[Neil Hurwitz]

Hi Grin,
You must be living in some alternate universe if
you think that everybody in this industry who has lost their job
has been able to just get another one with a 10,000 dollar raise.
I know of a few really, really experienced, Emmy award winners
who have been asked to take a 5 figure cut. This greatly affects
their lives and families. I am not happy when anyone loses
their job, But it seems that there are those who still believe
that those that can’t afford bread, should buy cake.
I for one can’t understand why the 10% of unemployed simply
don’t go out and get jobs with a 5 figure increase over their last
position? Can you?
I ask again, Where is your humanity? Or maybe there isn’t any
on your planet.

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

“I don’t see big old school post houses shuttin’ down shop as a bad thing.”

Why would you say this? Those shops have People with Families
working in them. Where is your humanity?
It’s a bad thing when an Industry shrinks.
I am very happy for those here who are doing well and have
wished them luck. But no matter what their business plan is
they have to ask themselves Just how many heart attacks (clients)
are they away from the dust heap?

You want to see the best if humanity but 10 people in a Box
with enough food for 8.

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

Walter,
You are well positioned then, Good Luck
I agree with all of your plan, However I do
believe there is a good argument for leasing equipment
(dollar buy-out only)
as it spreads the cost of ownership over the projected use of the
equipment. In this industry financing should never go longer than 3
years. Just curious here, But the last time I did a build
(Leasehold Improvement)I was informed that I could only
deduct 1/39 a year as Federal Income Tax depreciation.
Is this still the case?

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

Mark,
These two companies in NYC were not Dinosaurs
but pretty much up to date post-houses. No aging
GVG switchers and D2’s But more or less up to date facilities.
Just look at their equipment rosters.

Walter,
Good luck with your new build out. It’s nice to see someone
making progress in this tough economy. My only advice would be
that I wouldn’t spend a single penny on a build out UNLESS you
owned the building. One of the biggest reasons for houses
closing here in NYC (mine included) was that they
come to the end of their leases and run up against the landlord.
Landlords aren’t stupid, they see an expensive build out and
know how much it’s gonna cost you too move. They have all the chips
and the tenant either winds up giving a big chunk, if not all
of their profits to them or moves (also expensive) or folds.
I know of one house in NYC that doesn’t care how they do
because they own the five story building they occupy and the
rent of the High End Sushi Bar on the first floor
covers their overhead. Another big house in NYC struggled for years
and then sold their building 3 years after purchasing it and
turned an 11 Million Dollar profit. (more than their previous
25 years of profit) So Hold Off on your move until you can buy
the Building, It will be your retirement account.
Once again Best of Luck

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

If Bill can get 80K a year He should JUMP ON IT
A good salary for a AE guy in any market.
He is not bringing any clients with him so his value is lower
than if he were negotiating with a post house.
Bill, Jump on the 80K or whatever because the hidden
message here is that your client wants to spend less money
for whatever you are providing them with.
They are telegraphing you here.
If it’s not you, It’s for sure going to be somebody else.

[Neil Hurwitz]

Steve Jobs is a sell-out
In 1984 he was all about Kicking Big Brothers Butt
Now he is morphing into Big Brother and is all about
harvesting the revenues streams and personal information
that will come from when we the have no choice but to
buy his gadgets, pay the subscription charges for wireless and
use on-line programs (by subscription) that will only be available
thru this new model. The goal being that every thing you do, can
be data-mined so they can bombard you with targeted advertising.
I am disappointed. You think there is any correlation to
the new Iphone and the dumping of the unlimited Data Plan by ATT&T?
Sorry to say but I think FCP has maybe one more update and then it’s
gonna be on the chopping block. Adobe would make the best sense to me. As far as the computers go I think we can expect a real slowing down of development and a longer product cycle. It makes sense to me
for Apple to wait until there are Big jumps in performance to update.
I would be surprised if the new MAC PROS, whenever they come out,
didn’t have 10gig ethernet,USB 3, and maybe an external SATA 3
connector. Soon between Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, ATT&T
Yahoo, U-Tube, Supermarket Discount card, everything you do and purchase will be somebody eleses DATA and they will have a better understanding about you than you have about yourself.
If you think for a minute that if you are a big user
of I-tunes or You-Tube that you aren’t being profiled, Boy do
I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

Ned
I offer two reasons seasoned “long timers” are leaving this industry.
The first being economic, the second being the very nature of what
this biz has matured into. Let me explain in reverse order.

1.In the days of linear editing there was a tactile feel to
what one did. In the old on-line linear bays one had to know
many different machines. Watching a good on-line guy was like
watching a symphony conductor. Their hands had to fly over a big
switcher punching buttons, they had to drive the joystick of the
DVE, they had to bang away at the chyron or had to communicate to the
chyron operator what they wanted, they had to get all this working
on the CMX, they had to bark orders to the tape operator and when
they hit the go button all these machines would lock up and make something happen. Tape ops would have contests on who could change
a reel of 1″ on the VPR3 the fastest. In a nut shell it was just more
fun than it is today. Now the same guy is locked in a room
staring at computer screens all day. All of the above has been
replaced by a mouse, trackball and keyboard. It has become way more
solitary. Also they way of thinking has changed. It used to be about
flow, how is the signal (video) being routed through the gear.
It was like thinking of water being routed through a series of pipes
and valves. Now it’s all file based and this has been replaced
by IT talk. I will let it be up to the sages here to say whether it is better or worse But for sure it WAS more fun. I was envolved
with a Company called “Video & Photo Enterprises” we kept two
cars out at night hunting news. We had a radio room where we
monitored just about every service channel on the air and would dispatch our “stringers” by radio. These where big beefy guys
dragging around a HL79 and a BVU 50 with 20 pounds of batteries.
We would go for Perp walks, Blood and Fire. It was fun, you had to be tough, gung ho, know the cops & fireman. How can this compete with
everyone that has a flip camera in their glove box? In short
this biz is just less FUN than it once was.

2. The Money is Gone.
Mark-up on equipment was always a big contributor to profits
in the industry. The high cost of equipment was a barrier to
entry and the complexity of the gear was also an intimadating
factor. Now both are gone. I know their will be many flames about
“it’s the Skill & not the toys” and I agree to a point.
Hacks will get weeded out and stars will rise to the top but
the vast majority will languish as digital slaves.
There is an evolution happening now. The Big Iron guys (CMX yada yada) were replaced by most here by AVIDS. 80,000 was a whole lot less than the 500,000 plus it took to build a linear suite.
Latter came FCP and yet another reduction in the buy in.
This led to another round of houses opening. All this led to
real competition which we all know from a Money Making point of
view is not so good. Let me offer some numbers on the Mark-Up argument.
Lets say my big old Linear bay cost 10,000 a month to finance
Lets say I paid the editor 100 an hour.
Hey lets throw in another 50 an hour for overhead
Now lets assume we bill 160 hours a month @ 400 per
I assure you these numbers are well within the real realm and
if anything are on the low side. 400 an Hour for a Dual Twin Deveous
was a wonderful thing.
So do the math:
160×400= 64,000 revenue
(10,000) Financing cost
(16,000) for the Editor Who makes this now?
( 8,000) for misc overhead
30,000 PROFIT
And if you ran a second shift IT WAS LIKE PRINTING CASH

So for those who say “Mark up on Gear” is not important
I say BULLSHIT. Mark-up on gear always was and always will be a big
part of Profits. Lets not even talk about things like taking a
75.00 reel of tape and turning it into a 200.00 reel of “Basic”

So in Conclusion, It’s the LEACHING OUT OF THE FUN
and the DRASTIC REDUCTION IN PROFITS that are Driving most
long timers out of the Business.
No Fun, No Money SCREW IT

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

Hi All,
I believe the answers to these questions are,
1.Yes: 2.Yes If 3 is a No: 3:Yes: 4:Think So
but just to be sure, Here’s the scenario:
Two Mac Pros in two different locations

1. Can I physically pack it up (the Raid)
and send it from one to the other?

2. Do I have to send the controller card along with it?

3. Can I buy the same controller card (Atto 380) for the 2nd
location and keep the original card in the first Mac?

4. Do both Macs have to have the same versions of OS and FCP & Atto
drivers?

Basically I want to be able to Move the Raid back and forth
between two locations.(100 miles apart) Material would mostly be loaded at one location.
What should I be looking for here so I don’t wind up with
a telephone pole up my butt?

Thanx

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

“Within a few hours of this news I’ve already received offers from other post houses to “Come here to finish your project!”

Whole lot of LOVE in this Business

If you want to see the best in Humanity throw
10 people in a box with enough food for 9
The corpse isn’t even cold yet and the Vultures
have smelt the dead meat.
It doesn’t make me warm and fuzzy

Neil Hurwitz

[Neil Hurwitz]

Hi Terence,
Would you please expand on your “Bad Management”
comment. I am in NYC so have no dog in this nor do I know
any of the principals. I just seek knowledge.
I myself closed a Big Iron facility in January of 2000
This was a direct result of the internet bubble. Commercial space
in NYC was bid up and over 50.00 per square foot by
Dot.Com start ups with a ping pong table, a dog, a business plan
and 25,000,000.00 in IPO money and NO PRODUCT. So after being in the same spot for 15 years and at the end of a 15 year lease I was
presented with a 400,000 rent increase. No amount of better management would have changed the landlords position. I was there for
15 years, they owned the building for 18 months. Things happen in business that are somewhat out of the control of management.
Facilities close for a variety of reasons. In ten years from now
all of what we do might be outsourced to China via 1000GB internet
connections being wirelesly piped to the 10th generation Ipad.
Oh that’s impossible you say, well I for one, who once
spent 15,000.00 on a pair of 3 gig Avid Rmag drives 18 years ago
(one of BZ’s first installs, I can still hear him swear out a Quadra 950) Have no problem invisioning it at all.
Now 15,000 will by you 32 TB and I got 8 gigs on my key chain.
I wouldn’t want to be the guy who buys a big Facilis system the day before BZ and gang announce their 10gige FCOE for 1/5 th money.

The point being If you blame bad management, I’d like to know specifically what you mean?
What did they do wrong?
This is a good learning opportunity.

My advice to all facility owners is to keep your eyes on two lines
and a number. The first line being revenue over time. The second being expense over time. The number being, If you pulled the plug
tomorrow what would you walk away with after settling all obligations . It is quite resonable to
think that this case was “Good Management” in that perhaps they
pulled the plug without missing the next payroll, without
stiffing their suppliers, without not paying freelancers,
without taking on personal liability
for unpaid taxes, without missing medical insurance premiums and letting everyone’s insurance lapse, Knowing when to pull the plug
can be good management
I hope it doesn’t happen to any here BUT for sure their is some
kid in high school somewhere with a dream of Hollywood and eyes on your rice bowl.

Neil Hurwitz