[Greg Ball]

Your first phone call should have a brief conversation about what their budget is. Have this conversation BEFORE you meet with them. Why take half of your day for a meeting when they only have a budget for a 30% of the actual cost for the project. You could end up meeting with prospects all day without landing a gig.

This preliminary phone call is where you need to find out what sort of video the client wants.

You should send them an agreement after you both agree on what’s to be included in the project. Before you do any work get a deposit for at least 50% of the total cost. Do not start work without a deposit.

Payment should be due BEFORE you send them the final video.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Perfect response Bob! Thanks.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Ned, I was just dumbfounded by her (as a counselor) criticizing my “attitude”. That’s like saying you want to purchase a new Lexus for $20K , and when the dealer tells you that’s not a realistic budget, you tell him his attitude sucks.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

i get the pricing. After all you can buy a hamburger at Burger King for $4.00 or you can buy one from a steakhouse for $15. The choice is the customers. But I don’t understand the anger and rudeness from a professional anger counseler. That,s just asinine.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Congrats on 20 years Todd! Thanks for always providing valuable advice to all of us on a regular basis!

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Dave, perhaps I didn’t communicate this properly. The client has already created the powerPoint slides that were used as part of the show.

I believe I solved my problem by exporting each of 28 slides into a format that I can shrink or enlarge depending on if they are side-by side or fukl screen.

Thanks for your help though. I really appreciate it.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Hi Dave,

It’s up to me what slides are full screen and what are side by side. I plan on covering all edits with a full screen slide.

What I was really looking for was the maximum size I could output a slide to give it the best option, and then build a white background behind it. so the Dr. is on the left 3rd and the slides are on the right 2/3. Does that make sense?

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Thanks Dave. The head shoulders shot is going to be chromakeyed. So no problem there. But the slides need to be resized so I can export them all as tiff files and still be square yet large without distorting the slides.

I’m wondering what size I should use for the slides.

Thanks.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Hi Shane,

The video as given to me keys perfectly. But it’s an .h264 with an animation codec. I’m editing this on a 720p prores sequence.

I tried converting the videos to prores444 but it didn’t key. Thoughts?

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Greg Ball]

Thanks Nick, Ned and Mark for your insight and confirmation.

The client has pulled out of working with us. They sent me this email:
Release the dates and crew.
I regret that I cannot meet your payment terms.
Just not possible at this point…

I’m sorry…

Of course this is from a production company in the midwest, who operates the same way I do. It seems like they have a slow paying client. The reason I get to work with outstanding crews is because I pay them right away. Normally at the end of the shoot. The client’s client certainly has the money to pay a deposit. I can’t be a bank for other clients. That’s how I can sleep at night.

To Nick’s response, yes I really can use the work, but I can’t accept a deposit for $5,000 for a $20,000 project. That would be a poor business decision.

To Ned – Though you don’t feel in danger of being ripped off, people’s situations change quickly. What if your client went belly up, or became sick, or had new management. I always try to have enouh deposit so I can pay any of my expenses incurred for a project. This way I never owe my crew money that I don’t have.

To Mark – Thanks so much for your insight. You always have the best logical advise, and I appreciate it!

Have a good one.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com