The most dangerous words in freelance video: "Can we just get the raw footage?"

Here is exactly why you should say no, and the exact email script to use when they ask. 🧵

1/ Giving away raw footage devalues your work. You are selling a finished product, not ingredients. When a client sees 40 hours of raw footage, they don't see the 10 hours of curation it took to find the 2 minutes of gold. They just see "extra stuff" they paid for.

2/ It creates a liability nightmare. Uncolor-corrected, unmixed, unstabilized footage looks bad. If the client's cousin edits it and slaps your name on it, your reputation takes the hit. You lose quality control the second those files leave your hard drive.

3/ It ruins your leverage for future work. If they have the raws, they don't need you for the re-cut next year. They can hire someone cheaper on Upwork to chop up your hard work. Keep the raws, keep the client coming back.

4/ So how do you say no without sounding like a jerk? You don't say no. You say "Yes, but..."

5/ The Email Script:
"Hey [Name], we can absolutely transfer the raw footage to you. Our standard raw footage buyout fee is [50-100%] of the original project cost, which covers the transfer of intellectual property and unrestricted usage rights. Let me know if you'd like me to send over the invoice for that, and I'll get the drive shipped out."

6/ 90% of the time, they will say "Nevermind, we don't need it that badly." The other 10% of the time, you just doubled your project rate for dragging and dropping a folder. Win-win.

7/ The real problem isn't the client asking. The problem is that you didn't establish this boundary in the contract before the shoot even started.

8/ If you want my exact raw footage policy, plus the contracts and emails I use to stop scope creep entirely, I put it all in the Scope Creep Shield. Stop doing free work. Get it here: https://helloklaro.shop?utm_source=twitter