How flexible should I be with the client

E

ezpop

Active member
How flexible you guys with your clients?
more than one time , especially with music videos, the guys (and girls) want to edit with me and they try to dictate how and where and what, you know what I mean. They ask to change this, on the next day they ask to change that, and the day after again...
How do you deal with people like this, is the client "always right",
yeah, there is a good article, but would be great to know how you guys address issues like this,
Many thanks.
 
You do whatever they want, but you put in the contract how often they can tell you to do it. 50% of the fee up front, 25% after the first cut, the rest after the 2nd cut. Anything afterward is extra. You can bet they won't want to change so many things if it's costing them money to do it.
 
how pushy are you? can you tell a client "no" and mean it? Just be honest and don't budget on your prices/contracts, you'll save yourself a lot of time and effort if you do.

I've learned my lessons and I *will not* edit while a client watches, I do lots of quirky things that I understand as an editor that don't make it into a rough cut or do certian things in a workflow that seems odd but works for me. HAving osmeone always nagging me is something I don't tolerate.
 
I'm as flexible as they need me to be and charge accordingly :) While I prefer to edit alone, it just takes longer with the client there and they just end up paying more. Works for me :) Changes are a whole other game. I love changes to death. Several of my clients (most actually) are so rushed for projects they refuse to participate in pre-production and we just guess til we get it right. They know we charge hourly. It costs them more money (and sometimes time) in the long run, but thats how they prefer to work and thats fine with me. As for proposed budgeting we give them the cost up front of what the first version will most likely cost and from there the sky is the limit. We also bill per revision with some clients as well. A few have worked with us long enough and we know they have very deep pockets so they just get billed at the end of version 17. Fun stuff!
 
What jdajda said. I usually am booked on a day rate. They can make changes to their heart's content. Fine by me. It is their money after all. Sounds like you might be in a somewhat different boat. Maybe you've done a flat-rate project bid. That's a slippery slope. Especially if they're in the room breathing down your neck. I haven't done music videos for a long time but one friend offers either an unsupervised edit bid with rough cut reviews / rounds of changes or an hourly, hand-holding session. She does tire of constantly pointing at the clock when they're in the room but it does keep things moving.
 
Whatever they want is kind of my motto.
I start the day off waiting on them for an hour or so. We cut a 2 minute package together in 5 hours and they split. I could have always done it in 3 hours but revise, wait and oppease the other 2 each day. Thats 10 hours or 1,500 bucks a week for oppeasing a grown up.
I have no problem with it.
 
Charge by the job if they don't help, charge by the hour if they do. Honestly, you know your job and a client will never be happy if they are micro managing.
 
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