Turnhere.com - Seriously?!

[Josh Bass]

I almost got involved with this. I heard about them submitted my info, and then had to call in on a conference call the next day, and listen to noobs ask questions while some of the "veterans" checked in. Back then, the idea was you shoot for an hour (30 mins interview with small biz owner, 30 mins b-roll) then you have 48 hours to edit and upload it to their server. I don't remember how long each piece was supposed to be, when finished. . .a minute? Several? Anyway, $200 for all that.

I work in video production around Houston. I know I am fairly cheap for the market, but I'm okay with that. Even by my standards though, that rate is way low.

[Andrew Smith]

What if you were only to submit crappy / rushed work for that sort of money. And others were doing the same?

Sometimes I am waaay too evil. ;->

Andrew

[Josh Bass]

I saw a few of their samples. They weren't half bad, for available light stuff shot quickly and edited quickly. Kinda makes me sad that folks are slaving away like that for below industry rates.

[Chris Hurd]

Re: The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model | Magazine

Is this a related deal? Or something else entirely?

[Ray Lane]

Hey guys,

As someone who has done a ton of work for TurnHere, let me give some of my perspective on this. The TurnHere videos do not pay a ton of money. They are like a $1 hamburger at McDonalds. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

If you look at it as one video where you shoot and edit for $225, it doesn't sound great. However, after reluctantly taking one edit last year, it has skyrocketed. Imagine if you do 3 in a day? Thats $675 for the day, not so bad, especially when they are simple interviews, and a hand full of B-roll, using only available light. Each video takes about an hour to shoot, and if you are organized, an hour to edit.

Furthermore, after doing these, I often get calls from these same companies asking me to do other video and design projects.

As for the free videos, the idea is the same. You offer them to local business, you shoot the simple videos and you get paid for it. When this program came out, I was the first one to make an order, (about three minutes after launch). My wife and cousin have a small candle business, and I got paid to do a video for them. I also signed up a friend who has a local newspaper, 2 friends that are photographers, 2 friends that are real estate agents. These were all people that would not have spent the cash to have me shoot normally.

The other thing about TurnHere is that they actually pay. I have NEVER had to call and see where a check is (direct deposit now). The say 30 days out, but I always seem to be paid early

In closing, yes, the price for one video may seem small, but in reality, it's about $100 per hour (minus drive time, etc.). You aren't going to be able to flex your creative muscles much, but the work is very easy, fun, and you meat new people. I have loved it.

[Ray Lane]

Originally Posted by Ethan Cooper

So you're doing 5 hours of work for $100?

No, its $225 for about 2 hours work....3 hours on occasion.

[Jeff Pulera]

Originally Posted by Ethan Cooper

So you're doing 5 hours of work for $100?

Hi Ethan,

I never said I did for for $100 (nor would I!). There seems to be a lot of preconceived notions about what the program is, according to the posts I've seen.

These are NOT big productions. You walk in with a small camcorder, wireless lav mic, and tripod, very minimal setup. No script, lighting, etc., very basic and easy to shoot. Couple hours to edit, you're done. TurnHere supplies the music library, and a lower thirds titles generator, no fancy graphics or transitions used.

Also, I am NOT trying to make a living with TurnHere, it's filler work when I'm slow, and things have been slow this year. I had a job the day after Thanksgiving, 5 minutes from home. I ran over and did the shoot in the morning, came home to a nice meal, then edited for a couple of hours and uploaded. DONE. $225 for me, on my day off. Is that so bad??

About the comments about requiring a $10k investment to do these jobs - I HAVE THE GEAR ALREADY. This is filler work for when I'm slow, my main source of work is weddings, corporate, and stage events. No one is forcing me to accept any TurnHere work. If I have time and want to make a quick couple hundred, I'll take a job.

My hours had been cut at my day job this year and video jobs are scarce, so I'll say again, TurnHere has been a BLESSING to my family to help get us by.

I understand that if your business has rent (storefront) and employees, then TurnHere jobs may not pay for you, but for students and home business videographers, it pays. I make a LOT more per hour shooting a TurnHere than I do at my day job. In fact, I make more per hour shooting for TurnHere than I do on a big wedding production that might pay $1500-2000, after considering all the hours and expenses involved with the wedding.

With weddings, I have meetings with the couple, long day of shooting, days of editing, making DVDs and packaging etc., so it could easily run 50-60 hours or more. I'd rather shoot 3-4 TurnHere jobs each week to be honest. I might actually have time to spend with my family!

So for those of you knocking the program...DON'T DO IT then. Just because it doesn't fit your business model, doesn't make it a bad thing. I just don't understand where all the animosity is coming from, from posters who don't know the details of the program and have not tried it either.

Regards,

Jeff

[Ray Lane]

You are 100% correct Jeff. And like I said, they have ALWAYS paid on time, and usually early.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Re: The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model | Magazine

Is this a related deal? Or something else entirely?

Something else entirely - TurnHere is primarily focused on short online yellow page video clips for businesses to use for advertising - actually a pretty good idea if integrated with the other marketing efforts of a small biz.

I've been on their list, but I think since I'm out in the middle of nowhere and hang a left, there's not much demand. Seeing a couple people doing a stack of these at a time as a sideline makes me think about going out and setting up a couple with the free promo... glad to see it's working for some, even if it's not a huge goldmine per se.

Turnhere also has an association with another company to do cookie cutter wedding video, actually got notice on one job from that, but it was a holiday gig, so had to pass.

FWIW, no animosity towards TurnHere at all, just would like to see some leads, but maybe they've hit on something with this promotion. I'm set up to do short "hit and run" shoots and edits, so for me it'd be easy extra $, and that never hurts!

[Josh Bass]

It seems to me there are ton of companies popping up with this same business model (at least the fee and time structure for the videographer). I've seen two or three other places with the same idea as turnhere pop up on craigslist.


I have to admire anyone who can edit anything decent in an hour. Cause I can't.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

Why don't you guys just make a counter offer of what you feel it should pay for that amount of work? It's got to be better than a simple "no" (or silence) to TurnHere.

They may even start to see things your way.

They have a business model, I doubt they are interested in changing it unless their revenue model supports it. Whether it works for a videographer probably depends on how busy you are and if there's enough "local" work available to make their business model fit for you.

Rick -
I think you're missing what the "offer" is - it's a promo where you (the video guy) go out and hit up a business, offering a "free" video (no cost to the business), turn the lead over to TH, who handles the booking and back end, and pays you the standard production fee. You're not being asked to "work for free".

This actually makes some pretty good sense - a free up front offer to get the gig (can't see a lot of businesses turning that down right now), TH pays you and makes their money on the back end. The promo gives them "feet on the ground" wherever there's an enterprising videographer with a bit of time on their hands, and the potential for that videographer to make money "giving away" free promotion to a business in a tight economy (while still getting paid).

Thinking about it, lets say you could book 3 of these at a shot (they suggest an hour shoot), get clean video and audio without need for heavy post production (shouldn't be that difficult), edit to a template (which they provide a good part of, with music and lower 3rds) to keep post time down on the 60 second finished product... might be a workable proposition. I've got a couple friends who probably could use a little free promo, if the back end costs are reasonable!

[Ray Lane]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

It seems to me there are ton of companies popping up with this same business model (at least the fee and time structure for the videographer). I've seen two or three other places with the same idea as turnhere pop up on craigslist.


I have to admire anyone who can edit anything decent in an hour. Cause I can't.

I think you would be surprised to find that you can. You essentially grab 60 seconds of good answers that they gave, add some b-roll, put music under it, do any tweaking (color correction, etc.), and you're done.

[Ray Lane]

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

Thinking about it, lets say you could book 3 of these at a shot (they suggest an hour shoot), get clean video and audio without need for heavy post production (shouldn't be that difficult), edit to a template (which they provide a good part of, with music and lower 3rds) to keep post time down on the 60 second finished product... might be a workable proposition. I've got a couple friends who probably could use a little free promo, if the back end costs are reasonable!

You've got it down, Dave. That is exactly the way I do it. I already had people I knew that wanted to do some video, but couldn't afford to justify paying for it. So I give them one of these, and I still get paid. I try to book 3 at a shot, so that I am making $675 for a day. Of that $675, the only cost is gas and a tape, which I keep afterwards. If you could book every workday of the year, it would be equivalent to a $176,000/year job.

[Kevin Spahr]

I have done some work with CGI. I take these jobs when I don't have something else going their rates are a bit lower than what I prefer but better than other offers I have received (and passed on). They make the appointments, send me the script/shot list so all I have to do is show up and shoot SD and then send them a log sheet of the shots and the tape - there is no editing. CGI pays all the expenses - tape, postage, and mileage. Most shoots are close by so I can run out and shoot it and come home to make an invoice and send the tape out the door. The time that CGI figures it would take to do the shoot is accurate and usually more than is needed. It doesn't get much easier - there is nothing fancy needed.

I'm not going to get rich with these shoots, but these little jobs fill in the down time. Plus it doesn't hurt to meet new people...

The only bad things I can say is their mileage rate is a bit low for my 1 ton van and it takes 90 days to get paid - but they always pay.

[Shaun Roemich]

Wow, I can't get over just how far some people will go to justify this INSANE race for the bottom. When you folks decide to start doing video as a TRUE profession (your full time livelihood) like some of us, don't come around here complaining that you can't make a living at it.

If your "only costs" are gas and tape, you're not taking your business seriously. Amortized costs of capital asset purchases (like cameras, quality audio...) should factor into ANY discussion of costs.

All I know is that ofttimes, the people that are the largest proponents of free or undervalued work are the first people to post COMPLETELY NOOB questions to the forums I frequent. Perhaps it's time for some of us to start withholding the decades of years of knowledge gained from WORKING in this industry from those that seek to cut our legs out from under us.