[Steve Wargo]

Till the late 90s, to be an editor, one had to also be a technician. There was a thing called “sync”, another called “phase” and yet another called a “TBC”. Ask 90% of the “editors” of today what those three things are and they’ll probably just stare at you for a minute thinking it’s a trick question. There are two dozen schools in our market that are turning out hundreds of “editors” every semester. We get a load of resumes every time there is a graduation of any kind. These kids know how to operate either an Avid Express or Final Cut Pro. They know nothing of story telling, rhythm, marketing or anything else. Most of them are terrible at spelling. And yet, they walk in the door telling me that they are “editors”. What they are is “equipment operators”.

So what’s my point? There is someone right behind you willing to do your job for less money than you are making, regardless of how much that is. How do I know? Because there is always someone from some other company, right behind me that is willing to work for my clients for less that I am charging. After all, $35 an hour is a lot of money to some Bozo who doesn’t know the real cost of doing business. They think $35 times 40 times 52 and they’re suddenly rolling in dollars. They don’t have any idea that advertising, rental space, insurance, vehicle expense and taxes will take away about 70 to 80% of the motherload. And what happens to their newfound pot of gold when the next clown only wants $30 an hour and he can live on that because he got a check from Dad to buy his Mac laptop and mini dv camera and he lives at home and drives Mom’s car.

My point is this: It doesn’t make any difference what the guy made before you. It comes down to what you are worth to the company that you work for. Also, please keep in mind that those of us in the business for years have seen the economy of our business change drastically. We are producing a lot nicer product but the price we charge has almost been at a stand still for quite some time. We have so much competition and equipment is changing so fast that we just can’t keep up. As soon as my high level edit systems were paid off, HD hit and we had to buy all new gear again that cost over $250,000. It was either move up or move on. The grass is always greener somewhere else. If the guy before you was making double, why isn’t he still there doing it? I know. he made so much money that he retired to Maui in a really plush beachfront condo.

My suggestion would be to have a frank discussion with your employer and tell him how you feel. If you have a guaranteed salary, feel lucky to have someone who is willing to guarantee your paycheck. One of my former employees came to me with the same issue and requested that she be put on a commission type of pay scale. I jumped at that. Part of the agreement was that she would get no pay for her “tiny ” mistakes and that she would reimburse me for company overhead for when those mistakes were being fixed. It took about three weeks for her to ask for the return of the guaranteed pay scale, to which I said No. It seems as though she made a minor spelling error on a company VP’s name and she had to eat the cost of redoing the graphics, burning a new master and replacing 200 DVDs that were sent out. They went out indidually by FedEx so you can imagine what the bill was. She left and I hired someone else. It took almost an hour to find a replacement.

As an employer, I keep my people aprised of our financial healthiness. They need to know that there is a certain amount of work that there is no pay for. After all, how do we charge for someone to answer the phone, clean the kitchen, do the accounting, make sales calls, collect money, pay for vacation and holiday pay? All of that is wrapped up in the money that we charge for shooting and editing. When we do our quarterly reports, we show everyone our profit and Loss statement. After all, who would believe that a small, four person company like ours can spend $3500 per year in office supplies? Just for fun, a few days ago, I did a report on how much we had spent on video tape since we went to computerized bookkeeping in 1991. Over $120,000 in tape and that doesn’t count HD tape or DVDs and we go through about 200 DVDs a week. The actual cost of doing business is huge and it’s a cutthroat business. Ask Ron how much it costs to operate this website for a year. I’ll bet the numbers are staggering. After all, all he needs is a computer, a server, a web guy (I know a cheap one that just graduated), and his wife works for free, just to help out.

Oops, here I am rambling on again… by the way, 35x40x52 is $72,800. I’ve never had a job that paid that much. Our federal tax bill for last year was over $20K. I haven’t paid it yet. Can some one loan me some cash? Things just ain’t as lush as they were just a few years ago.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

Till the late 90s, to be an editor, one had to also be a technician. There was a thing called “sync”, another called “phase” and yet another called a “TBC”. Ask 90% of the “editors” of today what those three things are and they’ll probably just stare at you for a minute thinking it’s a trick question. There are two dozen schools in our market that are turning out hundreds of “editors” every semester. We get a load of resumes every time there is a graduation of any kind. These kids know how to operate either an Avid Express or Final Cut Pro. They know nothing of story telling, rhythm, marketing or anything else. Most of them are terrible at spelling. And yet, they walk in the door telling me that they are “editors”. What they are is “equipment operators”.

So what’s my point? There is someone right behind you willing to do your job for less money than you are making, regardless of how much that is. How do I know? Because there is always someone from some other company, right behind me that is willing to work for my clients for less that I am charging. After all, $35 an hour is a lot of money to some Bozo who doesn’t know the real cost of doing business. They think $35 times 40 times 52 and they’re suddenly rolling in dollars. They don’t have any idea that advertising, rental space, insurance, vehicle expense and taxes will take away about 70 to 80% of the motherload. And what happens to their newfound pot of gold when the next clown only wants $30 an hour and he can live on that because he got a check from Dad to buy his Mac laptop and mini dv camera and he lives at home and drives Mom’s car.

My point is this: It doesn’t make any difference what the guy made before you. It comes down to what you are worth to the company that you work for. Also, please keep in mind that those of us in the business for years have seen the economy of our business change drastically. We are producing a lot nicer product but the price we charge has almost been at a stand still for quite some time. We have so much competition and equipment is changing so fast that we just can’t keep up. As soon as my high level edit systems were paid off, HD hit and we had to buy all new gear again that cost over $250,000. It was either move up or move on. The grass is always greener somewhere else. If the guy before you was making double, why isn’t he still there doing it? I know. he made so much money that he retired to Maui in a really plush beachfront condo.

My suggestion would be to have a frank discussion with your employer and tell him how you feel. If you have a guaranteed salary, feel lucky to have someone who is willing to guarantee your paycheck. One of my former employees came to me with the same issue and requested that she be put on a commission type of pay scale. I jumped at that. Part of the agreement was that she would get no pay for her “tiny ” mistakes and that she would reimburse me for company overhead for when those mistakes were being fixed. It took about three weeks for her to ask for the return of the guaranteed pay scale, to which I said No. It seems as though she made a minor spelling error on a company VP’s name and she had to eat the cost of redoing the graphics, burning a new master and replacing 200 DVDs that were sent out. They went out indidually by FedEx so you can imagine what the bill was. She left and I hired someone else. It took almost an hour to find a replacement.

As an employer, I keep my people aprised of our financial healthiness. They need to know that there is a certain amount of work that there is no pay for. After all, how do we charge for someone to answer the phone, clean the kitchen, do the accounting, make sales calls, collect money, pay for vacation and holiday pay? All of that is wrapped up in the money that we charge for shooting and editing. When we do our quarterly reports, we show everyone our profit and Loss statement. After all, who would believe that a small, four person company like ours can spend $3500 per year in office supplies? Just for fun, a few days ago, I did a report on how much we had spent on video tape since we went to computerized bookkeeping in 1991. Over $120,000 in tape and that doesn’t count HD tape or DVDs and we go through about 200 DVDs a week. The actual cost of doing business is huge and it’s a cutthroat business. Ask Ron how much it costs to operate this website for a year. I’ll bet the numbers are staggering. After all, all he needs is a computer, a server, a web guy (I know a cheap one that just graduated), and his wife works for free, just to help out.

Oops, here I am rambling on again… by the way, 35x40x52 is $72,800. I’ve never had a job that paid that much. Our federal tax bill for last year was over $20K. I haven’t paid it yet. Can some one loan me some cash? Things just ain’t as lush as they were just a few years ago.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

Ruby

You can put it all on the same timeline and look at it but you need to know if you are going to do any pulldown removal before doing so. I have NO experience doing this but many others do.

Noah has done everything under the sun, as has Adam Wilt.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

60i is for realistic imaging, like on the Discovery Channel. 24P is for the surreal feeling that you get from a feature film. You are on the right track. Some people get a camera that shoots 24p images and they shoot everything that way. Big mistake.

As for the stuff that rolls out of a DVX, it is all 60i with the ability to display it as 24p or to remove the extra fields and have an actual 24 fps timeline. Try shooting in all of the modes and dumping it all on the same timeline. The technology is amazing and you’ll just have to know what the final product needs to look like.

Good luck.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

Why not contact PSC and ask them?

Steve Wargo

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

We have had great slo-mo for years with 1″, Beta and who knows what and now it’s a big dilema? All you do is use a dynamic tracking deck and record it into your NLE. What the hell is the big problem here? This isn’t aimed at you Phil, but just everybody in general. It seems like nobody knows what a tape deck is anymore!!!!!!!! We have a Sony HDW2000/1 and the slo-mo works just fine. And besides that, we can shoot in 60i and play it back at 24 and that looks good too.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

And maybe he realizes that he is an a–hole and needs to stay under the radar. Either way, make sure you put this in his file and gather witness statements now while it’s fresh in everyone’s minds.

Sometime, people don’t know how to handle death. This might have affected him deeplt even if he didn’t really know the person. Or…he is using it as an excuse.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

Going digital does not mean HD or 16×9. It only means “digital”.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

I tend to go too easy on people, up to a point. In business school, they teach “Hire slow. Fire fast”. However, you have to look at the entire situation as an outsider. Is this person treated the same as family? Does he have an “attitude”? Is there some reason that he is allowed to disrespect the CEO? It’s no business of his how much the boss does. His ONLY concern is his job, his responsibilities and the question of whether he is being treated fairly. Is he looking to get fired so that he can file a lawsuit?

I guess that my first tendency, had he disrespected my father, would have been to toss him through the closest plate glass window, but that is me and I am hardly the person to show clear thinking when a close family member has been pissed on in front of others.

Find a way to get rid of this problem before it costs you money. And it will. If you have to come here and ask, you already know the answer. You’re only looking for us to agree.

Now, for my level headed advice: Consult the company attorney on how to get rid of this guy.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Steve Wargo]

Glad to hear that you’re not having problems with your format. I’ve seen a number of people complain about different issues and the long gop issue is the main one. When you compare the cost of XDCAM discs with P2 cards, XDCAM is the clear winner. AT $25 a pop, you can carry a box of them and not have to spend time downloading footage in the field. Have you had any reliability problems?

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!