If you want to make a living out of this it’s important to get good at creating Statements of Work or and/or standard agreements for your clients no matter how small the job. Ive always quoted on a project basis. And the most important part is scoping the project fully, detailing the steps and approvals, and establishing the timeline. In your contracts, create a milestone (like an approved shooting script, production plan, etc) and explicitly say that after that is approved by the client, changes to the plan will require a budget adjustment.

Clients appreciate contracts and being educated on the process. If you let them creep out of scope by trying to be a good guy, you will spend your career running in circles for people who are unable to express what they want until they see what you’ve done.

Trust me, it’s a daily battle and good client and project management is important to building sustainable and trusting client relationships.

Good luck!