how is the recession affecting you?

Original question:

How am I personally coping ? Better than a lot of people I know. Post-secondary ed is one of the few areas doing well, and I've been busier than ever. I just got a call from my dept head, they are adding 2 more ESL sections and another Freshman English for the fall.

How this affects my video, is that I don't have much time right now. I privately tutor people from the big U across town, and have seen a spike in this as well.

Where I see hope is the people who come to my classes at the community college. There used to be a bunch of nineteen-year-olds, but now my classes are full of "non-traditonal" 40-somethings retraining to be medical techs, IT guys, all sorts of things.

As long as there are Americans who are willing to re-invent themselves, we will eventually do alright. The guys who think they can only be what they have always been, worry me. Surely these people (e.g. autoworkers) are selling themselves short. I see people who transform themselves every day.

It does take guts, though. My hat is off to them. :beer: Jeff
 
ugafan said:
lol. :cheesy:

batutta, the truth is my wife works and i stay home with the kids. we live within our means...no credit card debt, one car payment, and a low house payment. the only way we've really been affected by the recession is that the 401k and mutual fund have taken a hit. that part sucks, but fortunately we don't need to take out the money right now.
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Hah, finally someone who admits to earning even LESS than I did last year. :huh:
I have to admit that my largest piece of income was the settlement from a personal injury lawsuit when I got rear-ended the year before. The 'pain & suffering' part left over after all the hospital bills went straight into my video business as an investment. And I did do a considerable amount more business than in years prior, but around November, all business just stopped--I mean totally halted. We had a flurry of inquiries in January, but not one turned into a booking. Meanwhile, I had to make the December property tax payment on our non-mortgaged home, and didn't have enough in savings to cover it, so we used a credit card to cover the difference because the wife's got a 6 month no interest offer. We have to pay that off before June, else all the interest comes due.
Meanwhile, I'm sifting through my video archives and putting together video clips and selling them on RevoStock. Well, not actually SELLING them, but putting them up for sale. The rest of my time this month is taken up with figuring my taxes from last year. It usually takes me two months to do my income taxes every year.
Having been down the desktop publishing burndown in the 1980s/90s right after my retirement from the 9-5 working world, when I peaked in color prepress work in 1991, then saw it all go downhill fast when Macs and home users and secretaries started laying out 4C brochures, I knew the end was near. That was 1995. Now we are at that point with video--with sub $10K cameras out that produce $50K worth of HD picture getting into the hands of college students, it's becoming hard to find work. With the economic crunch, the barely-adequate amount of work has stopped entirely. I haven't done one paid job in video since November. And November was a porn flick that I took because there was no 'respectible' shooting work being offered me. I've been doing some web design in between, but most of that was in barter for air time on a local FM station.
The only other work I've seen this quarter is some radio program production work for documentary use.
I make up some of the income gaps with the sale of some of my lesser-needed equipment on eBay. But there's a finite amount of stuff to sell and when that's all gone, it's lights out and running the generator for an hour a day to flush the toilets and wash up.
 
Sad to hear Basspig and I hope theres some light very soon.

Ive been targeting production companies a lot and have been pretty much picked up as the sole freelancer for 3 at present. In addition, theres a growing list of mid sized music vids that I have put myself first in line for.

Those 3 are giving me 3-4 days a week at present, with some editing. My own jobs on top of that are keeping me fairly busy right now.

Basspig, one thing Ive never been concerned about are kids with HD cameras, theres always someone cheaper anyway. I dont care if theres some film student running around saying Ill do it for half price with my shiny new red my parents just bought me. Know your capabilities and target the right market. I just spent $15k on some upgrades to ensure I can service the work I have more efficiently, but post that - saving all my pennies.
 
Recession is hitting home for me. I can't find any video/film full time jobs or free lance gigs in Missouri. My last few projects were out of L.A. so I'm contemplating going there. Seems that is where I should be for the career I want.
 
I can only speak from my own experience, but having been an independent producer for the past 30 years, it seems that when times are bad for the economy, production business increases... I don't know if it's the need to communicate or advertise or what, but that's been the case for me. I have kept it close though... no full time employees. I just completed a museum exhibit and am on to a visitor center film due next fall. Most of my work has been repeat or referral. And most new work has had a long time to arrive from the first pitches. The key is to discipline yourself to market while working yourself to death meeting the deadlines and maintaining utmost quality standards. I'm still making money with my DVX 100, but am waiting for the Scarlet to mature. For TV spots and most of my work, SD is still fine... I did have to pass on a project pitch this week because I didn't have my reel in HD. (my HD museum projects are SD on my reel)... We can all hang on for a while... things will come around. We in the New Orleans area have already dealt with a total meltdown and it does make you place your priorities in order.
Best Regards
Dale
 
I'm a coal miner and lost my job less than two weeks after buying my house, I was one of the few fortunate ones that got laid off and got another job. The worst thing is knowing that you could really lose your job any day really. For now my plan is to knuckle down and get a few grand ahead on my house payments asap.
 
Bad economic times can be very good for the entertainment business. People want diversions, more specifically diversions that are relatively convenient, inexpensive and close to home. Movies and TV foot the bill.

Good thing most of us chose some aspect of the entertainment business, I guess.
 
Sad Max said:
Bad economic times can be very good for the entertainment business. People want diversions, more specifically diversions that are relatively convenient, inexpensive and close to home. Movies and TV foot the bill.
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Hmm. TV, yes, movies...not so sure. It can cost upwards of 30-50 bucks for a couple to see a movie when you factor in parking, babysitter, popcorn and drinks. Not so inexpensive. And now that there is the internet widening our entertainment options, we will see if this old theory stands up this time.
 
I deal in crap, and crap in high volumes yields some fairly nice income.

I have been extremely busy this year with local/regional commercials. But I've seen a lot of nickel & diming going on that I never had to deal with in the past. As we talked about in a thread a few weeks ago, I'm glad to see many clients are interested in "putting their commercial on the web" That has opened up a whole new realm of money making opportunities.

I wish the economy was more robust so I could quit my daytime job and go into business for myself full time. Who am I kidding, I'm going to milk my current gig until they lock the door and turn off the lights.
 
When things are slow, I spend more time on the boards. Don't we all? I also end up selling lots of gear I don't really need anymore - especially lighting gear, film cameras , etc.
 
I am currently working as a photographer at a ski resort. The guests who are here are spending like usual, but the problem is that this year is yielding e 50 percent of the guests that last year had. However on a whole B.C is doing alright compared to most, I think it's mainly because our biggest export is Marijuana. And when times get tough...

I am heading to University in the fall and am thinking this is a great time to do it. Time will tell.
 
One of the challenges is finding ANY kind of work at all. But it is a client's market out there.
I ran ads for ten weeks on a local FM station and not one phonecall or inquiry resulted. I was shocked. Newpaper ads stopped bringing in results years ago. I also did a lot of mailings and at one point, cold-calling. Nothing. Just a lot of annoyed people.
Around here, it is mostly Wal-Mart, fast food chains, convenience stores and gas stations run by Indians. There is very little industry left as most have moved overseas or to cheaper states where the tax burden is less.
What I find annoying is that if a call comes in and I miss it, when I return the call, I get someone's voice mail and leave a message and never hear back from them. These calls have a frustrating habit of coming in when I'm out running an errand or not within ear shot of the phone. I have called back twice in some cases, but the original party that called me never has the decency to make a courtesy call and say that they've found another vendor, but thanks for my time. No, never do they call back.
I guess one could say that in all the years since my retirement from full employment, I have been in a 'recession' because I either picked the wrong business or don't have the winning sales personality. Now when things get bad globally, for me it is a depression, because all economic activity stops.
Back when I ran my radio engineering business, I was finding at least a couple days a week of work repairing, wiring and troubleshooting for various radio stations. But then the property taxes started to rise about 32% a year, and in 2000, they quadrupled and in 8 short years, I had blown through $60,000 in retirement savings to pay the taxes on time. At the same time, I started raising my engineering fees. As my fees went up, I found less and less work. My income remained flat, though I was working less and less often. By 2004, that income started decreasing to the point where it's now non-existent. It was in 2005, at a concert recording session, that I had an ephiphany: for the first time in my entire life, I feld RIGHT doing what I was doing for a living that day. It was the very first time in my life that I felt deep satisfaction with the work I was doing. So from that day forward, I decided to focus 100% on my video and sound business. I've gotten a few decent paying gigs recording concerts by up and coming soloists, but I'm so far unable to break through the glass ceiling to get to work with the major international orchestras.

I am really wondering what kind of production business is doing better these days, as I see only TV ads being produced at TV stations for free or up to $300 as part of the air time package. Breaking into corporate has proven impossible so far without any friendly contacts on the inside. Where else is the money? I got one gig by hanging out around town all summer with a video camera, recording live outdoor concerts. One band approached me about making a DVD of an upcoming concert, so we put together a deal, but it was a one-time thing. The venue was booking major national acts, so I wrote the venue and suggested partnering up with me providing DVD production of each concert. I also contacted the managers of all upcoming acts. A few responded, but weren't interested in what I had to offer, and the venue owner did not even offer the courtesy of a reply to my offer.

I'm sure cheap entertainment (downloaded NetFlix, Hulu, etc) are doing well. It's too damned expensive to go to the theater indeed.

Now as for dealing in 'crap' and lots of it, that would be great if the "lots of it" part were possible. I get nothing, good or crap. I would welcome some 'crap' work over nothing. :-\
 
basspig said:
What I find annoying is that if a call comes in and I miss it, when I return the call, I get someone's voice mail and leave a message and never hear back from them. These calls have a frustrating habit of coming in when I'm out running an errand or not within ear shot of the phone.
Click to expand...

This problem can be solved via use of a cell phone.
 
basspig said:
One of the challenges is finding ANY kind of work at all. But it is a client's market out there.
I ran ads for ten weeks on a local FM station and not one phonecall or inquiry resulted. I was shocked. Newpaper ads stopped bringing in results years ago. I also did a lot of mailings and at one point, cold-calling. Nothing. Just a lot of annoyed people.
Around here, it is mostly Wal-Mart, fast food chains, convenience stores and gas stations run by Indians. There is very little industry left as most have moved overseas or to cheaper states where the tax burden is less.
What I find annoying is that if a call comes in and I miss it, when I return the call, I get someone's voice mail and leave a message and never hear back from them. These calls have a frustrating habit of coming in when I'm out running an errand or not within ear shot of the phone. I have called back twice in some cases, but the original party that called me never has the decency to make a courtesy call and say that they've found another vendor, but thanks for my time. No, never do they call back.
I guess one could say that in all the years since my retirement from full employment, I have been in a 'recession' because I either picked the wrong business or don't have the winning sales personality. Now when things get bad globally, for me it is a depression, because all economic activity stops.
Back when I ran my radio engineering business, I was finding at least a couple days a week of work repairing, wiring and troubleshooting for various radio stations. But then the property taxes started to rise about 32% a year, and in 2000, they quadrupled and in 8 short years, I had blown through $60,000 in retirement savings to pay the taxes on time. At the same time, I started raising my engineering fees. As my fees went up, I found less and less work. My income remained flat, though I was working less and less often. By 2004, that income started decreasing to the point where it's now non-existent. It was in 2005, at a concert recording session, that I had an ephiphany: for the first time in my entire life, I feld RIGHT doing what I was doing for a living that day. It was the very first time in my life that I felt deep satisfaction with the work I was doing. So from that day forward, I decided to focus 100% on my video and sound business. I've gotten a few decent paying gigs recording concerts by up and coming soloists, but I'm so far unable to break through the glass ceiling to get to work with the major international orchestras.

I am really wondering what kind of production business is doing better these days, as I see only TV ads being produced at TV stations for free or up to $300 as part of the air time package. Breaking into corporate has proven impossible so far without any friendly contacts on the inside. Where else is the money? I got one gig by hanging out around town all summer with a video camera, recording live outdoor concerts. One band approached me about making a DVD of an upcoming concert, so we put together a deal, but it was a one-time thing. The venue was booking major national acts, so I wrote the venue and suggested partnering up with me providing DVD production of each concert. I also contacted the managers of all upcoming acts. A few responded, but weren't interested in what I had to offer, and the venue owner did not even offer the courtesy of a reply to my offer.

I'm sure cheap entertainment (downloaded NetFlix, Hulu, etc) are doing well. It's too damned expensive to go to the theater indeed.

Now as for dealing in 'crap' and lots of it, that would be great if the "lots of it" part were possible. I get nothing, good or crap. I would welcome some 'crap' work over nothing. :-\
Click to expand...

that stinks. it sounds to me like it is either time to move to a new market or change your profession.
 
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