A simple portrait, one person doing one thing and with something to say, that can be filmed over two days around Stockholm, comes to around 100,000–120,000 SEK, about 9,000–11,000 EUR, excluding VAT.
That is the short answer. The rest of this article is about what that includes, what makes a project bigger, and why we don’t price a film by how many minutes it runs.
What’s included, even in the simplest project
A documentary is much more than the filming days. Even a small project includes:
- Preparation and research. We get to know the company and the people before anything is filmed.
- Finding the story. Who carries it, what is at stake, and what does the audience need to understand?
- A visual idea. How the film should look and feel.
- Crew and equipment for the filming.
- Editing, with several versions to give feedback on (more on that below).
- Sound design and music.
- Colour grading.
- Iterations and rounds of corrections, until the film is right.
What makes a project bigger
The length of the film in minutes is rarely what decides the price. The story is. These things matter most:
- How long the story runs. Two days is one thing. Following something over a season or a year, as we do with Fjällnäs, is another.
- The number of filming days, and how big a crew is needed.
- Travel and scope. Around Stockholm it is simple. When we travel further, like to the coffee farms in Uganda and Brazil with Lykke, everything is planned around it: more time in preparation, project management, customs and permits, more days on location and more material in post-production.
- Research and access. How much needs to be found out, and how many people and places we need to be let into.
- Specialists. Filming underwater or high in the mountains, or an editor who knows that particular genre.
- What can’t be filmed. Sometimes something has to be shown that the camera can’t reach. For Fortum, we built 3D animations from the construction drawings.
- How many versions you need. Shorter edits, vertical formats and versions for different channels.
No surprises
I have heard the same thing from clients many times, in different versions: before, they got silence, and then a finished film that felt wrong. Changing it only made it worse, because it wasn’t right at its foundation.
We work the other way around. You see the film take shape, step by step:
- A version with only what is said. The story in words, before anything else is added. Together we decide what should be in it.
- A rough version with pictures. Locations and scenes in place, still unpolished.
- A version with music. Sometimes it comes at the same time as the pictures.
- A locked version. The edit is finished and approved before sound and colour are done.
- The finished film. Sound effects, sound mix, colour grading, logos and the final details in place.
After that, we normally make the other versions: shorter edits, vertical formats for social media and whatever you need for your channels.
Decide what the film should do before the budget is set
Before we propose a budget, we go through who the film is for, where it will be published, how it will be used and how it will reach people. That affects both how the film is made and what it costs. A documentary nobody finds hasn’t done its job.
How payment usually works
Usually in stages: one part before production starts, and the rest tied to milestones we agree on. You receive the finished films in high resolution, with and without graphics, and all the shorter versions. Once the final invoice is paid, you are free to use them however you like.
If you don’t know where the story is yet
Sometimes you know the work matters, but not where the story is. Then we can start with Story discovery: two to three weeks in which we find the story and deliver a Story Map. The cost is credited in full if you go on to make the film with us.
Want to know what your story would cost? Book a free 30-minute call.