Costs and pricing
Part of Employer brand video production costs: UK rates and scopes
Employer brand video production costs: UK rates and scopes
UK employer brand video production costs explained: typical GBP price bands, London against regional rates, project scopes and the line items that drive a quote.
What to take away
- An employer brand film usually sits between £6,000 and £18,000 outside London, and £12,000 to £30,000 in London. Figures are illustrative, not survey data.
- Shoot days, travel and the number of cut-down versions move the price more than scripting or editing.
- Animation avoids crew and location costs but is rarely cheaper than a simple single-day live shoot.
- Ask for a fixed fee, named deliverables, stated revision rounds and a clear footage licence.
- Keep about 10% contingency for schedule changes.
Why quotes for the same film differ so much
Two quotes for the same 90-second film can differ fivefold without either supplier being dishonest. One may cover a single camera operator and one location; the other a full crew, drone footage, a paid cast and a week of editing.
Read every quote as a list of days, people and deliverables. Ask how many shoot days, crew, finished films and revision rounds. A cheap quote is often a shorter list, not a leaner one.
The ONS earnings and working hours collection publishes average pay and hours for the UK workforce, which we use to sense-check a supplier's day rate against the local market.
Typical scopes and their price bands
UK quotes cluster into four shapes. The bands below are illustrative planning figures in pounds sterling, not survey data.
UK video scope price bands
Outside London
- Single-day testimonial
- £6k-£10k
- Two-day, two sites
- £11k-£18k
- Animation-led EVP film
- £5k-£12k
- Early careers series
- £14k-£22k
London
- Single-day testimonial
- £10k-£16k
- Two-day, two sites
- £18k-£28k
- Animation-led EVP film
- £10k-£20k
- Early careers series
- £22k-£35k
| Scope | Shoot days | Crew | Deliverables | Illustrative GBP band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-day live shoot, one location | 1 | 2 to 3 | 1 film plus 2 cut-downs | £6,000 to £9,000 outside London; £12,000 to £15,000 in London |
| Two-day live shoot, two locations | 2 | 4 to 5 | 1 film plus 3 cut-downs | £9,000 to £14,000 outside London; £15,000 to £22,000 in London |
| Multi-day campaign with cast and drone | 3 to 5 | 6 to 10 | Hero film plus 4 to 6 cut-downs | £14,000 to £18,000 outside London; £22,000 to £30,000 in London |
| Animation-led film | 0 | Animation team of 3 to 5 | 1 film plus 2 cut-downs | £8,000 to £18,000 outside London; £15,000 to £30,000 in London |
The table above puts a single-day live shoot at £6,000 to £9,000 outside London and animation-led work at £8,000 to £18,000, so animation usually costs more despite avoiding crew and location costs.
Bands assume one scripting revision and two edit revisions.
Where London rates sit against regional rates
A two-day shoot quoted at £15,000 in Manchester can illustratively reach £24,000 in central London on the same scope.
Regional suppliers often travel to your sites more cheaply than London crews travel out. For offices in Bristol, Leeds or Newcastle, a local crew usually wins on total cost once overnight expenses are counted.
Quotes from Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast tend to track English regional bands rather than London levels, unless the director or edit suite must be London-based.
A worked example, priced line by line
Below is a 90-second employer brand film for a 300-person employer outside London. All figures are illustrative.
Line-by-line cost breakdown
- Development and scripting£1,400
- Pre-production£1,200
- Two shoot days£5,400
- Edit and grade£3,200
- Licensed music£450
- Subtitled cut-downs£900
- Contingency£1,205
Where the budget can be trimmed
Shoot several short films in one block. Crew, kit and travel are charged by the day, so a second and third film on the same day cost a fraction of the first.
Use employees rather than actors and accept some imperfect footage. Real contributors often feel more credible to candidates and remove casting and usage fees.
Decide where the finished film will live before you commission it. Our guidance on careers site best practice for UK employers covers the placement decisions that stop a film becoming an orphaned file.
What the paperwork should cover
Fix the fee, deliverables and revision rounds in writing. State who owns the raw footage and how long the usage licence runs.
Filming employees is processing personal data. We use the ICO guidance on UK GDPR to settle the lawful basis, notice and retention points before anyone signs a release form.
If the film runs as paid advertising, the CAP Code applies to claims about pay, hours and progression, and we use the ASA advertising codes to check the script before you approve it.
Agree where rushes are stored and when they are deleted.
Video rarely sells on its own. Our notes on how employer branding services are proposed and priced show how to combine production with research and measurement without inflating the first invoice.
Common questions
How much does an employer brand video cost in the UK?
Most UK employers pay £6,000 to £18,000 outside London for a single film, and £12,000 to £30,000 in London, on illustrative bands. Multi-film series and animation-led work push the total higher.
Do we need a London agency for a national recruitment campaign?
Not usually, because a regional supplier can shoot at your sites and edit remotely, which cuts travel and crew costs.
Can we film employees without paying them?
Yes, if appearing is voluntary and explained in advance. Settle the lawful basis, notice and retention before the shoot, and never make participation a condition of the role.
What should a video contract include?
The fixed fee, deliverables, revision rounds, licence length, footage ownership, music terms and delivery date. Name a contact on each side and agree how extra shoot days are priced.
