[Timothy J. allen]

Thanks, Rich!

[Timothy J. allen]

It sounds like my work is about to become complicated. I’m working on a proposal for subcontracted work to a non-profit organization in Virginia to complete work for the federal government (with agency office headquarters in Washington, D.C) but will travel to Houston to complete the work. I’m proposing the work as consulting services (think onsite technical direction) with no tangible product delivered. There will, however be real-time live video streamed from the Texas site that was “enabled” by my consulting. I expect to do this multiple times in 2016.

This is why I don’t plan to do my own accounting. Well, that and the fact that I was a music major in college. I can count to four over and over again, but figuring taxes isn’t my forte.

[Timothy J. allen]

Rich,
I don’t know many who are doing it, but you can bet I’ll be exploring it this year. Most of my work is helping organizations explain how products work, success stories and/or branding to make organizations more transparent. Proprietary information needs to be considered, but can you imagine having that tech onboard the space station and in mission control? I expect “Experiential videos” such as the ones Facebook has collaborated with the government on to show the fighter pilot views and inside some of the NASA facilities to be a huge slice of the market. I can see travel shows, cooking shows, how to repair cars… “lifehacks” and all sorts of other topic areas taking advantage of this.

[Timothy J. allen]

Just had to say that when you wrote “spelld a lower third title wrong” I almost did a spit take. Clever guy.

[Timothy J. allen]

The problem I’d have with voice controlled edit systems is that my voice would wear out within an hour.

[Timothy J. allen]

Didn’t we discuss the future of touchscreen editing in these forums right after “Minority Report” came out, in 2002? As I recall, my Media 100 at the time didn’t have much more storage space or RAM than the iPad2 will have.

[Timothy J. allen]

Most award associations let you list more than one Producer. Certain award organizations, such as the regional Emmy Awards, don’t award to organizations, only individuals. In that case, my approach has been to list both the client (and sometimes his or her boss) by name as a Producer along with my own name. That way, they client can put the trophy in their display case and be proud of the work you did together.

If its an award organization that names companies as recipients, such as the Telly Awards, I wouldn’t worry so much about listing your own name anyway.

I mean really, awards can be nice to receive, but it’s even nicer to give them away.

-Tim

p.s. Here are sample requirements for Regional Emmy Awards for your reference:

AWARD OWNERSHIP: EMMY Awards are presented to individuals, not to their employers. Ownership of the EMMY statuette is retained by the individuals and The National Television Academy, even if an employer pays entry fees. Stations, studios and production companies may order a duplicate statuette for display at their place of business (one each; up to a maximum of three per winning program entry). Corporations, production companies, cable companies and other employers associated with winning craft entries may purchase plaques from the Academy that have a replica of the statuette and space to list the names and titles of their employees’ award recipients for display at their offices.

WHO RECEIVES THE AWARD: Producers, craftpersons and other statue-eligible entrants as listed on the entry form receive the Emmy® statuette, except where noted. Others who work on a nominated or winning entry may order production certificates or plaques.

[Timothy J. allen]

DRW,
I didn’t know they made that change in CA. Thanks for the update.

I’ve always worked in “right to work” states and my typical freelance structure (after some trial and error) was full days or half days. I learned my lesson about charging “per hour” very early in my career. Getting hired for a string of multiple two and a half hour days doing commercial production can be very costly to an upstart freelancer.

My half days after that were “up to” 4 hours, but usually consisted of shoots that lasted between 2 and 3 hours tops. Anything over four hours was a full-day rate, with overtime after 10 hours and “golden time” (double rate) after 12 hours.

I started in the early 90’s – gripping and helping out with audio – at $7/hour. (Really.) My rate has increased a bit since then.

[Timothy J. allen]

Yep. It should do the trick.

[Timothy J. allen]

Tim,
I think that is not only good advice for those like Jay who may just be starting out, but is also the kind of exercise all of us should take some time to do every few years.

And, yes… make sure the pad is yellow. That’s important.

-Tim