Now this is could be a good gig!http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/30/BAGINQ3O311.DTL&hw=bay+bridge+video&sn=004&sc=408

Sorry only 7 years, that's still pretty good.

I can think of several other things $500,000 a year can pay for.

heath

Wow....... I did not know it was possible to make that much money a year -- unless your Trump...

Of course you can make $500,000 a year, if you work really hard at it. As an entrepeneur friend of mine said recently, all it takes is one thing. Be it a hit movie, song, product, photo, etc.

heath

Now this is could be a good gig!http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/30/BAGINQ3O311.DTL&hw=bay+bridge+video&sn=004&sc=408 Sorry only 7 years, that's still pretty good.

Wow, that's a lot of money for taking a few shots a week of a bridge being built and traveling to some off-site locations to get backup material. $100K/year would be plenty for me...maybe I'll see if I can find out how to apply!

Sounds like a lot, but think about it...

Of course, that $500K a year will probably then have to cover all expenses, equipment, stock, post production, hiring additional crew, additional services (tape dubbing, transcriptions etc) it MAY or may not cover the expenses of traveling to those foreign countries mentioned. Do they want this edited or is this just to create stock footage?

They'll want something that's at least broadcast, even theatrical, standard (film school grad w/ own Z1U need not apply). This is after all a glorified corporate video. How much to high end corporate video directors get paid when working for the big companies?

Plus for that money they'll be wanting to hire someone with a pretty impressive resume, someone they KNOW will get the job done, some who can go shoot at the drop of a hat, so no moonlighting ("Arnold Schwarzenegger's coming to look at the new work today! What do you mean you've got another job?"). After all, it's the PROJECT that costs $3.5m, not just paying the videographer's wages.

By way of a comparison, I have a friend who earns $200,000 teaching English in the UAE.

As said in Citizen Kane, "Anyone can make a lot of money... if all you want to do is make a lot of money." :-)

After all, it's the PROJECT that costs $3.5m, not just paying the videographer's wages.

Understood, but even with everything you mentioned $500K/year sounds extravagant - and remember this is taxpayer money we're talking about! If the bridge contractor was paying for this out of their pocket I wouldn't expect the offer to be more than $100-150K/year plus expenses, if that.

Understood, but even with everything you mentioned $500K/year sounds extravagant

I don't think so. $500k/year will pay for about 100 days of shooting per year on full size HD, plus some amount of post.

I just spent about 10 minutes reading the RFP on the MTC site, and they're not looking for one guy with a DV camera. They're looking for pro-level HD, with soundman, aerials, travel to multiple international locations, not to mention a company that's fully insured and a history of doing projects like this.

The only problem with this job is the amount of preparation required to submit the proposal correctly. The people most qualified for the job are used to spending just days budgeting a project that could spend $300k in DAYS, not a whole year!

I don't think so. $500k/year will pay for about 100 days of shooting per year on full size HD, plus some amount of post.

$500K/year would pay for a van full of pro HD gear and several assistants to help with the shooting and editing, but I suppose if you want Steven Spielberg to do the video it's gonna cost a few bucks.

In any case, for those who are interested in submitting a proposal, here's the link:

http://www.mtc.ca.gov/jobs/video_RFP.htm