Mike Watson
April 29th, 2012, 08:41 AM
I assume everyone is running into these issues, I want to see how everyone else is handling them.
1) Recently, I've had a few different clients forget to schedule lunch in a busy shooting day. Both times I got the "we're too busy for lunch around here" attitude. Listen, some days when I'm at the office I have to skip lunch, but when I'm on a shoot, lugging sand bags up and down stairs, trying to keep on schedule, and I'm setting up the tripod for the thousandth time - this is not a day to skip lunch. The first time I just blew it off as an a-hole client (although made a mental note not to have it happen again), but the second time (different client) I feel like I need to make plans to avoid it. That said, I don't like to be asking "what's the plan for lunch?" three weeks ahead of time, makes it seem like my priorities are out of whack.
2) I've also had more people wanting me on planning phone calls that they want to schedule a week or two ahead of time. I might have a day free on my calendar, and client wants to do it from 1p-2p on a weekday. I charge them some paltry sum (1 hour on an hourly rate), but then a week goes by and a different client wants to shoot that day (for what amounts to 10x-20x what I would be making from being on a phone call). I feel like a tool for turning down a good paying shoot, but if I cancelled a phone call I'd booked a week in advance because something better came along, it doesn't exactly seem fair to that client either.
So... what is everyone else doing for these two things? If it's not clear, we're a two-man shop, so it's not like Hollywood or anything.
1) Recently, I've had a few different clients forget to schedule lunch in a busy shooting day. Both times I got the "we're too busy for lunch around here" attitude. Listen, some days when I'm at the office I have to skip lunch, but when I'm on a shoot, lugging sand bags up and down stairs, trying to keep on schedule, and I'm setting up the tripod for the thousandth time - this is not a day to skip lunch. The first time I just blew it off as an a-hole client (although made a mental note not to have it happen again), but the second time (different client) I feel like I need to make plans to avoid it. That said, I don't like to be asking "what's the plan for lunch?" three weeks ahead of time, makes it seem like my priorities are out of whack.
2) I've also had more people wanting me on planning phone calls that they want to schedule a week or two ahead of time. I might have a day free on my calendar, and client wants to do it from 1p-2p on a weekday. I charge them some paltry sum (1 hour on an hourly rate), but then a week goes by and a different client wants to shoot that day (for what amounts to 10x-20x what I would be making from being on a phone call). I feel like a tool for turning down a good paying shoot, but if I cancelled a phone call I'd booked a week in advance because something better came along, it doesn't exactly seem fair to that client either.
So... what is everyone else doing for these two things? If it's not clear, we're a two-man shop, so it's not like Hollywood or anything.