AI VIDEO COST CALCULATOR
Cost per accepted asset, with our acceptance rates published
- Format
- Worksheet, PDF and on this page
- Length
- 5 sections
- Gate
- None
- Licence
- Use it, commercially
The arithmetic we use to quote, published in full including the acceptance-rate assumptions it starts from. Work through it and you will have a cost per accepted asset, which is the only generative production number that survives contact with a finance team.
Cost per generation is the number studios quote. Cost per accepted asset is the number that appears on the invoice.
DOWNLOAD THE PDFNo email, no form. The whole thing is on this page too.
- 01Do this once per shot type, not once per campaign. Averaging across easy and hard work hides exactly the variance the calculation exists to expose.
- 02Use the acceptance-rate table for a first estimate, then replace it with your own logged numbers as soon as you have them.
- 03Compare the result against what a photographer or crew would have charged. Sometimes the honest answer is to book them.
1. The formula
Cost per accepted asset = (model spend + operator hours + review hours + licensing) ÷ assets that shipped. Rejected renders sit in the numerator. That is the whole point.
2. Acceptance rates to plan against
Starting assumptions, not benchmarks. Replace every row with your own as soon as you have logged two batches.
| SHOT TYPE | TYPICAL ACCEPTANCE | RENDERS PER ACCEPTED ASSET |
|---|---|---|
| Packaging with legible printed type | 15 to 30% | 3.3 to 6.7 |
| Product, no readable text, plate-locked | 55 to 75% | 1.3 to 1.8 |
| Recurring face, reference conditioning, multi-week | 20 to 30% | 3.3 to 5.0 |
| Recurring face, trained identity | 55 to 70% | 1.4 to 1.8 |
| Environment or abstract, no product, no face | 70 to 90% | 1.1 to 1.4 |
| Motion clip with hands in frame | 25 to 40% | 2.5 to 4.0 |
| Motion clip, locked camera, static subject | 60 to 80% | 1.3 to 1.7 |
3. Work it out
One column per shot type
| LINE | SHOT TYPE A | SHOT TYPE B | SHOT TYPE C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assets required | |||
| Acceptance rate (from section 2) | |||
| Renders needed = assets ÷ acceptance | |||
| Cost per render | |||
| Model spend = renders × cost per render | |||
| Operator hours × rate | |||
| Review hours × rate | |||
| Setup: plate build or trained identity | |||
| Licensing and clearances | |||
| TOTAL | |||
| COST PER ACCEPTED ASSET = total ÷ assets |
4. The sanity checks
- Operator hours included even where the operator is salaried. Salaried time is capacity.
- Any asset that shipped only after significant retouching logged as a failure plus a rescue cost, not as an acceptance
- Setup amortised across the assets it actually serves, not across the whole campaign
- A credit ceiling per asset set, encoded, and set to halt rather than warn
- Result compared against a conventional shoot for the same brief
If a trained identity moves your presenter acceptance from 25% to 65%, it pays for a day of setup within roughly one batch. That comparison is the single most useful thing this calculation produces.
5. When the answer is "do not do this generatively"
When cost per accepted asset approaches what a photographer or a small crew would have charged for the same brief, book them. That happens most often on single hero pieces, on briefs requiring a real face in a real place on a real day, and on work where legible printed type is unavoidable and central to the frame.
Free to use, copy, adapt and put your own name on. No attribution required, though a link back is appreciated. Published by TaleCrafters, talecrafters.studio.
- What Does Generative Video Production Cost in 2026?Model credits are pennies a second and studio engagements run into five figures. Both numbers are true. Here is what sits between them and which one applies to your brief.
- Cost Per Accepted Asset: Measuring Generative Production ProperlyThe metric that makes generative production explainable to the person who signs the invoice, and the arithmetic behind it.
Using this on a live job?
If the checklist turns up something you would rather not run yourself, TaleCrafters does this for a living. Bring the brief and the deadline.