Ned Miller
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COW Coins
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Get your visa first before you put in any more pre-pro. They wouldn’t give me a visa! And I was doing a feature length documentary for PBS sanctioned by Major League Baseball. They are allergic to “documentary” crews (Borat II?). Seems they prefer MSM crews (Main Stream Media). So, make sure you can even get in…
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
Thanks Walter! And all the best in your new space. I need some inspiration.
Thanks,
Ned
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
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I came to this forum originally to pick up marketing tips when I was slow and to compare trends in my geographic area with peers in other parts of the country. However, this thread is odd because it ignores the 800 lb gorilla in the room or forum: THERE IS NO WAY TO UNDERSTAND THE FINANCIAL SITUATION AND RISK LEVEL OF OTHERS IN OUR BIZ.
It is very hard for us to compare our financial situations because we are all coming at it from different circumstances. Who knows why someone can buy a building without a loan while others are struggling, given similar circumstances? I have been doing this for a long time and have observed that many people in our biz are on a different plateau than the rest of us financially, so why compare what works for one in terms of investing, than another? Some people are able to take on investment risk because there may be a safety net.
Recently I visited or communicated with a few guys who were my mentors and are 15-20 years older than me and now comfortably in retirement. When we were working together they seemed “normal” financially. Now I know that the majority of these successful guys, or ones I thought “made it on their own”, or wanted all to believe they did, 1) either came from family money, 2) their wife came from family money, 3) a combination of both or 4) the wife made a very high income. It is one or a combo of those four factors. I see it in our biz quite a lot, from the young kids getting REDS or DSLR packages for graduation all the way to my competitors.
So let’s kill this thread, there’s no way to know why someone has money to risk. I know people in the biz who are struggling that all they have to do is outlive their parents. I also know people who start studios who have investors and angels behind them, they personally don’t have the money but always appear as they do.
Perhaps people making major capital investments in studio real estate did make it on their own but it is non-sensical to weigh their investment decisions because some people have deeper pockets than others for many reasons. You never know. And those that claim they just keep getting five figure raises every time they quit or get fired, well, without seeing their 1040s such bragging is meaningless and probably BS.
I wish this forum would be used to help share the secrets of how people (who do make it on their own) in our biz do get so damn profitable they can buy buildings! Even if it is a deal due to the depression, they still have the money somehow. Just how is it done? Do they have contracts for 20 shows? Are they cranking out high end spots every week for an agency that pays well and quickly? This is the Business Forum, please share the tips so we can all buy a building! That’s why I come here, it’s to figure out how to do my business aspects better, I have video down real well.
Scratch that, I wouldn’t want real estate. Just lost a lot of my nest egg in my brother’s major shopping center deal that went under. It was super successful until I got in at the wrong time. Commercial real estate is in much worse shape than video production. Slow paying tenants are deadlier than slow playing clients…Much deadlier.
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I have the best advice for you because I just went through an experience where I REALLY needed a former news cutter:
HIT UP THE PR AGENCIES, especially the big ones with in-house edit facilities.
I recently had three occasions with two clients who wanted me to shoot an event news style, then IMMEDIATELY edit packages of b-roll and soundbites and FTP them up on PR Newswire so TV stations who were too busy, poor or lazy to send their own crews could download, edit and broadcast the stories within a few hours.
The problem I had was I used “regular” editors who cut the footage on a laptop in FCP at a cyber cafe to upload but because they did not have a news background they were flummoxed. There is a certain procedure that the news stations want, a different rythym to the story that if you haven’t spent time actually doing news, you can not imitate.
So, hopefully you are in a major market and you can use your news skills to sell yourself as the best choice for cutting VNRs and PSAs since you know the ropes. Use your weakness to to your advantage. Also, get active on https://www.b-roll.net thats where a lot of former newsies are.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
When in doubt I always return to the age old entreprenuerial expression: “It ain’t what you make, it’s what you keep.”
I am anti-overhead nowadays and fortunately when the meltdown hit (The Lehmann’s weekend) my office lease was up. This is a good time to for us turtles to keep one’s head in the shell. If people have the cash to buy and expand God bless em. But I’d keep it in the mattress. I don’t trust that the clients we rely on may be there for the long run. As a freelancer I work for companies that are humming along and then WHAM!
But if you get it in writing and can financially project for several years you are extremely fortunate. Just don’t guarantee personally is my opinion.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
Well, I asked if anyone else noticed Long Timers leaving the biz and since the respondents didn’t mention it I guess it’s an anomaly of the folks I know in my area.
Mark: The people I cited, besides the DPs, really know how to find new biz and have been doing it since they got out of college. I’m starting to see patterns though of how one can make it so long in the biz, almost make it through this recession, then throw in the towel. For One Man Bands it’s critical that one’s spouse is pulling in good, steady dough. One husband/wife editing team I know has only one client who gives them several full days of editing every week, it’s a giant computer company. When I asked what would happen if this one client left his response was that they now have so much money in savings from them that they could weather a very long period of no new biz!
Others have gotten into bed with 800lb gorilla clients, often just one, then when the gorilla rolls over they’re screwed. I think it’s best to have several Golden Gooses that are loyal, pay decent and ON TIME and have a recurring need for video. Presently I don’t have any, just a zillion small and medium size clients who don’t have a repetitive need for video, lots of one offs and total strangers I’ll never see again.
So I am glad to see no one else is seeing competent, experienced video people throwing in the towel, except around here.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
I heard that one of the clients did that and it worked. The other client had a vendor with a Mac that did a file transfer.
Thanks
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
Marry someone who makes a great, steady income like an attorney or doctor. Preferably an only child so someday you both will stand a chance of getting an inheritance. I’m serious. Good luck!
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com -
Hey Adam,
I will be selling my 300 with 260 hours on it probably in late May. Tremendous savings for you. Email me if interested at:
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com