The quote paid for your craft. They asked for a craftsperson you aren’t.
A 2026 ping still reads “can you bring in a motion person,” “we need a copywriter on this,” or “hire the photographer, you’ll manage them.” None of those is you drawing another screen. None is a vendor PDF they already named. None is you driving across town. None is a Zoom after you already shipped. The original number paid for your work. They now want a person whose craft is not yours. Price the clock you will spend hunting them, writing the brief, and reviewing the cut from the hub floor — income target, billable-week count, whatever tax slice you entered over there stays over there. This card will not copy that slice, and it is not a 50-state tax engine. $270 is 3 times 90 with a dollar sign so you can read it. Need euros or pesos on the invoice? Switch currency on the hub. If $90 is still a guess, begin on how to set a freelance rate.
Specialist extra = hours you type to find, brief, and review them × hourly floor. Time it from the first outreach email to the last note you send back on their draft. Three hours is 3. A long roster search plus two review rounds is 6. A second craft — they also want photo after you already cast motion, or copy after stills — is extra hours you type, not 15% of the original quote, not a 20% markup on anyone’s bill. This card will not mint “specialist is 15% of the project,” a free producer fee, or a 20% markup.
Worked USD: 3h × $90 = $270
Preset: 3 find / brief / review hours. Floor $90. Second-craft hours 0. Specialist extra: 3 × $90 = $270.
That $270 is your coordination clock. It stacks on a number that already paid for your screens, code, or strategy. It is not the motion person’s invoice. It is not extra pages you will draw yourself. It is not a commute. It is not a walkthrough after delivery. Put the dollars in writing before you send the first outreach. Do not wait for “managing the specialist was in the original fee.” This page never tucked casting hours inside that fee.
Third preset: 6 hours at the same $90. Extra: 6 × $90 = $540. You typed the 6. This page did not. A longer hunt — three candidates, a longer brief, two review passes — is still hours × floor, still billed because they asked for a craft you don’t do, still not 15% of anything, and still not a 20% markup on their bill.
A second craft is extra hours, not 15% of the job
Second preset: same 3 find / brief / review hours, same $90. They also want a photographer after you already cast motion, or a copywriter after stills. You type 2 extra hours for that second craft. Billed hours: 3 + 2 = 5. Specialist extra: 5 × $90 = $450. Find / brief / review labor is $270. Second-craft labor is $180.
Those second-craft hours did not mint a 15% slice of the original quote. There is no “specialist is 15% of the project” grid here, and there is no 20% markup this page will run on anyone’s invoice. You named extra hours. The card multiplied hours × floor. If they said “also a photographer” and extra hours stay 0, extra hours stay 0 — this page will not cook a percent of the job so the math looks official, and it will not cook a 20% markup. Type the hours that second hunt actually costs, or leave that box at 0.
This is not their invoice, extra screens you draw, a commute, or a walkthrough
The motion person’s own bill — or the copywriter’s, the photographer’s — lives on the expense-markup card. That math is the cost you paste × (1 + a share you type). Share 0 is repay-at-cost. Typing 0.15 is a 15% illustration you chose, not a 20% agency markup this page will invent. A receipt is not your outreach clock. Managing the person is not marking up their invoice. If they want both, put find / brief / review hours here and paste their invoice there. Two lines. Do not launder a $2,400 motion invoice into “a couple of producer hours,” and do not launder your 3h of briefing into a fake handling percent.
They did not ask you to hunt a library. Hours you type to search, pick, and clear stock after a quote that assumed they would send the art, or that you would draw it, live on the stock-license card. 2h × $90 = $180. Not a Getty take-rate, not a 20% markup, not a per-image mill. Casting a motion person is not clearing a still. Clearing a still is not briefing a photographer. Want both? Find / brief / review hours here, search-and-clear hours there. The library invoice still pastes on expense-markup.
Extra NEW hours you will do — more screens, more cuts, more of your own craft on a live quote — live on the change-order card. Extra charge there is extra hours you just got asked to perform × this floor, then add that product to the quote already sent. Drawing another page is not casting a motion person. If they want both — you do three more screens and someone else animates — price your new hours there and your find / brief / review hours here.
Hours in their office plus the commute you type live on the on-site day card. A drive is not a casting call. Sitting in their conference room is not reviewing a cut from a person you hired. If the specialist also has to show up, that is still not this card — your travel clock stays on on-site-day; your find / brief / review clock stays here.
They did not ask for a second body on a day that already quoted you alone. Hours that extra person is on set × a rate you type for them live on the second-shooter card. 8h × $60 = $480. Not 50% of the day. Not your floor. Finding them — outreach, brief, review — is still this card. Their hours standing next to you until wrap are that card. Two lines if they want both: your hunt here, their on-set hours there.
They did not ask for a person in front of the camera after a quote that was you making the work. Hours that on-camera person is on set × a rate you type for them live on the talent card. 4h × $150 = $600. Not a SAG rate. Not 20% of the shoot. Finding them — outreach, brief, review — is still this card. Their hours looking at the lens are that card. Two lines if they want both: your hunt here, their on-camera hours there. A B-cam is still second-shooter; a face in the frame is talent.
A live session after delivery so their people can run what already shipped lives on the training-handoff card. Worked example there: 3h × $90 = $270 — same dollars, different clock. That $270 is you teaching their team. This $270 is you hunting a craftsperson you are not. Talking through a shipped site does not cast a photographer. Casting a photographer does not train the intern. Want both? Session hours there, find / brief / review hours here.
They did not ask you to hunt a colorist. They asked you to sit on the look of a locked cut after the quote was the edit. Hours you type × floor live on the color-grade card. 4h × $90 = $360. Not 20% of the edit. Not a per-minute mill. Casting a colorist you don’t do is this card. Your wheels session is that card. Two lines if they want both: hunt hours here, your grade hours there.
Paste the line before you send the first outreach
Name the find / brief / review hours. Name the floor. Name $270 (or whatever the card shows). Name that it sits on a quote that paid for your craft, not theirs. If second-craft hours are on, name those too. Name that their invoice is a different line. Copy from this card so the dollars in the email match the dollars on screen.
- 3h × $90. Specialist extra: 3 hours I type to find, brief, and review a motion / copy / photo person I don’t do × $90.00/hr = $270.00. The quote was my work. Casting someone else is hours × floor — not a 20% markup, and not 15% of the project. Their invoice is a separate line. Please confirm $270.00 before I send the first outreach.
- Same 3h, 2h second craft. Specialist extra: 3 hours I type to find, brief, and review them + 2 extra hours I typed for a second craft = 5 hours × $90.00/hr = $450.00. A second craft is extra hours, not 15% of the project. That is not a 20% markup. Please confirm $450.00 before I send the first outreach.
- 6h find / brief / review. Specialist extra: 6 hours I type to find, brief, and review a motion / copy / photo person I don’t do × $90.00/hr = $540.00. The quote was my work. Casting someone else is hours × floor — not a 20% markup, and not 15% of the project. Their invoice is a separate line. Please confirm $540.00 before I send the first outreach.
Leave out guilt and “everyone marks up specialists 20%.” That speech turns a casting clock into a fight. This page has no official 20% markup and no 15% of the project. No confirmed fee, no outreach sent. Their invoice belongs on expense-markup. Extra screens you will draw belong on change-order. A commute belongs on on-site-day. A walkthrough after delivery belongs on training-handoff. If the $90 floor moved, rebuild it on the hub, then name this find / brief / review extra.
Planning math, not a subcontract
Planning numbers only — not legal, tax, or collections advice, and not a subcontract. No mandated 20% markup, no statute that prices a producer fee, no 15% slice of a live job, no handling-percent mill, and no 50-state tax engine. Keep the contract you already signed. Need an enforceable specialist or subcontract line? Hire counsel where you work before the first outreach. Filling this card does not draft that language and does not hire the person.
You type find / brief / review hours, the hourly floor, and optional second-craft hours (not 15% of the job). You get billed hours, the specialist extra, and one sentence to paste. Dollars here are labeled USD; live currency plus any tax slice you chose stay on the hub. Their invoice never enters this product.
Rate calculator Their invoice, not your hours YOUR grade hours, not a colorist hunt Their hours on set, not your hunt Their hours in front of the lens Hunt stock, not a person Extra NEW hours you do Set the hourly floor
Billable weeks changed? Rebuild the floor on the hub first, then price the hunt. This card names a craft you don’t do — hours you type to find, brief, and review them × floor, a second craft as extra hours, not a 20% markup, not 15% of the job. Their bill: expense-markup. Hours to search, pick, and clear stock after a quote that assumed they would send the art, or that you would draw it: stock-license — 2h × $90 = $180, not a Getty take-rate, not a per-image mill. Extra screens you will draw: change-order. Hours in their office plus the drive: on-site-day. An extra body after a quote that was you alone on the day — hours they are on set × a rate you type for them: second-shooter — 8h × $60 = $480, not 50% of the day. A person in front of the camera after a quote that was you making the work — hours they are on set × a rate you type for them: talent — 4h × $150 = $600, not a SAG rate, not 20% of the shoot. A live session so their people can run what already shipped: training-handoff. YOUR hours on a look after the quote was the edit: color-grade — 4h × $90 = $360, not 20% of the edit, not a per-minute mill, not this hunt. Floor still a guess? Start on how to set a freelance rate.
FAQ
How do I charge when a freelance quote was my craft and the client wants motion, copy, or photo I don’t do?
Specialist extra is hours you type to find, brief, and review them × your hourly floor. The original number paid for your screens, code, or strategy. Casting a motion person, a copywriter, or a photographer you are not is a second clock. Their invoice is a separate receipt on the expense-markup card. Planning figures, not a subcontract.
Is a freelance specialist extra a 20% markup or 15% of the project?
Not on this card. There is no official 20% markup, no 15% of the job, and no claimed agency handling percent for hiring someone else. 3 hours × a $90 floor is $270 because you typed 3 and 90. Clear the 3 if your find / brief / review clock is different. This page will not invent a specialist slice of the project.
Where does the specialist’s own invoice go if this card is only my hours?
On the expense-markup card. That card multiplies a pasted vendor cost by one plus a share you type. Share 0 is repay-at-cost. Typing 0.15 is a 15% illustration you chose, not a 20% agency markup. This card never multiplies their invoice. Two lines if they want both: your find-brief-review hours here, their bill there.
Is hiring a specialist the same as extra NEW hours I do, an on-site day, a second shooter on the day, talent in front of the camera, a training handoff after delivery, or a stock-license hunt?
No. A change order is extra NEW hours YOU do — more screens, more cuts — added to a live quote. An on-site day is hours in their room plus travel hours you type. A second-shooter extra is hours that extra body is on set × a rate you type for them — 8h × $60 = $480, not 50% of the day, not this hunt. A talent extra is hours an on-camera person is on set × a rate you type for them — 4h × $150 = $600, not a SAG rate, not 20% of the shoot, not this hunt. A training handoff is YOU teaching THEIR team after the delivery already left. A stock-license extra is hours you type to search, pick, and clear stock after a quote that assumed they would send the art, or that you would draw it — 2h × $90 = $180, not a Getty take-rate, not a per-image mill. This card is hours to find, brief, and review a craftsperson you are not, while the job still needs motion, copy, or photo you do not ship.
Is this specialist math a contract, a 20% markup table, or a 50-state tax engine?
No. Planning arithmetic only. $270 is 3 × $90 with a dollar sign. Switch currency and any tax slice on the hub. This page is not a 50-state tax engine, not legal advice, and does not write a subcontract or invent a 20% markup.