Steve Kownacki
3
COW Coins
2
Premiere Pro Coins
Forum Replies Created
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TY: I had to inform the director three times…
That is a brilliant statement! While each crew member has their duties, knowing their place in the food chain is a good thing.
There’s another interesting thread on the cinematography forum https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/54/858663 about the audio guy.
Steve
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This thread it too… something. I’ve turned down 3 teaching offers because I asked if I could fire the kids who didn’t really have the passion for it! They said no. I wasn’t going to deal with slackers.
Steve
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[Heather Walters] “My boss just informed me that lavalier mics suck and I am required to use a boom mic.”
Sorry for joining the party so late, but I’d ask why he thinks they suck. Maybe it’s because he simply doesn’t want to see a mic. There are plenty of tricks that soundpeople use to hide lav mics and still get great sound.
I’m on the bandwagon for renting mics in your situation.
Steve
Steve
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I too pretty much quote like Nick and put time constraints on what is provided. I also attach a production calendar to hold them accountable to along with links to online samples if they need to be educated to a specific style of animation or lighting for instance. My spreadsheet (not shared with client) also includes a 10% contingency and 15% profit line. Client only sees one bottom-line number from me based on descriptions of the above.
You also have to decide when you are just a tech and when you are a problem solver/soulution provider. One justifies more money than the other.
Steve
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The biggest and most difficult part of any marketing plan in my opinion is tracking the results. The most simple thing to do is simply ask EVERY person that contacts you where they truthfully got your name. Some will say google, but they more than likely got it from a peer or something else and then googled you. You need to know this. (Plus its a great way to keep in touch with that other client and say thanks.) You also need to gauge the ROI on each effort.
With regards to the phone book, which I quit about 10 years ago, you need to know which book – not just “the yellow pages”. Verizon, Sprint, YellowBook, etc AND which year. The Yellow Book guy was the one to shoot himself in the foot when he told me to ask which page they were calling from. This told me without fail the year and book they were using. It confirmed no calls for 6 months came from Yellow. He had no argument. It also told me most people use 3-5 year-old books!
For me, like you mentioned, the amount of annoying calls from job seekers and lesser work was more of a hassle than the 1 or 2 legitimate jobs that came in.
Steve
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Don’t forget to check out the Business & Marketing forum for lots of Q&A on insurance. https://forums.creativecow.net/businessmarketing
I just posted a similar item in the Audio Forum. https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/30/862522
I’m not an agent or atty or otherwise, just relating my experiences.
Your gear is covered by and Inland Marine policy and you need Gen Liability for the crew and damage you may cause to others or property. I’m covered by and Erie Ultraflex package for this. Also covers rentals.
Taking a lead from personal injury attorneys as many ads state – you are not suing your company, you are suing the insurance company. This is why we carry insurance.
With that in mind, your freelancers on location should carry their own liability policies. While the client will look to you for payment of damages, if it is directly the result of a freelancer, their policy will be the object of your carriers suit. Why should your premium go up for their negligence? What if they drop your camera? They should pay that bill. Accidents happen.
Just like if your camera is damaged by a client, they are responsible to make it right, that’s why they have insurance.
I was shooting snowboarders a few years ago. I signed a waiver at the resort (my client) and when a snowboarder crashed into me and caused $3000 damage to the camera, the resort was not liable in this case. However, the snowboarder was. I didn’t know it at the time, but had I gotten his name and address, his parents homeowners insurance would have been sought by Erie to pay the repair. Instead, my rate went up about $300 that year. Just like a car accident, ALWAYS get names and addresses of those involved and the insurance companies fight it out.
I’ve had 3 major claims on gear over the years and my agent was right on it. No hassles and super-speedy service. Gear was repaired and in one case so was the rental of a replacement camera.
So the “horror” there is the premium increase. I also suggest taking photos of existing damage in a room you plan to shoot in. We were blamed for a large scratch on a cherry floor in a boardroom and they were adamant we did it moving a credenza. What saved us was the amount of dust on the floor under the furniture that proved the scratch was there for some time.
Steve
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We licensed an Amy Grant song for a United Way project a few years back at an amazing price rather than the hundreds or thousands for a commercial rights. You can easily find the publishers of a song on BMI or ASCAPs website. Be honest in telling them what you want and go from there.
When a bank client wanted to use a Rolling Stones song, the licensing company (when they finished laughing) said that the client wasn’t large enough and therefore not worthy of their song! Not for any amount of money. Oh well.
Steve
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To cover your gear you need an Inland Marine policy. I have what Erie calls an Ultraflex policy that includes General Liability and Inland Marine. This Marine policy has coverage for your personal gear that you take on location and a set amount for rentals, I have $20K, and that can be upped with a phone call if needed.
There’s been some discussion of this over in https://forums.creativecow.net/businessmarketing
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/862956#863009.
Steve
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There’s many threads in this forum on billing, rates and all the “unbillables” we deal with, this current thread has me asking: If you ship out your gear ahead of time, are you billing for the time to pack it up? I do. And what about the fact that you can’t shoot anything else in the meantime, are your jobs profitable enough to permit this? Is the fact that you own the gear (no salt spreading intended https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/17/868789 ) are you being nice and just “throwing it in” for your convenience?
I’ve changed my billing habits from $1200/day for X, and separated the amount of the rentals and associated crew. This is much easier to budget on a spreadsheet when assembling custom packages. And you can add in those extra days for rentals when in transit.
PS- I’m a user of $80 rolling, hard plastic golf club cases. Line it with foam and you can put stix, 2 stands, 2 small lamps and other junk in there for easy transport – keep it to 80 pounds though or the airline will rape you.
Steve
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The ability to turn on the camera is a must to show them a picture, they may even want you to record something and play it back so have a tape ready. You mentioned money’s tight on the shipping budget, what about a local guy with some of the bulky items like stix and a light or 2?
Steve