Tips Article: How Much Does Corporate Video Production Actually Cost?

How Much Does Corporate Video Production Actually Cost?

Most production companies won't tell you a number until you're already on a call with them. Here's a real breakdown of what to actually expect.

Production starts at $3,000/day, with a typical interview-and-B-roll day running closer to $4,000/day — one director of photography, one dedicated audio person, and the camera, lighting, and audio equipment that goes with them. That's not a skeleton crew cutting corners; it's the minimum that gets you usable footage and usable audio on the same day (see: why a dedicated audio person isn't optional).



Adding a teleprompter runs about $1,000 more. Worth it any time a subject is reading precise, approved language — an executive statement, legal or compliance-reviewed copy, anything where "close to the script" isn't good enough.

A makeup artist is highly recommended for executive interviews, and also runs about $1,000. On-camera lighting is unforgiving in a way regular life isn't — shine, uneven skin tone, and tired-looking eyes all read much more strongly on camera than in person. For a video that's going to represent a company's leadership, this is one of the cheapest ways to make sure the finished piece actually looks as polished as the production around it.

Editing runs $1,200-1,500/day, and a typical project uses about 5 days of actual editing work — that's the number that drives cost. Worth knowing separately: the calendar time to final delivery is usually longer, closer to 2-3 weeks, because real feedback rounds happen between each editing pass (see our piece on shoot-day and post-production timelines for the full breakdown — rough cut, feedback, revision, feedback, revision, final polish). The editing work itself isn't what stretches the calendar; the back-and-forth is, and it's normal. If a project is cut strictly to a pre-approved script — no open-ended feedback loop, just matching picture to already-locked copy — the editing work itself can come down to about 3 days, and the overall calendar timeline shrinks accordingly. If you want a faster turnaround, locking the script before the edit starts is the single biggest lever you control.

So what does a real project cost? A basic interview-and-B-roll day plus a typical 5-day edit lands around $10,000-11,500 all-in; with a tighter, script-locked edit, closer to $7,600-8,500. Add a teleprompter and makeup artist for a full executive-ready package — the combination we'd actually recommend for anything featuring leadership — and it's roughly $12,000-13,500 with the standard edit timeline, or $9,600-10,500 with a script-locked edit. Neither range includes multi-day shoots, additional crew, travel, or post-production extras like motion graphics — but it's a real starting point, not a guess.

One important caveat: all of this assumes a basic setup — one camera, standard lighting. The moment a set gets bigger or more ambitious, the numbers move with it. More cameras, more lighting instruments, more crew to run them — a larger production simply needs more people and gear on the day. Some of our bigger projects, like a recent NetApp podcast shoot and an Intuit virtual event, ran closer to $15,000/day. The honest answer is that "how much does this cost" depends heavily on the specific shoot, which is exactly why the most useful next step isn't a generic number — it's sending us a few photos of your location (or telling us what you have in mind) so we can give you a real estimate instead of a guess.