One master left the drive. Vertical was not in that number.
The 2026 ping is specific: “Stories from the YouTube,” “Reels from the keynote,” “9:16 of the square we already signed off.” Horizontal talking-head. Square still. One file. They paid for that frame. A 1080×1920 export is a different frame — punch-in so the face is not a postage stamp, type that used to sit in the lower third now collides with TikTok UI, a safe-zone pass so the hook survives the 9:16 crop. Bill the clock on the hub floor. Target income, billable-week count, tax buffer you set: those stay on the hub. This page does not copy them, and it is not a 50-state tax engine. Read $360 as 4 × 90 with a dollar sign. Need a different currency on the invoice? Switch it on the hub. Floor still a guess? Build it on how to set a freelance rate.
Social-cuts extra = hours you type × hourly floor. Start the clock at the first recrop. Stop it when they can post. Four hours is the worked example. Eight hours is a longer pack — five hooks, five safe-zones. A second ratio after the 9:16 (1:1, 4:5) is hours you add in the optional box. It is not $50 per export. It is not 20% of the video they already bought. This hub will not sell a complimentary Stories bundle or a ratio price list.
Worked USD: 4h × $90 = $360
First preset. Cutdown hours: 4. Floor: $90. Second-ratio box: 0. Product: 4 × $90 = $360.
That $360 is the vertical (or the extra ratio they named) sitting on top of a quote that already bought 16:9 or square. It is not “open the same 16:9 and make the logo bigger.” It is not a CMYK plate. It is not a caption file. It is not more people licensed to run the original. Send the dollars before Premiere opens. “Vertical was included” is not a line this card ever wrote.
Third preset stretches the same floor: 8 hours × $90 = $720. You typed 8. The page did not invent 8. A chaptered film with a hook for every beat still prices as hours × floor, still because they asked after one master shipped, still not $50 a cut, still not 20% of the video.
Second ratio = more hours you type, never $50 a cut
Second preset keeps the 4 hours and the $90. They also want 1:1, or 4:5 after the YouTube. You type 2 in the second-ratio box. Clock: 4 + 2 = 6 hours. Extra: 6 × $90 = $540. The 9:16 labor is $360. The extra-ratio labor is $180.
Two hours is not a $50 SKU. 9:16 vs 1:1 vs 4:5 is a label for which extra frame they asked for — not a menu this page prices. If they said “also a square” and you leave the box at 0, that line stays $0. The card will not back-fill a cut price so the email looks official. Type the hours that second ratio actually burns, or type nothing.
Four other doors on this hub — none of them are a 9:16
They want the same 16:9 opened again after the included rounds in YOUR quote are gone: bigger type, same screens, same ratio. That is the revision-round card — hours for that pass × floor. Recropping into Stories is not “one more revision.” Two asks, two lines: rework hours there, cutdown hours here. Do not spend an unused included round on a new aspect ratio.
They want a separate color-grade pass after the quote was the edit — shot match, skin, a LUT, Rec.709 — not a 9:16. Hours you type × floor on the color-grade card. Worked 4h × $90 = $360. Not 20% of the edit. Not a per-minute mill. Recrop lives here. Wheels live there. Want both? Cutdown hours here, grade hours there. Hunting a colorist you don’t do sits on specialist.
They want ink: a press PDF, bleeds, crop marks, CMYK, after a quote that was screen. That is the print-ready card (worked 3h × $90 = $270 — not 20% of the project, not a per-page mill; the printer’s invoice still belongs on expense-markup). A vertical MP4 does not plate. Crop marks do not punch in a talking head. Press hours there; recrop hours here.
They want captions, alt, or a transcript on work that already shipped as-is. That is the accessibility card (worked 4h × $90 = $360 — not 15% of the project, not a WCAG mill, not per-minute captions). A .vtt does not reframe a face for Reels. A 9:16 export does not write alt. Caption hours there; recrop hours here.
They want more people to run the same 16:9. That is the usage-license card — quoted hours × floor × a multiplier they type (0.5 is a half-again example they type, not a 2× ads statute). Extra seats do not create a 9:16 file. A 9:16 file does not widen the license. Do not hide a vertical pack inside a paid-ads multiplier.
They want a dated pack of posts after the brand already left — captions with dates, not a recrop of one master. That is the content-calendar card. Worked 8h × $90 = $720. Not $50 a post. Not 20% of the brand. Punching in a talking head does not write twelve captions. Writing twelve captions does not reframe a film. Want both? Recrop hours here, caption hours there.
Blogs will sell you $50 a cut. This card will not.
Motion Twitter still recites “$50 per Stories,” “20% of the video for social,” “vertical is always included.” None of that is a statute. None of it is this math. Aspect ratio only names the extra frame. Dollars = hours you type × floor. No $50-per-cut buyout. No 20% social slice of the master.
If they ask for “the usual cut rate,” answer that this card has none. Show $360 from four hours, type 8, or type a second-ratio hour. You own the hour count. Skip the lecture. No confirm, no 9:16. The one master they already bought still stands.
Copy the sentence before the first recrop
Hours. Floor. $360 or whatever the card now shows. That it sits on a one-master quote. Second-ratio hours if that box is on. Copy so the email dollars match the screen dollars.
- 4h × $90. Social-cuts extra: 4 hours I type to recrop / reframe / export 9:16 (or another extra ratio) of the master × $90.00/hr = $360.00. The signed quote was one 16:9 or square. Extra aspect ratios after that are hours × floor — not $50 a cut, not 20% of the video. Please confirm $360.00 before I start the cutdown.
- Same 4h, 2h second ratio. Social-cuts extra: 4 hours I type for the cutdowns + 2 extra hours I typed for a second ratio = 6 hours × $90.00/hr = $540.00. A second ratio is extra hours, not $50 a cut, not 20% of the video. Please confirm $540.00 before I start the cutdown.
- 8h longer pack. Social-cuts extra: 8 hours I type to recrop / reframe / export extra ratios of the master × $90.00/hr = $720.00. The signed quote was one 16:9 or square. Extra aspect ratios after that are hours × floor — not $50 a cut, not 20% of the video. Please confirm $720.00 before I start the cutdown.
Skip “everyone includes vertical” and “social is always 20%.” That speech turns a recrop into a fight. This page has no official cut price. Unconfirmed extra, Premiere stays closed. Same-file rework after included rounds: revision-round. Press PDF: print-ready. Captions / alt / transcript: accessibility. More users of the same file: usage-license. Floor moved? Rebuild it on the hub, then name this extra.
Planning arithmetic — not a Stories contract
Educational numbers. Not legal, tax, or collections advice. Not a cutdown agreement. No $50-per-export rule, no law that prices 9:16, no 20% of a video fee, no ratio mill, no 50-state tax engine. Keep the paper you already signed. Need a clause that survives a fight? Counsel where you work writes it before the first vertical export. Filling these fields is not that clause and does not certify a Reels file.
Inputs: cutdown hours, hourly floor, optional second-ratio hours (hours, not a $50 ticket). Outputs: billed hours, the extra, one paste-ready sentence. USD labels here. Live currency and any tax slice you chose stay on the hub.
Rate calculator Same file, another pass Look pass after the edit Press PDF, not a 9:16 Captions / alt, not a cutdown Dated pack of posts, not a recrop Set the hourly floor
Weeks you can actually bill shifted? Fix the floor on the hub, then price the verticals. This card is extra aspect ratios of a master they already paid for — hours × floor, a second ratio as more hours you type, never $50 a cut, never 20% of the video. Same-file rework after included rounds: revision-round. A separate look after the quote was the edit: color-grade — 4h × $90 = $360, not 20% of the edit, not a per-minute mill. Screen quote rebuilt for ink: print-ready. Captions, alt, or a transcript after the work as shipped: accessibility. More seats on the same hours: usage-license. Floor still a placeholder? Start on how to set a freelance rate.
FAQ
How do I price 9:16 Stories or Reels cuts when the freelance quote was one 16:9 or square master?
Type the hours the recrop, reframe, safe-zone, and export will take. Multiply by your hourly floor. That product is the social-cuts extra. The signed number already paid for one master. A vertical file is a second delivery. 4 × $90 reads $360 because those are the numbers in the worked example — change them. Planning only. This is not $50 per export and not 20% of the video.
Should I charge $50 per social cut or 20% of the original video?
No. This hub does not sell a $50-per-cut menu and does not take 20% of a video fee. Hours you type × floor is the only product. If four hours is wrong for your punch-ins, type a different hour count.
They also want 1:1 after the 9:16. Is that a second $50 cut?
No. A second ratio is more hours you type on this card, then × the same floor. Leave that box at 0 if you are not doing 1:1. The card will not mint a cut-by-cut price list.
Is a 9:16 cutdown a revision round, a print-ready press PDF, captions, or a usage license?
Four different doors. Revision-round reopens the SAME file after included rounds in YOUR quote — same ratio, logo bigger. Print-ready rebuilds a screen quote into a press PDF with bleeds, crop marks, CMYK. Accessibility writes captions, alt, or a transcript on work that already shipped as-is. Usage-license sells more users of the same file via hours × floor × a multiplier they type. Social-cuts exports extra aspect ratios of a master they already paid for.
Does filling this social-cuts card create a contract or file 50-state tax?
No. $360 is 4 times 90 labeled USD so you can read it. Currency and any tax buffer live on the hub calculator. Typing here does not write a cutdown clause and does not run a 50-state tax engine.