[Mark Suszko]

I think a careful distinction should be made between the terms “flat rate” and “flat fee”. Flat RATE means as long as they keep making you work you keep getting paid more. Flat FEE means you are paid once, at a pre-set total dollar amount and if you put too many hours into the job, dividing time by rate you could wind up losing money on the deal. So I NEVER advise a flat FEE. But for an open-ended project that could go on indefinitely, yes, a flat RATE means you keep getting paid more the more you work, as you go, that can be good…

I always want to put my two cents in when somebody throws around the “thousand per finished minute” rule of thumb.

We used that rule back in the eighties when we did offline/online umatic and betacamSP to 1-inch a/b-roll linear production, with some limited DVE and chyron work, and this rate rule seemed to work out pretty well more often than not. It was probably easier to adhere to since there was not a lot of variability in the available technology until D-2 digibeta came in. Now we have at least six formats going right now that I can think of at the moment. There’s probably more.

Twenty-odd years later, I don’t know for sure that the kilobuck per finished minute rate “guide” means anything anymore. We could produce anything from lowly talking heads with imported powerpoint slides to HD-originated spots targeted for national distribution. Projects can be done in a garage greenscreen studio or on location in distant lands, and target markets are anything from Discovery HD to You Tube. Rates and quality levels are all over the map. Formats are too. There is no such thing as pure offline/online anymore, heck, linear is pretty rare now. The quarter-million-dollar suite of the 80’s is now a $2k desktop or even LAPTOP computer in a spare bedroom. Depending on the job and who is working on it with what tools, a grand per finished minute might be way overpriced now. With HD being the new gotta-have gimmick, it could also wind up woefully underbid, if you don’t pay attention.

So what kind of “standard” does that sound like?

I guess if everybody in the meeting understands the unsaid assumptions underlying the kilobuck premise, you can still use the rule and have it mean something. To me though, it seems a dangerous way to get yourself in a situation where you have accidentally overbid or underbid a job by using this rule of thumb with clients who don’t understand all those variables mentioned above. Clients are used to commoditization: gas is x bucks a gallon, eggs are x bucks a dozen, a haircut at Joes is seven bucks no matter who you are. But service and process-based creative work, crafts-work, of the sort we do, defies commodity thinking because each job is so unique. You can approximate a well-understood assignment to a pretty close tolerance but you’ll never quite nail it 100 percent in advance.

You could try running a couple scenarios yourself on the back of an envelope and see the variability I’m talking about.

I would look for some other way to ballpark a rate than the kilobuck-minute, myself. I think, like puka shell necklaces and Members-Only jackets, it’s had it’s day.

[Mark Suszko]

The old standby method in many systems is two identical tracks, one with a gaussian blur applied, then you make a window using a wipe pattern and keyframe it’s position and motion. I’m sure FCP has at least three differernt ways to do it, but that one’s always worked for me. Apple Motion I think has an easier method.

[Mark Suszko]

I’m out of the wedding game for some time now, but my business, and the business of most everyone else I knew at that time that did weddings was heavily based on referrals. I never had to advertise.

When brides and moms consulted with a stills guy, they’d ask about video and I’d get referrals from the stills guy. Sometimes overbooked wedding guys would also refer clients to me based on my rep. Same with wedding planners and the persons in charge of catering and bookings at the major hotels. Reputation is everything in this business; a good one makes the people who refer you look good themselves. If you have no rep, fewer people will risk their own reps to suggest you until you’ve proven yourself. Once you have established a rep, these contacts become your own personal sales force.

I’m not saying you should never advertise, and often marketing yourself at wedding shows can be useful. I just say I never needed it myself, and could have worked every weekend if I’d wanted to, just off referrals. As I got older, married and grew a family, the free weekends began to mean more to me than the money so I got out. I miss the money but not the hassles, the angst, and the lost weekends and wearing monkey suits.

[Mark Suszko]

And unlike me, be sure they spellcheck the work before they hit send:-)

[Mark Suszko]

Mass E-mailed press releases are best used for quick, short lead time notices of an imminent, upcoming event. Say, an upcoming screening or getting an award. That may be ok for sending to radio and TV outlets. For Newpapers, magazines, and the web, you need a different approach, one that’s a little richer in details and that has been customized with a “hook” that makes the copy worth using. And I think it should still come in a physical envelope, though you could herald its arrival with a short email announcement, perhaps.

If this was an important and big deal project, I would try to customize as many of the releases as possible, writing the hook to fit the interests and audience of each individual publication you’re trying to get coverage in. The ones that are tech-heavy camera fetishists will want to know all about the cameras you used and the logistics of the shoot. Editing-related mags would want you to talk about the edit. Producer-orpented rags will want to know how you arranged the financing and the intricasies of scheduling and getting shown. The local paper wants to know how the home town boy grew up to be a film maker, and anything about how the home town is covered in movies, etc. or they’ll use the issues raised in your film as a lead-in to discussions of the broader social implications.

You can run the gamut, telling the same story over and over from different viewpoints, giving different parts different weights, like Kurosawa’s classic film, “Rashomon”. How any single mass-emailed piece of semi-spam could do a good job at this beats me. If you can’t stuff like that, find someone who can and strategize about the markets on the micro-level.

[Mark Suszko]

Have you worked out your day rate yet? Have you checked around at the various regional editing shops to ask for the rate card? Do those two things first.

Then work out how many days worth of work this is likely to be.

That’s a starting place.

[Mark Suszko]

While that works for some setups, it introduces other problems. First, to do that right, you need a “first surface” mirror, one where the silvering is on the front of the glass, so as to prevent a double-image and image degradation. First-surface mirrors of a suitable size for this work are fragile and very expensive.

Second, you are adding distance to the focal length and may run into problems with depth of field and loss of a half-stop exposure, plus, any off-axis movements are magnified so framing can be tricky.

I did use a pair of mirrors once to make a sort of frameless telescope in a room to get a very specific type of telephoto shot, and this worked out well, so I’m not saying it’s impossible or wrong, just that it may introduce additional complications you have to factor-in.

[Mark Suszko]

You’ve gotten some good advice here so far.

This guy has already said “the magic words”, regarding the empty promise of future gigs if you give him a break up front. My rule of thumb is to walk away from the negotiation if this phrase ever comes up, because it is an infallible indicator of a swindler and grinder who will cost you more time and trouble than any “profit” you can get out of him. So I would personally refer him elsewhere, like your biggest rival, and be done with it.

But it sounds like you really want to pursue a deal with this guy. And you are right to be exceptionally cautious. Though if you’re counting on the legal system being your only hedge against him, you’re in for disappointments. Guys like this know very well how to game the legal system, appeal and counter-sue and get continuances all along the way, and drag things out till you give up the chase as unprofitable. You know he can do this since he’s just declared bankruptcy. Not that all people who declare bankruptcy are crooks, (it can happen to very honest people with simple bad luck, to bumblers, or entrepreneurials like Trump, who seems to do it every other year so he can leverage billions) but people who do declare and *also* use the “magic words” fit my profile of very likely crooks and liars. To be charitable, he may be a bumbler, too. Also not a good sign you will ever make a profit off him.

So, forge ahead if you must, but always with the principle that each phase of work must be paid off in full before the next is started or delivered. YOU ARE NOT A BANK. Do not allow him to make interest on YOUR money.

Funny its a builder asking you for the estimate; because when people try to pin me to a figure without specs up front, I often ask them what should a house cost, then I describe how a mansion and a tar paper shack both keep the rain off your head, but the difference is in the details, materials, and workmanship. Builders are masters of juggling these factors when THEY make bids.

Looking over the elements of the proposal you touched on, we have a bunch of time-lapse, which could be set up semi-automated with a lot of capital expenditure up front for a mounted camera, enclosure, power, (insurance) etc, or done on a daily visit basis with a digital stills cam and converted to hi-def movie later in post. Doing it that way means you have to go on site every day there is construction, blocking at least part of each day from being used for any other money-making business you want to do. You HAVE to charge something for this “opportunity cost”. it also isn’t “finished” until the very end, so he will want to not pay you until delivery. You cannot afford to allow that. Again, YOU ARE NOT A BANK.

It may be that you can’t come up with a figure for the time-lapse that fits his budget, in which case perhaps a 3-d animation is perhaps a better deal: using photos of the actual components of his buildings for texturing the model, you can throw together a nice simulated time-lapse build of his building in CGI in a fraction of the time, and it has the bonus features of infinitely variable viewpoints, camera moves, and reveals of features, things you culd not do with a conventional time lapse. You have to wait for the real building to be finished with time lapse, not so with animation. The CGI also gets a head start in that you can digitize his construction blueprints or import his CAD files thus avoiding a lot of modeling work. You could go straight to texturing and animating. If you don’t “do” animation, this could be a job you farm out to someone experienced, or you could use it as a way to get paid for learning how to do it yourself. A little risky for you, but a new skill and software you can apply to many other jobs later.

Back to your negotiations. Your builder does not get the right to tell you how few or many people you need for crew. You and your budget and timetable decide that. If you are sure you need more bodies on the job, and there isn’t enough money to do that, then you don’t have a deal. Plain as that. Not the deal he wanted, anyhow; you have to say that that’s just not possible, and try to go on ahead and cme up with other approaches that fit the available resources. Make substitutions.

Sometimes you just will not be able to get to a mutual agreement. You have to be able and willing to walk away from any negotiation or it really isn’t a negotiation. Some jobs just are not worth the cost of trying them. This is not a failure on your part. I heard a lecture from a guy once who worked in CGI/post, back in the 80’s. When asked how to budget and bill, he said he starts the discussion by saying “I don’t even turn on the machine for less than x thousand dollars”.

That’s not hubris or ego; that’s him knowing HIS true costs of doing business, the minimum amount of time and money he needs to make his operating costs and see a profit. If the figure is below this number, he knows he is wasting time and losing money, and the client is either too small or too poor for him to service. He could be more productive running new tutorials to learn some new technique , so he could market himself better, or he could do better spending his time networking, working the phones trying to dig up accounts or just to maintain good relationships with past good clients. Anything that would lead to a positive balance on the accoutning ledger. If he takes the marginal job, he’s unavailable for a better one. Opportunity costs. Very important concept.

I would tell you not to pursue this job, but it is your call. Just be careful, and be ready to walk away at any time unless your minimums are met.

[Mark Suszko]

You are not safe to use these. Some schools have special permission slips signed at the beginning of the year or brfore public events, where the parents sign off permission to use the kid’s image for limited promotional purposes regarding the school… stuff like puting them inthe monthly printed newsletter, etc.

Nothing the kids sign is worth anything in court. It has to be signed off by the legal guardian.

[Mark Suszko]

YOU DARN KIDS, GET THE HECK OFF MY LAWN!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve, you can paypal me anytime you feel like paying me for a DSL package.:-)