They're trying to take my job! Help!

[mrWr0ng]

So some background story:

A year and a half ago, I get hired to do in-house video production for this non-profit. B hires me as he is the "media consultant." Immediately after I start, the current production intern quits and I get saddled with months of backwork. I freaked out, but a coworker gave me some tips on what to do, and I managed to get caught up.

I found out a couple of months later that B had started his own production company, and had basically run the old intern out and hired me to fill in and fail so that the VP would put up his hands and agree to outsource all the video work - right to B's new company.

Well, that didn't happen. Instead, I took care of business, built up my relationship with the VP and they discovered that I could put together promotional videos for them on top of the normal video production I do. Not a problem.

Now, however, the VP is quitting. His position is up for grabs and all the other managers are making a move for it. At the same time, B has just put out an offer to the Council that his production company will cover ALL video production for the non-profit - for free (his site is sort of like youtube, advertisement based revenue while he puts up political videos for viewing and discussion). I'm safe until the VP leaves because he hates B and B's company has refused to do any of the things they've asked for (create a portal that looks like our company's website, watermark our company's video with our watermark or put our intro on the video - any programs they get get put up on their website immediately before ours, with their watermarks and intro all over it), but my worry is that whoever takes over his position will decide my position is redundant and off me to hand over all the work to B's company.

What do I do? i obviously can't compete against a company offering to do all this work for FREE - they have more manpower and can cover every program, but the demands of the VP (watermark, portal, intro) come from the CEO. So far she's not very fond of them, but I'm not sure if that is worth my salary to her (I don't get paid a lot, but it's enough to survive). If nothing else, I'd at least like to stay until November, when I'll have 2 years experience and should be able to move into doing my own thing, but I'm not prepared to get tossed out now.

What would you guys do? Is there a way to outmaneuver these people? The quality of my work is better as their camera guy just turns on the camera, sits for the rest of the program and stops the tape at the end (I tilt, track, pan, etc) and I take direction better, including all of the necessary things that the CEO wants, but I don't like the position that I'm in - I'm sort of employed at a whim now, not many chips to play with, and I can see the political maneuvering that's been done around me. I'm willing to work with these guys as we split up filming now, but they want me out of the picture so they can take the whole thing. How do I stay afloat?

[Barry_Green]

You should be asking the VP. He's your ally, the one who has the inside track, the one who knows very well what's going to happen when he leaves, and the one who can either a) give you some guidance on how to navigate these waters, or b) hire you at wherever new job he ends up, or c) can put in the good word for you with the CEO to keep you on.

[mrWr0ng]

Well the worry is that right now the VP hasn't made his announcement that he's leaving - everyone knows, but it's not official yet. I don't know how to bring it up without letting on that I've heard about it as well - but you're right, I do plan on talking with him, just about B in general and worried that he's trying to push me out. If nothing else, he'll at least let me know why he keeps me around in the face of a free alternative.

[Barry_Green]

If everybody's heard about it, then he knows. And if he doesn't know that everyone's heard about it, he should. You can only win here, there is no "lose", as long as you approach it right.

[mrWr0ng]

Yeah, I'm gonna have a meeting with him. Ask if maybe I can pick up more shoots over the months - they've had me get more involved in their live A/V production (biggest was doing camera live for Bob Woodward - a 1400 foot focus distance and 2 enormous screens with me behind a dxc-d30), but I'm not making enough now that I can devote all of my time to this, either. The agreement now leaves me enough time for freelance, but if I step up too much then it'll kill my additional income, which is what I need to be able to keep doing this job.

[Cynic821]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZES4Es0uwYA

couldnt help it

[SomewhereinLA]

I think you should talk to the VP and let him know you are concern about your job, and ask him what he thinks of your situation and if he can help. If he is leaving, he has nothing to loose in being honest. Maybe you could ask to be put under contract until the end of the year?

[mrWr0ng]

Well it's all politics, really. He might not really care (and I can tell he doesn't because he drops f-bombs all day while reiterating how much he doesn't care), but everyone right now is trying to get something out of him and generally treating him like crap.

Our annual dinner is coming up tomorrow, and I have put together the entire video presentation, 2 promotional videos and a tribute piece to some fallen trustees, then doing live camera, so I should look pretty good by the end of tomorrow, and then Wednesday I'll sit down with him and try to re-do the contract.

I was supposed to cover a conference at Google coming up, which I really wanted to do so I could have an opportunity to be more involved, but now apparently Google wants to cover the whole thing with their own cameras. I'd love to work with the google guys and network, but it looks like they're vying to cover the whole conference themselves. Why can't I catch a break?