How much to Charge for Custom Teeth

Blake Bradley

Hey guys, I just got my first project for a few sets of Hill-Billy teeth for a film and am wondering what to charge per-set.
I've calculated supply costs to be around $ 160.00 for 3 sets of the same sculpt teeth. So I would only need to take a cast the actors teeth and sculpt the set once but would have to cast 3 sets of finals and paint them all the same.

So the question is... What do I charge per set minus supply cost? I am very confident in my ability to do this project and would say they'll be at semi-pro level.

Chris Ellerby

What to charge a client can be difficult to determine, and is something that I often struggle with myself. 

I would try and define a reasonable hourly rate for your time and factor that plus the cost of materials into the per-unit cost on the teeth.  Once you have that number, consider your client's budget.

If the client has a smaller budget and you are working with them more as a favor you can drop your hourly rate a bit.  (which may result in more work in the future)

/Chris

Tom Luca

Chris is right, not that artists like to hear this but it is sometimes appropriate to start out small and work your way up. You know, at first especially if you are new you should charge low enough to survive meaning enough to cover the costs of supplies and make a little profit then when you are up to your neck in orders from commercial production clients, fan base, etc. that is when you need to start thinking about raising your prices because you will most likely need to hire help and hopefully by that time if you are a prop making hero among your neighborhood and online then they won't think twice about paying those prices that you want to live extravagantly.