Producer or just passing out numbers?

[Mark Suszko]

At the point you think this is a legit customer?

[Nick Griffin]

I think it all comes down to how you are managing the process. You should consider saying things like, “Funny you should ask. Assembling and effectively utilizing resources is the business I’m in.” Or, “Why don’t you let me help with this? It is, after all, my what I do for a living.” Or, if it gets really pointed and this is a particularly dense prospect who you have determined is simply trying to just get information from you, “Wow. If I didn’t know better I’d think you want to be my competitor.”

[Fernando Mol]

“As a healthy practice for my business, I don’t do that”

And went to the next topic.

[Richard Herd]

I’ve already spent 4 hours in phone calls, over 4 weeks. How much discussion should I have with the client before it seems ridiculous? 4 hours in 4 weeks seems ridiculous, but what do I know, maybe that’s normal. Is it?

[Mike Smith]

That’s all normal if you think the relationship is going somewhere, that the contact is a potential client who might want to do business with you. If you’re not feeling that trust, it’s a lot of free time.

[Bob Zelin]

You need to say “am I producing this video for you, or what ? – if I give you the contact info, can I bill you right away”.

I am sensitive to this because today, I received my 4th phone call from a new (never worked for) NY client. They have an IT staff, but want me to contact their outside network contractor in Conneticut, to explain exactly what I am doing, so they can be “in the loop”. And we have not delivered any equipment, nor have they given me one penny yet. ARE THEY KIDDING ME !

I wrote an aggresive email to them this evening, stating that I would be thrilled to work with their entire IT department, their editors, their secretaries, and interns to get this project started, but there is NO WAY that I am explaining exactly what I am going to do to their “IT contractor” which is basically my competitior, who can’t figure out what to do, so they want me to explain what I am going to do, so they can do it themselves. ARE THEY KIDDING ME.

So, offer the phone #’s and contacts, once you get paid in advance.
All of a sudden, there won’t be any more “meetings”.

Bob Zelin

[Scott Carnegie]

This reminds me of a story.

I had a client for whom I made 6 episodes of a sports TV show, I put all 6 onto a dual-layer DVD for them for their archive. About a month later their cheques started to bounce and we stopped working with them.

A little while after that I get several calls from the person they hired to duplicate these DVD’s for commercial sale; he didn’t have a dual-layer burner and didn’t know how to make copies. I told him he would have to rip and re-author them if he wanted to make single-layer copies. He asked if I could turn over the source files (The Encore project), I said no.

He asked (agressively) “why did you put them on a dual-layer DVD” (this was 2006) and I told him because they didn’t all fit on a single layer, like I was the idiot for making a dual-layer.

He asked how could he rip and re-author these and I finally said “X is not my client anymore and it’s not my problem, you figure it out”.

If the guy was friendly or a collegue I might have been nicer about it but I had to deal with him numerous times before I dropped the client and he was a PITA.

http://www.MediaCircus.TV
Media Production Services
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

[Richard Herd]

Let’s talk about contracts (oh the joy).

Do you insist the client sign your contract?
What do you do when they insist you sign their contract?

Also is there some legal issue I’m overlooking here? I mean, it doesn’t really matter to me if the client sends me a work for hire agreement that their team of corporate lawyers wrote. But what do I know? Is that a bad idea?

My terms are pretty simple. I need 50% to cover my costs, in advance. Then I’ll invoice, cash the check, and give them all of their footage. And I’ll end-up editing a couple of spots for them too.

Thanks
Rich