A personal documentary from The Open Journal costs from £2,250 for a Core Portrait, from £3,500 for an Extended Chronicle, and from £5,500 for a Signature Opus. Every project is quoted individually after a discovery call, which costs nothing. Payment in instalments is available across all three tiers.
What the price includes
The same set of deliverables comes with every commission, whatever the tier. A full-length archive of everything recorded. A 60-minute shaped edit. Two to four shorter thematic clips. A private landing page where family can watch and share from anywhere in the world. A physical hard drive in a presentation case.
It is not a file sent over WeTransfer. It is something to hold.
The tiers differ in scope, not in care. Core Portrait is one day of filming, one subject, a single through-line. Extended Chronicle brings in more time, more locations, sometimes more voices from people who knew the subject well. Signature Opus is the longest form; it is what you commission when the story is genuinely complex, or when the family wants something closer to a feature.
What affects the cost
Three things move the price.
Duration is the most significant. Longer films take longer to edit, and the edit is where the real work happens. It is not the filming that takes time; it is the weeks spent finding the shape of a life inside hours of recorded material.
Complexity adds to it. One subject, one location, one set of themes is the baseline. Multiple subjects, travel outside London, or archival work (old photographs, home films, letters) all add to the scope.
Travel is discussed separately. The studio is based in North London and takes commissions across the UK. Travel within London is included. Anything further is factored in and quoted clearly before any agreement is reached.
Why it isn’t priced like a day rate
This is the thing most people get wrong when they start looking into this. A videographer hired by the day will give you a number based on their time on location. That is not what a commission with The Open Journal is.
Pri is a director, not a technician. The shoot is one part of the work. Before it, there is time spent getting to know the subject properly, understanding what the real story is (which is often not the obvious one), and building enough trust that something true can happen on camera. After it, there are weeks of editing. Most of the thinking happens in the edit.
The price reflects the full scope of that work, from first conversation to final delivery. Honestly, the hours involved would make a day rate look strange.
Splitting the cost
Group commissions are fully supported. Siblings splitting the cost of a film about a parent is one of the most common ways commissions come together. The studio handles the agreement and delivery as a single project; how the cost is divided between the people commissioning it is entirely up to them.
How to find out the exact figure
Every project is quoted individually because no two commissions are the same. The starting prices above are genuine starting points, not bait-and-switch minimums. The best way to get an accurate figure is a discovery call with Pri, which takes about 30 minutes and costs nothing.
It is also just a good conversation. Most people find it useful even if they are not yet sure.
Questions
How much is a Core Portrait exactly?
Core Portrait commissions start from £2,250. The final figure depends on scope, which is worked out during the discovery call. There are no hidden fees; everything is quoted before anything is agreed.
Can I pay in instalments?
Yes. All three tiers support payment in instalments. The structure is worked out at the point of commission, and it is flexible enough to suit most situations.
What if I want to commission a film as a gift?
Many commissions are gifts. There is a full piece on how to give a personal documentary as a gift — including how to keep it secret and how far ahead to plan.
Does the price include filming outside London?
Travel within London is included. Anything further afield is discussed at the discovery call and quoted separately, clearly, before any commitment is made.
How is this different from hiring a videographer?
A videographer charges for their time on location. What you are commissioning here is a director-led portrait film; the shoot is one part of a months-long process that includes pre-production, a structured discovery conversation, filming, and a full editorial edit. The cost reflects that whole arc of work, not just the day with a camera.