What Am I Worth?

[Shane Ross]

For broadcast work, around $400 – $500 per day for long term work. Short term, like 2-3 days, then the hourly rate is $100-$150, depending on skill level. Extra if you add your equipment.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Mark Suszko] “I don’t get to charge more for compositing, for color correction, for Foley, for motion graphics, for composing music and voicing spots. It all fits under one umbrella where I work, and whether I call myself an Editor, Producer, Director, Animator, Sound Designer, Colorist, etc. is based more on which app is open on my screen at the moment. I kind of like it that way since I like variety, but I only get paid for ONE job, no matter how many I actually do.”

I have watched this trend develop over the years and can remember back in the early days of our first site, back when we were in the formative years of the Media 100 Worldwide Users Group, that I regularly used the terms generalists and specialists to describe the phenomenon. As video became more and more ubiquitous as a means of communication, it broke down the walls between the disparate creative crafts and disciplines until today, in many job areas, you are expected to know everything from acquisition to delivery.

Many years back, I remember talking with Nick Griffin about all this, and we used the term “communications” to describe what we do. It is more than video, it is more than images, it is more than print, many of us do whatever is done to get the project out for the client. We help them communicate their message to their audience — and it doesn’t matter if it’s a TV channel creating its new image package or creating a video for a band or building a magazine for this audience. In the end, we are communicating and are doing so as a generalist that uses all the brushes in the jar and the paints on the palette.

I admire the people that get to specialize in these days and times, but I am not one of them, and like you, Mark, I like the fact that I get to use so many areas of experience in my work.

In the end, working like this: what am I worth? Whatever I can get. (But don’t hit me with a low-ball, because I won’t play.)

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom
CEO, CreativeCOW.net

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

Better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with the poor spirits who neither enjoy much, nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows no victory or defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

[Mark Suszko]

I only get paid for one sig file, too Ron:-)

“Oh, you wanted to RECORD that?”

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Mark Suszko] “I only get paid for one sig file, too Ron:-)”

And that is why I use a big one, Mark.

;o)

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom
CEO, CreativeCOW.net

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

Better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with the poor spirits who neither enjoy much, nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows no victory or defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

[Grinner Hester]

$750 a day.

[Alan Okey]

[Shane Ross] “Too bad I don’t do motion graphics. “

I hope you realize what a privileged position you are in!

😉

Lately it seems like everyone wants motion graphics, and it’s hard to be “just” an editor anymore. It may be easier in LA where there’s a glut of talent and you can’t swing a stick without hitting a motion graphics designer, but in a lot of places they want people who can do editing, audio, color, motion graphics and even 3D – all from one person. Some places/clients even want you to do the shooting as well – and demand that you have a RED camera.

I’m not kidding.

[Shane Ross]

I do SOME. I might make a somewhat decent lower third, or open title graphic that any REAL motion graphics guy would look at and say “I did that stuff in 3rd grade!” But they do want us to do it more and more. Just got done with a job interview where they asked if I did. Oy…

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Mark Suszko]

You know what they say about being a “jack of all trades”.
Or maybe it’s like the old song lyric:
“I know a little ’bout love… and baby, I can guess the rest”.

I am not ashamed to call myself a generalist; I know a little about a lot of things, because I do a lot of things. No doubt there are plenty of folks that can easily smoke me in any one specialization. Easily. But for what I am tasked to do, and the budget they have to do it with, I feel that I bring a lot of skill (for the money). And I’m learning all the time, thanks to you good folks here. You call it unspecialized, I call it being a renaissance man
🙂

Or… since Ron needs a BIG sig file, try one from Robert Heinlein:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

I’m getting there…:-)

[Alan Okey]

[Shane Ross] “I might make a somewhat decent lower third, or open title graphic that any REAL motion graphics guy would look at and say “I did that stuff in 3rd grade!” But they do want us to do it more and more. “

I hear you. To be fair, I suspect that clients might be somewhat less demanding than I think they are. They’re asking for us to be broad, not deep.

My problem is that if I practice a skill, I want to be able to execute it at a high level of proficiency. I resist the “jack of all trades, master of none” label, but often that’s exactly what’s called for. I look at the amazing stuff that real motion graphics artists can do and recognize the skill and talent it takes to do that kind of work. It’s akin to the difference between someone who plays an instrument and someone who is a master musician. Same tools, completely different level of execution.

I have to remind myself that a lot of times, clients aren’t that picky or aren’t asking for a masterpiece – they want something kind of cool that adds interest, but they aren’t nearly as critical of the results as I might be. Flying logos and lower thirds really aren’t rocket science, and sometimes that’s all the client really wants.

[Mick Haensler]

[Jason Griffith] “What’s the average going rate for someone of my skill set and experience in the LA area?” “

I personally don’t know. With the industry in the state it is, rates are all over the board all over the country. It’s bizzaro world, up is down, right is left. If it were me, LA would be the last place I would be going. A fella can’t swing a dead cat without hittin a bartender or waiter who’s an out of work production person. I lost my crew a few years back to LA, only one of them is working in his intended field right now.

I’d go into acting if I were you. Much more stable.

Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media