How much does a commercial cost in San Diego?

A professionally produced commercial in San Diego costs between $10,000 and $250,000 or more. Most of the commercials we make at Ockham land between $30,000 and $200,000. Here is what moves a budget up or down, and where the money goes.

Three typical budgets

Budget	What it usually buys
$10,000 to $50,000	One shoot day, one location, a small cast. One hero spot with shorter cuts for social.
$50,000 to $100,000	One or two shoot days, two or three locations, a larger cast, a full art department. Several finished spots.
$100,000 to $250,000 and up	Several shoot days, multiple LA talent, Multiple locations, set builds, visual effects or CG characters. A full campaign.

What drives the cost

1. The idea. One person talking in a kitchen costs less than a spy chase on a beach. The script sets the budget more than anything else.
2. Shoot days. Every day adds crew, gear, locations and catering. Most of our spots take one to three days to shoot.
3. Cast. How many actors, whether they are union, and where and for how long the ad will run. Celebrity talent is its own line.
4. Crew size. A simple spot needs ten people. A complex one needs forty.
5. Locations. A private house, a golf course and a closed street each come with a different fee and a different amount of paperwork.
6. Art department. Sets, props and wardrobe. Building a control room costs more than borrowing an office.
7. Post-production. Editing, color and sound are standard. Animation, visual effects and CG characters add time and specialists.
8. Versions. Lengths, shapes and alternates. Ten deliverables take more finishing than one.
9. Music. A library track, an original score and a famous song are three very different numbers.

Where the money goes?

On a typical $100,000 project, about 15% goes to pre-production and creative, 50% to the shoot itself (crew, cast, gear and locations), 25% to post-production and 10% to production fees and insurance.

Why San Diego costs less than Los Angeles

The crew positions, cameras and lenses are the same. The day-to-day costs around them are lower. One agency producer who has shot with us twice put it this way: “The thing that I love about working in San Diego is that we can still cast in LA for key roles, but production costs are about 60% of what they would be in LA.”

Permits help too. The City of San Diego charges no fee to register a shoot on City public property. And when a role needs Los Angeles casting, Los Angeles is two to three hours up the road.

How to get an accurate quote?

Bring five things to the first call:

1. What the commercial needs to achieve
2. Where it will run: TV, YouTube, social, all of them
3. A script or an idea, or a request for one
4. Your deadline
5. Your budget range

Yes, tell us the budget. We can make a good spot for $40,000 and a good spot for $150,000, but they are different spots. Knowing the number lets us design the right one.

Get a quote

Source for the permit fact: City of San Diego, filming registration.