I agree with the other posters here, and u/the__post__merc laid it out perfectly. If you or your resources are being utilized for a job, then that job pays you for the time. You build it into one price: your full rate.
Do you think a system administrator who watches over a data server doesn't get paid for their time? What happens if something goes wrong? Could you be somewhere else having fun, or do you need to make sure everything is running properly?
Don't trick yourself into thinking that rendering files and uploading them isn't a valuable use of your time.
Right, but what happens when a render fails or you have a temporary internet outage? Then you need to re-do that step. Although you’re not actively doing anything in that time you are still responsible for what happens. Responsibility = compensation.
This is one of the reasons why I justify charging an hourly rate, my reasoning is that doing big uploads or using up my computers processing power to create proxies takes me away from being able to use my computer for other work.
You should be compensated for any part of the process, how you go about it is entirely up to you. But, in general, if you're at the point where you're thinking you're giving away services without being compensated, then your rate is too low.
Set your rate so that your clients get ONE price. What you do with it is up to you.
In a total extreme example, you could charge them $5000/day, as long as they think what you're delivering is worth it, they'll pay it. But, if you say that it is $1500/day for the shoot, then another $1000 for transcoding/uploading etc, clients may be put off, even though it's half as much in total.
Quite a conundrum!
I’m in the same position as you: I charge by the hour, I decide when to start and stop the clock. I definitely charge for rendering, but hadn’t charge for downloading/uploading stuff yet.
Upload and download should be time based. The actual time involved isn't linear based on size. Depends on bandwidth available at the time and other factors outside your control
you factor it into your day rate. So you don't explicitly say to the employer that you will charge for upload time, but factor it into how much you charge them
I agree with the other posters here, and u/the__post__merc laid it out perfectly. If you or your resources are being utilized for a job, then that job pays you for the time. You build it into one price: your full rate. Do you think a system administrator who watches over a data server doesn't get paid for their time? What happens if something goes wrong? Could you be somewhere else having fun, or do you need to make sure everything is running properly? Don't trick yourself into thinking that rendering files and uploading them isn't a valuable use of your time.
I get paid by the hour by some small video company. I just kind of set everything up and let it do it’s thing for hours. I agree with you though
Right, but what happens when a render fails or you have a temporary internet outage? Then you need to re-do that step. Although you’re not actively doing anything in that time you are still responsible for what happens. Responsibility = compensation.
This is one of the reasons why I justify charging an hourly rate, my reasoning is that doing big uploads or using up my computers processing power to create proxies takes me away from being able to use my computer for other work.
Can you do the other parts of your job if you didn't download/upload? No. So, it's part of the job. So, you charge for it.
You should be compensated for any part of the process, how you go about it is entirely up to you. But, in general, if you're at the point where you're thinking you're giving away services without being compensated, then your rate is too low. Set your rate so that your clients get ONE price. What you do with it is up to you. In a total extreme example, you could charge them $5000/day, as long as they think what you're delivering is worth it, they'll pay it. But, if you say that it is $1500/day for the shoot, then another $1000 for transcoding/uploading etc, clients may be put off, even though it's half as much in total.
Quite a conundrum! I’m in the same position as you: I charge by the hour, I decide when to start and stop the clock. I definitely charge for rendering, but hadn’t charge for downloading/uploading stuff yet.
Uploading/downloading should be charge by the GB while transcoding per minute of content.
Upload and download should be time based. The actual time involved isn't linear based on size. Depends on bandwidth available at the time and other factors outside your control
you factor it into your day rate. So you don't explicitly say to the employer that you will charge for upload time, but factor it into how much you charge them