[Nick Griffin]

[Tim Wilson] “we talk a LOT about how we are NOT in the web business.”

If I may be so bold as to offer an opinion, the COW is NOT in the web business, nor the magazine business, nor the educational DVD business. The COW’s core strength and raison d’etre is that it is in the COMMUNITY business. It uses the aforementioned tools as its means of building and serving that community. And I, for one, am damn grateful that it does.

[Nick Griffin]

[Emre Tufekci] “And read this article:

https://magazine.creativecow.net/article/12-things-i-know-about-business-at-...

“Just when I think I’m out… they PULL me back in.”
-Michael Corleone, Godfather III

Aw shucks, Emre. Thanks for the plug.

[Tim Wilson] “Learn to WRITE. I’m not talking about screenplays. I’m talking about words in a sensible order. It’s a mental and physical discipline that will sharpen you in unexpected ways.”

IMHO this is one of the best pieces of advice in a thread jammed back with good advice. When I was in high school we had an English teacher who said “People who can write can think, and people who can think can write.” (Just try to avoid stupid typos whenever possible, ie.- “loose” when you meant “lose.”)

In addition to writing, and also as mentioned in other threads, people skills are critical to both early and long term success. Learn how to read people and then mirror them in attitude, pacing and patterns. Cultivate these abilities and they will take you far.

And yes, for your own sake, cultivate interests and abilities way outside of your primary focus. Delve into ancient history. Take a class in sculpture. And, as discussed in these forums many times, learn and get good at a musical instrument — it will truly make you a better editor.

Best of luck, David. I may have a wonderful family, a big house and a BMW, but I’m still envious of the future you have ahead of you. Make the most of it!

[Nick Griffin]

Bob-
Think back to college days when the really hot girl and one of your friends broke up. Could you call her, and if so, how long until it was cool to call? Or should you show some level of loyalty to your friend and not hit on his ex at all? Or did it depend on whether he was just a friend/friend rather than a best friend? Your situation seems kind of similar to me.

Will you be getting any more work out of this long distance producer? If he’s lost the business how will he even know if you’re hitting on his ex? While I like the idea of throwing the producer some writing, my bet would be on that NOT working out in the long run. After all, in his mind your still the minion he brought on board and now you’re throwing him crumbs.

A third approach would be to offer this client up as a blind lead to another producer with whom you have a relationship. Seems like only by not calling at all do you avoid a very gray area, IMHO.

[Nick Griffin]

[Todd Terry] “a banana sandwich”

Elvis Food! It’s a deal!

[Nick Griffin]

[Todd Terry] “Oh Nick, the next time you are over here… the pool needs some attention.”

Now that we’ve established in an earlier post that I’m self-educated on pool equipment maintenance. (I’m betting that it would pay better than would videos for individual real estate properties.)

[Nick Griffin]

Craig –
We don’t have any interns because we’ve always felt like there are too many times we barely have time to do the work itself without having to try to teach someone else. This is probably a shortsighted and simplistic approach on my part, but that’s the way I feel.

In terms of a business idea, Steve’s concept for offering a class or seminar on how to do it is easily the closest to something which could make money. However to truly work you’d have to take it on the road and do it in enough different places around the country to make the content seem worth the price of admission to most of these people. I myself thought about developing a DVD or writing a book on getting the most out of still photography for real estate — basics like instead of tilting the camera up at the house, move back, shoot square on and crop out the lawn. Others would be tricks for balancing lighting, Photoshop elements basics and so on.

The real problem remains, as discussed here several times, agents tend to be more than a little tight with their pennies. Only the multi-million dollar homes seem to justify professional photography, let alone professional videography. And, at least around here, the bigger players want to put together monthly or quarterly booklets of multi-million dollar homes. This has more appeal to potential buyers and is no doubt less expensive on a cost per home basis.

Several years ago I pitched a developer on heavily promoting a new project with the goal being to fill it more quickly. He simply could not get his head around the idea that spending marketing money could result in more immediate income through fewer vacancies. I stopped beating my head against the wall and moved on.

As to Todd –
What a shameless way to show off your own home. Sure, it’s somebody else’s property. All of us know that the only people in the deep south making the kind of money needed for a home like that are the ones working in film and video production. But seriously, it could be worse than the situation you describe. You could be LeBron James with a 35,000 square foot home to sell in a Cleveland suburb. That’s going to be a TOUGH sale.

[Nick Griffin]

Well, Ned… isn’t THAT a good question. Unfortunately it’s likely that there are a lot of different answers. I feel your pain because I’ve been there and done that — especially last year when it wasn’t so much that companies weren’t doing projects, they were just not doing them “right now.”

One way of qualifying is to help the prospect understand what they get for what they pay. I explain that we’ve done projects basic and simple enough that with a half day of shooting and a few hours of editing we’ve been able to deliver complete videos for as little as a few thousand dollars. Then I say that we’ve also worked on complex and lengthy projects where the budget has approached $100,000 and that we’ve worked at all points in between. At this juncture I’ve let them know that if they have $900, I’m not their guy.

It’s also useful to get them talking about what they envision as their end product. Can their project be done in a single location or will it involve many? Do they want one or more actors? Do they want a certain look or style? At each stage I try to give them an idea of what various options cost — for example, on-camera union actors with associated fees are around $1,000 a day. Want that to be someone you’ve heard of and you might be able to get them for $10,000 or $50,000 for a few days, plus first class airfare and accommodations. It’s all about getting the prospect into a realistic mindset and knowing that they can control the budget by controlling the options.

This first meeting does NOT have to be in person. You can suggest that to “help determine if what they want and what we have to offer is a good fit, let’s spend a few minutes on the phone.” Beats the hell out of gassing up the Suburban.

[Nick Griffin]

What??? Zelin said something non-confrontational??? And it makes sense??? Bob, did you finally swear off the twelve pots of coffee a day?

Long and short of it is, don’t completely alienate these people (the web developers), just don’t work for them again. Just get paid first. If being subservient for now accomplishes that, so be it. Just blame it on someone else: “Geez, I’d like to, but my accountant says I need the cash flow THIS month.”

The good news is if in the end client knows who you are, they are likely to (OK… MAY) contact you directly in the future once they’ve figured out that their web developer is a d*ckhead.

Oh, and as to “tortious interference?” Give me a break! For anything under six figures that’s a pointless (and STUPID) bluff.

[Nick Griffin]

David –
I have to agree with Walter (and others), there’s very little in this piece that hasn’t been discussed here extensively and exhaustively. Not saying that there’s anything wrong with a reminder now and then, especially for the newbies who haven’t been keeping up with the threads in this pasture, but not much new.

And frankly, David, I’ve read LOTS of things of yours which are much better written.

And, Todd, I too work in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, just not when clients visit. That’s when it’s more important to be one of them in long sleeves and pants rather than the “creative” who may easily be regarded as NOT one of them.

[Nick Griffin]

We had something very similar to this come up a few months back. However that was more specific to creating a 21st century equivalent of “window burns,” wherein you are providing the client with raw footage that they would then use to generate a list of preferred takes.

The way to do this is to digitize whole tapes or disks, lay that footage into a timeline, then simply set the timecode start for the timeline to that of the tape or disk. Then output with M100’s built-in timecode burn in and viola — you’ve got it. Granted if there are a lot of camera starts and stops or any kind of a break in the original timecode you may drift a few frames in your window burn copy. Then again the vast majority of clients these days don’t even seem able to comprehend frames and when indicating specific seconds easily are off by a few.

Of course this method will NOT work with edited footage, just raw.