How do you let the Networks know you are there?

[A Step Above Productions]

Since breaking out on my own as a freelancer, business has been great. I do mostly corporate type videos and am very happy with that. However I would like to freelance for the major networks, magazine shows, and sports networks.

My question is how I let them know I am out there. In the last few weeks in Florida there have been several national stories, Anna Nicole, Superbowl, tornadoes in Orlando, and the astronaut in Orlando. I did not get one call.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks in advance,

[Hiding Under Here]

I'll take a swing at this. The networks still comprise my largest client base. And people who left the networks and went on to other jobs probably account for the next most significant source of work for me.

To start, I have to say that it is very very late in the game to market yourself to the networks. I believe that the modern television freelancer exists, in large part, because of the explosion in news format programming motivated by the networks in the early 1990s. Just as reality programs are the rage today, network magazine shows ruled the airways for a brief time in the 1990s. The networks had laid off crews in the late 1980s. Those crews, seeing the networks' need for freelancers, turned around and sold themselves back as daily hires. They charged separetely for their time, under union agreement. They also charged for the rental of their gear. The demand swelled well into the mid- to late-1990s creating a huge pool of independent crew people whose livlihoods were centered around the networks and syndicated news-style programs. Now that that kind of program format is no longer in vogue, the supply of work has dwindled. I still work steadily for the networks. However, I get nowhere near the volume of calls that I once did. On the day JFK Jr.'s plane was discovered missing, I was probably called or paged at least forty to fifty times.

I don't believe anyone should take "no" for an answer, particularly when their dreams and ambitions are at stake. So I'll answer the question. Get the number for the news desk at each and every network. NBC, CBS and ABC each have a particular phone number. I will not publish them here. They are relatively easy to get, but they are still valued commodities in the freelance world. Making them known on this thread seems a bit unfair to do. But, in any event, get the numbers and make the call.

Call the desk at every network and ask them how you get onto their list. Do exactly what they tell you to do. After you have done that, follow it up with a very brief letter -- not an email, not a phone call -- a LETTER. Address the envelope with your own handwriting. Keep it very brief. Once you have done that, wait. Wait for a significant event to develop near you -- a hurricane, a plane crash, a political "happening". When you see something large and national occuring in your area, make another phone call. Let the people at the desk know that you are available if they are looking for someone. They will call their "known" crews first. That's to be expected. But you never know, they may need you. When they call, drop everything you are doing and SERVICE them. Don't say "I can't do that" or "that's too far" or anything along those lines. If you want to work for the networks you have to solve problems for them. Do what they need you to do. And when you do it, do it really really well. Then send in your time sheet and rental invoice. A day or two after the job, send another brief LETTER thanking them for the opportunity to work. If you don't hear from them within a month, make another call and say "I'm just checking in. I'm available if you are looking for someone in my area. Bye". If they call you -- particularly if you have called them telling them you are available -- drop what you are doing and do the job.

The networks will ask a lot of you. They have people all over the globe doing work for them. The best thing you can do is to solve their problems and do good work. You also have to be available (the majority of the time) when they call. It's simple, but tougher than you'd imagine, to do.

[Icarus112277]

In short, network.

You need a recommendation. In my experience cold calling won't get you anywhere that you actually want to work. You need to impress a regular shooter to the extent that he will give you a number and a recommendation (or take your number to passit on) or that he will call you to fill in for him if he is double-booked.

Thats about it I think...but if you are good, show desire and motivation and persever it will happen. Ad when it does it will happen FAST so be ready to drop what you're doing.

[F4 Fan]

Working with a lot of freelance crews for network shoots I thought I’d throw in my meager two cents on this subject although I can’t really add much to what HUH as already so eloquently posted.

First off, all the guys I’ve seen doing freelance work for the networks have a minimum of ten years experience, most worked in local news a goodly number of years before striking out on their own. They all seem to own a plethora of equipment. BETA SP is still the coin of the realm as every truck I’ve worked out of has the capability to view/feed that format and it is still the format of choice among freelancers. Some own multiple cameras/formats and wide angle lenses. Most of theses guys have at least two HMI’s and a 4X4 silk that they carry in their vehicle. Most have very extensive audio packages as well, or at the very least they have a soundie that they work in conjunction with on a frequent basis.

Bottom line is that in order to play you have pay – a lot in terms of gear.

All of these guys have pretty good chops when it comes to lighting a live-shot, stand-up or sit-down interview. Although in these times of do more with less, even some of these shooters have to shoot, light and run sound solo. It’s kind of funny and at the same time sad how much difficulty audio gives one or two of these guys.

The bottom line is that this is a very exclusive fraternity. We use the same four or five guys all the time. Good luck, it may not happen right away, but the day will come; prepare for it now and do so on a daily basis.

[BluesCam]

Keep in mind that many of the network shows are produced by independent production companies. It helps to have a web site, that's for sure. Have one that gets decent ranking for your locale.

[A Step Above Productions]

First off Thanks for the tips.

Second...

... I was a staffer at six different stations over the last 18 years so I have the experience. I went out on my own a year and a half ago simply because I could not afford to live on the salaries payed by local stations.

Since going out on my own I have more than tripled what I would be making as a staffer. I shoot HDV and am waiting to see where to go with a second camera.

Most of the time I do corporate work and work with small PR companies and production companies. So I am doing just fine in that regards. I just wanted to know how to get hooked up with the big four networks. We had a lot of national news in South Florida the last month and I simply wanted a piece of that.

I do have a website and have had one for over two years.

[Cameradude]

"A Step Above Productions" that was a great post and you summed it up well.

No matter what you do it usually takes a major break to get in the door. Back in the 90's I tried everything to get in the door at CBS with limited success landing a few shoots here and there as a "b-list" shooter. Then one day I got some footage of the one of the "Montana Freemen" that was involved in a police chase and stand-off in my neck of the woods. It timed out perfect with the stand-off that took place in Montana. Jennifer Siebens at CBS in LA found out about it and bought the video and she put me in touch with the assignment guy (then in Miami) that handled the east coast where I am.

Like I have said before, a lot of this business is relationships.

Don't piss people off. TV is a small world. Several years ago I got a call from CBS and the girl who was working weekends on the desk was a former desk person at a local affiliate that I shot for. We knew each other and I had bailed her out a few times when she was here in town. That helped to get more calls.

Those people you have worked with are also out beatiing the bushes and may be your "in" sometime down the road. Network producers are notorious for hoping around and if you have a good relationship they will remember you.