Free Invoice Template for Videographers
Video budgets collapse in post. The shoot was two days and everyone remembers agreeing to that; the edit was three weeks and nobody agreed to anything in particular. A videography invoice that separates pre-production, shoot days, crew, edit, motion graphics, music licensing, and revision rounds is how a client understands where the money went — and how you get paid for the fourth round of notes.
Create Your Videographer Invoice| Description | Amount |
|---|---|
| Production Day — 10 hrs, operator + camera package | $1800.00 |
| Editing — 3-minute brand film, 2 revision rounds | $2400.00 |
| Licensed Music & Sound Mix | $350.00 |
Illustrative examples — every field is editable in the invoice creator.
How videographers usually bill
Day rates for shooting, with crew and equipment either included or listed separately depending on how you work. Editing is either a day rate or a fixed price per finished minute with a stated number of revision rounds. Motion graphics, colour, sound mix, and music licensing are usually separate. Commercial work adds a usage licence priced by platform, territory, and term, entirely apart from production cost.
What belongs on a videographer invoice
Beyond the obvious — your details, the client’s details, a total — these are the fields that a generic invoice template leaves out and that videographers need:
- Shoot dates and locations, separate from the invoice date
- Crew by role and day, if you are billing crew through your company
- Equipment or package rental, whether included or charged
- Finished runtime and delivery specs — resolution, aspect ratios, caption files, platform cuts
- Revision rounds included, and the rate for rounds beyond that
- Usage licence: platforms, territory, and duration
- Third-party costs at cost — stock, music licences, location fees, permits, insurance
Deposits, terms, and when to invoice
50% before the shoot is standard and covers crew and rental commitments you have already made. Larger productions split into three: booking, shoot completion, and final delivery. Hold final delivery of masters until the last invoice clears — the industry expects it. Overtime beyond the contracted day should have an agreed hourly rate written down before the shoot day, because that is not a conversation anyone wants to have at hour eleven.
Tax and pass-through costs
Production services are untaxed in many states but delivering a tangible master, or transferring the finished file, is taxed in some. Music and stock licences bought for a specific project are pass-through costs and should be billed at cost with the licence type named. Several states also run film production incentives with paperwork requirements that depend on how the invoice is itemised — if your client is claiming one, ask what they need before you write the invoice. General information, not tax advice.
Line items that prevent arguments
Each of these is a real dispute that a single line on the invoice makes impossible to have:
- "We just need one more small change" — a revision-round line makes round three a priced item instead of a favour.
- "We want to run it as a paid ad" — a usage line makes that a licence upgrade rather than an assumption.
- "The day ran long, that's just how shoots go" — a pre-agreed overtime rate on the invoice makes it a contract term.
How should a videographer bill for revisions?
Include a specific number of rounds in the edit line and price additional rounds at a stated rate. Open-ended revisions are the single largest source of unpaid time in video work.
Do I charge separately for usage rights on video?
For commercial work, yes. Production cost and usage licence are different things — a two-day shoot used in a national paid campaign is worth more than the same shoot on an internal intranet.
When should I deliver final video files?
After the final invoice clears. Watermarked review cuts throughout the edit are standard, and no experienced client will be surprised by it.
This tool is built for fast, clean PDF invoices. When you need expense tracking, recurring billing, or client portals, these are worth a look:
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