Traveling out of town for work

[Alan E. bell]

I travel often. If the shoot is on location then I’m usually there as well.

Regards
Alan Bell

[Tom Meegan]

I travel a lot. I edit for live sports broadcasts, pre-game and in game. I also do replays, and layout tape rooms.

[Debe]

I travel off and on.

I have one client that does team building events. One of the favorite activities is making a commercial. I edit the commercials on-site and present them to the group.

Other event companies hire me to be on site to do a little bit flashier “faces” video to show at the end of the event than the usual slam-bam-it-together you generally get with an on-site faces video. More expensive, but the clients think it’s worth it!

Both these clients are local to me, it’s usually their clients who are not local, or local clients with offices all over the country/world.

debe

[Bob Cole]

[debe] “One of the favorite activities is making a commercial. I edit the commercials on-site and present them to the group.”

debe, I’d like to learn more about this. I have a potential application for that idea and not only would I like to steal it, I’d like your advice. If you don’t mind sharing more, please get in touch with me.

bob, at rcole dot com

Thanks!

[Chaz Shukat]

What I was really asking was does anyone actively seek jobs from out of town employers, as in responding to job ads in other cities.

Chaz S.

[Debe]

Honestly, Bob, I’m under contractual obligation to not share any more than that.

If you really need to know, I can refer you to the company that hires me, and perhaps if they do not see potential conflict, they might share.

aviddiva”at”pobox.com

debe

[Abehjha]

I don’t travel outside NYC for work as much as i used to. Last year, around this time, i was gone for an 8 week gig. Not ideal, but when things slow down here sometimes the best offer is outta town.

[Chris Bové]

Less and less need for travel as an editor these days. With media transfer capabilities offered by LiveCargo.com and YouSendIt.com, I get cross-country indie work and barely ever meet the director face-2-face. Only real problem is to get the client comfortable with the process.

Here’s what I did to sell myself better:
– bought an edit system (low-end, just for cuts & dissolves… a few effects)
– got tied in (big discount) with a local facility to online at
– got tied in with a local DVD Authoring guy & a separate high-end graphics guy (we send work each other’s way)
– set up a separate email account – any free one (Yahoo?) with separate folders (for separate companies or producers)
– $19.95/mo for LiveCargo.com

Last project I worked on (13 minute 24p indie short) had about 300 emails over a 3 month period. Saved on long distance/cell minutes, and have a paper trail for any of his comments/changes.

Had to travel for:
– initial consult
– a “lets put our heads together” final draft screening day
– release party

Hell, I even know an editor who hotwired his Mac’s webcam to display the output of the video card. Realtime screening sessions on AOL-IM!!! Whoever can figure that one out for me on a Windows system will be coined “Genious of the Month”!

______
/-o-o-\
\`(=)`/…Pixel Monkey
`(___)

[Chaz Shukat]

PM, this is quite interesting. I have been working on a feature in a similar fashion. The director is in Cleveland and I post my cuts on their FTP site for him to review. But my question to you, or anyone else is, how did you get this out of town client? Were you actively looking for work in other areas of the country?

Chaz S.

[Abehjha]

PM that does sound interesting. I don’t think my out of town clients would go for it though, way too many execs wanting to stick their heads in for screenings and besides the company has their own machines.
Chaz, i forgot to mention that i’m working on a project where my producer is in L.A. I don’t like long, involved convos over the phone so i ask for detailed emails and every couple of weeks i email him a bin of what i’ve worked on or up load a cut to my home page.
I got hooked up with this job because a buddy of mine knew i was looking for work and had a system at home. Everytime i’ve worked out of town it’s been because a fellow editor, producer or exec remembered my name and my work and gave me a call.