-
How to deal with a problematic client
-
I wasn’t meaning to beat anybody up. I just don’t smother things with honey. More like hot sauce.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD . -
[Steve Wargo] “What I’d really like to is for people to stop saying that they are “filming” when the only film they know about is the film that covers them after not bathing for a few days.”
C’mon Steve, “filming” sounds so much better than “videotaping”. I tend to use “shooting” though.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style! -
[Jason Jenkins] “C’mon Steve, “filming” sounds so much better than “videotaping”.”
But many of us are not using tape so that doesn’t work either.
[Jason Jenkins] “I tend to use “shooting” though.”
Which in some cases doesn’t sound politically correct. I often video controversial people and walking through the door with a long bag and pronouncing you’re here to shoot so and so is really in poor taste.The problem is the technology is changing faster than the language.
-
While I totally and completely fall on the side of Chris Blair’s explanation of the right and reasons to own your footage, especially if you put it in your contract, and the issue of unscrupulous clients that don’t want to pay you (as the only ones I have had an issue with concerning the same), I think my problems with the original poster come down to this:
We finally agreed on a 1 month drop-dead timeframe to deliver the 3 minute version to them
If you really give your clients this long of a finish time for a 3 minute cut, I would indeed at least hire someone yourself to cut the spot for them. This is indeed “holding the footage Hostage.”
And I wish Walter would quit framing his views on this issue as one of “ethical practices.” It is his opinion which he espouses and is entitled to, nothing more nothing less. It has nothing to do with ethics.Dual 2.5 G5, IO, Kona LH, IO, Medea Raid, UL4D, NVidia 6800, 4Gig RAM
Octocore 8 GB Ram, Radeon card, MBP, MXO
Windows Vista Adobe Studio CS4, Vegas 8.0, Lightwave 9.3, Sound Forge 9, Acid Pro 7, Continuum 5, Boris Red 4, Combustion 2008, Sapphire Effects -
Wouldn’t Record or Recording be correct as that is what we are doing?
KB
-
There are two ways to weed out clientele quickly…
raise your rates or tell em their tapes aint theirs.
Bottom line…wanna keep em, bend over backwards and do so. Tired of em milkin ya, play that hold your tapes ransom game and they’ll split.
-
lol
I met a guy who charged by the finished minute back in the 80s. -
Suggesting that a way to weed out clients is to hold tapes hostage does a disservice to folks trying to understand the intellectual property rights issue.
It suggests people and companies who claim copyright ownership of their footage are doing something unethical. We aren’t. Copyright laws were enacted for a reason…to protect the type of work we do. Most of our work is intangible. There is absolutely nothing unethical or underhanded about enforcing your right to ownership of the tapes and the footage that’s on them, as well as the finished product edited from that footage.
That’s right…in most instances, the production company owns the copyright to the finished product. The only time they don’t is if the producer or client is heavily involved in the creative aspects of production. And in that case, copyright is jointly owned.
If a client wishes to retain ownership, all they have to do is request that the project be done as “work for hire.” That’s it. In 25 years working in this business, I’ve never had one client ask. In the last 5 years, we include a sentence in contracts that clearly states we own the tapes, footage and the finished product. That too has never been questioned prior to a project.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…if you’re ever in a situation where a large client holds your latest invoice hostage until you deliver that next spot or set up that next shoot…(as we have had happen to us), believe me, you’ll be glad you have something of value as leverage in the deal. And for those wondering, yes we require desposits and don’t do the work until we get them. But a 30% deposit on a $$75,000 shoot leaves a pretty large balance.
“Holding tapes hostage” has probably led to us getting about $115,000 of nearly $215,000 in billing from a client. Without that leverage, we’d have probably been stiffed for the entire amount.
Since the ability to use the footage on the tapes or the finished product is virtually non-existent, financial protection is the key reason it’s actually a good practice to follow.
It’s also one of those issues where you have to use your judgement. We have another very large client that occasionally asks us to give footage to another production house that also edits projects for them. This client pays like clockwork with a bank transfer 7 days after we submit an invoice. They put us up in suites when we’re on the road. They feed us like royalty. So we gladly give the other production company digital copies of the footage (they use the same editing system as us so they just load them and edit).
Bottom line, there’s nothing wrong with companies who operate under the policy: “clients own the footage.” And there’s likewise nothing wrong with companies whose policy is “we own the footage.” They’re both ethical, and as this forum proves, you can be successful either way. I think the key issue is letting clients know up-front where you stand on the issue. Plus…on the majority of projects, it’s a non-issue.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Recording can imply audio as well as video.
Video record or video recording is OK but doesn’t say as much as filming (to film) taping (to tape). Recording doesn’t say to what. The problem is the lack of common terminology for video recording to solid state media. -
I was not commenting on ethics. I was stating the fastest ways to wed out a client. You are excersising one of those ways.
If you want to keep that client, the answer is yes sir. You could have had a young go-gettinr pull a double and handed em what they needed that next day. They know this and know the guy down the road that’s been trying to get their business will.
It’s in no way about tapes. To them, it’s about customer service. A willingness to please them. If you are not bending over backwards today, you simply aint gonna be bending tomorrow.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up