Jim Harvey
Forum Replies Created
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BINGO! If I knew you could meet chicks at court, I’d have sued you long ago! Of course, Mrs. Harvey would then haul me into the BIG Courthouse and I’d be back at that underpass on the Cross Island Parkway….
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
Ah David, you restore my faith in the human spirit, but not, unfortunately, in the judicial system. I’m not saying that every SCC case will result in an erroneous decision, but I AM saying that for $500.00, it’s just not worth the time, most of the time. Perhaps the judges in LA are more “judicial” but I can assure you that having the proper paperwork is NOT a guarantee that you will prevail in New York State. We have worked with many lawyers who have lost cases that were “ironclad” with contracts and paper trails and the horror stories that come out of those hallowed halls are enough to make one think quite decidedly before attempting to bring a suit for a small amount of money. Additionally, what many people don’t understand is that even if the decision goes to the plaintiff, that in itself is no guarantee of payment and the amount of time spent tracking down the money will STILL cost you more than you were originally owed. Maybe it’s just that we don’t have the time to diddle around with what we perceive will be a total waste of time (cynical New Yorkers and all), but I think that if you learn a good solid lesson by being burned for 1/2 a K, then it’s money well spent.
Spending an entire day in SCC COSTS YOU more than you’re likely to recover in the long run, which was my original point although I did not make it so succinctly.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
“Should we infer from this that you live in a not so nice town, Jim?”[Nick Griffin]
Hey there Nick! Well I live and work in New York, so maybe the answer to that is “yes” LOL!
I suppose that I should have said NEW clients. Of course we all have clients that are solid gold and we have our own payment arrangements with them because we know that we can TRUST them. Trust is something that is EARNED not automatically given. In the case of new clients, a solid expectation and explanation of fees and payment is essential to establish trust and future goodwill. Once you’ve established a good solid working relationship with a client, then you can modify your payment plans accordingly. However, there is NOTHING wrong with expecting payment in full a the conclusion of a project and delivering that project only when payment has been remitted. I don’t think that’s being a harda$$, just a good businessman.
You don’t get to drive the Ferrari home unless the dealer has been paid in full. (The Loan is from the bank, the dealer gets paid in full)
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
Paul, you must live in a very nice town.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
Reading all the responses, you certainly have a lot of choices to choose from. from my perspective, Small Claims court is just another way to lose an additional few thousand dollars. If you don’t think that the time that you will spend chasing this client into SCC then you really don’t belong in business in the first place. More importantly, what makes you think that you’ll win? SCC is NOTORIOUS for delivering bad decisions and if your client has a more compelling story than yours, or a judge that is incompetent, you could find that YOU OWE HER. Don’t laugh, it has happened more times that you could imagine.
Some of the suggestions that I like are burning timecode into unfinished projects (we place a “NOT FOR BROADCAST” overlay on the piece dead center in the frame which appears for 5 seconds periodically through the piece). It is dead center so that the footage cannot be re-edited and masked out. Get it? Yes, there are clients out there that will do that.
The other thing is to be very clear on your fees, religious in requiring payment and just as dutiful in delivering content when promised. NO one likes to get stiffed for $500.00. I don’t like to get stiffed for $50.00 but it still happens from time to time. At the first point when a payment is missed, I stop all work on the project, inform the client that all work has been stopped and will not resume until payment has been made. I NEVER EVER deliver a finished project unless I am paid in full.
You may wind up being paid for this project, but it won’t feel like you did. If I borrow $100.00 from you and pay you a dollar here and a dollar there, it won’t feel like you paid me back. As unpalatable as it may be, you just might have to chalk this one up to experience and make sure that you don’t put yourself into this trick bag in the future.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
Ok so he wants to edit in 1080i so you now have the choice of providing him with either an m2t or m2v format and Vegas will be able to accomodate him. FCP should be able to output either of those formats.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
I’ve found that most problems with the Vegas suite can usually be traced to third party programs, add-ins, plug-ins etc. Especially when those programs are low end. Vegas plays well with most of the more polished programs such as After Effects, Photoshop, etc. the newer versions of Vegas also have most of the effects and capabilities that you might be looking for. You can’t go wrong with third party additions that are designed for Vegas such as any of the VASST programs and the Excalibur add-in.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
How about sharing what you discovered with the rest of the community? If you had this problem perhaps others might find themselves in the same fix. Now is your chance to add content.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
Vegas is capable of rendering any number of different file formats. I would think that your best course of action would be to ask your friend what format he/she is most comfortable editing with. Chances are Vegas can output that format easily.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital -
It’s a bad idea. Shoot in 80i and capture the color and excitement of the race. You’re not shooting a ‘film’ so using filmic settings will just soften the whole look. Race footage should be ‘in your face’ and explosive. That’s NOT going to happen with 24p. Also cranking up your shutter speed will introduce other problems and make the footage look “odd”.
Jim Harvey
JHV Digital