Career Reassessment Time
Completed a big project videoing summer theater camp plays for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. There were 27 plays, each of which lasted give-or-take an hour, most of which occured Tuesday-Thursday evenings, each of which required 15-35 DVD copies, over a month-and-a-half time period! It was a marathon, a race to the finish, but I completed it, with very little stress because I'm fast and organized, it was enjoyable (I got paid to see a lot of great theater performances, using a locked-off camera that required no movement whatsoever, just had to be cognizent of lighting changes and adjust the exposure when necessary) and it was fairly lucrative financially. One more run like that in the fall, winter and/or spring months and life would be very cushy, comfortable indeed!
Broward Center has a spring theater camp, but at this time, don't require video of it. So, I've begun a telemarketing campaign, targetting all the other performing arts centers in South Florida. Got a nibble: The Broward Dance Academy is interested in using me, because my price bid came in lower than the video company they're currently using. Unfortunately, the particular date of their show happens on a Saturday in December with their showtime beginning at 4pm, with my arrival time 3:30pm to shoot backstage B-roll behind-the-scenes footage of the kids getting ready which they want, when I'm already booked on a Bar Mitzvah service and party that same day from 10am-3pm. After a rather sleepless, anxious night contemplating the situation and the potential disaster of showing up late, I determined that I couldn't commit to that particular show, but would still like to meet with them to discuss their FUTURE show schedule for next year, 2016. I have very little so far booked as far as weddings and family events next year in 2016, so now is the time to carve out a show schedule date itinerary. I'd rather shoot plays than weddings: In a play, the camera stays in one place on a tripod for the duration of the whole thing, much easier on my aging, aching back than lugging the heavy rig around all day, hustling ferociously to be in the right place at the right time to see what's going on from moment to moment at a wedding.
I called them and left them a message to that effect. We'll see if they go for it, return my call. I really need a Mon.-Fri. video gig that pays better and is more enjoyable than my current second job, security officer. Sadly, most of these theater performances happen on Saturdays, same day as weddings, so time conflicts, overlaps, clashes are inevitable, unavoidable.
Suggestions are welcome. I can't hire another videographer for the show because no other videographer will want to give up a more lucrative Saturday for such a cheap price (I'd have made most of my money on the DVD copies) and the video company that booked me on the Bar Mitzvah hired me because they like the way I shoot. Turning the Bar Mitzvah shoot over to another videographer who may or may not shoot it the way I would jeopardize any future dealings I'd have with this company, in the long-term, relatively harmonious, trouble-free relationship we've built up over the years.
I don't want to video porn.
Broward Center has a spring theater camp, but at this time, don't require video of it. So, I've begun a telemarketing campaign, targetting all the other performing arts centers in South Florida. Got a nibble: The Broward Dance Academy is interested in using me, because my price bid came in lower than the video company they're currently using. Unfortunately, the particular date of their show happens on a Saturday in December with their showtime beginning at 4pm, with my arrival time 3:30pm to shoot backstage B-roll behind-the-scenes footage of the kids getting ready which they want, when I'm already booked on a Bar Mitzvah service and party that same day from 10am-3pm. After a rather sleepless, anxious night contemplating the situation and the potential disaster of showing up late, I determined that I couldn't commit to that particular show, but would still like to meet with them to discuss their FUTURE show schedule for next year, 2016. I have very little so far booked as far as weddings and family events next year in 2016, so now is the time to carve out a show schedule date itinerary. I'd rather shoot plays than weddings: In a play, the camera stays in one place on a tripod for the duration of the whole thing, much easier on my aging, aching back than lugging the heavy rig around all day, hustling ferociously to be in the right place at the right time to see what's going on from moment to moment at a wedding.
I called them and left them a message to that effect. We'll see if they go for it, return my call. I really need a Mon.-Fri. video gig that pays better and is more enjoyable than my current second job, security officer. Sadly, most of these theater performances happen on Saturdays, same day as weddings, so time conflicts, overlaps, clashes are inevitable, unavoidable.
Suggestions are welcome. I can't hire another videographer for the show because no other videographer will want to give up a more lucrative Saturday for such a cheap price (I'd have made most of my money on the DVD copies) and the video company that booked me on the Bar Mitzvah hired me because they like the way I shoot. Turning the Bar Mitzvah shoot over to another videographer who may or may not shoot it the way I would jeopardize any future dealings I'd have with this company, in the long-term, relatively harmonious, trouble-free relationship we've built up over the years.
I don't want to video porn.
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