.
The number of revisions included.
The rights, with duration and territory.
And travel, with the radius included.
What each line of a price covers
| Component | What it pays for | How it is billed |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Script, location check, any purchase | A flat fee per order |
| The shoot | Time on site and the gear | Per video |
| The edit | Cutting, subtitles, exports | Per version |
| The licence | Media, duration, territory | As a separate extra |
What explains a gap between two quotes
Rarely the shoot. Almost always the licence and the number of revisions included. Two distant prices often cover two different scopes.
What is re-read before sending
What is included, what is not, the validity date and the payment date. Four lines that remove half the exchanges that follow.
Costly mistakes
Five, and they repeat from one creator to the next.
Giving a price before knowing the rights requested.
Accepting exclusivity without pricing it.
Giving away the raw files as a commercial gesture.
Lowering your rate for a first client, which sets the price for the whole relationship.
And charging by the hour: nobody buys hours, people buy deliverables, and hourly pricing penalises you precisely when you get fast.
Sources
- Agencia Tributaria, Spanish tax authority
- Spanish Social Security, self-employed registration (RETA)
Checked on 26 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
