Patrick Ortman
2
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Walter, this is a great idea. I wish we were in Atlanta 🙂
Los Angeles and New York video production for businesses and brands:
https://patrickortman.com -
I’ll give old clients footage if it still exists, for a reasonable price like Terry. No way on project files, not only because of what Mark says, but mostly because it’s asking to be taken down a rabbit hole (oh, and we also need your After Effects files, and your fonts, and your plug-ins, and your Mocha files…). F&*k that nonsense.
I guess I’m pretty lucky, in that in 2015 we were not asked for raw footage or project files even once by clients. We had a major fortune 50 client ask for footage in 2014, however, and just as a contrary datapoint to the cheap lawyers saying “that sounds expensive” to you, this Fortune 50 client insisted we charge them a fair amount to provide the footage. And so we did.
P
Los Angeles and New York video production for businesses and brands:
https://patrickortman.com -
I once met with one of the big web content companies, to talk about doing a branded content project with them. During our meeting, in between talking with me and sipping his coffee, the guy was watching 6 videos lined up on his desktop AT ONCE.
I asked him about that, and he said he just “looks for things that pop”. If something “pops”, he’ll go back and watch the first few SECONDS of the reel. And if THAT still “pops” to him, he’ll maybe watch a minute or so, then send it to his intern to watch all the way through to make sure the rest “doesn’t suck”.
This is just a datapoint, lots of people aren’t douchebags 🙂
Los Angeles and New York video production for businesses and brands:
https://patrickortman.com -
Funny/sad story, we had a very large client who refused to pay us to properly archive their project. So, I delivered the masters to them, and warned them that they’d refused to pay for the archive, that this means we won’t have a copy in the future if they need files, etc.
Well, 2 years later, they need the archive they’d refused to pay for.
As a Boy Scout, despite the client’s vocal unwillingness to pay for archiving, I’d run a copy to a drive, on our own dime. Unfortunately, that drive has failed.
Which, I think, is the Universe’s way of saying “Hey, dummy! Pay for the archive next time!”.
Of course, we’re trying to recover the files for them.
Los Angeles and New York video production for businesses and brands:
https://patrickortman.com -
David is 100% right. If you want to do crap work for crap clients, keep low-balling your rates. Or, get some backbone and tell the lowballers/grinders to do f*&k themselves, up your game, and go after only the good clients.
Los Angeles and New York video production for businesses and brands:
https://patrickortman.com -
Everything Mads says, plus please be careful on your cancellation/deposit clause: it’s important to note that in the USA, often a “deposit” must be refunded if a project is cancelled. A liquidated damages clause protects you and the time you’ve already spent working for a client, should they have to pull/cancel the project.
Los Angeles and New York video production for businesses and brands:
https://patrickortman.com -
I hear you guys, but remember: it’s not the size of the client I’m talking about, but the size of the project’s budget in relation to the size of the company. My experience over the past 5 years is if a project has a small budget, in relation to the size of the organization, that the client is often a major PITA. This could be a $2K project for a small company, or it could be a $20,000 project for a Fortune 500 company.
I’m saying that I’ve really noticed that if a project has a budget that “means something” to the organization, the experience is almost always much better.
I shoot people.
http://www.patrickortman.com -
I have a client who just assumed all that would be free. You guys are right: you HAVE to charge for it, and if it’s tying up resources at all, you CAN’T go less than 50% your normal rates.
I shoot people.
http://www.patrickortman.com -
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Smart stuff in this thread.
For us, it totally depends on the client.
We do always charge for travel, and like Walter said, often it’s a note saying client will pay for it, and we think it’ll be XXX-XXXX.
Standard day rate for travel days is 50%, too.
Nice and clean.
Sometimes the client insists it be included as part of our budget. Then we do some work and figure out it’ll be about XXX, and then put in a contingency on top of that in case we’re wrong.
As for ‘marking up’ your crew, etc., when I started out I did not mark up anyone or anything.
I damn near went out of business.
Now, we make sure we’re paid for our time and expertise. We make sure there’s a producer’s fee in every project we produce (because as mentioned, you deserve to be paid for your work producing the thing!), and we make sure there’s a profit in every project we do.
Sometimes that profit becomes its own little line item. A few clients appreciate that. Often, though, we’re told to fold it into the estimate, and mark up every line item (such as crew). Either way’s OK, as long as you do make sure you’re making a profit. After all, we want to be around for our clients to work with in the future, right?
I shoot people.
http://www.patrickortman.com