Helping Hands from 2006

[David Perrine]

I was leaning toward first dollar gross, but you do have a point: that the issue is quite complex. I will get some advice on this, but, it will probably be either "first dollar gross" or "cash break even gross".

~David Perrine~

[Jeff Sayre]

Originally Posted by David Perrine

I was leaning toward first dollar gross, but you do have a point: that the issue is quite complex. I will get some advice on this, but, it will probably be either "first dollar gross" or "cash break even gross".

Cash break-even gross in finance terms is called gross profit. It is calculated by taking gross revenue (receipts) and subtracting from that all direct project costs.

GR-DC = GP

All costs below this line are operating and indirect costs that cannot be directly attributed to the project. You need to know exactly how to calculate your direct costs to be able to come up with a true gross profit.

[Rodrigo Gil Medina]

Anyone knows of a rental house in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México?

[Joshua Provost]

Matter of Chance has a short film shoot in central San Diego this Friday, all day. We are in need of a production assistant or two, mostly to help with bounce cards and general crew duties. We are using the DVX100B, dollies, cranes, and some pretty interesting cinematography techniques, including some day for night, so it could be an interesting learning experience for someone starting out, but also a lot of hard work. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks, and a cast/crew dinner will be provided. No cash or transportation, sorry.

If there are DVinfo.net'ers out there that have seen our films and would like to help out, please email me at joshprovost@yahoo.com and let me know a little about yourself.

[Jeff Sayre]

Did I say Indiana and no less South Bend? Yes!!!! Your dreams have finally come true. A volunteer production job in the Midwest, in the middle of corn country. Line up now and early as we have only a few spots that need to be filled.

What
Taping of Episodes 3 and 4 of The Adventures of Thomas Brin

Please visit our movie site to learn more about this award-winning series: http://www.thomasbrin.com/.

This all started out as an entry in Dylan Couper's DVChallenge number 2, for which it won the Outstanding Visual Effects award-- http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=47997. We continued the story in DVC3. Now we are picking up where it left off and upping the anti--more time, better studio space, better lighting, better acting (we hope), and amazing new special effects--hey, I just got Shake 4.1 and I'm ready to roll.

Where
Sunny South Bend, Indiana. The new Mediterranean capital thanks to Global warming. My palm trees are growing just fine, thank you!

When
Saturday, July 8, 2006 and Sunday, July 9, 2006.

Help Needed
Crew: 1 or 2 grip positions, an on-set production assistant, a best boy
Actors: 3-4 minor, one scene, one line (or no line) actors. Above crew positions could also play these roles possibly.

Please Note
This is a learning opportunity. We are an all volunteer, no paid cast, crew, and producers. We are doing this to have fun and learn about making indie movies. In fact, we have no intention at this time to entry this in any competition--except maybe the new Emmy category for original, Internet-only content--hey, why not. I have spent a lot of money in this process and if it looks like future episodes may produce money, and then actually do, cast and crew will be compensated through some equitable means as yet to be decided.

However, our intention at this stage is not to make any money but just to learn. So, having said that, if you are interested in participating, or have always wanted to visit South Bend, Indiana, please email me.

[Tip McPartland]

Not wanting to rely on my 20-year old and rather suspect memory, let alone putting anyone else in the position of relying on it, I found a link to a full set of entertainment industry "deal structure" terms and definitions, some of which are a little different from my recollections, but that is no surprise to me.

Anyway, the material at this link seems definitive.

http://marshallinside.usc.edu/mweins...structures.pdf

Enjoy.

Tip

[Djee Smit]

As stated in the title, I'm looking for a small video production company in or near LA. We're doing a Holland based production right now, were we follow a dutch upcoming musicstar who's going to record an album in LA. We're looking at the possibilitie to work with a company to do some production and filmwork in LA for us.

[Austin R. Hartman]

...at my new site.
My name is Austin R. Hartman, but you will, and can, learn all of this and much more on my site that I just made. Please I would love your feedback on it.
http://web.mac.com/arhartman

check it out and feel free to e-mail me @:
arhartman@gmail.com

thanks a million.
cheers,
austin

[Niels Neeskens]

Dear friends,

Maybe you can help me out here, because I am struggling big time with this. I've got my first serious job for my production company I just started and I have to give my costumer an indication of what the whole thing is going to cost him. Maybe somebody with more experience knows about what to ask for it. This is the job:
It is a promotional articles company and they want a company movie on a dvd. I am going to do the whole process by myself with the help of a friend of mine who is in the same bussiness. The endproduct is going to be a dvd with a menu where short movies are placed, for example who works in the company, take a look in the coompany etc. etc. There is a change that he is going to use the movie for their internetsite (charge more?). And we are going to make an intromovie on the site. So it is a price indication of the whole process; Filming it (HVX200, 4 GB, Panther Tripod, DVrig, Sound, Light) in sd format, editing it on FCP and setting it on DVD in FC Studio. The endproduct has to be more than 1 copy so maybe I have to copy it with the help from a specialiced dvd copy company (otherwise it is to much to copy 1 dvd per time on laptop) and I have to save the file on a harddisk for future orders of the project or changes in personal on it.

I hope somebody can help me to give him an indication of the price of it all, because I will have to give him that in the next few days.

Regards

Niels

ps. Sorry for the long question

[Djee Smit]

It is something i also find difficult, as a starting entrepeneur, how much do you ask for a product. But I would analyse the whole project in such a way that you can see how much time you are bussy with something. Like 3 days pre-production, 3 days filming, 3 days editing, 1 day dvd authoring plus the cost of duplication by an external company. And you can find online quit alot prices of how much things normally cost. For aswell how much the work itself cost, as the equipment you use. I hope this helps... if you have any other questions, shoot..

(by the way, are you Dutch?)

[Niels Neeskens]

Thanx Djee Smit,

I'll have a look.

ps. Ja ik kom uit Nederland, bedankt voor de hulp!

[Djee Smit]

no problem, if you still have any questions, just ask.

Where is your production company at / where do you live?

[Niels Neeskens]

My production company is NIE Productions B.V. and is located in Enschede. I live in Almelo and you?

Niels

ps. Ik ben bezig met een HVX netwerk op te bouwen in Nederland en heb al een leuke groep bij elkaar, ben je ook in bezit van een HVX?

[Bill Mecca]

While it's one project, there are several parts to it.

I would break it down.

First, production of the video itself and all that entails.
Second, conversion to DVD and authoring, and all that entails.
Third, conversion to internet format
Fourth duplication.


You can then tally up the prices and give them a total figure, and remember to include an hourly rate for any changes after things have been approved.And I can guarantee that WILL happen.

Since you now have broken it down into segments, you will be prepared in case they opt out of a specific element of the project. For example, say they later decide to have their web host do the conversion to flash, or if they decide not to go that route at all. Bill them along they way as well so you don't wind up waiting for payment. You have costs you will incur along the way. I usually get a retainer upon acceptance of the job, usally 1/3 to 1/2 of the price (for the video production), the rest upon completion of that task, etc etc...

as for setting the actual prices, you can base it on a hourly rate for each task involved, shooting, editing etc, and extrapolate that out based on the length of the finished video and your shooting ratio, and how long it usually takes you to edit a video of that length. this is the most difficult part, so you also need to add some extra time into those calculations.

at least that is the way I have done it.

[Djee Smit]

that was sort of what I ment yes, only better described :P,

But I'm from Breda, and we got 2 canon xl1 with our company