First Job with ESPN!

[Elliott Yancey]

I just got hired today by ESPN to shoot a special on Michael Vick here in Atlanta. (insert your own dog fighting joke here) Since this is my first job with ESPN I really want to make a good impression and have everything go smoothly. The job is a "town hall meeting" format so it really shouldn't be too difficult (pretty wide angle just back and forth side to side all night). Is there anything that I need to know about ESPN and how they function that could help this go as smoothly as possible? I was contacted by John Lechusco (don't know how to spell it) and he was very nice and seemed to be on top of things. Any insider's info would be great so that I can walk in as prepared as possible.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Elliott

 

 

If you happen to have overly negative comments about ESPN or John (and I don't think you will) please PM me and don't post it publicly. I am just trying to protect my reputation as a new operator, and trust me, more than just our small community reads this forum.

[Jeff Muhlstock SOC]

Elliott, be prepared to wait a long time to get paid. My experience has been, typically, ABC/Disney/ESPN, are very slow to pay vendors. I have had great trouble collecting in the past. Also, be sure to spell out your deal very carefully. Sports production folks have different ideas of what your job is and should be. Make sure you have a good deal memo with your overtime and penalties clearly defined. Establish payment terms as well. My experience with ABC/ESPN was less then favorable. I had great trouble getting paid. Dont know the guys you are dealing with, so purhaps things have changed. Good luck.

[Andrew Jansen]

You know what ESPN stands for ?

 

The

 

Extremely

Slow

Paying

Network

 

Good luck !!

[Elliott Yancey]

Thanks for the info guys. I have in my deal memo that "payment is due upon receipt of invoice" and I always give them the invoice at the end of the day/shoot. Is this enough to cover me or do I need additional verbiage in the memo?

 

Thanks,

 

Elliott

[Rob Vuona SOC]

Dude,

Jeff and Andrew are 100% correct ESPN does stand for "Especially Slow Paying Network" Just because your invoice says that doesn't mean crap to them. Hopefully in your case they will not take 30 days + to pay you. Also, as Jeff said they, "The Sports Minded People" in production have a different Idea of what your job requirements are than the norm. Trust me,Andrew and Jeff we have all done our time with the Corporate Rat called Disney especially in the sports world. Do I sound bitter about ESPN . . .I'm sorry . . . LOL .. . . .just bad experiences coming out . . . .ESPN has there own staff guy out in Bristol but maybe they just don't want to fly him in. So your the Man Elliot. Did they say if it's multicamera or ENG? Because your going to need some things if its multicamera.

 

Have fun being the dollycam.

[Brad Grimmett]

I've worked with ESPN on many occasions. Sometimes they pay slow and sometimes they don't, but that seems to depend on who the producer is. With one particular producer that is based out of LA I've been paid pretty quickly on every job. When I did golf with them years ago it took a while to get paid.

Other than that issue I've found most of the people to be great to work with, although I haven't worked with the person you mentioned.

[Elliott Yancey]

Thanks for all the help and advice. It turns out that when Michael Vick plead guilty to being a no-good-low-life-irresponsible-gambling-dog-killing-thug-moron that is willing to sacrifice a $119 million dollar contract for a few grand in dog fighting money, the show was canceled. Oh well, guess that means I have to wait even longer for my check from ESPN!

 

 

Thanks,

 

Elliott

[Anthony Violanto]

I actually just worked with John (Little Leauge World Series) and for the record, he is a good guy.

 

~anthony

[Erik Brul]

Thanks for all the help and advice. It turns out that when Michael Vick plead guilty to being a no-good-low-life-irresponsible-gambling-dog-killing-thug-moron that is willing to sacrifice a $119 million dollar contract for a few grand in dog fighting money, the show was canceled. Oh well, guess that means I have to wait even longer for my check from ESPN!

 

 

Thanks,

 

Elliott

 

Patience... Elliott, have patience. Sofar some nice job offers you got already, don't you ??? :rolleyes:

 

Best, Erik

[Elliott Yancey]

Yes Erik, I have been very lucky so far. I have really had some nice opportunities for an op of my experience and I feel very blessed. I truly believe that every opportunity that I get ultimately comes straight from God and that He guides my steps along the way. I will not lie and say that every job has gone smoothly, but I really feel like I have gained a great deal of experience in a pretty short amount of time. I now have enough experience to really know how little experience I actually have! Thanks to everyone who has contributed to my career so far. (Mike, Rob, Ramon, Alfeo, Nick, and all the others.) I can't thank you enough.

 

I am not mad at ESPN for canceling the shoot, I am happy just be on their radar screen. John said that they were compiling a database for the shoot so they at least have my contact info and I look forward to adding ESPN to the old (or not so old) resume!

 

Anthony, thanks for adding your experience with John. I am not surprised, he seemed like a really nice guy on the phone.

 

Thanks,

 

Elliott

Edited August 22, 2007 by Elliott Yancey

[David A. Wolf]

I shot for ESPN three weeks ago for Arena Bowl and have already been paid. They're not as bad as they used to be. Good luck on the next one.

 

David Wolf

[Nikk Hearn-Sutton SOC]

I agree with David. I shot for them up in Columbus 3 years ago when Ohio St played Texas. Even though the section that I shot was an insert on there running"speed" coach, I got payment in about 3 weeks, but like everyone has said,each situation is different. That's my 2 cents and I'm sticking to it.

 

Nikk