What percentage do real estate media companies pay photographers?

At my studio, Cineminn, about 30 percent of the shoot. The company finds and keeps the agent, books, edits, delivers and bills; the photographer shoots. Other companies pay per job or a day rate.

Is it worth shooting for a real estate media company?

If you want to shoot and skip sales, yes, for a while. You earn a share of each job, not the job, and the agents stay theirs. Learn the parts of the business you don't see yet while you're there.

How much should I pay someone who sends me photography clients?

If you keep the agent and do all the work, pay for the introduction once: a flat fee for the first booked job. A percentage of every job forever means paying for the same client again and again.

Answers › Running the business

Ask the agent

A company wants a cut of every job it sends me. How much is fair?

How much commission should I expect to pay for every job given to me?Asked by a photographer on Reddit, r/RealEstatePhotography

Two different deals hide under that question, and they pay very differently. If the company finds the agent, books her, and handles the editing, delivery and billing, you’re their shooter, and at my studio shooters get about 30 percent of the shoot. If they only market you and you do everything else, they’re selling leads, and a cut of every job forever is a bad price for a lead. Ask who owns the agent before you talk about any number.

If they own the agent, you’re the shooter

I’m on the other side of this deal. At Cineminn we pay our photographers and videographers about 30 percent of the shoot. We find the agent, keep her, book the job, handle the editing, deliver the files and collect the money. The shooter shows up and shoots.

That’s a fair deal for what it is, and it’s a good one if you want to shoot and never make a sales call. But be clear about what it isn’t. It isn’t your business. The agent books the company, not you, and when the company stops sending jobs your calendar goes with it.

Take it with your eyes open. Learn how the company runs the parts you don’t see yet, keep your own brand separate, and don’t touch their agents. Going around the company to its agents is the fastest way to lose the jobs and the reference.

If you own the agent, it’s a lead, and a lead has a price

The poster’s deal is the other kind. They set their own prices and do all the work; the company wants a commission on every job that comes from its marketing. That’s not a studio, that’s a lead seller taking a share of the client forever.

Do the math on a good agent. Say she books you ten times a year. A percentage of every job means you pay for the same introduction ten times, every year she stays. That’s the same trap as a 60/40 partner split: a percentage quietly decides who owns the agent.

Pay for the introduction once. A flat fee for the first booked job from each new agent, written down, with an end date. If they’re confident their marketing works, they’ll take it. If they need a cut forever, they’re counting on you to do the work that keeps her.

A percentage of every job means paying for the same agent over and over.

Get three answers in writing before the first job

Who invoices the agent? Whoever collects the money owns the relationship, no matter what the agreement calls you.

Who delivers the files, and under whose name? If the files come from their delivery site with their logo, the agent learns their name, not yours.

Who owns the repeat booking? When she calls again in March, is that their job or yours, and does the cut still apply? If the answer is fuzzy now, it will be a fight later. Settle all three, and the right percentage, or the right flat fee, usually becomes obvious.

The line

Before we talk percentage: when one of these agents books me again next month, is that your job or mine?

The big lesson

Pay a share for a client you’ll never own; pay once for a lead you will.

Do this

This week: before you sign anything, ask the company who invoices the agent, who delivers the files, and who owns the repeat booking, then price the deal from those three answers.

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Straight answers

What percentage do real estate media companies pay photographers?: At my studio, Cineminn, about 30 percent of the shoot. The company finds and keeps the agent, books, edits, delivers and bills; the photographer shoots. Other companies pay per job or a day rate.
Is it worth shooting for a real estate media company?: If you want to shoot and skip sales, yes, for a while. You earn a share of each job, not the job, and the agents stay theirs. Learn the parts of the business you don’t see yet while you’re there.
How much should I pay someone who sends me photography clients?: If you keep the agent and do all the work, pay for the introduction once: a flat fee for the first booked job. A percentage of every job forever means paying for the same client again and again.