So much info here - so little time to respond, so I will only touch up on a few issues....
Originally posted by Rosenblum:
Cable DOES NOT CARE if you shoot with a PD150 or with digibeta, so long as the show is good.
What does that mean????
I think most of the freelancers here do shoot for cable every now and then. Personaly , I don't produce the whole product by myself (as mentioned earlier I'm a shooter) but most producers I know (for high-end cable) have very, very strict GEAR standards. Not just the camera but all support gear and just as importantly ALL POST PRODUCTION GEAR. Along with experienced folks running this gear.
Michael, even digi-beta won't cut it for some DISCOVERY-HD programming. Nino does a lot of work for ESPN (cable) why don't you ask him what kind of a camera package he needs???
Sure, there are some show producers that skimp, but for the most part these are """one non hit wonders" whom in the first year ruin their rep and never get a real gig again.
Take "COPS" a show that uses real betacam crews, a show that has been on network PRIME TIME for over seventeen years. On the other hand take some cops type rip-off handycam shows, they come and go....and get replaced by "RE-RUN COPS" episodes -- on CABLE!. Why the hell do you think the producer of "cops" has been using real beta crews for 17 years. Why doesn't he hire your VJs, or some other handycam VJs for $5 per hr instead???
I grant you that there may be a need for some low budget programs, to fill the non prime time cable programming void. Also, I am in favour of first response stringer footage to be purchased by the networks as well. How ever they don't need your ( $ third party $ ) vj service for this.
The problem is, you want all level programming to take a dive. You want the networks to dump their international betacam play-outs, in favour of sending footage via cell phone - (soon to be SL11 CARTOON) . You want to get rid of international beta crews doing stand ups, in favour of a three week vj monkey doing the stand up all by him/herself, taking care of correspondence, camera/sound, all the way to your cheap way of play out - see your starter thread post!. Tell me Mr. Rosenblum, if all these positions and gear are so archaic, a waste of money, why the heck should they pay guys like you so much. What will happen when the next Mr. Rosenblum comes in and says that your way is archaic and he/she wants only $1,000 per hour of cable programming??? It will happen. Some consultant will tell cable that paying anything over $500 per hour of programming is archaic and a huge waste of money. It will happen.
I know L.A. producers that produce low budget shows, they buy first response video for some episodes, but you know what? The stand ups are done using experienced beta crews and the post work is taken to REAL Los Angeles post houses. So maybe the show takes in $65,000 per hour (finished) but NO ONE PERSON sees that money!!! You look at the show credits and you will find that many people were involved in the show, INCLUDING REAL BETA CREWS and REAL POST HOUSE work. The first response VJs take in an average of $500 per half hour finished episode & the producer has a HUGE POOL to choose from.
Yeah, the producer I mentioned, the money he gets - he can't keep to himself. He needs to hire crews and pay for post production, etc, you on the other hand charge a little less, but you keep most of the money instead of paying for proper pre, production and post production people/gear...
Of course, the product will lack in quality and the cable guys aren't gettin' such a deal after all, not to mention slave monkey labour....
LAPTOPS
Originally posted by Rosenblum:
...this is a shooter's site, and not an editors. if it were an editors, we would hear ad infinitum how FCP is not Avid. Fine. It still delivers the product. In any event.
Michael, sometimes I find it amazing that you used to be a CBS network producer for so long. You seem to be so --much out of touch--. First of all, not all laptops are created equally (some have only cheap consumer dv codecs - some can have fully un-compressed D1 level codecs) BTW - both AVID and FCP may have cheap dv codecs all the way up to D1 uncompressed codecs.
I will grant you that the mid-level laptops may be good enough for quick eng-news quick cuts-only edits BUT you are talking about posting a whole one hour program (graphics and all) on these. You are so out of touch Michael.
Take a CBS network program like SURVIVOR. Did you know that they fly into location half a dozen or more FULL SIZED AVID packages along with AROUND THE CLOCK techs and FULL TIME editors???? I bet they need a 747 jumbo jet to take in all the post gear. I know, I know, how archaic! On top of that they have another half a dozen FULL SIZE avids & BROADCAST QUALITY GRAPHICS in Los Angeles doing the final post work - gees Michael!!!
YOUR NUMBERS
Originally posted by Rosenblum:
Channels like TLC pay $200,000 and hour, plus for programs
Mr. Rosenblum, let's be realistic here. Those numbers do not represent the amount of money one of your three week trained VJs should expect. Those numbers may represent a finished product but I doubt that one VJ with a handycam-laptop combo will make that kind of living.
The problem with you is
A) You want to charge the network 35 percent of what a show like cops charges
B) You tell the network, you are saving them 65 percent of costs
C) Your actual saving is 95 percent due to the fact that you produce the show using a monkey vj with a monkey camera and monkey post production methods. (You keep all the savings while your vj makes $5 per hr.
D) The network sees lack of viewership due to lack of quality and cancels the show
E) You move on to the next project while putting another nail in TV quality.
F) You justify this by saying
less dollars per hour
Soon, the cable folks are gonna catch on to you. They will realize that they don't need you. They may need the 5 dollar per hour handycam vj monkeys to fill the void , but they will keep the profit themselves thus they won't need you.
The BBC
I watch BBC world and for the most part they use FULLY experienced real camera crews along with broadcast quality satellite play-outs. They use first responce content stringers too. Once in a blue moon they will use a VJ filler and I can spot the lack of quality within 2 seconds. This is were I seen 'em re-do stories using real crews, I swear!
Thanks for the laughs (again) Mr. Rosenblun, hope you and your family had a wonderful thanksgiving.
Truth is, without the experienced techs and corresponds and producers, to hold your monkey VJs hand or clean up their mess your VJs would be totally non existent.
Keep tellin' the naive how after three weeks they can rake in $200,000 per hr off cable...
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sorry for being so brief