Freelancers on reel

[ryanwaggoner]

Hey all,
First of all, let me say that the amount of wisdom that I've gleaned from all of you is incredible...I feel like the last year has been my film school.

I'm part of a startup studio, and we're putting together a reel. We're going to be relying heavily on freelancers, and I was wondering about the ethics/advice of putting spots done by freelancers that we work with on our company reel. Let me make it clear that we would only do so with their permission. What I'm thinking is that we would have a couple spots that we've done, followed by a segment that opens with a disclaimer, such as "the following portion of the reel highlights some of the work of our talented freelancers". Would freelancers go for this, and would it make our company look less or more professional? The freelancers we're talking with right now have some incredible work under their belts, with national spots for Fortune500 companies and such. We feel that this would be a great way to introduce our company in the market as a professional player. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance...

Ryan Waggoner
MediaFrame Studios

 

[rightfrog]

Re: Freelancers on reel

Ryan,

This is tricky because even though the freelancers did the work, it was most likely comissioned by another production/post-production studio who actually paid or the work and would put it on their own reel.

I think it sends a confusing message to put a disclaimer in front of the footage because a good commercial, music video, corporate video, etc. is more than just an editor or motion graphics artist...it takes the entire production/post-production group to put together a good piece. The company that actually made the spot have the right to put it on their reel because they are the company that actually made the entire ad from start to finish...

It's a tricky one, but I would be angry if an ad that my production company directed, shot, edited, mixed the sound, created motion graphics, etc. turned up on a rival company's reel. I would understand it if the editor I hired put it on his/her reel because they would be showing off just the editing, but it's different if it's on another company's reel...

But of course, having said all that...it happens all the time. I see a lot of reels from production/post-production companies and sometimes I see the same commercial or corporate video on two reels. I always call and ask if the company was the actual creator of the piece or if they just employ someone who worked on one aspect of that video...occasionally I get two companies who tell me that they were the ones who made it start to finish...always makes me laugh.

Just my 2-cents...

Christian Remde