%20(1).png)
Most people spend more time researching a new laptop than they do vetting the person they’re about to hand several thousand pounds to. Here’s what to actually ask.
Hiring a videographer for the first time is a bit like hiring a builder. The work looks straightforward from the outside. The quotes come in at wildly different prices. Everyone says they’re good. And you have almost no way of telling, until you’ve already committed, whether any of that is true.
(I say this as a videographer. I am aware of the irony.)
These ten questions won’t guarantee you pick the right person. But they’ll tell you a lot - and the answers (or lack thereof) will do most of the work for you.
Not their showreel. That’s a highlights reel - their best moments from their best projects, cut to music chosen specifically to make everything look exciting. It’s the equivalent of judging a restaurant by its Instagram.
You want to see something that matches your brief in tone, format, or industry. If you need a talking-head interview video for a B2B software company, ask to see one. If they don’t have one, ask to see the closest thing they’ve got. A good videographer will be honest about the gap. One who isn’t will show you a car commercial and hope you don’t notice.
This is the one that trips people up most often.
A quote that says “£1,500 - one shoot day, edited video” leaves a lot of room for surprises. Does that include travel? A second camera? Music licensing? Captions? A second cut for social? Coloured gels? (Fine, that last one’s niche. But the point stands.)
Ask them to tell you specifically what’s in the price. Then ask what would cause the price to change. You’ll learn more from the second answer.
Some production companies quote the job and then subcontract it. You speak to a smooth account manager, you sign the contract, and then someone else entirely turns up on the day. Sometimes that someone is excellent. Sometimes they’ve never heard of your brand before and spent the drive over reading your Wikipedia page.
That’s not always a problem. But you should know. Ask directly: who will be on set? Who edits the footage? Is it the person I’m speaking to, or someone else?
If you’re hiring a freelancer, this question answers itself. One of the reasons smaller clients often prefer working with independents is precisely that - you know who you’re getting.
Get a specific answer, not a range of three months. Ask: when could we shoot, and when would I receive the first cut?
Also ask what the editing process looks like. Some videographers turn around a first cut in a week. Others take four. Neither is wrong - but you need to know which you’re dealing with, especially if you’re working to a deadline.
A videographer who asks you nothing before they quote is either very experienced or not very curious. Either way, worth probing.
What are you trying to achieve? Who’s the audience? Where does the video actually live - your website, a LinkedIn ad, a conference screen? These aren’t awkward questions. They’re the difference between a video that does something and one that gets filed in a shared drive and never mentioned again.
The better the brief they ask for, the more likely they are to deliver something that actually works. Ask them what information they need from you to do their best work. The quality of their answer tells you a lot about how they work.
Ownership and usage rights are two different things, and most clients don't realise that until it matters.
Ownership refers to who holds the copyright - usually the creator, unless it’s explicitly transferred in a contract. Usage rights are what you’re actually licensed to do with the finished video: where you can publish it, for how long, and on which platforms. A common arrangement is that the videographer retains copyright but grants you a broad licence to use the video commercially across your own channels in perpetuity. That’s usually fine. What’s less fine is discovering your licence only covers organic social posts when you’ve just decided to run it as a paid ad - or that it expires after a year and needs renewing at additional cost.
Ask specifically: what am I licensed to do with this video, and are there any restrictions? If the answer takes more than two sentences, ask them to put it in writing.
Also ask about the raw footage - the unedited files. Some videographers charge separately to hand those over, or don’t offer it at all. (Some will tell you they’re too large to transfer. They’re not wrong, but it’s not an insurmountable problem either.) If you think you might want to repurpose the footage later, ask now rather than after the edit is done.
Most quotes include one or two. That’s usually enough if you’ve done a proper brief upfront. If you haven’t, it isn’t.
Ask what happens if you need more. Some charge per additional round at an hourly rate. Some are flexible. Some aren’t. You want to know before you’re three rounds in, the relationship has soured, and you’re both pretending the last email was fine when it obviously wasn’t.
Not industry-specific experience - though that helps. What you’re really asking is: do they understand commercial context?
A videographer who has only ever shot music videos or weddings might be technically excellent but have no instinct for what makes a B2B brand video work. Beautiful footage isn’t the same as useful footage. The best ones ask questions about your audience, your competitors, what you want the viewer to do after they’ve watched. If they don’t ask those questions, you should.
(For what it’s worth: I spent twenty years in business before I picked up a camera. I’m not claiming that makes me better - just that I understand what a P&L is, and that matters when someone’s asking me to justify their video budget.)
Camera failure. Location falls through. The CEO gets ill. (The CEO always gets ill. I don’t know why. It just happens.) Not common overall, but if you commission enough video, it happens eventually.
Ask how they handle it. A professional will have a plan - backup equipment, a contingency approach, a clear process for rebooking. Someone who looks blank at the question is telling you something.
This is the one that sorts the technically good from the commercially useful.
Most videographers will give you a beautiful file and consider the job done. That’s not a criticism - it’s just where the brief ends for most of them. But if you’re spending real money on video, “it looked great” isn’t a measure of success. Views, leads, conversions, time on page, reduced sales cycle length - those are measures of success.
Ask them: what does a successful outcome look like to you? Do they talk about the client’s business goals, or just the production? Do they ask how the video will be used and by whom? Do they mention anything about format, length, or platform optimisation in relation to what you’re actually trying to achieve?
You’re not expecting them to be your marketing director. But if they’ve never thought about whether the thing they make actually does anything, that’s worth knowing before you hire them.
(For what it’s worth, this is the question I’d most want a client to ask me. It’s the one I find easiest to answer.)
None of these questions are gotchas. A good videographer should be able to answer all of them clearly and without hesitation - and if they can’t, that’s useful information too.
The shoot itself takes a day. The edit takes a week or two. Working with the wrong person, and then redoing it with the right one, takes considerably longer and costs roughly twice as much.
Ask the questions.
Want to know how Bentley Studios approaches all of the above? The pricing page covers what’s included as standard. Or get in touch with a brief and I’ll come back to you with a clear quote - and honest answers to all ten.
© Ian Bentley Ridgeway 2026, All Rights Reserved
.png){kind=icon}
.svg)