Professional video projects often cost a few thousand dollars. See what changes the quote and why Make Waves video production starts near $3,500 per shoot day.
Updated
Professional video production usually costs a few thousand dollars for a focused small-business project. Clutch reports that most reviewed video production projects cost less than $10,000, with U.S. agency rates commonly falling between $100 and $149 per hour.
Make Waves Marketing video production starts around $3,500 per shoot day. The total project price depends on planning, locations, crew, filming time, editing, graphics, and the number of finished videos.
The phrase "shoot day" causes plenty of confusion. A business owner hears one day and pictures eight hours. A production team hears pre-production, equipment prep, travel, filming, media backup, editing, sound, color, captions, exports, and revisions. The camera is the visible part. Most of the work happens before someone presses record and after everybody goes home.
This guide shows what belongs in a video quote, which decisions raise the cost, and how to get more useful content from the budget.
Clutch's September 2026 pricing data says reviewed projects typically cost less than $10,000. It also reports a much higher overall average project cost because its database includes larger and longer engagements. That gap explains why asking for "the average cost of a video" is a little like asking for the average cost of a building. A storage shed and a hospital both have doors.
The useful number comes from a written scope.
A complete quote should explain the work across three phases.
This is where the team decides what the video needs to accomplish and what must happen during the shoot.