"I Want That" Episode Airs

A few months ago I had the opportunity to produce a segment for HGTV's "I Want That." The topic was "Images in Tile"-a process of transferring any image to ceramic tiles. I blogged about it.

The episode including this segment aired last night. I was very pleased with the edited piece. I had nothing to do with the edit, so it was interesting to see how the raw footage and interview bites were handled.

My impression was that the producers focused on the one female interview I conducted, and the interviews with the kids whose bathroom tile we featured.

The mother was the reluctant interviewee, and we could only interviewher in a 2-shot with her husband. By herself, she appears to be looking too far off camera at me, the interviewer.

But, I thought the piece looked great. I also thought my camera operator did a fantastic job. This was really the first time I'd seen any of the footage.

So, I small and rewarding triumph.

Chapter 3: The Hammer Comes Down

The ongoing saga of creating a 19-video new employee orientation video for Major Retail Continues.

For those of you following along, it's been a drawn-out process of the client deciding how and when to proceed with the project.

In the interim, I, being a freelance writer/producer, took on many other projects. I have to work to get paid.

Now, all of a sudden, BigProdCo gets the green light from the client. BigProdCo immediately enters panic mode. They are pressing me for commitments to do the work. Now, I really want to produce this project. It's a major big deal, and a plum job for the resume.

But.

I don't care to be micromanaged. And I don't care to be bullied, pushed, or burdened with another's panicky angst.
I am here to serve the wants and needs of my clients, but there are limits.

BigProdCo floated out the idea of putting me on retainer. I rejected this. Why? Because nobody's ever happy in a retainer situation. The retained party often feels like they're working more than the agreed upon dollars cover. The retaining party never feels like they're getting their money's worth. So, I don't do retainers. Plus, it gives the client an unwelcome measure of control because they think if they're paying you, you should be working for them at all times. In reality, the retainer is just to keep you available for when there is work to be done.

Long story short, I committed to writing and producing the first of 19 videos, with every intention of writing and producing them all.

The Maven asked, "Well how do I know you're really committed. The stakes are very high." My response was something to the effect of, "I've been in this business for 12 years. I've completed on time every project to which I've ever committed."

Next, the Maven asks what I'm going to do if I get other project opportunities from any of my other clients. I said that I'd let BigProdCo know if anything came up. That's it. I'd let them know.

See, how it works is that it's first-come, first-served. I work projects in as time permits. And the nature of this big video project is that it will have periods of intense activity, and periods of intense quiet. In those quiet periods, I will take on other work. I have to.

But Maven spun this exchange off as me giving BigProdCo "right of first refusal." This is an outright lie. When I read this statement in an email, I became irate. I almost called up the Maven to let her have it. But, I managed to put a lid on my emotions. I decided not to address this inaccuracy right now. But, I did decide to document it here on the blog.

Right or wrong? I don't know. Bottom line, I did not grant BigProdCo right-of-first-refusal. So I don't owe it them.

The lesson here, be careful in your dealings. Document everything, especially when things get weird.

Parting shot, my title of the job is "Supervising Producer." Sadly, I'm rarely consulted on any supervisory decisions such as budgets, casting, crewing, scheduling. It's extremely disappointing and counter-productive. If my BigProdCo had any adept producers, it would be OK. I would trust them to make the right decisions. But they don't, and I don't.

Thanks for reading, if you've made it this far. I'll have more and better posts later.

9 Videos, 4 Days

It started out with me missing my 6:00 a.m. flight.

I went to start the car at 4:30 a.m, and it popped, chugged sputtered. Finally, I figured out that a vacuum line had come undone. But, the :20 or so minutes it took me to fix it caused to arrive at the airport at 5:35 a.m. The cut-off for checking in was 5:30 a.m. So be prompt to the airport.

My latest professional challenge involves producing an instructional DVD that includes 9 separate video modules. The big challenge was the budget. A third party fronted $50,000.00 for its production. The total script length is 72 pages, which is lengthy. Production called for shooting 2 on-camera hosts on location in small retail stores. These locations require a day of travel to and from.

Now, the $50K number had to include an agency mark-up by my client, or 15%. So, that really leaves a budget of about $42K. This is a definite challenge. My initial budget estimate came in at about $70,000.00.

Arriving at $42K was quite a trick, but somehow we did it.

We shot a total of 4.5 days on location. 4 days included 2 non-union on-camera spokespersons and a Teleprompter operator.
I used a 2-man crew (DP and audio tech) for 4.5 days. Then, there's my day rate, plus meals, hotels, mileage, and equipment rental.

By estimates we needed to shoot 17-18 pages a day in order to complete photography of just the 2 on-camera hosts. This schedule worked pretty well until day two, when we got only 11 pages shot due to extensive travel between locations. This put significant additional pressure on the next 2 days. We had to cover 20-24 pages of shooting each day in an uncontrolled environment. Somehow, we made it, and with minimal overtime.

The next challenge would be to edit the 9 videos as quickly as possible. This includes digitizing the 12, 1/2 hour reels of tape we shot--a real-time proposition. This could easily be a 6-8 hour proposition. It could take even longer if the tapes had to be logged by me.

Luckily, I was able to use a Scriptlinc--a wireless, timecode receiver that enables someone to see and record time-code from the camera as it rolls. I simply wrote the timecode for each take directly on each script. I then marked the "Keepers." For digitizing, my editor simply took the scripts, and digitized the clips for the good takes based on these notes.

Now we've just got to get through the edit in 6-8 days to come in anywhere close to budget.