[Owen Lodge]

Subject:
Basically, you’re in the same boat as me now Luke. Apart from old clients that you should keep in contact with — I don’t enough, you should look on these:

Highend2d.com
Mandy
CGTalk
shooting people
vfx pro
vfx tool
fx guide
cinefex
animation world network
cinematography.net
directors-fileanswers.com
cg channel
PostIndustry
production base
showbiz ltd.
Creative Cow

I check mandy and creative cow every day. I’m on production base I think and broadcast freelancer but bf is rubbish because they don’t take old jobs off.
Phoning round places is the best way. If you can get hold of a copy of thye Knowledge or Production base, they list all the graphic production companies you need. Only thing is they both cost about £125 so try to sweet talk someone you make a connection with into photocopying the relavent pages for you.

Good luck
Owen

[Owen Lodge]

Hi Luke,

I’ve been working in Soho as a motion graphics designer for 10 years. When I started out, I was just like you – I didn’t know how much to charge or what to tell them. I didn’t even have a computer at home. After days of phoning andf posting out my reel to companies (It’s hard enough just getting a name off the receptionist), a friend already working gave me a number to try. They said I should come in and meet them and they gave me a job straight away. I told them I had a mac at home. Then I phoned my mate and asked him if I could hire his mac which he agreed to for £5 per day (1998). The job went ok – it was a text in space thing for Sky and I hadn’t made sure all the type was dead centered – oops. You learn things all the time – soak everything up. Someone said listen carefully – good advice.

Do not bullshit – if you say you can do something, you might be asked to do it now please. People respect you for your honesty – if you say you’re not sure how to do it that way but maybe this way will work equally well, that is usually ok.
The main thing is to grasp the brief well – ask all the questions you need to – they like this.

Work out how much time you want to spend on each section within the deadline. Keep the client informed of what you’re doing. Try to exceed their expectations, come up with other stuff.

The sincerest form of flattery is payment and as far as money gos, the going rate at the moment is between £220 – £350 per day depending on your experience, how long a contract it is and whether it’s an ad or not. When I started out, I asked my friend what to charge. He said he charged £300 per day but I knew he was a lot more advanced than me – he used flame and 3D too. So I pitched myself at £250 and no-one batted an eyelid. I still charge that now. It’s very nice if you can get daily rate every day for a year from a broadcaster like Channel 4 or the BBC. I’ve been asked if £350 per day was ok by an ad agency. Erm, let me think about it..
Be prepared to cut it though if you feel you might lose the job otherwise. Better to be paid than principled!

The more skills you can bring to the table the better – 3D, Flash, unix, fixing things, illustration, filming, editing etc.
Update your reel regularly and keep in touch with people.

Good luck and have fun!