Communigate Pro AE-List@media-motion.tv Message 64759

My business is probably 80% editing and 20% Ae. Last year, a client started asking me to send footage I’ve been archiving to another editor. After I got over the insult, I decided to turn it into a profit center. I charged him $150 / hour for the time it took to locate and load my LTO tape, the restore time, the copy to a portable disk from the restore (including the time to go to Best Buy or Office Max to buy a drive, plus the cost of the drive), the time to box it up, print a shipping label, and drive the box to UPS and back home again.

I felt a lot better after the insult by seeing what the other editor did with the footage. It was, in my honest and totally fair and unbiased opinion, no better than anything I would have done or have done for this client in the past, and the new editor has a tin ear as far as mixing audio. I think my client was sold some magic beans.

Ironically, “creatives" at ad agencies are the biggest suckers for hype I’ve ever encountered outside of horny teenagers.

BTW, I’ve just been asked how much I’d charge to complete post on five videos that I lost the bid on to a competitor whose bid was half of mine. And they asked what I need from the under-bidder in terms of assets. Apparently, the client isn’t getting the quality of work they were expecting. Imagine that.

It seems there’s never enough money to do it right the first time, but there’s always enough to do it over.

On Jan 10, 2019, at 2:08 PM, Tim Sassoon <AE-List@media-motion.tv> wrote:

I agree. Do it, but charge for it. And throw EVERYTHING in there - all test renders, etc. Go big.

In my experience it’s basically the collector’s impulse - they feel more secure having everything. You really want them to come back and do more projects, mostly.

Tim Sassoon
Venice, CA

On Jan 10, 2019, at 12:03 PM, Adam Mercado <AE-List@media-motion.tv> wrote:

This has become a trend in my experience, over the years clients have come to expect/demand everything.

The question is not whether you need to hand over everything to them, the question is whether you want to work with them again. Stand your ground and they will do find someone else. It’s not like this stuff is difficult anymore. The software and hardware has removed so many pain points over the years that what we do is basically a commodity. I learned that the hard way, after asking the very same question several times. Every time I stood my ground I never worked with that client again. Whether there was a contract or not.

And even with the contract, if I ever stood my ground in contract negotiations, the point of contention was always raw files. They want them, don’t want to pay more for them, if I stood my ground it was bye bye.

So I’ve learned long ago to stop fighting that battle. If they’re going to take my files to someone else, they’re going to do so one way or another. I may as well make a few bucks off them before they go. And they may even stay. It’s a losing battle either way as far as I can tell. Others may have more positive experience but to me that’s the way the game is played out these days

On Jan 10, 2019, at 11:23 AM, David Torno <AE-List@media-motion.tv> wrote:

Raw files are NOT part of deliverables unless that was explicitly agreed upon in the contract up front by all parties involved.

This applies regardless of it being a company or an individual freelancer contracted for the work.

These are details that must be made clear at the beginning unfortunately though. Discussing these details after the fact presents very awkward situations like this that can and usually leave a bad taste in both parties mouths. Jeopardizing any future collaboration.

Many clients have a misconception that any and all files related to the process are theirs for the taking. That is incorrect. They must understand that they are contracting a company or individual to produce a single FINAL product. If they want versions, they pay for that work. They want to archive? Then they can pay you to do so. Yes handing over those files will guarantee that they will reuse them later and by a cheaper individual too. I see it happen a lot.

If you are willing to give away your proprietary work, tools, or unique techniques for free or even for compensation... that is something only you can choose to do.

Good luck.

David Torno
818.391.6060
--------------------
www.sydefxink.com (work history)
https://vimeo.com/davidtorno (work samples & breakdowns)
https://gumroad.com/davidtorno
http://provideocoalition.com/dtorno (tutorials)

"The most useless day is that in which we do not laugh"
-Charles Field

On Jan 10, 2019, at 8:41 AM, Michael Powers <AE-List@media-motion.tv> wrote:

I know this has been discussed many times before, but increasingly clients expect/request all files from projects - including Illustrator, photoshop, stock footage and music, AfterFX, and 3ds MAX files.

Is this a trend? It has been happening also with clients that we are the agency of record with. I am uncomfortable giving away intellectual property for free and having some freelancer undercutting us using our files!

Thoughts?

Mike Powers
https://vimeo.com/mpowers
3DBOXX W8920Processor 32.0 GB RAM
Dual Xeon CPU E5-2670 0 @ 2.60GHz, 2601 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
Windows 10 Enterprise - 1734
NVIDIA GTX TITAN Black RAM 6.0 GB Driver Version 471.35