Best Business Practices for Photographers [115]
First, you have to understand who you are negotiating with. There's a hierarchy at publications. It usually goes:
Art Director/Creative Director. This person is responsible for the entire look and feel of the magazine, from font choice to page numbers and other layout details—everything visual for the publication.
Director of Photography . While the AD is responsible for photography, illustrations, and graphics, the Director of Photography usually reports to the AD (if there is one) for all photo-related issues. They carry out the stylistic vision of the AD as it pertains to photos.
Photo Editor(s). These folks are usually the ones who do the heavy lifting— booking photographers, handling problems that photographers run into, coordinating with subjects, and generally doing whatever is needed to accomplish the assignments.
Assistant Photo Editor(s). These folks will research and locate several photographers in a market where they don't have a relationship with a photographer, will handle image intake (whether film or digital), and generally support the PE. The APE will convey photographer options to the PE for the unknown market, and the photo editor will generally make the decision about whom to contact. For covers or major stories, the DOP or AD will get involved.
In many cases there are no APEs, and the PE/DOP role is one person. In very small publications (trade or niche publications), there is no AD. For a publishing conglomerate, one AD handles multiple titles. The key is to know who you are dealing with and who has the ability to sign off on your negotiated points.
Because of the frequency with which editorial clients assign photography, they are the ones most likely to have a set budget for each issue and often for each assignment. I have found myself in situations in which I have been told that the budget to hire me was higher than normal because they got handouts from companies for other stories in that issue, so they could hire me at my rates.
One of the first questions I ask is, "What's your budget for this assignment?" This is typically met with something along these lines:
"We pay $250, flat rate, for each assignment, including expenses."
"We pay $600, plus expenses for an inside story, which is typically just one image used."
"We need to keep the assignment for the cover, which includes one image used inside, to a total of $1,500 including expenses."
"As long as we can stay under $3,000 for everything, that should work."
Regardless of the actual numbers, these are the types of comments I get. Regardless of whether I'll take the assignment, I want to know where they are so I can gauge the likelihood that I will get the assignment. Even for the first response—seemingly too low to consider—I'll send them my paperwork. I do this for several reasons.
Some prospective clients are trying to get their work on the cheap, and they figure they'll start low and see what bites.
Some prospective clients will actually weed out the ones who accept the cheap fees, especially when it's an important assignment.
Many clients who call have experience with a lower rate in their town and will experience sticker shock when trying to book in a larger community. On the other end, in cities such as New York and Los Angeles, some photographers will accept these lowball (below CODB for almost anybody) rates because if they don't, they (wrongly) surmise someone will.
Once a client gets over their sticker shock, I want to be in the running for the assignment. If I dismiss requests for my services and don't bother to send the estimate, I am completely out of the running when others send in comparable estimates and the client becomes educated about the market just by the estimates they receive.
I will then work through the numbers. Do I need just one assistant or two? Is it just one portrait of the subject or two? How many subjects? What other complicating factors are