The message came from an address he did not know: an agency working for a large, well-known brand, with a request for one video. He was delighted, priced it the way he always does, and they agreed the same day with no discussion. That was the first signal, and he did not read it.
Then the work started. A fourteen page brief, one round of revisions, then a second, then a third, then a fourth once the client had seen the cut. After delivery they asked for a vertical version and a fifteen second version for paid ads. And the money arrived ninety eight days later, because the agency pays once the client has paid them.
The job was not a bad one and the agency did not cheat him. He had priced a video and delivered a project.
Invoicing and contracting systems differ between countries, and what follows is a way of working rather than legal or financial advice. For a large contract, ask a lawyer or an accountant in your own country.
Who the agency is and why it exists
An agency is a company that runs the brand's marketing: it sets the plan, picks who executes, reviews the work, and hands the client something finished. It is neither an enemy nor a redundant party, because it knows the market and pays a lot of creators every month.
But its interest differs from the brand's. The brand wants a video that works; the agency wants a video that pleases the brand. That small difference explains everything that follows.
Five real differences
| The item | Direct with the brand | Through an agency |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides | Usually one person | The agency, then the client, perhaps a manager above them |
| Revisions | One or two rounds | Three or more, across two layers |
| The schedule | Relatively flexible | Tied to a campaign with dates that do not move |
| Payment | After delivery, on the company's cycle | After the agency collects from the client |
| Usage | Usually publishing on your channel | May include paid ads and the agency's own platforms |
Where people lose the most is the last line, because it does not feel like work at all, so nobody asks about it.
The usage clause: the one people ignore
If the video will only be published on your channel, you are selling a video. If the agency will run it as a paid ad on the brand's account, or put it on their site, or recut it into advertising clips, you are selling something else, and far larger.
So ask four questions about usage before you name any number:
- Where does it run? My channel, the brand's accounts, or paid advertising?
- For how long? Three months, a year, or unlimited?
- What territory? One country or the whole region?
- Will it be edited? Does the agency cut other clips out of it?
Every answer that widens the scope raises the price, and that is understood and accepted in this industry. The mistake is granting wide usage at the price of a post on your own channel.
Price: why it differs
The agency takes its percentage of the client's budget, and that is not your business. What is your business is that working with them takes longer: a heavier brief, more revisions, calls, extra versions, and a report after publishing.
So price on the administrative time rather than the video alone, starting from your real number as in What does one video actually cost you?, then add three explicit lines to your quote: how many revision rounds are included, the price of an additional round, and the price of each extra version at another ratio or length. Whoever leaves those lines out pays for them in their own hours.
And if this is your first paid job, start from the pricing method in How Do You Price Your First Paid Collaboration? and add the agency calculation on top.
Eight questions in your first reply
One professional message before you agree, with questions nobody finds strange:
- Who is the brand, and is this a confirmed brief or still at proposal stage?
- What are the dates: filming, first cut, publishing?
- How many revision rounds are included, and who gives final approval?
- What are the usage rights, their term and their territory?
- What are the payment terms, and when does the clock start: the invoice or client approval?
- Is payment conditional on your collecting from the client?
- What do you need to register me as a supplier, and what invoice format do you accept?
- Is there exclusivity? Does it stop me working with a competitor, and for how long?
Question six settles a great deal. If payment is conditional on the agency collecting, you are sharing a risk that is not yours, so ask for a deposit or a fixed date that does not depend on a third party. The rest of organising collection is in After you deliver: how do you make sure your money arrives on time?.
Revisions and the approval chain
With an agency, every note passes through two layers: the agency reviews, then the client reviews, and a note can come back contradicting an earlier one. The fix is procedural and simple: ask for notes consolidated into one document per round, in specific rather than general language. "Make it stronger" is not a note; "cut the opening to ten seconds" is.
And fix it in your quote that a round means consolidated notes delivered once, which ends the endless revision chain. The rest of what gets written before filming is in What to Agree On Before You Film Any Paid Job.
Your own voice
Agencies often send a finished script, and you are not an advertising performer. Agree that you will rewrite the script in your own voice while keeping the required points, and explain that this is the reason the video works on your channel in the first place. Most agencies accept it because it serves the client, but you have to ask for it in writing at the start rather than after the third cut.
When an agency beats the brand
In three cases: when the agency runs a large budget and brings you repeat work with no prospecting of your own, when its processes are clear so it pays on time with no chasing, and when being on its supplier list brings you other clients' jobs. One good agency relationship is worth ten scattered direct clients.
Which is why it is worth sending them a tidy document in your first message, as in Your channel's media kit for brands.
Four warning signs
- They will not name the brand. This happens at proposal stage, so ask for it to be confirmed before you block out days in your schedule.
- A flat price for everything. An agency that does not distinguish a video on your channel from a video used in paid ads is buying the widest thing at the cheapest price.
- Urgency with no contract. "Start and we'll send the paperwork later" is an expensive sentence. If there is no contract, an email with the key terms will do.
- Instant agreement to your number. Agreement with no discussion usually means the budget is larger than you asked for, and the scope larger than you understood.
And if it is your first time
Take the job, but keep it small and defined: one video, limited usage, a deposit, and two rounds of revisions. The purpose of the first run is to learn exactly how this agency works, and then you decide whether it deserves a long relationship or was a lesson you pay for once.
The rule that sums up the whole subject: with a brand you sell a video; with an agency you sell a video, rights, and administrative time. Price all three.