How’s business right now? (Also, what and where?) And how are YOU doing?

[Ned Miller]

Hi All,

I’ve been retired about two years from the hamster wheel but I have one good tech client that gives me a very profitable couple of days a month, I can choose the dates and use my outmoded non-4K camera. I was suppose to go down and shoot at a large trade show in Atlanta March 9 & 10, I was going to drive down from Chicago and afterwards visit old friends in the SE for a week. The virus panic was just starting to get rolling but not the concern it is now.

Well, two days before the shoot the client’s client backed out. Fear of the virus, or rather of the South Koreans, Italians and Japanese who were going to be exhibiting and attending. I had no other work coming in, this would have been a quick $4K profit for me. I was a little nervous about how infectious the virus is but didn’t want to let my client down. I was letting my greed cloud my judgement. After freelancing for 41 years my default response is to always figure out how I can squeeze a gig in because one never knows when it will get slow.

But! And this is why I am posting, the client emailed and wanted me to do a one day shoot in TX for their client who had backed out in Atlanta, and now everyone is freaking out about getting infected. I discussed it with my wife and she started to flip out so I had to convince her how careful I would be: I’d drive down only eating my home made sandwiches from my cooler and cheese and crackers, I’d have no human contact besides the person at the desk in the hotel, I’d pump gas with the glove I now have in the car, etc. The shoot would be simple product demos, 1 engineer holding and discussing how their new gizmos work. But my wife wasn’t buying it and if I did do the shoot I’d have to stay in a hotel for two weeks when I got back.

So I emailed the client, mentioned all my health issues (plus I’m 66) and begged out of the gig, fearing they would find someone new and I’d be replaced and the response I go back was that they just wanted to squeeze this project in before their fiscal year ended!!!! I suggested that I could pre-invoice them and do the job once it was safe in the new fiscal year and I am waiting to hear back. I have done that several times for marketing departments: They have to spend their entire budget or it won’t be fully renewed in the next year’s budget. So think about suggesting that to your clients whose fiscal year will be ending in the next few months. They may need to park that money with you upfront.

I feel for you all, that’s why I visited this forum I was active on for many years, I wanted to see how you’re doing. It is hard enough to survive through a regular recession let alone the uncertainty this virus creates. I think all of our clients, broadcast may be an exception, will be in survival mode for about a year or so.

Good luck, stay positive, look for unique niches like live streaming and most importantly: STAY HEALTHY!

Ned in Chicago

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com

[Rich Rubasch]

Hey Greg; Well then it is surely a small world, because Will Hunter at MPI gave me my first job in Madison after moving there from Hawaii. I too brought my skills editing and animation to MPI starting in 1999.

One of my fondest awards is a demo reel I did with Jon called “Video: Still the Best Way to Tell a Story”.

Shape those stories!

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com

[Greg Janza]

[Rich Rubasch] “Well then it is surely a small world”

It certainly is. I left the company in 1996 but the years I spent working with the MPI team gave me the skills that I needed to go out in the world and become a successful freelance editor. I’m forever indebted to those folks because they instilled in me the notion of always delivering the highest quality product to the client. This notion has guided me throughout my entire career.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmprods
tallmanproductions.net

[Tim Wilson]

In the category of “the job is gone, just plain gone”, the International Cinematographers Guild is reporting 120,000 jobs have been lost so far in Hollywood, and another 50,000 in London. That’s just for people on sets. It doesn’t include editors, VFX, sound, plus people in support businesses (say, catering, accounting, payroll, transportation).

So, as well as not including any of those folks, the 170,000 jobs lost so far are primarily centered in two cities. I can’t imagine that numbers in places like New York, Vancouver, and Mumbai are much better. We could easily be looking at a million people worldwide in the production business and related services who have no idea when they’ll be able to work again.

btw, I’ve been speaking to a lot of those folks, as I bet you have too, and they’re not especially inclined to hop on this thread to have Zelin yell at them to get back to work. (You hiring cinematographers, Bob? If so, I’ve got some names for you.) They’d also rather talk about nearly anything else, which is understandable.

And I know that plenty of you don’t care about the Metropolitan Opera, but it was very much a part of my life growing up in a barely working class Italian household, and I rode herd on our local edition of their broadcasts in my radio career. They’re also the largest arts organization in the US, and they’ve just laid off everyone. They’re paying health insurance for everyone, and instrument insurance for the orchestra, but no salaries for anyone for the foreseeable future. Amazing.

[Mark Suszko] “Nothing at all romantic or heroic about dying at your desk.”

Especially when, in your father’s case, if he’d been collapsed during normal working hours, someone would have been there to intervene sooner. Everybody dies sometime and somewhere (my mother had an aneurysm burst while she was stirring her tea at home, my father a few steps away: didn’t matter, she was gone before she hit the floor), but Bob’s romanticizing long hours is a death wish I don’t have, and romanticizing selfish public behavior in the name of productivity and job security is a murder wish I don’t have either.

It’s not okay to be this way. Rejecting your responsibilities as a member of human society isn’t funny and sure as shit isn’t noble. Glad to see that Bob’s employers are forcing some level of human decency, even if it’s over his objections.

I’ve been thinking for a while about another thread, turning the whole mental illness question on its head. We talk a lot about the toll that depression takes on creative people, and the challenges for introverts participating on creative teams, but we haven’t started to talk about the ways that our intensity feeds mania, and the grievous toll that extroverted “go go GO” leadership takes on our lives.

It’s no accident some of the most unpleasant people in ANY industry have long lived atop OUR industry. It’s been that way from the beginning, too. I think our industry was designed by mentally ill people who happened to have traits that are rewarded here, which makes it hard for people to prosper in this business while also trying to maintain any semblance of sanity.

My pique at Bob and millions of like-minded people notwithstanding, this thread is actually super-encouraging to me. I’m beyond delighted that so many of you here are finding ways to still work, and thinking creatively about solving the challenges of today AND make things better for the future. We need more of that, and less of a rush to return to a lifestyle taking an almost incalculable toll on all of us and our families.

[Tom Sefton]

Exactly, 100% this.

I love what I do, but I’ll be f***ed if I’m going to see it take time away from family and friends that it doesn’t need to.

Look after your family, your friends and your elderly neighbours. Stay healthy, stay sharp and then when this is over, wreak your absolute f***king last on doing your job in the best way possible FOR THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME you can.

Co-owner at Pollen Studio
http://www.pollenstudio.co.uk

[Bob Zelin]

Ooh – I am getting so many people riled up here !
Most of my work, and phone calls within the last few days has been on how to do remote access, so people can continue to work.

I observe that this is an opportunity to expand my knowledge about this, and get better about doing remote access for professional video editing. I am currently doing this with QNAP CloudLink, QNAP QVPN, and Synology QuickConnect, but certainly, I am seeing wonderful new developments from Studio Network Solutions NOMAD, and developments from LumaForge, ProMax and EditShare, all figuring out how to make all of this workflow a reality.
Because long after the Coronavirus is over, people will want a good workflow for remote access so they can work from home. It’s a shame that the internet infrastructure in the United States is so horrible (except for Google Fiber) – but we make do with what we have. I am sure the business from Aspera and Signiant are doing just fine right now.

Teamviewer is simply too expensive for most people when it’s used for professional applications, and I am RIGHT NOW studying alternate VPN solutions for remote editing, in addition to the “upload/download” process that I have been using from QNAP and Synology systems.

I am often forced to justify my life. Besides this work stuff, I go out to dinner with my wife, we have friends, I have an amateur little band that practices every Sunday just for fun, and I drink a lot of alcohol. Our main 3 week vacation for the year is based on the excuse of NAB, so it’s Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and this year of course, it has been cancelled. Other than that – THIS IS WHAT I DO. I WORK, I study, I don’t give up. I help people with their technical issues. I learn new techniques. I try to learn every day something new. Most people at my age (64) could not give a damn about any of these new products, new techniques, Frame I/O and all the other stuff that I think is cool. These
things mean little in their lives. Well, let them go play golf, or whatever they do. THIS IS WHAT I DO, and I intend to be good at it until I kick the bucket. When I had knee surgery back in NY City and could not take the subway to work (I was living in Queens at the time) – I hobbled onto the bus with my backpack the NEXT DAY and went to work, and took care of my clients. If I was paralyzed in a car crash, or lost limbs, I would still be doing this. I look at people who are paralyzed, and they are at the gym, or playing in basketball tournaments in their wheel chairs, or “jogging” in their wheel chairs down a long block to keep in shape – these people are HEROS. You don’t give up. You don’t say “whoa is me”. You keep going, you keep pushing, you keep fighting, you keep learning.
I don’t live in the glory days of Quad and 1″ VTR’s. I need to compete with that 30 year old IT guy that knows more than I do – but soon, I will know more than him, and take his clients.
That’s my mindset. And it won’t change, even if I get sick.

Sorry, if that’s mental illness. As long as I win. And as long as we keep making videos.
Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Steve Connor]

[Bob Zelin] “These
things mean little in their lives. Well, let them go play golf, or whatever they do. THIS IS WHAT I DO, and I intend to be good at it until I kick the bucket. When I had knee surgery back in NY City and could not take the subway to work (I was living in Queens at the time) – I hobbled onto the bus with my backpack the NEXT DAY and went to work, and took care of my clients. If I was paralyzed in a car crash, or lost limbs, I would still be doing this. I look at people who are paralyzed, and they are at the gym, or playing in basketball tournaments in their wheel chairs, or “jogging” in their wheel chairs down a long block to keep in shape – these people are HEROS. You don’t give up. You don’t say “whoa is me”. You keep going, you keep pushing, you keep fighting, you keep learning.
I don’t live in the glory days of Quad and 1″ VTR’s. I need to compete with that 30 year old IT guy that knows more than I do – but soon, I will know more than him, and take his clients.
That’s my mindset. And it won’t change, even if I get sick. “

Yes, lots of us feel like this, but NONE of those things you mentioned can end up killing other people can they?

[Bob Zelin]

This is going to become an OT rant, that will wind up getting deleted (at least my posts) –
but this is my opinions.

I am from NY City. I currently live in Orlando, Florida, and have been here since 1999. When 9/11 happened in 2001, I was deeply affected by all of this. When I found out that they needed networking people on site to help, I felt TERRIBLE that I could not be there to assist in getting their networks back up. I would have been there in a heartbeat to run lines, terminate cables, and make communications happen, to help resolve this desperate situation. My life, and my health, and my ingest of toxic fumes would mean very little, if I could help out with this situation.

Some people would say “well, Bob – you are a moron – you would risk your life to help in a situation, where you could get LUNG cancer” – YES I WOULD.

I often think about people like Donald Trump, and The Rolling Stones. Trump has billions of dollars, and the Stones – well, they are not poor. Why do they still work ? Because they are NEEDED, and being needed is critical to their existence (well, maybe Trump is not needed (ha)) . But even though the Stones are in their 70’s – the fact that they can get up there, and entertain an audience, and get applause (even if they are washed up and they suck) – that’s what their life is about. As for Trump – (no matter what you think about him) – he wants to be the center of attention (that’s what all the insane Twitter comments are about from him) – and guess what – love him or hate him – he has more press than Kim Kardashian.

Now, I am not Trump, or the Stones, or Kim Kardashian (or even a minor little known band) – but I have my client base of hundreds of international clients – and that’s all that matters to me. I am active on all these forums, I take care of my clients, and as many of you know – if you have hired me ONE time, your support is FREE – there is no support contract. So I keep getting hired. It makes me feel important – it makes me feel needed, and it certainly keeps the other engineers away, that probably know a lot more than I do – but I am supporting my clients for FREE, so I have no fear of them leaving me (no one ever leaves me, because I am free for them) –

I have no fear of getting sick. As long as I can support my client base. I keep working, I keep learning new techniques ( I will be contacting a client in Houston Texas as soon as I get done with this rant, about how he can cheaply keep editing for $5.00 a month on his server without going into the office). Because as this thread has been going on, I have been studying and testing how to make this work. Because no matter how much I love you guys (and no matter how much you hate me) – I am going to get EVERYTHING to work – and the incredibly wonderful companies with brilliant people like EditShare, LumaForge, ProMax, Studio Network Solutions and others, WILL NOT BEAT ME. I WIN.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Mark Suszko]

Bob, you are loved. Well, maybe that’s a strong word, but you’re a respected guy. I think you’re cool, because you may be gruff but you’re rarely wrong. The disagreement, I feel, is not coming from your fierce work ethic but only the fact that *traveling* to *physically* go help your clients is bad juju for everyone just now.

I applaud everything you’re trying to do for them remotely and I wish your efforts nothing but success. Try to see that that’s the part we were all reacting to, the travel and hands-on. We love what you do, we’re just asking you do it from home for a bit, as so many of us are needing to, because the travel and hands-on endangers more people than just yourself. Your body, your choice – when it only affects you, and not potentially dozens of lives. That seems pretty fair to me.

[Greg Janza]

[Bob Zelin] “I often think about people like Donald Trump, and The Rolling Stones. Trump has billions of dollars, and the Stones – well, they are not poor. Why do they still work ? Because they are NEEDED, and being needed is critical to their existence (well, maybe Trump is not needed (ha)) .”

Bob, you are nothing if not entertaining. The Stones are rock ‘n roll royalty who hopefully will all die doing what they love – performing live and playing rock ‘n roll.

In 1972, Dick Cavett did an interview with Mick backstage at MSG. Dick asked Mick if he could imagine being the front man for the Stones when he was an old man and Mick said hell yes, he would probably still be doing it. And they’re still doing it. I saw them in 2019 and that show was the best performance I’d attended in 30 years of going to Stones shows.

What’s incredible is that you’ve somehow attempted to connect Trump with “the greatest rock ‘n roll band in the world.” (and for the kids out there, this is a moniker the Stones have been using since 1969)

There’s no need to get into any kind of Trump debate here. I simply applaud you for even having the ability to put those two together in a sentence. That takes some extraordinary creativity.

Keep on keepin’ on Bob.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmprods
tallmanproductions.net