Jobs

[Mestizo Devon]

I'm wondering am I on the high horse or is the client? I see these craigslist post for video work and the all seem to want high end equipment, a 5-8 hour shoot, edited and completed by the next day for $300, have I gone mad or is it my area??? You couldn't rent the gear overnight for $300

Florida based video production company is in need of a high quality video camera operator/video producer with P2/HD/3CCD video cameras to record an indoor dance competition which takes place on Saturday 03/27/2010 in Eden Prairie, MN.

This is a multi-camera production shooting in standard definition and may require uploading .mov files to our company's Internet server within 24 hours of event.

High quality Panasonic, Sony or similar S2, HD or DV video camera equipment, fluid head tripod, wireless external microphones are necessary.
A large flat panel display monitor, DVD player and mini DV playback is also required.

Tentative call time is 4:30PM - 9:00PM. This event is for student performances therefore the production budget is limited.

Please send qualifications, equipment list, a link to your demo and contact information to jobs@alliancemedia1.com.

If interested in work or have any questions please email: jobs@alliancemedia1.com.

There will be plenty of more work for the right producer.

Guys is this the norm?

[Josh Bass]

The general consensus is that rates like these are crap. In my area (Houston TX) a local rental house RENTS an HVX for $495/day, $1400/week. So this gig would be like not even getting a good rental rate (maybe that's debatable. . .I don't know what kind of rental rates individual owners give to make themselves competitive with the rental houses), plus doing labor for free, plus editing/uploading for free.

Some people (the hirers) just don't know any better, some know there are newbies and those desperate for work who will do this stuff for these prices. Hell, there was s time when I would have jumped at this rate. I'm still pretty cheap, but not so much so that if I had a relatively new HD cam I would do a job like this for that rate.

See the "Turnhere.com" thread, and if it's still around, the thread about ridiculous craigslist ads (it's definitely locked but may not be deleted). We used to try to one up each other by finding the most laughable/exploitative ads on the web.

[Mestizo Devon]

I've come across a good deal of these posts, I'm thinking who is encouraging these guys, I just can't see how anyone can profit from this type of job.

[Josh Bass]

When you're first starting out it's hard to get paid at all, so something like this can seem appealing. Gotta start somewhere.

[Jonathan Levin]

No, you haven't gone mad. The rest of the world has!

A bad economy always seems to bring out the people who want the house and but can only afford a tent.

I'd rather use my time and learn things, like on these forums.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Levin]

sorry, can't figure out how to delete this message!

[Josh Bass]

Please. Those postings have been around since craigslist was created.

[Mestizo Devon]

It seems like they want the all out production price for next to nothing, they have been around, I wonder who is willing to do these type of jobs.

[Reed Hewitt]

What? $300 just for doing a simple five-hour multi-camera shoot with high-end equipment and overnight edit/upload? Where do I sign up?

To be honest, I cut my teeth on a few projects like this back in high school (sans the high-end equipment). In retrospect it was a bad idea, even from the experience standpoint. It would have been better to volunteer as an intern on a real project than spend countless hours figuring things out on my own.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Reed Hewitt

In retrospect it was a bad idea, even from the experience standpoint. It would have been better to volunteer as an intern on a real project than spend countless hours figuring things out on my own.

WOW! I have been saying this for YEARS and it seems to fall on deaf ears...

VERY few of us hit the ground running when starting out. If you need to work for "cheap", do it in a learning environment apprenticing under someone you can continue to learn from rather than going out and making an arse of yourself and undercutting everyone around you! The mentor gets cheaper labour BUT has an onus to provide feedback and exciting opportunities that a "newbie" mormally wouldn't have access to.

I mentored not only while in media college but for a year afterward with a friend of the family. $1000 a month, no matter how much or how little work I did in a given month (and I did a LOT, just to keep my mind busy and hands dirty!)

12 years later, my best month on record grossed $22k (I'm a one man band) and my worst month was $0.

Hope this helps...

PS. I should add "thanks for commenting, Reed"

[Reed Hewitt]

Shaun, you launched your career much more intelligently than I did. I'm sure there are at least a few wise young professionals out there heeding your advice. Keep preaching it!

[Mark Wheeler]

Judging from their website (alliancemedia1.com) they are a going concern. If they can get some damn fool with more money then brains to work for (essentially) free then apparently it's a win-win for them.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Denis Danatzko]

(I think they're headquartered not too far from me; at least I've seen postings where they list a city in my state as their "meet-up" place prior to traveling to the job).

I believe it's been listed every few months for at least the past yr or more, so they must lose shooters left and right (if they ever get any to begin with). Either they haven't learned and are working like crazy themselves, or the quality is suffering (which I'd expect the client to notice).

While I'm an OMB, still consider myself "new" to the business, and I take on some jobs that pay way too low for many others here, I won't go THAT low. Instead I'll cruise places like this and freelance sites, do a job on spec, or go out and shoot some stock footage for my own library.

I'm with most others here: sometimes, maybe even "often", you have to "go low", but the terms listed by the OP (especially when lower than rental rates) are arguably an insult.