How Much Does Video Production Cost in the UK? (2026 Guide)

A UK video can cost anything from about £2,000 to well over £40,000 before VAT, and nearly all of the difference is days: how many people, for how many days, with what kit, and where. Built from published 2026 day rates, our three illustrative budgets come to about £2,230 for a one day social shoot with two edit days, £6,910 for a two to three minute corporate film, and £42,470 for a two day brand film on commercials crew terms. All three are before talent, catering, transport, insurance or a production company's fee.

Those aren't quotes. They're what the public rate cards add up to when you put a realistic crew against them, which makes them a fair yardstick for the quotes you do get.

Spark's founder spent more than ten years running a London production company, and this is the breakdown worth reading before you ask any production company for a number. Every rate links to its source and was checked on 24 October 2026.

The lines in every video budget

However a quote is laid out, it's made of these:

• Producing and pre-production: the producer's days, scripting, casting, recces, schedules, permissions.
• Crew days: director, camera, sound, lighting, art department, hair and make-up, runners.
• Kit: camera, lenses, lights, grip and sound, owned or hired.
• Locations and studios: hire fees, permits, parking.
• Talent: presenters, actors, models, voiceover, and what they're paid for usage.
• Post-production: editing, colour, sound design and mix, motion graphics.
• Music: library licences or commissioned and commercial tracks.
• Insurance, contingency and the production company's fee.
• VAT: 20% on top if the supplier is VAT registered.

Crew days are most of the bill

For commercials, the Advertising Producers Association's crew terms from 1 September 2026 give a recommended range for every role, on a 10 hour day plus lunch. A director of photography is £935 to £1,561 a day, a camera operator £529 to £656, a sound mixer £541 to £668, and a director or producer up to £961. These are labour only, and the terms add rules buyers should know about: a DoP's recce and prep days count as full days, Saturdays are paid at 1.5 times and cancellation within a week costs 50% to 100% of the fee.

Corporate and online work has no single card. The best public signals are the NUJ Freelance Fees Guide, which suggests a minimum of £550 for a day's video shooting including equipment, YunoJuno's 2026 rates report (videographer £427, producer £403 a day on average from its bookings) and Bectu's rate cards for sound and post. We've gone through them role by role in videographer day rates and cinematographer and DoP day rates.

The thing to check on any quote isn't the day rate. It's the number of days, and whether the prep, recce and travel days are in it.

Kit: priced like a hire, even when it's owned

Rental houses publish their prices, which makes kit the easiest line to sense-check. As of October 2026:

Two details catch buyers out. Hire is usually quoted before VAT and before damage cover: Wex adds a 10% damage waiver unless you can show your own insurance. And a freelancer's own kit is often bundled into their day rate (the NUJ's £550 includes it), so ask what's on the list before comparing two shooters.

Locations and studios

A location can cost nothing (your own office) or more than the crew. Public land is the easiest to price, because councils and landowners publish their charges. As one example, the City of London Corporation's 2026/27 charges for filming on the commons it manages run from £3,032 to £4,416 a day for a TV advertisement, £1,682 to £2,454 for TV drama, and nothing for TV news, all plus VAT. The same footage costs different amounts depending on what it's for.

Private locations and studios set their own fees. Get the fee, the hours it covers, overtime and any build and strike days in writing; on the City of London's schedule, preparation and striking days cost half the filming fee.

Talent and usage

On-screen talent is usually paid twice over: a fee for the day, and a fee for where the film will be used and for how long. A face in an internal training film and the same face in a national TV campaign are priced very differently. We haven't put talent in our illustrations because there's no current public rate card we could cite, so ask an agent for a quote with the usage spelled out before the budget is fixed.

Usage applies to the film itself too. The NUJ guide notes that, under UK law, copyright in freelance video belongs to the videographer, and its rates assume a limited licence. If you need to own the footage outright, say so in the brief, because it changes the quote.

Post-production

Post is where a lot of short-form budgets go. The NUJ guide says a day's shooting needs at least one, and often two, days of editing. Published figures for the people involved:

• Editor: Bectu's short form card sets minimums of £435 a day for online and promo work and £565 for TV commercials, on 8 hours plus lunch.
• Colourist: YunoJuno's average is £491 a day.
• Sound designer: £461 a day on YunoJuno.
• Motion graphics: £385 a day on YunoJuno; Malt's UK average for motion designers is £371.

Music

Library music is the cheapest route for online use. Epidemic Sound's Pro plan is £16.99 a month billed yearly (£203.88) as of October 2026, and its licence covers client work and digital ads. Its comparison table shows TV broadcasting as not included on any of the individual plans, so a TV spot needs one of its business plans or a different licence. Commercial tracks and commissioned scores are negotiated with publishers, labels or composers and vary too widely to put a number on.

Three illustrative budgets

Each budget is built only from the rates above, at the days we'd plan, plus a 10% contingency (our assumption). None includes talent, catering, transport, insurance or a production company's fee. Amounts are in pounds, before VAT.

1. A social cutdown day: one shoot day with a self-shooting videographer, two edit days, library music.

2. A corporate film: two to three minutes, interviews and cutaways, one recce or prep day and one shoot day, four edit days.

3. A brand film: 60 to 90 seconds, two shoot days on APA terms, a public location. For APA roles we've used the midpoint of each range, or the maximum where the APA only sets one. Directors and producers may quote a fee instead of days; the APA's maximum day rate stands in for it here.

What the comparison shows: on the small jobs, editing is the biggest single cost, so the number of edit days and rounds of changes matters more than the shoot. On the brand film, crew is 40% of the budget and the location 14%. Swap that public location for a free one and the brand film drops to about £35,800, contingency included.

If you're a freelancer building your own side of these quotes, our free UK freelance day rate calculator works out the day rate your year needs, and our guide to calculating a day rate explains the method.

How to brief for a better quote

A vague brief gets a vague quote, or three quotes you can't compare. A good one answers:

1. 1What it's for and who sees it. An internal update, a paid social campaign and a cinema ad need different crews.
2. 2Deliverables. Lengths, cutdowns, aspect ratios (16:9, 9:16, 1:1) and subtitles.
3. 3Where it runs and for how long. This sets music and talent usage.
4. 4Budget range. Even a rough one tells a producer whether to plan one shooter or a crew.
5. 5Dates. Shoot date, first cut and final delivery; tight turnarounds cost more.
6. 6References. Links to three to five films that show the look and the pace, plus one you don't want.
7. 7Who approves. How many people give notes, and how many rounds you need.

Our video creative brief template puts those into one page, and the video production proposal template shows what a good response looks like. On bigger jobs the director will answer with a film treatment, and the references become a shot list. For performance content, a UGC moodboard does the same job for hooks and pacing.

Red flags in a video production quote

• One number and no lines. You can't tell what you're buying or compare it with anyone else.
• No day length or overtime terms. The APA terms define a 10 hour day plus lunch; any quote should say what its day is.
• "Kit included" with no list. One FX6 and one Alexa kit are a £700 a day difference at rental prices.
• One shoot day, one edit day. The NUJ guide's rule of thumb is at least one and often two edit days per shoot day.
• No rounds of changes, no usage, no cancellation terms. Each is a future argument.
• VAT not mentioned. On a £6,914 film, 20% is another £1,382.89.

A clear brief is cheaper than a long call. Spark is how we keep the references that make one.

FAQs

How much does a corporate video cost in the UK?

Built from published 2026 day rates, our illustrative two to three minute corporate film with one shoot day, four edit days, a producer, two cameras and a sound recordist comes to about £6,914 before VAT. That excludes talent, travel, catering and a production company's fee. Simpler films with one shooter and less editing cost less; more locations, crew or animation cost more.

How much does a brand film or commercial cost to make in the UK?

Our illustrative 60 to 90 second brand film with a two day shoot on APA crew terms comes to about £42,474 before VAT, talent, catering, transport, insurance or production fees. Crew is about 40% of that and a public location about 14%. Broadcast commercials with talent usage and TV music licences cost considerably more.

What is the biggest cost in video production?

It depends on the job. In our small budgets, editing is the biggest line, because each shoot day needs one or two edit days. On a brand film with a full commercials crew, crew days are the largest cost, followed by producing and, if you're paying for one, the location.

Do video production quotes include VAT?

Usually not. UK quotes are normally given before VAT, and a VAT registered supplier adds 20% on the invoice. Freelancers must register once their taxable turnover passes £90,000 in a rolling 12 months, so a smaller freelancer may not charge VAT at all.

How can I reduce the cost of a video production?

Cut days, not rates. Shoot fewer locations, plan fewer edit rounds, reuse one shoot for several cutdowns, use a location you already have, and choose library music for online use. Sending clear references with the brief also saves days, because the crew and kit can be planned right first time.

Why do two video quotes for the same brief differ so much?

Usually because they're pricing different films: different crew sizes, kit, numbers of edit days, usage terms and whether talent, music and contingency are included. Ask both companies to break their quotes into the same lines, then compare line by line.