Nick Griffin
Forum Replies Created
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[Mark Suszko] ”
“Communications” in a name can signify a range of platforms and services including PR work and various media.”Yes. Exactly. When I named my company Griffin Communications it was 1) Pre-internet, 2) Used to connote the wide variety of types of communications in which we work (ads, PR, web, photography and these days with the strongest emphasis placed on video) and 3) Using one’s name (or in some cases including the names of the key partners) indicated a degree of standing up and not hiding behind an ambiguous or overly cute name. (No offense intended, Todd. Your name is perfectly appropriate for someone who has an aluminum Christmas tree in his lobby.)
In my experience people like doing business with people and putting one’s name out is a succinct way of doing that.
[Todd Terry] “Make SURE you pick a name that you can register a clear .com name for.”
In 1995 we put in an application, through the ISP which was how it was done in those days, for Griffin.com and missed getting it by a matter of days, so I settled for a contraction of Griffin Communications. Later I thought to register my first and last name as a .com, which is aliased to our website. (Oddly enough the Letterman writer and stand-up comedian of the same name has never contacted me to buy it, but instead did a .net for his site. Wish he was funnier.)
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Gee, why do so many of the really good threads start when I’m out of town at a conference or neck-deep in a shoot? My two cents: As others have said and I’ll try to say more plainly, add skills and keep adding skills. And then… add some more.
As someone who has been self-employed since… well let’s just say it’s measured in decades… I’ve had to continually re-invent what I do, almost always without leaving any of the previously developed skills behind. This has taken me from radio production, to sales, to advertising, to PR, into computer consulting, from still photography into videography and production. And I’ll say with the exceptions of radio and computer consulting I’m still doing most of these things for a highly select group of clients.
Never stop learning (as Mr. Zelin so succinctly points out). Keep learning new things so that you stay valuable to your employers, or should you decide to go out on your own, to your clients.
I also agree that step one is keeping the day job and branching out from there, as long as it NEVER conflicts with the day job. Those who equate going into business for themselves as an either/or proposition are setting themselves up for the strong possibility of failure. I was dumb and lucky. Most are not. Build a business on the side that’s already up and running before you expect it to pay all of your bills.
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[Richard Herd] “Do candidates just take their lumps and move on?”
I haven’t done political spots in many years, but what I do remember is that election laws are so broadly protective of what’s said in the spots that one could literally drop the F-bomb and the broadcast outlets would HAVE to air it.
As to getting paid, money up front was always a given. We were the agency so someone from the campaign had to have a checkbook with them to pay us immediately when services were rendered. And we ALWAYS had to pay the stations in advance. Period.
What I miss is the abundance of money and, unlike almost all of the companies we work for today, the campaigns had no choice besides spending it. Business owners can always rationalize that they can cut marketing and pocket the cash. Politicians can’t (unless they want to be sharing a cell with Jesse Jackson, Jr.).
What I DON’T miss is, in the final weeks, the URGENT 1:00AM calls to create a brand new spot that had to be on the air the next morning.
As an example of how crazy this can be, the Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) campaign had one of the best announcers in the Washington/Baltimore market on a HUGE six-figure retainer so he would ALWAYS be available for those 1:00AM, 2:00AM, 3:00AM calls. He was and they did call many, many times based on shifting polling issues.
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Todd is correct on everything, but I will expand in one area.
It’s almost ALWAYS a bad idea to give a designer something with any layout AT ALL. I’ve been guilty of this as a partially developed art director, when I give a real (fully developed) art director something in Quark and this seems to leave them obligated to use that as a starting point. The net result is I get back something which looks a little (sometimes a lot) better than what I did, but not something fresh and original.
You are best to provide the copy in Word with no formatting, just indications of which photos relate to which parts of the copy and which parts are headlines and sub-heads. Then let the art director come back with a couple or more variations. DO NOT give them a Word “layout” and expect them to improve that. You may want to provide style guidance in the form of ads or other print media that you think heads down the right path but the looser you are with the starting point the better their end product is likely to be.
AND, if you’ve never seen “ClientsfromHell.net” from the UK you owe it to yourself to get an up close and personal look at the perspective of the designer. That website would be even funnier if it were not so true.
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[Steve Brame] “We’ve had one incident where our equipment was flown somewhere else, and didn’t make it to our shoot city in time… Delta.”
A couple of years prior to 9-11-01 I had a very similar experience with Delta. My client and we were flying to Portugal via Madrid and because of their x-Ray of a case containing tungsten lights and their coiled cables, the case was diverted to Germany for closer inspection. The shoot was delayed a day but we got the case back from the airline and were able to complete the gig.
That was also another case of needing the battery because the guards in Madrid’s airport forced me to power up the camera. It’s not possible to argue with someone who doesn’t speak English, I don’t speak Spanish AND he’s holding a machine gun.
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Oh, yea. And that’s the other thing. When you pay your $85 and sign up from the “TSA Pre” program you whoosh past the regular lines, don’t have to take off your shoes or belt or even jacket, are treated VERY politely, go through a simple magnetometer (rather than the more invasive scanning device) and are through screening in about 1/10th of the time, probably even less.
But as Mark indicates, you can always never tell what the TSA will do at any time, in any given situation and God help all of us who travel a lot if there’s ever another attack on US soil. (Possibly the worst possible thing to be writing about on September 10th.)
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Huh? I’m disagreeing with Mark? This is probably only the 2nd time. I have 4 IDX-10Ss Lithium camera batteries each under the limit for air transport (I believe) of 90 watts. In a pocket of my camera bag I also keep the manufacture’s instruction sheet which specifically says that the 10Ss battery is “…suitable for transport by air as non-restricted articles under the regulations of…” You get the idea. If questioned about the battery I have this as a document that specifically cites the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulation 2.3.5.9.1 (so there!).
I also only fly with one battery just to be sure that I am complying with the regulations. It hasn’t happened recently but I have been in TSA situations where I’ve had to power up the camera and let them look through the viewfinder to verify that it was in fact a camera and not a disguised bomb. That’s why I always have a battery and an XDCam disk loaded and ready to go for that time I stumble into something newsworthy (which hasn’t happened yet).
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I travel with gear QUITE frequently and while I’m not familiar with the size of your “Kata bag,” if it will fit in the overhead bin you should be OK. The trick is getting on the plane early enough that there’s still room in the overhead bin and you’re not threatened with the dreaded flight attendant saying of “Sir, with no more space in the overhead bins we’re going to have to check your bag.”
Since I live near a city dominated by Southwest Airlines I always opt for the extra $12.50 for “Early Board,” “A Group” boarding. Then it’s just a matter of watching out for someone trying to force their bag into the bin on top of your gear, which happens with too much frequency for it not to be a constant concern.
As to the charging unit, you’re probably safe to just put that in your checked bag. Even if TSA or a baggage handler opens your bag with your clothes. It’s not the sort of thing that should be of interest to them or appear worth even a fraction of what it actually costs.
Your idea of shipping the tripod is a good one. I routinely ship a hard-shell tube containing the tripod, a few light stands & arms and whatever other grip gear will fit. I then use a hard shell anvil case for lights, batteries, audio gear, etc. I use FedEx economy (3 day) whenever possible and practical.
Hope this is of some help.
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Hadn’t thought to tell the Mac’s monitor arrangement panel to go BELOW the main monitor so when done it made the source/record windows appear on the bottom of the main screen. I was then able to re-position them and re-save the positions. Duh. Should have thought of it sooner but for the past twenty years I’ve always had pallet monitors on either the right or left of the main monitor.
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We discussed this in depth a few years ago on the Business & Marketing COW. (Please visit us and search the archived posts.)
The long and short of it is that, while Mark is correct on his suggestions, it goes deeper and can be different in different companies. For example, we get work mostly from people in charge of sales: Sales Directors, VP of Sales and, occasionally company Presidents. The key is to find the need and be the one who provides them with a lot of ideas.