What a Lighting Plot Costs and What Moves the Price

People often assume a lighting plot is priced by the number of fixtures on it. In practice the cost follows the time it takes to understand a space and work out where light should come from. A plot for a small news desk with one presenter may hold a dozen fixtures, yet the thinking behind it is nearly the same as for a larger set, because the same questions have to be answered about faces, backgrounds and camera angles.

When I scope a job, I count the decisions rather than the equipment. How many camera positions share the set? How many presenters sit at once, and do they move? Will the lighting be fixed for months or rebuilt for each programme? Each answer adds or removes drawing and checking time, and that is what the fee reflects.

This is also why two enquiries that look alike on paper can come back with different quotations. The difference is almost always in the questions we could not answer from the first message.

• Camera positions and lens choices
• Number of presenters and how much they move
• Fixed rig or changing set
• Quality of the drawings we receive

The largest single driver is uncertainty. If the studio drawings are out of date, if the grid height is unknown or if the set design is still changing, the plot has to be drawn more than once. Each revision is real work, and a plot built on guesses has to be reopened when the facts arrive.

The second driver is the number of distinct looks. A news programme with one fixed desk is one look. A talk show with a desk, a sofa area and a standing interview position is three, and each needs its own balance of key, fill and background light so that the cameras cut between them without a visible jump.

Finally, live stages add the problem of mixed sources. Video screens, practical lamps and stage fixtures all throw light that a camera sees differently from the eye. Dealing with them properly takes more planning time than a plain studio does.

• Out-of-date or missing studio drawings
• Several separate looks within one set
• Video walls and practical lamps in shot
• Late changes to the set design

The most useful thing a client can send early is a current floor plan with the grid or rigging heights marked, together with a note of the camera positions. With those two items in hand, a first plot can often be drawn without a site visit, which removes travel and a day of measuring from the quotation.

A clear brief on the look also saves time. Telling us whether the programme should feel warm or cool, whether faces need to be lit softly, and what the director dislikes about the present lighting gives us a direction before we start. Without it we draw options, and options cost more than a single considered plot.

Where a studio already owns a stock of fixtures, designing around that stock is usually cheaper than specifying new equipment. We can say honestly when what you have is enough, and then the work shrinks to placement and settings rather than a fresh specification.

• Current floor plan with grid heights
• Camera positions marked
• A short note on the intended look
• A list of fixtures you already own

A lighting plot from us normally means a drawn plan showing fixture positions, types and aiming, a schedule listing each fixture with its purpose, and a short written note explaining the reasoning, so your own crew can rig and adjust it without calling us back for every question.

It does not include supplying or hiring equipment, and we do not rig the lights ourselves unless that is agreed in writing beforehand. Programming a lighting desk is a separate piece of work, as is attending a transmission day to adjust levels live. These can be added to a quotation, but they are priced on their own.

Keeping these edges clear avoids the awkward moment when a client expects a finished rig and receives a set of drawings. The written quotation lists what is covered, so there is no ambiguity about where our part ends and your crew's begins.

• Included: plan, fixture schedule, written note
• Not included unless agreed: hire, rigging, desk programming
• Attendance on transmission day is quoted separately

A reasonable number of small revisions is part of any plot, because the first drawing nearly always prompts a useful correction from the director or the technical manager. We allow for that in the quotation. What changes the fee is a revision that reopens the whole design, such as a new set layout arriving after the plot is drawn.

A site visit is worth its cost when the space is unusual, when the ceiling is low or cluttered, or when the existing lighting has to be understood before it can be replaced. For a regular studio with good drawings it is often unnecessary, and we will tell you so rather than add it for the sake of completeness.

Where a visit is sensible, we try to combine it with other work in the area to keep travel sensible, and the quotation shows it as a separate line so you can see exactly what it adds.

• Small corrections are expected and allowed for
• A redesigned set after drawing is a new scope
• Visits are shown as their own line

The most dependable quotation comes from a short conversation after your enquiry through the contact page. We ask about the set, the cameras, the schedule and what you already have, then send a written quotation that states what is included and what would change it.

Once you confirm in writing, we issue an invoice, payable by bank transfer, and the work begins. If your plans shift, tell us early. Cancellations and refunds follow the payment and refund policy, which is worth reading before you commit.

Treat any figure given without these details as a rough guide only. A real price needs the drawings, the camera plan and an honest description of how the set is used, because those are what the work actually depends on.