Sound guy wanted for independent series

A

acollar

New member
THE GROOM.jpg



Hi there!

I wonder if you can help me out here.

We are looking for a sound guy with own equipment for the fifth episode of the international experimental series "The Groom".


The shooting will take place in NYC during March 2011 (either March 10th or march 14th). It will be a 4-5 hours gig, with a small crew and 3 actors.


You can have a look at previous episodes via Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/acollar#grid/user/3B13B95299AAE4DA


This is a non-paid gig but you can be part of this project that is being recorded in cities such as: London, Beijing, Las Vegas, Brighton, Madrid and Shanghai. Plus, you will get a credit on IMDB.


If you are interested please send you reel and resume.


Thanks for reading!


Cheers!
 
acollar said:
This is a non-paid gig but you can be part of this project that is being recorded in cities such as: London, Beijing, Las Vegas, Brighton, Madrid and Shanghai.
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Not trying to rag on ya but why would this be a selling point to someone?
 
Ha ha, the famous "I'll give you credit" line...is it experimental to see if everyone will work for free? Sorry couldn't resist!
 
Yes the normal thing - find someone with a £20,000 plus investment in sound gear and ask him to work for free.

Cheapskates. :Drogar-Mad(DBG):
 
acollar said:
...
We are looking for a sound guy with own equipment for the fifth episode of the international experimental series "The Groom".


The shooting will take place in NYC during March 2011 (either March 10th or march 14th). It will be a 4-5 hours gig, with a small crew and 3 actors.

...
This is a non-paid gig but you can be part of this project that is being recorded in cities such as: London, Beijing, Las Vegas, Brighton, Madrid and Shanghai. Plus, you will get a credit on IMDB.

...
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Are YOU working for free or otherwise without receiving any personal financial gain from the project or do you just expect your crews to?

FYI - location sound mixers virtually never have reels to show.
 
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At the moment I'm trying to build up experience (which has been including free work), there seem to be a large number of jobs advertised where they expect both a sound recordist and kit for free. This requires a few thousand pounds worth of investment with no return and if you're going to own that kind of equipment already it's likely you're making a living from it, so won't be working for free.

I'm not always sure exactly what is meant by 'own kit' either, when you're not paying for it. Zoom H2 taped to a broomhandle?

If more producers would at least be willing to hire kit for 'no budget' shoots, that'd be a start for others in my situation- although if they keep being advertised someone must be doing them...
 
Yes, perhaps it's become a privilege to spend tens of thousands on equipment and use it on someones pet project that at least they think is the greatest project ever conceived in their mind.

I guess the op has the right to ask for free services but don't act like the project itself or getting credit has some intrinsic value for an established pro. Or even a newbie, the newbie just doesn't know any better. I think it could have been asked in a much better way that wouldn't have raised ire so much.
 
I wonder how they would feel if someone responded to the ad, then decided to cancel on them an hour before the shoot. I guess they can't complain because its not like they were paying someone to begin with. Something like this would totally ruin their shoot and all they could say to themselves is "well, I guess thats what you get for free".

As Rippie said though, who the hell gives a damn where you shot your film. That is a b/s incentive!
 
It's even not that easy to get on IMDB. Even the "normal - big budget" films are having troubles sometimes to get on IMDB...

But from now on I'm going to tell my plumber, electrician... "hé dude, I'm on low budget so I only can give you a credit in the newspaper or a commercial magazine for plumbers (or electricians)...."
 
Maybe this would have been better: "Hey, we have this project that at least we are excited about, but are unfortunately broke, but hope it will lead to other things...is there anyone out there who wouldn't mind donating some time to help us out...true gorilla production style? If you can we will limit the amount of time we ask of you since we appreciate that you'd even show up to help us. We will at least feed you. Thank you so much for any help you could provide!"

How would you all feel if that was the original request? ha ha
 
Then I would think about it and if things like gasoline is payed back... and there's FOOD (enough food, so you can take twice).

Anyway I'm more interested if I know there's potential in it, if I know there's a chance they're going to be able to give payed jobs in the future
 
I helped out a small indi crew a year ago, but they were very nice and up front that they could only pay $50/day and would feed me good food! So, it was fun and they were very nice guys. Don't know what happened with the project...
 
wbrock001 said:
Maybe this would have been better: "Hey, we have this project that at least we are excited about, but are unfortunately broke, but hope it will lead to other things...is there anyone out there who wouldn't mind donating some time to help us out...true gorilla production style? If you can we will limit the amount of time we ask of you since we appreciate that you'd even show up to help us. We will at least feed you. Thank you so much for any help you could provide!"

How would you all feel if that was the original request? ha ha
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Responding to polite requests like that is basically how I learned my craft in the first few years -- there were lots of student and no-budget projects around that needed help with sound, lighting, or whatever, and I had a small but growing inventory of equipment (plus my increasing experience) that could be valuable to them. I don't think there's anything wrong with it at all, and some of the contacts made that way actually turned into paid work later on.

- GDS
 
This has become a big issue on Craig's List in the Bay Area. There are a lot of student and other non paying gigs that try to list there and they get flagged almost immediately by bozos who claim that "gig" means decently paid. It doesn't, which is obvious by the common term "paying gig".

Anyway I don't have a problem with people posting non paying gigs (maybe not in this list since that's not what it's about though). We are all adults (or close) and we can make up our own minds if we want to do it or not.

I often will advise those posters that how they ask is important. "Credit" for sound work is near meaningless unless it's a Name project (and of course it isn't or they would have a budget). IMDB credit isn't what it used to be. I know way too many totally crap lower than student films that managed to get an IMDB listing. Meals is OK but that is also a given. Festivals are meaningless for sound because nobody pays attention to the sound credits in festivals and there are no awards for sound that come out of festivals.

Unless your doing ads (or maybe games) you probably don't have a reel, and yet every micro budget film seems to want reels from their sound people. Just stupid, it tells you nothing. That would be especially true for production but is also true for post.

So asking nice. Acknowledging that you are asking for a favor not doing one is a great start. Avoid any claims that doing the project will lead to fame or more work etc. It sounds like BS because it is. Don't make claims about festivals unless you have already been accepted. I actually talked to these folks who mentioned Cannes and found out they HAD been accepted based on the rough cut so they Could make a legit claim. DON'T say it will be "fun", it says you really don't know what you are doing.

What you can claim is a great script (you had better be able to show one). A reasonable work environment, ie no 18 hour days. Name actors, DP's, Directors etc IF you have them on the cast/crew. Eternal gratitude. Compensation is good even if it's just barter. And clearly lay out who's getting what. If you stand to make some money on the project others should also.

If you come off as a professional who might have a future AND understands that favors should be repaid then some will take the gamble that working on this project will pay off in the end.
 
Noiz2 said:
This has become a big issue on Craig's List in the Bay Area. There are a lot of student and other non paying gigs that try to list there and they get flagged almost immediately by bozos who claim that "gig" means decently paid. It doesn't, which is obvious by the common term "paying gig".

Anyway I don't have a problem with people posting non paying gigs (maybe not in this list since that's not what it's about though). We are all adults (or close) and we can make up our own minds if we want to do it or not.

I often will advise those posters that how they ask is important. "Credit" for sound work is near meaningless unless it's a Name project (and of course it isn't or they would have a budget). IMDB credit isn't what it used to be. I know way too many totally crap lower than student films that managed to get an IMDB listing. Meals is OK but that is also a given. Festivals are meaningless for sound because nobody pays attention to the sound credits in festivals and there are no awards for sound that come out of festivals.

Unless your doing ads (or maybe games) you probably don't have a reel, and yet every micro budget film seems to want reels from their sound people. Just stupid, it tells you nothing. That would be especially true for production but is also true for post.

So asking nice. Acknowledging that you are asking for a favor not doing one is a great start. Avoid any claims that doing the project will lead to fame or more work etc. It sounds like BS because it is. Don't make claims about festivals unless you have already been accepted. I actually talked to these folks who mentioned Cannes and found out they HAD been accepted based on the rough cut so they Could make a legit claim. DON'T say it will be "fun", it says you really don't know what you are doing.

What you can claim is a great script (you had better be able to show one). A reasonable work environment, ie no 18 hour days. Name actors, DP's, Directors etc IF you have them on the cast/crew. Eternal gratitude. Compensation is good even if it's just barter. And clearly lay out who's getting what. If you stand to make some money on the project others should also.

If you come off as a professional who might have a future AND understands that favors should be repaid then some will take the gamble that working on this project will pay off in the end.
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Spot on Scott! I'm taking a gig similar to this in a few weeks. He's a student, in a class with my wife, who had a really interesting script and seemed pretty "sound conscience." He's paying $50 a day but I really like the script so I'm open to helping out for a much discounted rate.
 
dre83 said:
It's even not that easy to get on IMDB. Even the "normal - big budget" films are having troubles sometimes to get on IMDB...
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I doubt that. I know people who have gotten absolute garbage on IMDB. I mean really bad short films. I've never bothered to try myself but I've been told it's quite easy.

Judging by what I've seen it can't be that hard.
 
I want to just go on record as well. I don't mind people asking (in the right way) for help on a project.
I personally get asked a lot and while I say I cant help a lot of times to people I don't know at all, I also say yes when I can even if its only in supplying them with gear
for a project I like, or for a friend.

I just found it funny that the original poster wrote that sentence about where the movie was shot like someone would want to work on his project because of that.

Side note thats totally on subject, I asked someone on this audio forum for help on a personal project of mine that had no pay and
he graciously said yes to it. I greatly appreciated it and still do.

(I won't mention his name without his permission so he doesnt get swapped with other people asking him for help)
 
bobafet1 said:
Noiz2,
Too bad craigslist can't make a sticky of your post. It is so on the money!
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They won't even acknowledge it's a problem. It might not be so bad in other parts of the country but around here there are a TON of student and off the radar no money films being made, none of them are "paying" and they really have no place to post "gigs" since they get flagged off of CL in a matter of minutes.
Talk about people with too much time and too much angst. I guess it's better that they have become serial flaggers instead of serial killers, but it's kind of the same mentality.
 
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