Frank Otto
Forum Replies Created
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Britek has been around for some time as a producer of lighting equipment for flah photography – they made a fortune off the lil’ gadget that works as a slave for photoflash units.
The quartz units have been around for a few years. They are not overly rugged, meaning I’d never suggest their use in a hardcore shooting envrionment – say, daily news. These light compare more to Smith-Victor and early Colortran units than current Mole and Arri fixtures. With proper care they should last a few years, certainly enough to recoup your investment.
Ushio is a lamp mfg. and they make a wide range of globes. I have bought 100w through 1000w lamps made by them and they’ve performed as well as lamps by GE, Sylvania/Osram, etc. In fact, I recieved Ushio lamps with my last Arri kit purchase – they are still operating with no discernable discoloration or fade.
As always, you get what you pay for…you may find that you don’t have the range of accessories that work with Mole, Arri and other brand names, and they may not be as rugged or useful in all situations.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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Most “Pre-Paid” legal firms are the basics; divorce, landlord-tennant, bankruptcy and and traffic/civil. They generally don’t do contract law or other niche arenas such as entertainment and intellectual rights.
They could be of some help in a collections area, I suppose, or in setting up an llc, but I’ve found them to be too general in nature for this business.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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It isn’t necessary to keep an attorney on retainer…yet. But you should develop a relationship with one that specializes in entertainment law and contract law.
The biggest issues you may see are clients who are late-no pay, misrepresentation of rights and infringment claims by others (yes, if you produce it, they will sue – seems like everyone thinks they created the same thing and YOU copied it…)Plus, with the morass that is the new state and federal regulations on s-corps, llc and the ever changing tax and bankruptcy laws, well…it’s in your best interest to have an experienced party availible.
I have a attorney that I can get into see within 48 hours – if I need him to proceed then it’s billed hourly. For me that was less expensive (2-4 times a year, vs. a retainer + costs)
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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Yes.
Tax issues aside, it’s good to have a second party remind you of what you have incoming, outgoing and pending. That’ll also help with long range planning, re-investment and collections.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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I’ve used Lectrosonics gear for years and have no complaints. The r.f. module that snaps on to any microphone has been a real help when I’ve needed to have a specific mike/pattern and needed r.f. capibilities.
Several other mfgs have added that modular capibility, but they got it from Lectrosonics.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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I guess I’m due for a change to the floating head image…I recently had 28″ of hair removed from my head.
I’m still not neat and tidy, but that’s an issue of having more stuff than storage.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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[Charlie King] “Welcome Fanklin.
Charlie”
See, that’s why Charlie is the editor and I’m the graphics guy…
Welcome, “he who shares my first name”…
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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Seth:
Thanks for the offer…I’m pretty tied up with Flamingo/Harrahs’ advertising and marketing at the moment…plus the ol’ conflict of interest deal.
But thanks!
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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Aye, there the bitch….
Without local references or contacts you really are at the mercy of the local crewers – who get paid regardless of who gets the call. Many of them like to use crews as a reward for their “bigger” clients, as such they then will shuffle calls to accomodate the big guy even though they may have booked weeks after you.
The other problem is your right of refusal. If labor gets dispatched to you and they turn out to be unqualified, you CAN have them replaced…but you still have to pay their minimum call (2hrs) or the hours actualy spent on site. THEN you submit a letter of no-rehire – that keeps this person from being dispached to you again. It’s not fair to you…but it is the contract.
Your best bet is to contact the people you used that you were happy with, obligate them before the show and tell the signatory (crewer) that these are the people you want and DO NOT SUBSTITUTE as they have already been booked by you and will accept the call. Some crewers try to put their favorites on – regardless of skill – and you do not have to believe the shuffle of “ok, I called that guy and he isn’t availible – can you work with Joe MyGuy?” They also use the tired “I gotta use this guy first, he’s got senority.” (that’s a biggie with the in-house staff – it doesn’t pertain to your use of freelance, or bounce operators).
When you are happy with a crew member, get their contact info and ask them to refer additional ops – most of the really good-to-great ops have too much pride in their work to reccommend schlock – and they all have a list oif qualified folks they trust.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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ummm…I’m one of those Union guys in Vegas.
But your point is valid. And you can’t really blame IATSE…the blame is equally shared between the “client” and the labor contractor/rental company.
The client should know that the majority of the convention space (as in NYC and Chicago) is staffed by IATSE and has been since before Dino, Sammy and Frank. Most play stupid on arrival – oooh, I didn’t know that this was a union house – when in fact, the convention sales people make it very clear before a contract is made. Then they cheap it out and don’t do the shadow (which in Las Vegas is generally NOT man-for-man), or scale back the production on-site.
The other problem is the “rental houses” who try their best to skirt hiring the right person (too expensive, although it’s a pass-through) and try to bring in someone like an AV tech when they needed an electrician/board op. They also cheap it out by using the union rules to bring in people on a two-hour call (720’s min. for convention) so there’s no rehersal and in many cases barely enough time for a set up before doors.
There’s also a backlash to that – many highly qualified technical people won’t take anything less than a 8 hour call, so the Union ends up sending someone who will, generally a less qualified or out-of-position person who has a card but not the skill for that particular job. The Union is in a position that they have to fill the positions with members, qualifications are determined by the client on-site. As I’ve said to our Local, holding a card for a particular skill doesn’t mean qualified for the particular job – I’ve got every card there is and I can’t program a Whole Hog, nor can I operate a remote head on a jib arm (although I’m a qualified/certified Chapman crane operator), yet I still get calls for those assignments.
Then you have rental houses (and I’m willing to state that this affects the majority here) who are spread way too thin on inventory, have “suits” in technical managment postions who can’t read a plot and a corporate mentality that squeezes every one to lessen the labor costs.
The fact is that every major industrial show I’ve ever done here (Big Three auto mfgs., every brewer of spirits and beer, major fast food outlets, major software suppliers, etc) uses a highly qualified,, Union crew and they don’t quibble over it. Microsoft, for example was a show I looked forward to – for a one-day six hour show we were brought in for a minimum of one set up day, two rehersal days and a strike day – their choice. I could also guarentee that the rehersal days would go 10-12 hours (for Comdex ’94 we went round the clock – total of 32 hours on-site in one shift)and no complaints from staff about overtime.
And BTW, those shows I mentioned above were not produced by our local rental houses…they generally were produced by Caribeaner, 4Star, TTI, Staging Int’l and the like – not Encore (the worst) or PSAV or AVW (another really bad labor house). The real producers use a “letter of request” to get labor they know and booked in advance – the local contrators just “call the hall” and get whomever on the roster is willing to work that day.
I really do feel for people like you Tim and other producers who get stuck with a client who bottom lines everything, and still makes a very good profit while killing the quality of the production. Those are the guys who are real scum. They rely on the old addage that “the audience won’t know the difference.”
Cheers,
Frank Otto