Pricing yourself out of business.

I was looking at the Apple website and took a peek at the forum there. There were two high school aged kids talking about working cheap and undercutting the competition by leaps and bounds. One of them was going to produce some car commercials really cheap and was overjoyed at the prospect. I hope they realize it doesn't matter how old you are...you still deserve to be paid for what you do. Don't let people take advantage of you because you are young or in high school. A few years back when I was in the ad agency world...a small car dealership with a decent presence on TV billed about $20,000.00 a month. That meant they usually had around $3,000.00 for production and $17,000 for media If you are only charging them $500 for the production they are laughing at you all the the way to the bank. They are taking advantage of you, plain and simple.

Same goes for wedding videos for those brave souls who endure the "I do's" time after time. Realize a decent photographer charges around $3K-4K for a wedding. You are plain silly for charging $500 and shooting the wedding, reception and then editing the thing. Just think about what you are worth. Don't undervalue yourself because you enjoy what you do. Charge a decent price. Make a decent profit. Be able to afford a new computer/camera/vacation. It's a business.

Can I add to that - as a video professional, that doesn't make you a DVD Authoring King by default. Just because the Studio package gives you the tools to do DVD Authoring, does it mean you are instantly available for delivery on DVD?

From the posts lately on the DVD Studio forum, I think not.

There are too many folks that think that they can just dump Quicktime into DVD Studio Pro and out will come a finished DVD, magically.

Don't damage your reputation by telling your clients "sure I can make it a DVD" before you are really ready. Learning by passing through the fire is not a valid teaching method. Not too long ago, a specialist was the only one who understood the process of encoding media and what comes before what in building up a DVD for delivery.

Take the time to learn the craft of DVD Atuthoring. It is as valid as a video editor.

I think from both John and Chet's postings we can see a two-sided argument emerging:

1. Just because you charge only $200 for a video doesn't mean you're gonna get hired again...if your material isn't good. If you're not ready to tackle a paid gig, don't -- work for free for now to build experience, and work for friends who won't think less of you if you're not quite there yet. Anybody can get Final Cut Pro, but I'm never intimidated by those when I go on an interview. Even if the director picks the free, zero-experience editor, s/he always regrets it down the line when the film gets stuck in a rut.

2. There comes a time when you have to say "no" to the rates you set when you were starting out and wanting to give super-hot deals to build reputation and loyalty. People will never value you more than you value yourself, so if you price yourself in the $500 range, that's how much they'll pay. You can't be too desperate for a job. They can smell it and will chop your worth down with a battle axe. If they won't give you a reasonable price, just tell them to go find an amateur who *would* do the job for free. As for how the wedding looks...unless they pay you reasonably, it's their problem.

And I agree with John. I wouldn't market myself as a professional DVD author either -- not for a while. Why devalue perception of my abilities by forcing into an area where I'm less adept?

That does tend to level out, tho. One of our guys got volunteered to cut the wedding so a friend could avoid the associated charges. The Happy Couple walked in with a Vons Shopping Bag full of tapes and some ideas on how they wanted it to look.

I think he's still cutting six months later. Fortunately, he has a day job.

I also think a lot of those people will peel off when they get their first taste of "Couch Behind You" syndrome. No, dude, I *don't* think the cut should go there, and I'm paying you!!

I had a color darkroom in another life and I got around the shopping bag full of film by insisting the sunburned vacationers stick with me in the darkroom to help me color correct each print.

The part that actually bothers me is what the grade, not high, schoolers are doing to the creditability. I need my wedding cut professionally and please tell me you're not going to use Final Cut. Little Jimmy tried to cut our beach party on that and it was a disaster.

Koz

I recently read of a young person claiming to be a colorist because he used FCP in the apple store to colorize his footage. It was sad and embarrassing. Whenever I sat in telecine sessions with my prefered colorist I knew I was in good hands...as she worked magic using those three little balls, casting spells of primary and secondary correction...making thousands of feet of film look wonderful. Whenever I click on the color correction filters I know I have a good set of tools. However, I know that I'm no colorist.

who do you recommend for a good colorist
i need one asap!

thanks

Me.

What are you mastering to?

Oh...wait...I don't have any time available. Still, what are you mastering to?

hdcam
i need it by 9/11
are you in la?

Yes...but as I said...booked solid this week Color Correcting my own show.

Try Ian over at Plaster City Post.

www.plastercitypost.com

He's darn good. And that place is FCP from the ground up. HD and all.

Always check our talent directory and/or post on our jobs forum. This assumes you are paying.

[www.lafcpug.org]

Michael Horton
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