What Portfolio Coaching Costs and What Moves the Price

Portfolio coaching is the one service we teach entirely on a one-to-one basis, and that shapes how it is priced. There is no classroom group to spread the tutor's time across, so the cost follows the hours spent with you and the preparation done between sessions. A tutor has to watch your footage, read your scripts and think about what a news editor would make of them before you ever sit down together.

I lead the camera side of our teaching, and I have watched many showreels get better without a single new shot being filmed. Often the work is selection, order and trimming. That is quicker than a reshoot, but it still takes careful viewing, and careful viewing is what you are paying for.

The price on our prices page reflects this. It is set per session, with clear notes on what each session includes, so you can see where the money goes before you send an enquiry.

The size and state of your starting material moves the price more than anything else. Someone arriving with three finished packages and a clear idea of the role they want needs fewer sessions than someone arriving with a drive of unlogged clips and no script. Neither is a problem. They are simply different amounts of work.

If you shoot your own material, we can look at framing, exposure and sound as well as edit choices, because those decisions are baked into the footage. If you report to camera, we spend time on delivery and structure. Each strand adds viewing and discussion time.

The honest way to estimate this is to send us a short description of what you have. We will tell you in writing how many sessions that usually takes, so there are no surprises later.

• Finished packages need review, not rebuilding
• Unlogged footage needs sorting before any editing advice
• Self-shot work adds a camera craft strand
• Piece-to-camera work adds a delivery strand

Coaching covers three related outputs, and they do not cost the same to prepare. A showreel is short and ruthless: a minute or two that has to prove you can shoot, report or cut at broadcast standard. Getting it right usually means watching a great deal and removing most of it.

A reporter portfolio is wider. It gathers scripts, packages, a short biography and evidence of range, and it needs a consistent look so a reader can move through it quickly. That takes more sessions because there are more pieces to align.

Application support covers the covering letter, the answers to a broadcaster's questions and the way you present yourself. It is the lightest of the three in hours, yet it matters, because a strong reel can be undone by a vague application. Many people combine two of the three, and we price the combination as the sessions it genuinely needs.

Each session covers the tutor's preparation, the time with you and brief written notes afterwards, so you leave with something to work from rather than half-remembered advice. Reviewing your material before the session is part of the price, not an extra.

Several things change the total. The number of sessions is the obvious one. A second output, such as adding an application to a showreel, adds time. Material that needs substantial re-cutting, rather than light trimming, takes longer. Sessions held at our Exeter premises and sessions held remotely are priced the same, since the tutor's time is identical.

What does not change the price is how senior the role is that you are aiming for. We charge for our time, not for the ambition of your target.

• Included: preparation, session time, written notes
• Adds cost: extra sessions, a second output, heavy re-cutting
• Does not change cost: venue or the level of role you want

Nothing is bought on this website. You start with an enquiry through the contact page, telling us what you have and what you are aiming for. We reply with a written quotation that sets out the sessions we recommend and the price for each.

Once you confirm in writing, we issue an invoice, which you pay by bank transfer. Sessions are then arranged at times that suit you and the tutor. If your plans change, cancellations and refunds follow our payment and refund policy, which is worth reading before you confirm.

I would rather you take a few days over the quotation than rush it. A coaching plan that fits your material and your timetable is worth far more than a quick booking you later regret.

Before you accept a quotation, decide what you want the finished piece to do. A reel for a first newsroom trainee post is a different object from a portfolio for a freelance reporter, and saying which you need lets us plan sessions honestly instead of padding them.

Ask how many sessions the quotation assumes and what happens if you need one more. Ask what you will have at the end: a finished reel, a set of notes, a reworked application. Those answers matter more than the headline figure.

It also helps to gather your footage in one place and name your best two pieces. That small step often saves a whole session of searching, and a saved session is money you keep.

• Name the role or audience first
• Confirm the number of sessions assumed
• Know what you will hold at the end
• Collect your footage in one folder