[Ned Miller]

I couldn’t sleep all night.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Hi Greg, please educate me. That’s what I like about this forum, to see how others do things.

I’d say 1/2 to 2/3rds of my work is “Just shooting” and I luck into producing gigs because I’m the only “video guy” they know. Or I originally “just shot” and then the next time they need someone to produce they call me. However, sometimes things happen so fast that a corporate type can’t get a check cut BEFORE I shoot. Last week when the Erin Andrews case was being decided because she sued Marriott for $77mil, I got a call from Inside Edition (who I haven’t heard from in 10 years). Turns out her stalker lives in the town next door and they wanted me to do a Door Knock shot, in the next few hours, will take 20 minutes and is worth $850 (although I might get shot). The Dr. Phil Show always calls the day before needing to shoot so the subjects don’t have time to reconsider, and they pay very well. Are you saying you’d turn those down?

Or a new Fortune 100 prospect calls and suddenly they remembered no one booked a shooter for their CEO receiving a prestigious award tomorrow, or they need a trade show repeater reel produced for the convention next week because the in-house guy blew it. Need to start work instantly. Would you turn that down?

Sometimes like with Todd Terry’s clients, I get a call to start work immediately on new videos that are using the same template as all the previous ones: 2 min max, 1 day shoot, 1 day edit, so the price is “assumed” the same as the previous gigs less chump change such as lunch, parking, etc. They trust me and I turn in the same invoice with just a different title and job number, give or take a couple of hundred. I become the “Go To Guy”, easy to work with. There are certain categories that are definitely COD like attorneys, ANYONE running for office, inventors needing a Kickstarter video, etc. Or if I smell something rotten, like hustlers, I send them packing such as club and restaurant owners, band managers, etc. But for the most part I want to be frictionless and that’s what corporate marketing types appreciate. They just want someone they can rely on.

My two really slow payers lately were due to a series of errors my client contact could not have predicted. Little did my bank client or his Navy client realize that when they submitted my invoice of around $32K to the US Treasury that I would have to prove I am a US citizen, they want my vitals, no outstanding warrants or liens from the IRS, how many minority subcontractors I’m using, etc. etc. This caused a delay of months. And the big advertising agency last summer, no one knew that since I am “not in the system” and I had to be “set up”, that would cause delays of emails going back and forth for months. Would you have stopped progress on the jobs regardless of their deadline?

For 25 years I shot for nearby Kraft HQ until they were recently gobbled up by Heinz. They had a yearly IC agreement that said 60 days net. So I would call crew and say “I got good news and bad news. Good news is I need you two days next week. Bad news is their check won’t arrive for about 64 days. You in or out?” I had a cadre of good crew who knew the drill and what goes without saying is don’t hassle me until 64 days have passed.

The video Mark embedded about F U Pay Me, I’d hate to live that way, never trusting my clients, many who are friends or strong acquaintances. I can’t afford to get a lawyer involved. A few months ago I was traveling for a week and I needed an important update to my website because I was doing a bid and I knew they would visit my site. My web guy, who I have given good money to over the years, has an automated credit card acceptance system and won’t do squat without payment first. Yet I won’t do ANY financial wifi transactions on the road, especially in airports and hotels. So this was him saying, “Don’t trust you Ned”. That lost my warm fuzzy feeling and now when I think of him, a very talented guy, it’s “What a D**k.”

In sum, my mentor taught me: “We aren’t making films and videos. What we do is make our client look great to their boss!“. or: “We make our client look great to their client!” And being able to run with the ball and make the deadline is crucial to that. Some categories such as out-of-owners coming in for a live event, that’s expected to write a check at the end of the day, but I have no idea how you can function if you insist on half up front before doing any work. Please clarify. A new client individual I may insist on that but with TV shows and Mega Corps I don’t see how you do it.

Thanks

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound harsh. Used the wrong word.

Also, I get them to use the counter numbers rather than burned in TC. Simpler.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

I have the version number as the watermark so it doesn’t look like I’m “punishing” them for payment. Inevitably they ask, “Can we get the final without that version number?” and that’s when I ask for the second half. I don’t phrase it as, “Soon as I get my check.”, rather a quid pro quo: “Sure, I’ll make and send the final and you’ll put the check in today’s mail, right?”. If they then hem ‘n haw that’s a red flag to me. I try to stay friendly till there’s a problem. I’d say a good half of my clients are repeat, referrals from regulars, friends, acquaintances, and only if I smell a problem do I go hard ass, mainly with one-offs and out-of-owners.

A problem that I have been having with the Mega Corps is I am often hired in an emergency, as in, “My boss says we need a trade show video for the convention next week!” They come to me with their hair on fire and if I play the, “I ain’t doing nuthin till I get my upfront 50%.”, well…they’ll call my competitor, so it helps to be known as flexible. This approach backfired last summer and I’ll tell that story soon, that’s the one where the head of APs at the U.S.’s largest ad agency told me they never write checks the last month of a quarter, and she said that when they were already 90 days old. But 90% of the time when I work for Mega Corps my client submits my invoice into a dark, automated hole and it’s untraceable. If I go hard ass and say they don’t get the final until I get the second half, there’s nothing he or she can do, so I have to give it to him or they will look very bad to the boss. However, I’m not worried about a Fortune 100 stiffing me.

The individuals and small companies, that’s a different story. Then I use DEFCON Levels and when I no longer ever want to work for that client again, then I Cross the Rubicon. I’ll tell those stories someday. Such as sending grainy telephoto shots of their kids on the playground. (just kidding)

Here’s a good one: Two years ago I was hired by the bank too-big-to-fail to produce training videos for the Navy, they were going totally cashless and every base and ship would no longer accept currency. So in January I film on an aircraft carrier in port and by July I hadn’t got the second half and the videos were delivered in March. So I hassle the bank, they hassle the Navy as to where’s Ned’s money and the answer was that they passed it onto the U.S. Treasury and there was no way anyone could ever know when the big check would arrive. Fortunately the second half was my profit and the editor’s fees and he’s a buddy, but it was very disconcerting. Totally untraceable. In sum, it’s important to have a cash savings cushion just like we have for personal, so you can survive these cash flow issues that are a part of being a little guy servicing the big boys. Or at least a low interest credit card with a big limit to see you through.

I think it’s considered customary to give 30 days net in creative services and when you want COD it’s tantamount to saying, “Don’t trust you”, which is OK with new clients and one-offs but my regular base would be highly offended if I acted as if I don’t trust they’ll pay. Someday when I have some time, and to save me time from answering questions I get about collections from newbies, I will elucidate on:

• Personalize Your Squeakiness
• Crossing the Rubicon
• We never write checks the last month of a quarter.

I’m expert at collecting. Helps to seem unhinged!

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

I find this to be common when working for agencies. Sometimes I agree but will say I will release the final version without the watermark when I get paid. That way all the creative and approvals are made. I don’t mind if it’s “just” my labor but when hard costs such as travel are involved it hurts. Also, I won’t sign anything and after awhile I use nuisance tactics to get paid. You would be surprised as to how many departments have contingency funds, especially the marketing folks, so if your invoice isn’t too high you can get paid that way. But don’t sign anything except the IC part (excluding the payment timeline) and the fees section. You can cross out and initial any section you want.

The problem is the definition of “Completed” is squishy so who knows when the agency’s client will consider it “done”. On the other hand I am guilty of doing this too. I have several humongous clients and I have no real idea when I will be paid, the invoice goes into a black (automated) hole that is outsourced. I produce for America’s largest “too big to fail bank” (you know who they are) and I swear to God, they outsource all their back office paperwork to Mumbai. So what I tell my editor is that I’ll pay you the day I get paid, and that has worked for a dozen years. I’ll pay the crew out of my own funds especially if I know they are young renters.

What I really don’t like about agencies doing this is that we all know they have a decent cash flow, after all, the lights are on, salaries are being paid, BMWs are in the parking lot and when you Zillow their upscale home addresses they obviously are making their mortgage payments. So my theory is that they try to figure out which vendors can be pushed to accept the “We’ll pay you when we get paid” BS. They can’t do that if they need a new roof but they figure they can do it to us. In sum, I will sometimes accept this to get the gig but if they go too long I have become expert at being a “squeaky wheel.” So become a squeaky wheel. It helps if they have a crush deadline.

P.S. You just reminded me of 2015, I will start a thread in the near future on this. For the US’s largest advertising agency’s marketing arm I was sent all over the US for six weeks interviewing CEOs. When I wasn’t getting paid and started my squeaky wheel I was told “We don’t cut checks the last month of a quarter”. This is now very common with the Fortune 100s. Four months out of the year they stop all APs, whether they owe $2000 or $2mil.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Hi Luke,

Just because they’re asking for the raw footage doesn’t mean they won’t hire you again. Many of my clients have young kids on staff or freelance who will edit for next to nothing, so they may be wanting to make Instagram/Facebook/YT snippets just for buzz. That is common nowadays. Videos they can’t afford a pro to edit.

Yet they will come back to you for the professional shooting because that’s what they can’t do well cheaply themselves. This is opposite of Todd’s approach and the one I use. I’d rather have the production and I consider the post to be the money losing nuisance. Or maybe I just love shooting more?

To me agreements are meaningless because there’s no way I would go to court let alone want to spend money on an attorney’s opinion, I’d rather just give them the original. My mentor taught me: “You can never win an argument with a client, even if you’re right.” So just give it to them and hope they liked your shooting.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

There’s a lot of curved portable cheap dollies like this below. Probably something for rent locally:

https://nofilmschool.com/2013/02/snaptrack-cinerails-light-portable-curved-dolly-track-kickstarter

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Oh! I didn’t mean an old fashion, heavy metal dolly like an Elemack. There are now many lightweight dollies that ride on roller blade wheels on plastic curved track. Mine rides on two 8′ PVC pipes and there are options for curved, that’s what I meant.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Hi Todd,

Can you provide a link to a piece of video illustrating what this curved slider offers in jazzing up a shot? Isn’t it what we used to call curved track in the old days? If so, that’d be easy to rent, as in a light weight door way dolly.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Nah, I’ve written many hundreds of checks to crew over the years and OT is always based on the labor rate. Perhaps a production company that sends out people with gear under one price may try to get away with charging OT on gear but I have never come across it.

As to being asked to drive two hours from your house, assuming you don’t live “way out” from the center of your market area (as I do), it’s customary to drive about 30 miles or so before complaining and wanting to charge travel time. For instance, in Chicago the epicenter is considered the intersection of State & Madison downtown so distance starts from there, that was a union rule from the Old Days. So imagine if you, like me, have to put a crew together of 4-8 people, they all live all over the place including far flung suburbs, are you saying each one would have their own start time based on where they live? That would mean each person would enter into OT at a different time depending on where they came from? No, that’s not how it works. If the location is in a far flung area I will tell the client we need to be done in a 9 hour day, instead of a 10 hour day because of all the driving, and I may add everyone charges another $10 for gas and tolls. Also, in the Chicago area, what may be a 30 minute drive at 3AM with no cops around can become a 2 hour commute at 8AM with rain or snow, so time really means nothing in terms of crew arrival and the determination of OT.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com