Post-Covid pricing for productions

Pricing / Payments
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Hi everyone, hope you are all staying safe during these crazy times!

Looking at some of the discussions here, and in some offline conversations, I’ve noticed a lot of hosts are considering lowering their prices to attract more bookings once film productions start up again.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I was actually thinking of raising prices. Here’s why.

I read an article in the LA Times the other day about potential changes to how productions might work in the future. Nothing has been decided yet, but a number of things in the article stood out for me.

Transition to "French hours"
Today, the industry standard is a 12-hour day (that often stretches to 14 or 16 hours). Under “French hours,” there is only a rolling lunch break, and a shooting day is only 10 hours. As a host, I’ll be doing at least as much work marketing, cleaning, and prepping for a shoot – and then only get paid for 10 hours instead of 12. That’s a 16% reduction right there.

Smaller crew sizes
Now that Peerspace has introduced attendee pricing (thank you, Peerspace!), there’s some movement towards reducing crew sizes. So what may have been a crew in one price tier could potentially move down to a lower price tier.

Pent-up demand
Demand for new content has been at a historic high, and the shelter-in-place orders have only increased demand for new content. Despite that, I’ve seen that some hosts, sadly, have had to exit the market. Higher demand, lower supply suggests that prices should be higher.

Changes to cleaning and disinfecting protocols
I’ve noticed that Airbnb is suggesting a 24-hour break between stays for short term rentals. If producers start requesting breaks between productions at a location, that is a loss of billable time for me as a host. This is in addition to new processes that producers may seek: additional cleaning, disinfecting frequently touched surfaces before a shoot, etc. It sounds to me like more work with less billable time.

What do you guys think? I’m not suggesting we collude on pricing (illegal!), just want to hear your thoughts on potentially raising the price for my own location.

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I just raised the cleaning fee. I took into consideration that alot of individuals may not be working anymore. And may not be fully financially stable right now. I limited the amount of guest allowed.

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I agree with you. I have not changed my prices but I will stay firm without discounts due to the risk of CoViD and the necessary cleaning and disinfecting needed before & after to keep everyone safe, especially me! I’m actually more hesitant to rent now bc some producers can be careless and cut corners just to get their projects completed…all at the expense of others.

CoViD is a deadly disease and even if you survive it, you’ll likely end up with decreased lung capacity and blood clots…and worse, higher insurance premiums for the new underlining conditions you hve. It’s just not worth the risk!

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I’m keeping my prices steady. However, I am considering increasing my minimum # of hours (presently 4) to make all the extra cleaning worthwhile. Right now, if I get any bookings (haven’t accepted any as of yet) it’s only for the outdoors with small crews. I have a huge garden and several other outdoor spaces. Later I will allow the entire house to be used or would even now, with small crews, if the hours were at least 8 or 10.

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Good topic: I considered lowering my prices as an incentive too after so much time of no bookings; but then considering all of the work to get our locations clean and ready, I thought about raising. Now I’m only going to raise the cleaning fees on each on. I hope that will suffice for now but play this all by ear.

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Thanks everyone for your feedback! I hadn’t had a cleaning fee on my listing, but I think I will add one and hold prices steady. It’s not only fair to me, but I think understandable to guests.