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Milking the FCP cash cow
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I think it took a lot more than 20 programmers. And they were probably working on it before FCP 6 came out. So I think your $4 mill cost estimate is quite low.
Also, the cost of programming has to include the cost of putting those programmers in front of their computers. and networking them together. And paying their health insurance, 401k, keeping the lights on for them, air conditioning, cleaning the waste baskets, vacuuming the carpet once in a while…
Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/ -
No Michael, this is totally flawed reasoning.
Would you be willing to give back all your billable $ that you made in the X amount of years if someone was willing to give you the $4000 that you payed in upgrades along the way?
This line of thinking doesn’t make sense. I have purchased 3 seats of FCP/FCS since FCP3 come out, as well as DVDSP1.5, So I’m sure there is changes my total cost per seat is up there but I have made more than $4000/seat/year off the software. It sounds like to make you happy Apple would need to keep adding to the full retail price of the software to cover all past upgrades. That is just soar grapes.A person buys FCStudio3 for $999. Off they go and have the same competitive resources I have, only this cost me $5,000. What am I, a charity for the guy who just paid $999? C’mon, we should (older users) have been getting all these versions for nothing or next to nothing, as we paid our big hit for the program way back when. How is my paying all this cash for the same product making my life better or earning me more cash?
I have two copies of FCP Studio and I bought DVDSP1.5 also, and have since paid dearly to upgrade that app too, but I really don’t think the ROI from a piece of software should be measured by what it cost you. It’s by what you do with it, how can equate the cost of a program with how much you make with it? What’s the time frame you measure that with?
The upgrades in no way added to my billable income. None of my clients ever said “Hey Chris, if you don’t have the latest FCP this job is going away.” I bought them just to try and stay current, which is a totally different need.
My clients could care less what software I’m using. All they care about is the end product.
You should be just as pissed as I am.
Have a wonderful day.
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I know it’s not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but I net £60,000 a year making video for the not for profit… all on my own… and i couldn’t do it without apple’s apps… and in comparison to everything else they’re cheap. Even throw in the fact I have to buy a high cost mac and i’m still making good money doing something i LOVE doing and avoiding having a ‘real job’ and have done so for 6 years now. I bow to the alter that is mac even when i know stuff they sell sometimes costs more because it’s them.
Plus, as has been mentioned, you upgrade when YOU want. I chugged along on 4.5 for a while till i felt established and had some cash then bought a new mac and studio 2. i’m now on my third mac and at some point will upgrade again… and i’m still a winner… have you ever stacked shelves or worked for a debt collection agency? believe me, anyone on here making money from film/video is already blessed.
My tuppence worth, and am having a wonderful day, ta.
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I guarantee there are more than 20 programmers on this. And more again in the QC department and tons of the other staff.
And are people forgetting about overhead? Occupying a building (or two, Motion guys are in Santa Monica somewhere…hidden), power and AC for that building (CANNOT be cheap), office equipment, food, all the other stuff that people tend to forget about.
This isn’t just 20 guys in a back room…
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Chris Poisson] “The upgrades in no way added to my billable income. None of my clients ever said “Hey Chris, if you don’t have the latest FCP this job is going away.” I bought them just to try and stay current, which is a totally different need. “
Then don’t buy the upgrade.Has anyones billable income gone up since they now have Color, my guess is a lot of people will say, HELL YES.
Did multicam editing make my profits go up, HELL YEAH. Does a client care that I have the latest version, NO, do they care that they can see all the cameras at once, big time!
Have upgrades made workflows more efficient, more options, all this is ways to do more in less time.
If you produce a video for client A for $5K and a year later he wants changes made to it, you charge $1K for the changes. Client B comes in today and wants something very similar to Client A’s second round. Now do you charge Client B $5K or $6K, if 6K should client A feel cheated.
Why shouldn’t Apple profit from making its product better, that is why they are in business, if we don’t like their products we can go elsewhere, we don’t have to pay $300 for the upgrade. We can still do what we do.
The person that is just entering the games, doesn’t have your clients, doesn’t have your skills, because you have INVESTED in a production you have marketable skills and experiences, and on that investment you are probably getting a good return. Hardware is even more inexpensive to get into, should Panasonic be selling HD cameras to newbies for $10K that can do full raster 1080p? Just because old timers bought Varicams for $70K back in the day?
I get upset over a lot of things, paying for upgrades that I see as valuable is definitely not one of them. I totally understand where you are coming from and I totally don’t agree with the logic, everyone charges for upgrades, why, it is additional work that they have done. We the users they decide wether or not it is of value to us.
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[Chris Poisson] “The upgrades in no way added to my billable income. None of my clients ever said “Hey Chris, if you don’t have the latest FCP this job is going away.” I bought them just to try and stay current, which is a totally different need.”
“Staying current” is not a need. I’m still using FCP 5. Works great.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style! -
Michael,
There’s no argument that can make me believe that what we’ve had to pay for Apple’s upgrades has been worth it. Sorry.
Have a wonderful day.
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You guys are a bunch of wimps.
I remember paying out over $10,000.00 a couple times for video editing and DVD authoring solutions that simply did not work at all.
OK I am talking about the 90’s.
The first edit suite that worked for me was Media 100 at over $30,000.00 not including computer (my third purchase, anyone remember Radius Telecast).
The first DVD authoring that worked, Spruce about $20,000.00 w/o computer, I still have it in the box. DVDSP runs circles around it.
We are really spoiled now, almost everything works out of the box and it is really cheap.
Remember when a good camera was over $100,000.00.
Olof Ekbergh
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When I first bought Media 100 the board and software discs were $17 thousand freaking dollars! Then I had to buy the MAc G-4 and scsi storage and on and on. Each year the upgrades were something like $500.00 plus some kind of another stupid running expense. Final Cut is a stone bargain. I love it! 🙂
Let’s hear it for Capitalism!
Uncle Marsh, Malibu
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Amen, brother! My first Betacam SP body was more than $40 grand with no lens! Stop the whining! 🙂
What a fantastic way to make a living!
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