You were hired to make the piece. They now want a person looking at the lens.
In 2026 the ping is still “put the CEO on camera,” “we should have a spokesperson,” “can someone talk to the lens in the spot.” What they already signed paid for your craft — you run the camera, you cut, you design. It did not pay for another human whose entire job that morning is to be the face in the frame. That face is not a motion artist you have to find. That face is not a second operator with a B-cam. That face is not your commute. That face is not a still you cleared from a library. Bill the hours they actually stand in front of the lens at the rate you type for them. Income target, billable weeks, and any tax buffer you set stay on the hub. This card does not clone that buffer and does not pretend to be a 50-state tax engine. $600 is 4 times 150 with a dollar sign so you can read it. Invoice in euros? Change currency on the hub. Still guessing your hourly? Start on how to set a freelance rate.
Talent extra = hours they are on set you type × the rate you type for them. Clock starts when they are in front of the camera. Clock stops at wrap. The worked example is four hours. Eight hours is a longer call that still multiplies. Both numbers are yours. $150 is theirs because you typed 150. This page did not look up a SAG scale. This page did not take 20% of the shoot. This page did not split a $3,000 package into fifths. Complimentary talent because “the shoot already covers a face” is not a line here. Neither is a union day this card will invent.
Worked USD: 4h × $150 = $600
Preset one. On-set hours: 4. Rate you type for them: $150. 4 × $150 = $600.
Stack that $600 on a quote that already bought you making the work. It is not outreach, briefing, or review (that is specialist). It is not a second camera body (that is second-shooter). It is not your on-site hours plus travel hours times your floor. It is not a stock hunt. Put the dollars in the email before wardrobe. This card never wrote “the original fee included talent.”
Preset two keeps $150 and sets their clock to 8 hours. Extra: 8 × $150 = $1,200. You typed eight. A 9-to-5 call with a lunch in the middle is still hours × their rate — still because they asked after paying you to make the work, still not 20% of the shoot, still not a SAG day this page will invent.
Preset three is still 4 × $150 = $600, except you were going to eat the on-camera line. Their four hours still happen. If the invoice stays at $0 extra, you ate $600 so the original number looked small. Giving away a spokesperson they named does not make the next job easier. It trains “just drop someone in the shot.” Either bill the extra or gift it on purpose. Do not call the face free.
Wrong door: specialist, second-shooter, on-site-day, stock-license, voiceover
Finding them, writing the brief, watching the take — that is your clock on the specialist card. 3h × your $90 floor = $270. Outreach is not four hours of a face on set. On-camera time is not a casting hunt. Need both? Hunt hours there, lens hours here. Do not fold a $600 on-camera line into “a little producing.”
A second operator after a day quoted as you alone lives on the second-shooter card. 8h × $60 = $480. That human holds another camera. This human is the subject. A B-cam does not speak to lens. A spokesperson does not run B-cam. Need both? Extra-body hours there, on-camera hours here. Do not hide a face inside a second-shooter line.
You in their room plus the drive you type lives on the on-site day card. Labor there is (hours on site + travel hours) × your floor. 6 + 2 at $90 is $720 — that is you walking in. The person looking at the camera is not extra travel. Keep your commute there. Keep 4h × $150 here. Add them. Do not hide a spokesperson inside travel hours.
Searching, picking, and clearing stills after a quote that assumed they would send art (or that you would draw it) lives on the stock-license card. 2h × $90 = $180. A library still is not a booked face. A booked face is not a Getty search. Need both? Hunt stills there, on-camera hours here. Paste the library bill — and later the talent PDF — on expense-markup.
Words on the track after the quote was picture live on the voiceover card. If YOU read it: hours you type × YOUR floor. Worked 2h × $90 = $180. Not a union VO table. Not $200 a finished minute. A face looking at the lens is not a WAV. A WAV is not a spokesperson. Hunting a VO artist you don’t do still sits on specialist; that person’s booth is hours × a rate you type for them. Need both a face and a read? On-camera hours here, booth hours there.
No SAG book on this card. No “20% of the shoot.”
People still paste “use SAG,” “talent is 20% of the shoot,” “the day includes a spokesperson.” None of those sentences is a rule this hub runs. Founder vs hired face vs spokesperson only names who they want looking at the lens. Dollars here are hours they are on set you type × the rate you type for them. No union table. No 20% slice. No fifth of the package.
If they want “the usual talent percent,” say this card does not have one. Show four hours at $150 = $600, type eight, or type the rate they actually quoted. Both fields are yours. Do not lecture. No yes on the extra, no one booked in front of the camera. The original make-the-work quote still stands.
Send the sentence before wardrobe
Say the on-set hours. Say the rate you typed for them. Say $600, or whatever the card prints. Say it sits on a quote that already paid you to make the work. Copy the sentence here so the email and the screen match.
- 4h × $150. Talent extra: 4 hours they are on set in front of the camera × $150.00/hr I typed for them = $600.00. The quote was me making the work. A person on camera is hours × their rate — not a SAG rate, not 20% of the shoot, not my floor, and not inside the work they already paid. Please confirm $600.00 before wardrobe.
- 8h in front of the lens. Talent extra: 8 hours they are on set in front of the camera × $150.00/hr I typed for them = $1,200.00. The quote was me making the work. A person on camera is hours × their rate — not a SAG rate, not 20% of the shoot, not my floor, and not inside the work they already paid. Please confirm $1,200.00 before wardrobe.
- Eat the on-camera hours. If I eat the talent extra, I still cover 4 hours at $150.00/hr = $600.00 and I invoice $0.00 extra. That is not free. Please confirm $600.00 before wardrobe.
Leave out “everyone bills talent at 20% of the shoot.” That turns a face in the frame into an argument. This page has no SAG table and no 20%-of-the-shoot rule. No confirmed extra, no one booked in front of the camera. Hunt them on specialist. A second operator on second-shooter. Your commute on on-site-day. Clearing a still on stock-license. If your $90 floor moved, rebuild it on the hub, then name this on-camera extra.
Planning arithmetic, not a union booking
Educational numbers only — not legal, tax, or collections advice, and not a SAG booking. No required union scale, no law that prices a spokesperson, no 20% of a shoot, no residual mill, and no 50-state tax engine. Keep whatever contract you already signed. Need language that survives a fight? Hire counsel where you work before wardrobe. Filling this card does not write that language and does not book the person.
You type on-set hours and the rate that belongs to them. You get the extra and one sentence. USD labels here; live currency and any tax buffer stay on the hub. Casting is specialist. A second camera operator is second-shooter. Your drive is on-site-day. Their PDF, once it exists, pastes on expense-markup — it is not an hour on this card.
Rate calculator Finding them, not their hours on camera Extra camera body, not the face Words on the track, not the face Set the hourly floor
Billable weeks shifted? Rebuild your floor on the hub before you mix it with their number. This card prices a person looking at the lens after a quote that paid you to make the work — hours they are on set × the rate you type for them, not a SAG rate, not 20% of the shoot, not your floor. Hours you type to find, brief, and review a craftsperson you are not: specialist — 3h × $90 = $270. A second camera operator after a day quoted as you alone: second-shooter — 8h × $60 = $480, not 50% of the day. You in the room plus the drive: on-site-day. Hours to search, pick, and clear stock: stock-license — 2h × $90 = $180. Words on the track after picture, if YOU read it: voiceover — 2h × $90 = $180, not a union VO table, not $200 a finished minute, not this on-camera line. Floor still a guess? Start on how to set a freelance rate.
FAQ
How do I charge when a freelance quote was me making the work and the client wants talent in front of the camera?
Talent extra is hours they are on set you type × the rate you type for them. The signed number paid for you making the work — the cut, the camera you operate, the screens. A spokesperson, a founder on camera, a hired face is a second clock at their number, not yours. 4 × $150 reads $600 because those are the worked-example numbers — change them. Casting them is a different card. Planning only. This is not a SAG rate and not 20% of the shoot.
Is a freelance talent extra a SAG rate or 20% of the shoot?
No. This hub does not sell a SAG scale, a union day, a buyout percent, or a “talent is 20% of the shoot” rule. Hours they are on set you type × the rate you type for them is the only product. $150 is their number because you typed 150, not because a union book said so and not because one-fifth of a $3,000 shoot looks tidy.
Is on-camera talent the same as finding a specialist, a second shooter, an on-site day, a stock-license hunt, or a voiceover read?
No. Specialist is YOUR hours to find, brief, and review a craftsperson you are not — 3h × your $90 floor = $270. Second-shooter is an extra camera operator on set × a rate you type for them — 8h × $60 = $480, a B-cam, not the subject. On-site-day is YOUR hours in the room plus travel hours you type × YOUR floor. Stock-license is hours you type to search, pick, and clear stills — 2h × $90 = $180. Voiceover is YOUR hours reading onto the track after the picture — 2h × $90 = $180, a mic, not a face. This card is the on-camera person’s hours in front of the lens × the rate you type for them.
What if I was going to eat the on-camera hours so the original quote still looks cheap?
Eating talent still spends their 4 hours. 4 × $150 is still $600 you covered. Naming it is not a union speech. Covering a face on camera for $0 trains the next “just drop someone in the shot.”
Is this talent math a SAG contract, a 20% shoot table, or a 50-state tax engine?
No. $600 is 4 times 150 labeled USD so you can read it. Currency and any tax buffer live on the hub calculator. Typing here does not book the person, does not write a talent clause, does not invent a SAG scale, and does not run a 50-state tax engine. Once they send a PDF, paste it on expense-markup — this page is their hours in front of the lens before that bill exists.