A portrait film of your parents is the kind of gift that works especially well as a group commission. The cost splits naturally between siblings, the logistics sit with one person, and the thing you end up with is something none of you could reasonably have bought alone.
How this usually begins
Almost every group commission we take starts the same way. One sibling calls first. She has been thinking about this for a while, usually longer than she lets on. She has a parent who is getting older, or a couple who have been together for decades and have never really talked about what those decades meant. She has decided she wants to do something about that. She just hasn’t figured out how to make it happen on her own.
That’s the call we get. And it’s the right call to make.
What usually happens next is she goes to her brothers or sisters, explains what this is, and within a few days there are three or four people splitting the cost and she is leading the commission. The whole thing moves fast once it’s in motion. Getting it in motion is the harder part, which is what this post is for.
How to explain it to your siblings
The cost of a Core Portrait commission starts from £2,250. Across three siblings, that’s £750 each. Across four, it’s under £600. That’s the honest number to put in the group chat.
The harder sell, if there is one, is explaining what they’re actually paying for. Physical gifts at that price point tend to gather dust. A weekend away is enjoyed once and then it’s gone. This is something your parents will watch again, and their grandchildren will watch after them, and people who have not been born yet will one day sit with and feel like they understand something about where they came from.
That sounds like a grand claim. It’s also just what these films do.
The practical thing to say is this: one film, professionally directed, shaped around who your parents actually are rather than what they own or what occasion you’re marking. Theirs to keep. Private. Nothing public.
The instigator’s role
You do most of the work, honestly. That’s the nature of being the one who starts things.
In practice, what that means is: you’re the one who communicates with us, you manage the booking, you keep the secret if it’s a surprise, and you coordinate the day itself. Your siblings contribute their share and show up for the reveal. That’s a reasonable division of labour and most families find it falls naturally into place.
We handle everything on the production side. Discovery conversation with you first, then a session with your parents (or just one parent, depending on the commission), a filming day or two in their home or somewhere meaningful to them, and then the edit. You’ll see the film before anyone else.
Payment can be arranged in instalments, which means the cost doesn’t land all at once if that’s easier for the group.
What if some siblings live abroad
This comes up often and the answer is straightforward: where your siblings live doesn’t affect what they’re contributing to. The film is the point. And when it’s finished, every family member anywhere in the world can watch it on the private landing page we build as part of every commission.
It is, if anything, the gift that matters more when family is spread out. A film is not dependent on geography in the way a physical object or an event is. It travels.
Why this works better than pooling money for something physical
There’s a version of the group gift conversation that ends with a nice piece of furniture or a voucher for somewhere expensive. Those aren’t bad gifts. They’re just not this.
A portrait film holds something that cannot be bought separately: time with your parents as they actually are right now, in this chapter of their lives, with this specific version of who they have become. That version won’t be available indefinitely. The film is a way of keeping it.
Most families, when they watch the finished edit, say some version of the same thing: they didn’t know their parent had said that. Or felt that. Or remembered it that way.
You can’t get that from a weekend in the countryside.
Questions from siblings
How do we split the payment practically?
We invoice the lead commissioner, typically the sibling who initiates. How you divide the cost between yourselves is up to you. Payment in instalments is available if that makes the total easier to manage.
Can we keep it a surprise until the film is ready?
Yes. Most commissions that involve adult children as the commissioners are surprises, at least initially. The discovery conversation can be framed as a casual chat, and we’re experienced at working with families where the full picture isn’t shared with the subject until later. We’ll take your lead on when and how to reveal it.
Does it matter if our parents are in different cities, or if the family is complicated?
Not in the way you might think. We’ve filmed in all kinds of family circumstances. The discovery conversation is where we work out what the shape of the film actually is. If your parents have a particular dynamic, or if there are parts of their story that feel sensitive, that’s the conversation to have with Pri before anything else. He’s a trained psychologist as well as a filmmaker, which means he’s comfortable with complicated. There is more on what to expect if your parent is camera shy if that is a concern for your family.
What does the finished film include?
Every commission includes a full-length archive film, a shaped 60-minute edit, two to four shorter thematic clips, a private landing page, and a physical hard drive in a presentation case. The private page is where siblings and extended family anywhere in the world can watch.
How far in advance do we need to book?
Ideally four to eight weeks before you want filming to happen, though we can move faster if timing is a factor. If a parent’s health is part of why you’re thinking about this now, tell us when you get in touch and we’ll prioritise accordingly.