How much does a brand film cost in the UK?
By the How Two Cut team · 17 October 2026 · 5 min read
The short answer. Published UK guides put a brand film anywhere from about £3,000 for a simple interview-style film to £25,000 to £60,000 or more for a high-production campaign film. The useful question is what the film needs to do, because that sets the budget.
What do UK guides say a brand film costs?
Guides use different labels for different jobs, so their numbers differ. Bearjam's 2026 UK guide gives ranges by type of film:
- Simple interview or talking-head film: £3,000 to £6,000
- Single-location shoot with light production: £5,000 to £10,000
- Brand or campaign film, one to two shoot days: £10,000 to £25,000
- High-production brand or campaign film: £25,000 to £60,000+
- Animation or motion graphics: £4,000 to £20,000+
Motion3's guide, published in July 2026, puts a brand film at £3,500 to £7,000 per film, excluding VAT.
They differ because of scope. "Brand film" can mean a one-day interview or a multi-day campaign, so compare like with like.
What changes the price?
- Length, and how many films you need
- Crew size, number of shoot days, and how many locations or dates
- Talent, location fees and travel
- Extras such as drone shots, a teleprompter and licensed music
- Animation and graphics
- Editing: Bearjam says post-production can be 30 to 40% of a brand film's total cost, and Motion3 says a polished three-minute film routinely needs two to three days of editing, grading and sound
- Rounds of feedback beyond the one or two usually included
Why does a brand film cost this much?
Mostly because you are paying for skilled people for set days. UK recommended terms for commercial crews (Advertising Producers Association, from September 2025) set a director of photography at £908 to £1,516 a day, a camera operator at £514 to £637 and a sound mixer at £525 to £649. A small crew of those three is roughly £1,950 to £2,800 for one shoot day, for labour only. Kit, a director, a producer, locations, talent, music and the edit all come on top. These are terms for commercials, so a smaller project may differ.
Then comes the edit. Bearjam says post-production can be 30 to 40% of a brand film's cost, and Motion3 says a polished three-minute film routinely needs two to three days of editing, grading and sound. That is why prices run from about £3,000 for a simple interview-style film to £60,000 or more for several shoot days, larger crews, locations and effects.
What does a fair quote look like?
- A price split into planning, shooting and editing, so you can see where the money goes and what can flex
- The number of shoot days and the crew on each
- What the edit includes: rounds of changes, music, subtitles
- Shorter and vertical versions for social, priced up front
- Licences for music and for anyone on screen: where the film can be used, and for how long
How do you get more from one shoot?
A single day can produce a main film, shorter cuts for social media and still images. Plan for that before the shoot, not after it. It is cheaper to capture extra shots while the crew and lights are already there.
How do you set a budget?
Start with what the film must do. A 30-second launch film and an interview series need different money. Tell your production team a real budget range, or estimate what the film is worth to your business, so they can recommend the right level instead of guessing.
Can we make our film with AI instead?
AI can now make short clips, storyboards, rough cuts, subtitles and quick variations for very little. Production companies that sell AI-assisted work say it can turn a week of planning into an afternoon and let you try many more versions at the same cost. Those are the sellers' own claims, but independent research does show real gains on tasks AI suits: a Harvard-led study found consultants finished tasks 25% faster, at 40% higher rated quality. Even the sellers stress that it is not a button that returns a finished commercial.
What AI cannot do is film your real people, product or premises. And audiences notice:
- In NIQ research with more than 2,000 people, viewers spotted most AI-made ads and found them less engaging, calling them "annoying", "boring" and "confusing". Even high-quality AI ads left weaker memory traces than traditional ads.
- Kantar found a more mixed picture. Seamless AI ads can perform well on cut-through, but ads where the AI was obvious, or not tailored to the brand, did worse. How you use it matters more than whether you do.
- In the UK, the ASA applies the same advertising rules to AI-made ads as to any other, and saying AI was used does not fix a misleading message.
The cost of a film is mostly judgement: the story, the casting, the light, the performance and what is left out. AI can speed up parts of the work. It does not replace those decisions.
Common questions
Why are quotes so different from each other?
Because the scope differs: days on set, crew, locations, edit length and the number of versions. Ask each company to quote the same brief.
Do these prices include VAT?
Check. Many UK guides show prices without VAT.
Can a smaller budget still work?
Often, yes. A well-planned single-location shoot costs less than a multi-day production and can still look sharp.
Is the edit included?
Ask. Editing, colour and sound can take up a large share of the budget, so it should be named in the quote.
Sources
The figures and claims above come from these pages, as we found them in October 2026. Prices are from third-party UK guides, not How Two Cut quotes, and they change.
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