[David Roth weiss]

Tim,

In the days when I usd to work in low-budget features, I cut one 90-min film in five days, but another went on and on and on for nine months. No one in the world can do anything but hazard a guess in a situation like this. You haven’t seen a frame of the film, and no one has either. Will you have to create the story as you go to cover a first time director’s ass, or does the director know how to tell a story? And, does the director really know how to cover a scene? What’s your work style? Are you a perfectionist, or someone who can be brutal? Personalities also come into play as yet another variable. And, the producers may get involved in editorial and eat up half of your available time.

Bottom line is, you must work on a weekly, no flat rate… If you do you’ll get screwed. If you want the project so bad you’re willing to give blood, that’s another matter…

David

[David Roth weiss]

Even better is the free VideoSpace Widget available from Digital Heaven that’s free at: https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/calculate_convert/videospace.html

[David Roth weiss]

Exactly Matt. And all this stuff about giving them back their camera original or what have you, and just hanging onto the work product you created is ridiculous. Just put it all in storage. If they’re gonna dick with you about money you’ve earned legitimately, show ’em you too can play the game.

[David Roth weiss]

Carson,

I made the move from Edit without a VAR, you can too. G5s are by far the easiest computers in the world to setup and service.

Just install FCP right out of the box, and as long as you are connected to the Internet your G5 will notify you when updates are available. Or, click on the Apple button and manually select the Apple Update feature and it will search you machine and tell you what’s new.

As far as putting your new cards in, its never a good idea to put more than one it at a time. Always put one in, get it working properly, and then move on to the next, otherwise, if something goes wrong you won’t know which card is creating the problem.

Good luck,
DRW

[David Roth weiss]

Native HDV editing in FCP 5 for one.

More and better realtime capability.

Darn good multicam editing.

[David Roth weiss]

Thanks guys, I trashed my prefs and that did the job…

Matte gets a gold star for 1st place — but, he was off target, so he loses one brownie point.

Jeremy gets a silver star for 2nd place — and two brownie points for the correct answer.

Thank you both,
DRW

[David Roth weiss]

Craig,

I took these fellows to small claims even though both cases were over the California $10K limit. I didn’t want to share my dough with a lawyer, and I wanted to go for the max allowable by law, just so I could write those words on the court petition. My objectives were easliy achived in the small claims arena, where small businesses usually win. The court and collection costs were just $60 or $70 total, so I just ate that myself. It was all well worth the trouble in the end.

I am not by any means a lititious person, but if I do my best and they try to slip away without paying the bill, I’ll fight like a cornered pit bull until I get what’s due to me.

DRW

[David Roth weiss]

Glad to help… Thanks for your acknowledgement…

DRW

[David Roth weiss]

[Charlie King] “If they refuse to pay, they don’t get any work. If any tapes belonged to them before the work began then release those tapes to them, but nothing that you created.”

Charlie,

Here in California there is long-held industry standard, when a customer fails to pay, you need not return any work product left in your hands, including their original tapes.

So long as you have a proper paper trail, you’re covered in most situations. You must be able to show that you’ve informed the customer why you are holding their materials, and show that you’ve given them repeated opportunities to pay their outstanding balance. Unfortunately, I’ve had to go to court twice in this position, but both times the rulings were automatic.

Its always good to keep in mind, the client could sue… But then, anyone can sue anybody for anythng…

DRW

[David Roth weiss]

I disagree with Arnie. The one thing I’ve learned in twenty-nime years of business as an independent is that lawyers don’t have all the answers, but they do want all your money.

All you have to do in this case is obtain a license agreement from one of the companies already doing business in that arena, and just tailor their license to your needs. A lawyer would do exactly the same thing. The most important words in a stock footage agreement, and the words you absolutely have to put in for self-protection, are “for use in _______________ (program title) for one time use, only.” In theory, this prevents the licensee, from incorporating the lisensor’s footage into additional programs. It will happen anyway from time to time, and you must be on the lookout for your stuff and remain vigilant. For the most part, like anyone in sales, your job is to fulfill a need, and get their money in your coffers before they go to the next seller. What happens after the sale is a bit out of your control no matter how ironclad your license may be.

DRW