[Grinner Hester]

Because today’s Avids run so heavily on Ram, we can’t really keep photoshop and after effects open in every session like we are use to. Even in babying these new systems, you’ll have to reboot every now and again (in heavy projects, anyway) just to refresh things.
18 gigs of ram?
lol

[Grinner Hester]

You are looking at it logically and that will never work with government. You have to look at big business as government and discard logic. In america, it takes money to make money and they are simply trained to flaunt what the equate as power.
If you ask yourself how many times you have taken a gig knowing you could do the whole video for what they are paying on set that one day, it’s not real had to see videos are usually the last thing a company is purchasing when paying for a video. This is a trend that will not only not soon be broken. I spoke with an executive producer just a week or so ago who is old school and still lives by the unwritten law that video costs 2k per finished second.
lol
well maybe it did 15 years ago when cameras required baby-fed light and each edit was discusses then rediscussed but to have that kind of money waister in a position of power just testifies that this is not an industry big business wants to learn.
Step back and you’ll see this is a good thing. Afterall, a small department with a youngan, an HDV camera and a FCP laptop in each of these entities could replace us all.

[Grinner Hester]

Because it was so new to my world and the world of my sponsors, I was able to just make up numbers, based on what I knew they would part with, not based on worth or views. I knew in calling a sponsor what they could or would part with and looking back, that was usually the price in my head ready for answer when they asked how much. Not the most sound approach but it’s not a one size fits all world. While I understand charging one guy one price and another a different price could bite me, I always swap services for ads, not just throw up a banner. By this, justifying price has always been very easy.

There is plenty of room for creativity.

[Grinner Hester]

This is really the motivation behind the question, I believe.
I was shooting for a big company on a cruise liner once. Easy enough to capture all that was needed but in living on the ship for a week, no doubt I had plenty of time to capture some scenery for my own projects. In doing so, I managed to create a new pilot for a new show… and yes, while on the clock.
The bottom line though is that was not what I was in the bermuda triangle to do. It’s just something I did after doing what I was suppose to do.
I’ve been too much of a multitasker al my life to ever really take a break. I think many of us here are the same. Nothing wrong with that at all but step back as a hirer and ask yourself who you’d sooner hire… they guy standing around waiting to be told what to do next or the guy that cannot be found because he’s double billing or tripple dreaming?
Don’t let your initiative become a handicap.

[Grinner Hester]

I’ve never met an executive of any kind who actually felt like he was helping the greater good.
If you look back, you havn’t either. They are clock milkers who get high off of bluffing their way through a career.
Large companies feel the need to burn through that dolla. For that reason, they’ll always have execs to do that for em.
The big company in STL keeps about 8 edit suites rocking on any given day. Every now and then, they feel the need to pull those millions in house. When they do and see it costs infinatly more, they act as if lesson was learned, only to repeat the same mistake again 4 years later. Heck, I now consult em on their purchases and how to freelance the labor, popping in there to save the day myself every now and again.
Nobody acuses big business of using common sense.

[Grinner Hester]

Communication is a good thing and this is a fine example. Just talk to em.
Many times I piggyback one production with another. I’d never use their footage for my stuff but I surely have shot my own stuff while in the filed on someone elses dime. The key is to not be sneaky. Just ask em if you can grab some shots for your stuff on the side. They’ll either say yay or nay and that’ll be the end of it.
I’d not ask such a thing unless really comfy with this client. You don’t wanna scare em away.

[Grinner Hester]

If money were changing hands or they wrote up and agreement stating ownership, they’d own it. Without that contract, you are doing it for charity and will retain rights.

[Grinner Hester]

You can’t spend 60k in 4 years with no profits and expect to be in the green anytime soon, man.
You may have over estimated the income level of today’s intern.
How’s your reel lookin’? This is what will land you paying gigs, not that 60k degree you are starting to question. Polish that bad boy up and get to cold-callin’. Be ready to move if you have to. Do it for a job that works ya way too long for way too little pay. You will learn more at that job than you did paying to go to school. Every other year or so, step up to a higher paying job. You’ll be up to 60 a year in a hand full of years and with any luck, can pay off that student loan within a decade or two.

lol
I’m sorry to laugh but 60k on a education in this field?
I’d only spend that on a field that garantees a return. You’ll start at the same rate you would have with no education at all so hop off the internet and get to work, man.

[Grinner Hester]

cautious nothin.
It’s time to be firm.

[Grinner Hester]

bottom line.. be known as the best in town… not the cheapest.