So I get a call for a music video this afternoon...

[William Demeritt]

I got a call this afternoon from someone from Maker Studios looking for a Steadicam operator for a music video sometime "in the next 30 days". 10 hour day, just looking for rates. No date, no talk of artist.

 

I can tell when I wasn't the first call on a job, and judging by their tone and brevity, I wasn't even in the top 10. I try to strike up a conversation, but I'm getting a "just the facts please" feeling, so I just quote my rate. He seems to write down my rate, thanks me and tells me we'll be in touch. He seemed like a nice guy, and I would have loved to hear more about the project.

 

Still, the call was SO VERY puzzling. I got the feeling he was just calling people off a list, getting rate quotes and building a list of what to expect for future jobs? Not sure, so I contact a few other operators. I got a response from someone who got more information than me (he was probably further up the list):

 

Just got called, apparently they have called a ton of people off the SOA list. She shared that they got 10 hour rates w/ gear ranging from $300 all the way to $2500 from ops, lol.

 

It's a one shot music video in Culver on some street. 5D shoot, they have insurance (she thinks). YouTube star Mike Tompkins (who?). They don't have a DP yet.

 

WHO IN THE HELL QUOTED $300 ALL INCLUDED FOR A 10 HOUR DAY???

 

So yea... that's what it's like in LA. Nice.

[Brian Freesh]

That's ridiculous, must be a typo, I totally said $30/10

[Michael Maga]

Are the reduser.net members making there way into soa with there hotwheels steadicams?

[Alfeo Dixon SOC]

I did two jobs last week... one called for $1000 total steadicam budget for a 5D shoot, I said I'll take $700 (4 hours) but they had to rent to rig from a rental house and they will not have follow focus nor wireless video... they where cool with that... so I just show up, work and leave. Best of both worlds, not to mention I didn't have to lift none of my 6 cases. This one was a church doing a one man walk-n-talk

 

The other was trying for $1000 also... an all steadicam Music Video... I laughed, then a few days later we hear back from them... still too low, but getting there. Then the dropped the hrs also. Acceptable, almost to full rate on kit plus full rate for 8!

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

I got the same call fishing for rates. I asked what the shoot was and when and she said what you heard Will. She then asked for my rate again and I told her she would have to call my agent and she took his info then asked me AGAIN what my rate was and I said we started at $3K and went up from there. She then said that they would get in touch with me to which I said sorry I'm booked on my TV series.

[Osvaldo Silvera SOC]

I sometimes feel sorry for the poor Office person who is tasked with making these calls.... then again sometimes not.

[Louis Puli SOC]

Isn't that the Problem to start with??I would want to know who the DP is and speak to them first .

[William Demeritt]

I sometimes feel sorry for the poor Office person who is tasked with making these calls.... then again sometimes not.

 

I don't know, it's a mixed bag.

 

On the one hand, I generally connect and at least have a pleasant conversation with whoever calls me. I like hearing about their projects, what they're shooting on, what they're shooting, etc. That part of me still gets excited with the "oh man, this sounds bad ass!" factor.

 

But on the other hand, I'm finding that most people calling for new media all come from reality or no budget production. They probably already have a budget or a price in mind, and that price has them jump at the $300/day operator. The whole "Oh, this is new media, it's for the web only" etc is brought up to deflect or sidestep the fact their client is YouTube (effectively Google), or someone else with a marketing budget. That wasn't really the case with the gent who called me yesterday, I just got the feeling that he was "doing the work" of calling around and getting numbers. We'll see.

[Joe Lawry]

Dont worry, it could be worse, I just had a Flyer/5D job canned to be replaced by someone using a GoPro..

[Alex Kornreich]

I got this call too. I actually decided to say I'd work for free because the opportunity to work on a music video for an unknown production company, with an unknown dp, "sometime in the next month," was too good of a job to pass up.

[Alan Rencher]

Next time I get one of those calls, I might just string them along for a few days, and see how they like it.

 

On a side note, I did loose a bid once to an iPhone 4 and a Smoothie. no joke.

[Mariano Costa]

On a side note, I did loose a bid once to an iPhone 4 and a Smoothie. no joke.

 

seems like now is the perfect opportunity to stock up with smoothies and iphones and get rid of the damn heavy Ultras/Pros+Alexas/Epics/F65s - the future has begun...

[Dean Smollar]

Maker Studios is a conglomerate of Youtube channels under the banner of a single company, and I'm not sure how well the various people under their banner communicate with each other.