I shot some surf video with the GoPro Hero2 and uploaded the footage to Vimeo.
A Vimeo member for the company cashforclips.net contacted me asking if I would sell him 15 clips for $100 or $200 when I supply model releases - which is very difficult because I don't know the surfers, need to find them and have them sign the model release.
The clips are about 10 sec long, HD 720p60 quality.
You can find the clips here:
https://vimeo.com/album/1785817 [nofollow]

Now I would like to ask what do you guys think of this price?
$6.5 a clip is not much is it?

It's the first time I am being asked to sell something and I now I am researching the possibilities to sell.
Cheers.

DO NOT "SELL" YOUR VIDEOS!

As Sean already mentioned, you should license your video clips through an agency like Pond5 for example.

You can set the price yourself and ask for $200 per clip. After the 50% commission you can make $100 per clip - OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

Don't fall for that stupid offer you got!

Thanks for the advice guys, it looks like I found a great forum :-)

I am just shooting these clips for fun and I never really thought about selling - sorry, licensing - them.
But some extra money to get better gear sure is welcome!
I will do some more research, thanks for the agency suggestions.

Although I just shot these with a GoPro, it looks like this footage is pretty unique, because I shoot this from in the water. I even have been contacted by the manager from on of the Pro riders who asked me if I could upload him a video from his guy.
I have no problem giving them away to surfers (under a Creative Commons license) to get some exposure but I IF I can make some extra money from them I want to learn how to do it the right way!

Be very wary if you can't get MRs and if the surfers are recogniseable in your clips.

Quote from: ShadySue on March 18, 2012, 17:10

Be very wary if you can't get MRs and if the surfers are recogniseable in your clips.

You sell them as editorial clips in that case... Am I missing something?

I wasn't sure, from what the OP wrote, that he would be aware of the issues. He seems not to sell stock already.

It would probably be easiest to approach the surfers first.  Explain what you want to shoot and what you'll use the footage for.  You can give them copies of the videos or photos for free, or pay them.  I always pay my models and feel it is still a very good deal for me.  If I was going out to do a surfer shoot for 2-4 hours with a surfer as good as you shot, I'd probably pay them from $75-$100 and shoot a lot of stills on the beach and in the water and then some video.  With video it would only take a few sales to make back your $$ you paid to the model.

mmm thanks for your thoughts Leaf!
I can also put up something in the local surf shop. "Models wanted"
I can offer them the pics/clips, maybe under CC so I still get my link if they put it on YouTube etc. (I doubt it but hey I can try)
Or something like a 50 eur.
Cool

You're starting to get the hang of it

Advertising in the surf shop might be a good way to go. People want to be "famous" and often volunteer for free, which would be good for you to start out and get model releases.

Of course they should be somewhat able to put on a little show on the surfboard. What good is it if you have a guy fall off the board 9 out of 10 times?

I would be hesitant about the CC unless you mean that the surfers can get your footage for free to use it for their own personal promotion and not for commercial purposes.

Either way you need to explain to them that you are the copyright owner and only you can license the footage, so they can't just hand out more copies to other people!

It's a very exciting venture, I hope you enjoy it!

Yeah, advertising in a surf shot would be a good idea.  There is also most certainly a surfers forum you could use, or a facebook group for the area you are shooting.

If you have a deal with the surfers you could get them to wear the clothes you request, which would be plain clothes without brands for the shoot.

You don't have to do anything with Creative Commons.. If you want to exchange clips for time with the surfers, just give them the footage and say they are free to use the footage as long as they don't sell it (essentially the same as a RF license).  You could include that they should give you credit if you want.  Even though I always pays my models, I have never paid for a location.  Locations have always been interested in usage of the shots so I just exchange finished images for use of the location.  I give them the shots with a regular RF license.

You could also put out a casting call on ModelMayhem requesting that the models are able to surf.