Articles

AGENCIES VS FREELANCERS

Choose the best option according to your needs!

CUSTOMER:

Campaign:

LAUNCH:

Production partner:

INTRODUCTION

”Why should I work with an agency when freelancing costs less?” This is a question that comes up often.
And honestly, it deserves to be asked!

There is often confusion — even a certain amount of disdain — when it comes to choosing between an agency and a freelancer. However, these two options meet different needs. Understanding their differences in terms of cost, creativity and strategic support is essential to choosing the best solution for your project!

THE DIFFERENCES

‍Expertise & Team

Agency: An audiovisual agency brings together several experts with different skills (directors, editors, artistic directors, etc.), all supervised by a production director or a consulting director (or both, like us). This precise management guarantees optimal creative, organisational and budgetary follow-up.

The benefit? A global approach and collective creativity, ideal for projects requiring an overall vision and flawless execution.

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Freelance: A freelancer works alone, often specialising in a particular area. They can be extremely talented, but are generally limited to managing large projects or projects that require multiple areas of expertise.

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Advice and Support

Agency: An agency is not limited to producing content. It provides comprehensive strategic support, taking into account the objectives of the company/brand:

Advice on adapted formats, durations and platforms.

Integration of the audiovisual project into a global strategy.

Full management including casting, equipment rental, post-production.

The benefit? A 360° vision, essential to ensure the coherence and relevance of a project with all of your communications.

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‍Freelance: Freelancers can also offer advice, but their support is generally more operational than strategic, limited by their ability to cover all aspects of a complex project.

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Added value

Agency: Beyond production, an agency provides:

A collective creative force: More minds = more ideas and innovation.

Optimised management: Respect of deadlines, coordination of talents, quality monitoring.

Expanded resources: Access to equipment, filming locations, specialised service providers.

The benefit? Higher quality and consistency, especially for large-scale projects.

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Freelance: Their main advantage? Flexibility and cost.

Fewer fixed costs = often more competitive rates.

Ideal for targeted missions (motion design, editing, event recording...).

More responsive on urgent or one-off projects.

THE BUDGET

Understanding the costs

The cost is directly dependent on the complexity and scale of the project.

The agency offers a turnkey service, with management, coordination and strategy: its price reflects this added value.

The freelance is often more affordable, but its resources and scope of action may be more limited.

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ATTENTION: Comparing prices only, without considering support and resources, can be misleading!

CONCLUSION

What choice for your project?

The choice depends on several factors:

Your budget: For a one-off project with a limited budget, freelancing can be a good option.

The complexity of the project: For projects requiring fluid coordination and multidisciplinary expertise, the agency is often the most relevant solution.

Your need for strategic support: The agency offers a global vision and continuous monitoring that fits perfectly into a global communications strategy.

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At BOLDEN, we collaborate daily with talented freelancers who enrich our projects. It's not about saying that one choice is better than the other, but about understanding the differences to choose the solution that best fits your needs.

A project? Let's talk about it!

A great achievement by the BOLDEN teams to create our agency anniversary videos. Responsiveness, creativity, more responsible solutions. The agency knew how to be totally in line with our ideas, our concept, and our desire to eco-design our com. Our videos were a hit on the networks, thank you again BOLDEN!

Manon Bailly

Agency Director at Bee Happy