How much does a commercial film cost in Switzerland? A transparent guide for 2026

Let’s look at what a commercial film actually costs in Switzerland in 2026, based on real figures from a CHF 90’000 shoot we produced, and the official SSFV rate card (Swiss Union Film and Video).

In this article

• The short answer: what a Swiss commercial costs in 2026
• Why Swiss commercial production costs what it does
  • The SSFV framework
  • 50-hour weeks, 9-hour days, and what counts as work time
• What actually drives the budget: a line-by-line breakdown
  • Pre-production
  • Production: director, crew, and equipment
  • Equipment rental
  • Locations, permits, and the hidden cost of shooting in Switzerland
  • Post-production
  • Production and handling fees
• Cast and buyouts: the cost most first-time clients are less familiar with
  • Swiss actor day rates
  • What buyouts actually are
  • Swiss buyout percentages by media
  • A worked example for one lead actress
• Overtime, night shoots, and how the hours add up
  • A worked example for a Tier 3 gaffer
  • Per diems, meals, and travel
• Narrative commercial vs. corporate video: where the money actually goes
• How to get more from your commercial film budget
• Frequently asked questions
  • Minimum budget
  • Narrative commercial vs corporate video
  • Biggest budget lines
  • Do SSFV rates apply?
  • How long does production take?
  • What is a buyout?
• Talk to us about your project

The short answer: what a Swiss commercial costs in 2026

For a professional commercial film produced in Switzerland, realistic 2026 budgets fall into four tiers: These numbers are for the film itself. Media buying, the cost of airing the ad on TV, in cinema, or as paid digital advertising, is separate and often larger than the production budget. In short: in Switzerland, the budget for a narrative advert starts at around CHF 20’000. Below that, you can still produce high-quality video content, but this will tend to be portraits, testimonials or corporate videos centred on interviews, rather than a proper commercial.

Why Swiss commercial production costs what it does

Switzerland has a regulated and unionised film industry, which is based on fixed rates. Understanding this regulatory framework helps to understand the prices of film productions.

The SSFV framework: Switzerland’s official crew rate card

The Swiss Union Film and Video (SSFV) publishes recommended daily and weekly rates for every position on a film set. Producers, financial institutions, and crew all reference these figures when a budget is put together. The weekly rates assume a 50-hour work week on set and a 40-hour week in post. They come in three experience tiers, based on years in the function. One year of professional experience is defined as at least 100 days of work per calendar year. Tier 1: 1 to 3 years in the role Tier 2: 4 to 6 years Tier 3: 7 years and above A few reference points for weekly gross rates in 2025, in CHF, holiday pay of 8.33% is added on top: All rates in CHF, gross, for a 50-hour week. Source: SSFV 2025 weekly rate list. Commercials in Switzerland are usually budgeted on day rates rather than weekly rates, since the format is shorter. The SSFV and the Swissfilm Association were unable to reach a shared agreement on a dedicated commercial rate framework, and the SSFV currently recommends the 2009 daily rate list as a reference floor. In practice, most commercial productions reference both the daily list and the 2025 weekly rates, divided by five for an equivalent day rate, when building budgets.

50-hour weeks, 9-hour days, and what counts as work time

A few rules that directly affect a Swiss commercial budget: The contracted work week is 50 hours across 5 days, so 10 hours per day, including breaks. A standard shooting day is 9 hours of work, anything above that enters overtime territory, detailed further down. A shooting day cannot exceed 14 hours, including breaks and overtime. Night work, between 23:00 and 06:00, caps the day at 9 hours plus breaks. Turnaround between two shoot days must average 11 hours and cannot drop below 9. Travel time above 30 minutes each way, and transport of equipment or people in production vehicles, counts as work time. Lunch breaks shorter than 30 minutes count as work time too. These rules exist to protect crew from unsustainable working conditions. They also mean you cannot run a crew for 16 hours and expect the cost to match a 9-hour day. The overtime math, which we get to below, adds up fast.

What actually drives the budget: a line-by-line breakdown

In 2024 we produced Born to run, a narrative spec commercial for On Running. Two shoot days, lead cast, extras, multiple locations across Valais. The total calculated budget was CHF 90’271. Here is how it split:

Born to run was released as a spec project. Spec doesn’t mean free. It means every person on that crew list gave their time without invoicing, so we could make the film the way we wanted. If the same production had been commissioned at market rate, the client would have paid CHF 90’271. We valued the project at that number based on SSFV rates applied across the full crew and timeline. Below is what each of those lines actually covers.

Pre-production (9% on Born to run, typically 10 to 15%)

Pre-production is everything that happens before day one on set. On Born to run, this block included concept development, scriptwriting, storyboarding, budgeting, scheduling, PPM, pre-production meetings, location scouting across Valais, casting of the three Lena timelines, production design and set design preparation, styling and costume preparation, hair and makeup tests, rehearsal with the cast, shot lists, mood boards, art direction meetings, contracts, and permits. Skipping any of those steps tends to cost more than doing them. A shoot day that starts without a locked shot list, rehearsed cast, or prepared set is a shoot day that runs long, which pushes you straight into the overtime math below.

Production: director, crew, and equipment

On Born to run, the production block came to CHF 36’468. Within that, the director fee was roughly CHF 20’000. That director fee covers the entire project from A to Z: concept development, script, casting, directing both shoot days, post-production supervision, colour grading, and final delivery. It’s a flat fee for the creative direction of the project, not a day rate for showing up on set. The remaining CHF 16’000 covered the rest of the crew: DoP, 1st AD, 1st AC, gaffer, art director and production designer, image consultant, production assistants, boom operator, still photographer, and more than 15 positions on set across the two days. If you take that crew list and apply SSFV weekly rates, the numbers reconcile quickly. A Tier 1 DoP is CHF 3’665 for a full week. For two days, that is roughly CHF 1’466 of base rate, plus holiday pay, plus employer social charges of around 12.5%. Multiply by 10 to 15 crew positions and you are at CHF 25’000 to 40’000 of crew alone before you touch a camera.

Equipment rental

A realistic camera and lighting package for a narrative commercial shoot day looks something like this. We took our reference prices from Swiss rental houses like Eberle Filmequipment, Blow Up Rental, and Visuals:

Multi-day discounts usually apply: 3 days billed at around 2.5× the daily rate, 5 days at around 3.5×. On Born to run, the equipment block came in at CHF 3’992 across two days. We shot with equipment we own at Focusline and built the approach around it. On a commissioned shoot of the same ambition, we’d have added a few rented pieces on top, some additional lenses, a proper dolly system, a couple of lights, things that would push the equipment line closer to the indicative rate above.

Locations, permits, and the hidden cost of shooting in Switzerland

Public locations in Switzerland almost always require a permit, and municipalities charge fees that range from free, small villages, goodwill, to several thousand francs per day, city centres, main squares, stations. Cities like Geneva, Zurich, and Lausanne have formal film offices with published tariffs. On top of the fee, you should also budget for location scouting days, location manager fees, security if public space is affected, traffic control if you block a road, and insurance certificates the city will ask for before granting the permit.

Post-production (15 to 25% of most budgets, 29% on Born to run)

Edit, colour grade, sound design, music, VFX, versioning, delivery. On Born to run, post was CHF 26’457, which covered offline edit, online, colour grading, original music composition, sound design, mix, versioning, and delivery. Original music on a narrative commercial typically runs CHF 3’000 to 8’000. Licensing from a stock music library runs CHF 200 to 1’500 depending on the track, territory, and duration.

Production and handling fees: what the producer actually does

The handling and production fee on Born to run was CHF 12’827, around 14% of the total. This is what a producer brings to the project beyond the crew list: the network that gets the right people on a shoot, the experience of building a realistic budget, the time spent negotiating with rental houses, contracting crew, handling social charges and payroll, sorting insurance, and absorbing the financial risk if the shoot runs long. It’s the work that makes the rest of the numbers possible. Production fees in Switzerland typically run 12 to 20% of the below-the-line budget.

Cast and buyouts: the cost most first-time clients are less familiar with

This is the area where budgets can move significantly between first quote and final invoice, which is why it is worth addressing upfront.

Swiss actor day rates

The SSFV, together with ScèneSuisse, t. Professions du spectacle, and the Syndicat Suisse Romand du Spectacle (SSRS), publishes three recommended gross day rates for professional actors on audiovisual productions: Tier A: CHF 1’650 gross, the entry rate for actors with formal acting training or equivalent recognised experience Tier B: CHF 1’950 gross, for actors with 10 to 15 years of professional experience Tier C: CHF 2’350 gross, for actors with more than 15 years of experience There is no half-day rate. The day rate covers the shoot day plus all the work around it: script study, costume fittings, hair and makeup tests, rehearsals, one day of dubbing, and for bigger roles, interviews and press. For small non-speaking roles and children, rates can be lower. Featured extras sit around CHF 250 per day, regular extras between CHF 80 and 150.

What buyouts actually are

The day rate pays the actor to show up and perform. It does not pay for the right to use their image and voice in your advertising. That right is a separate line item called a buyout. Buyouts are calculated as a percentage of the actor’s day rate, per year of use, per media channel.

Swiss buyout percentages by media, SSFV recommendation

Buyouts for different media are cumulative. They are paid for one year of exploitation, in one country. Extend the campaign to a second year, and the buyout is paid again.

A worked example for one lead actress

Young professional actress at Tier A, one lead role in a Swiss commercial. Two shoot days. Campaign runs for one year on national TV, in cinema, and as paid online advertising. With a second speaking role, a handful of extras, and a year-two extension on top, the cast block can cross CHF 15’000 to 20’000 quickly. Worth mapping out cast and buyout costs at the treatment stage, when the media plan is still flexible.

Overtime, night shoots, and how the hours add up

Swiss commercial budgets are built around a 9-hour shoot day. Beyond that, each additional hour is billed at a premium, and the premiums stack fast. The commonly applied daily overtime scheme on Swiss commercials looks like this: Hours 1 to 9: base rate, 100% Hours 10 and 11: 125% Hours 12 and 13: 150% Hours 14 and 15: 200% Hour 16 and above: 250% Night work between 23:00 and 06:00: additional +25%, cumulative with overtime

A worked example for a Tier 3 gaffer

Let’s take a Tier 3 gaffer, 7+ years of experience, the 2009 list gives a daily base of CHF 600 for a 9-hour shoot day. The hourly base rate is 1/9 of the day rate, so CHF 67 per hour. Now apply the overtime scheme to a 13-hour shoot day: That is CHF 368 of additional overtime on top of the base day rate, a 61% uplift for four extra hours. Scale that across a crew of 10 to 15 positions, and a single long day can add CHF 4’000 to 6’000 to the crew budget. If any of those hours fall between 23:00 and 06:00, add another 25% on top.

This is why Swiss commercial budgets care so much about scheduling. A tightly planned 9-hour day and a stretched 13-hour day do not cost the same thing, even with the same crew.

Per diems, meals, and travel

If you shoot outside the crew’s home base, production covers accommodation and meals. Swiss industry per diems are fixed: Breakfast: CHF 10, if not provided Lunch or dinner: CHF 32 per meal, if not catered Laundry: CHF 7.50 per day, from day 6 of an out-of-town shoot Private car use on production order: CHF 0.70 per kilometre For a crew of 15 shooting for two days in Valais with catered lunch and hotel dinner for the team staying over, the meals and per diems line alone sits between CHF 1’500 and 2’500.

Narrative commercial vs. corporate video: where the money actually goes

Two 60-second films can carry the same runtime and cost CHF 20’000 or CHF 120’000. The difference is what the film is trying to do. A corporate video, a founder interview, a product walkthrough, a process overview, can be shot by a small crew in one location in one day. You budget for 3 to 5 people, one camera, a basic lighting package, and the invoice lands between CHF 8’000 and 25’000. A narrative commercial is closer to a short film. It has a script, a cast, multiple locations, a director, a DoP, an art department, a sound team, often a composer and a colourist. The budget reflects that team, not the duration of the final cut. Born to run would cost CHF 90’271 at real commissioned rates. Swift Shift, another spec narrative commercial we made for Alpina Bank, was a single-day shoot with a smaller cast and crew. At real rates it would land somewhere between CHF 40’000 and 60’000. Both are narrative commercials, just at different scopes, and neither would fit inside a standard corporate video budget. Understanding how costs split by format is one side of the equation. The other is finding a production company whose process and crew structure actually match the format you’re commissioning. Our guide to choosing a film production company in Switzerland covers what to look for in a portfolio, what questions to ask before signing, and what a cheap quote usually leaves out.

How to get more from your commercial film budget

A few principles consistently reduce commercial film cost in Switzerland without compromising the final result. Start with strategy, not a shot list. The most expensive rewrite is the one that happens in the edit. More time in preparation usually means less time spent in post trying to fix things that should have been solved at an earlier stage. Build for reuse from day one. A single shoot should produce the master film, cut-downs for social, vertical versions, stills for print, and behind-the-scenes content. Plan it into the shoot day and the rental cost stays the same. If they come up after delivery, you’re usually looking at a reshoot to get them. Respect the SSFV floor. Respect the SSFV floor. These rates are the industry baseline, not a ceiling. Budgets built below them put crew in a position where the work stops being viable, which is what the framework was designed to prevent. Talk to your producer about what the brief actually needs. Every production is a conversation about scope: how many shoot days, how big the crew, what level of art direction, how much post. A good producer will help you map your brief to the right level of investment, so you pay for what your film genuinely needs, no more and no less. For a stage-by-stage picture of what that preparation involves, and how each phase from brief to delivery fits together, our guide to how a commercial film production actually works walks through all ten stages.

Frequently asked questions

Talk to us about your project

If you are building a budget for a Swiss commercial and want a straight conversation about what your brief actually needs, book a call Discuss your project with Samuel or email samuel@focusline.ch. We’ll walk you through the numbers the same way we did in this article, with real figures and the reasoning behind them.

Focusline Production is a narrative commercial film company based in Valais, Switzerland. We build strategy-driven films for brands that want their advertising to feel like something worth watching. See our recent work or learn more about our approach to narrative commercials.