Advice with setting up a 2 person business

[David Chandler-gick]

TY,

however you work out the logistics, you had better put down a plan of action, in writing, with CLEAR and SPECIFIC responsibilities, and duties for each of you. And you must do this in advance.

I cannot stress to you how vitally important this is to do BEFORE it becomes an issue… And believe me, at some point, it will become an issue. I guarantee it. It might be minimal, but it will happen. Having that written document will save you a lot of in-fighting and stepping on one another’s toes. It will serve as a virtual unbiased third party… Think about it…

Using external FW drives to store projects is an excellent way to share projects between machines / locations. As far as workflow, unless you and he see things exactly the same, I’d suggest a workflow that doesn’t allow you each to create steps that are the same. Uh oh, I just realized this is probably going to be more difficult to explain than I thought…

For example, lets say you have 2 weddings to edit. Joe and Bob could each start to edit a wedding and each ends up looking totally different from one another. Which one is representative of the company’s style?

Instead, you might consider a workflow where working on one wedding at a time, Joe starts each edit by focusing on the mutiple camera segments – The Ceremony and the 2 cam stuff from the Reception, like the First Dance, Toasts. Meanwhile, Bob starts on the 1 camera stuff like pre-ceremony, photo session and 1 camera stuff from the reception.

When complete with each, they swap and the other “finishes” each segment started by the other. Next, one person takes all of the finished pieces and intergrates them into a single, cohesive piece while the other takes all the cutting room floor stuff and builds a short “bonus” features segment for the DVD and also lays out the packaging.

Now, that’s just one scenario, and YMMV, but it’s a concept that allows you to produce a CONSISTENT product, divide the responsibility equally, and keep peace.

-DJ
David Chandler-Gick
Dynamic Media Group (www.dynamicmediagroup.com)
a deveraux film (www.adeverauxfilm.com)
Event Video COW Moderator
Contributing Editor eventDV magazine (www.eventdv.net)

[Tyez]

Thank you I totally agree. I know this will be the biggest issue and I don’t want it to wreck our friendship or business either. I do want something firm up front. Thanks for the idea about splitting up the work from the beginning rather then one do one half the other do the other half. You would totally tell the differnce in the styles. This will take sometime to think up properly for everyone invovled. I know I am the type to take total control. So I will have to give alot. I aprreciate all the help I can get from this forum.
TYEZ

[Doug Graham]

Or one of you can be the shooter, and the other the editor. If you feel that one is more work than the other, you can work out an arrangement to share the proceeds accordingly.

I’d go further than David on this one. Not only do you need some kind of agreement on who does what and for how much, you should set up a formal partnership. Or, if you really are the one who likes to be in control, you set up the business and hire your friend as an employee or use him as an independent contractor.

Regards,
Doug Graham