Private content / mini-fest

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somebody

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Hello,

I need to create a 20-25 sec video commercial for TV+Internet to launch a new product. I understand that I can get a commercial done for free by a local TV (with advertising commitment), or I can spend money for something more decent.
In fact I do need a very funny/viral and high-end looking commercial if I can get one on a $2K budget, or I could increase the budget to $5K if I could do a small campaign of 3-4 commercials. I also have 6 scripts to choose from, with ideas for more.
Therefore I'm wondering if possibly I could pass this job to DVXuser community in form of a contest (like a mini-fest), with some reasonable rules to at least cover the costs for several directors, plus paying additional fees for chosen commercials.
Is this something that could be of interest to DVXUser community, and could I expect a few decent commercials made this way?

BTW, the product to advertise is great and the scripts have great potential, but can be challenging to make as they all call for couple actors (a male and a female) with acting skills, whom the director would also need to find/provide.

I cannot post the details publicly before the product is launched, but I'd be happy to send the details to DVXUser moderator to review and validate this opportunity, and later to everyone interested if we'd launch this contest.

Thanks,
KM
 
Instead of trying to get the community to make free commercials for you, why not just post your location and ask local DVXUsers to bid on the job?

Heck, it's the internet, you don't even need them to be local. Put out a request for bid, ask to see reels... I'm sure there are several users here who could put together a dynamite commercial for you for $2,000.
 
Thanks Barry for your response.

I can definitely do a commercial for $2K and even have a local company in mind (awesome demo real), but:
a) If my commercial won't feel funny and viral then a failed campaign can cost us huge loss of opportunity and as result much more money.
b) My real goal is to create a campaign with several commercials. And again, if one director blows it then I'd only waste more money. (say $3K if all commercials are shot at the same time at the same location)

Therefore with community participation I'd expect to select 4-5 best commercials and pay $1K each, rather than rely on just one person and pray for it to meet my expecations.
Or for example I could pay $500 to 5 directors to cover their costs, then pay an additional $500 for each selected commercial (for example).
Plus what about aspiring young directors who can't sell their talent yet - shouldn't have they a chance to get a cool project to work on, express themselves and get paid for it? :-)

Though well, if there will be no interest then I may just take my chances and hire someone directly. I may put a request for bid later today anyway, while referring to this post as well.
 
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Well, here's the deal: $2,000 is really, really low pay for a commercial. $2,000 split four or five ways is infitesimally small. I'm not saying you can't get something done with this; I answered one of these calls once, someone posted on a forum about an international website that was going to do a commercial; I had an idea and some spare time and arranged to do it. I think it was like $1500 and took me a grand total of one day to write, shoot, and edit. But it got me an Emmy nomination and led to doing a series of real-paying commercials for that client. So that was worth it. And he paid in advance, as I stipulated and demanded.

I'm sure there are several members here who would be glad to bid on a small project like this and, if you've seen the quality that comes through in our DVXFests, there are many users here with extraordinary skills. What I'm not necessarily sure about is the idea of them going through all the effort to produce a spec spot on your behalf, and get nothing because theirs wasn't chosen... especially if you want to somehow make it sound like DVXUser is somehow involved or organizing or participating.

I understand what you're saying about not wanting to pay up and then not get what you want. But hey, in business the entrepreneur is the one who takes the risks, and who gets the rewards. I'm not sure I like the idea of pushing the risk onto the membership.

But hey, anyone who wants to bid on your job is obviously free to contact you.
 
OK. I want to make sure that I'm being understood correctly and I'd like to clarify/say that I've done my research and have no difficulties finding freelancers to make a commercial for $2K or even $1500. At least it didn't feel like low pay to them :-), though maybe it's because of the current economy where not everyone is so lucky to make $2K every day or two. Hell, I'd work my ass off for $500/day.
And I'm trying to be quite reasonable, budgeting minimum $5K for the potential contest (not $2K) - that's 1/3 of the total fest prizes where many directors work their butts off for many days for a bit of recognition.
And I'm not trying to take advantage of anyone and I'm trying to make this a much better deal than DVXUser fests, as I see that many people don't make money from the fests either. At minimum I'm offering to cover $500 for the costs of each director, and my project needs less work than the official fests.
Therefore I was simply thinking why should I blow $5K elsewhere, instead of contributing and sponsoring a film club, community, etc. I mean that's how large corporations sponsor various community activities, sometimes offering one crappy prize for getting content from thousands of participants (Corel was selling CDs with millions of clipart produced by contest participants who received nothing). So my offer should look 10x better than some fraudulent "contest" from the largest corporations out there.
And I wasn't thinking about DVXUser offering organizational help, though it wouldn't hurt - if we could make this reasonable and exciting for everyone. However, if the official DVXUser fests are such great deals and have sponsors lining up with cash falling out of their wallets then of course my deal would look like peanuts and not worth anyone's time.

Anyway, I received one message from an interested director, so with a few more and I'll write up some rules.
Otherwise I'll go the standard route of hiring someone.

Thanks,
KM
 
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