Working with the client?

chromeboy007

chromeboy007

Well-known member
I was at a meeting with a medium size firm, and I was essentially told that I was an amateur because, when I was asked how I would work with the client in producing the videos, I didn't tell them that I would work with them on their script creation, draw storyboards, give them rough cut and 1st cut and 2nd cut etc.

Now, I can do/already do all these things. I had no idea that's what they were looking for, especially since much of the video will consist of interviews. Who storyboards efking interviews?

When a client asks you "how you would work with them in creating the video?" or something along those lines. What are they looking for? What do you tell them?
 
I'd tell them that I'd:

1. Do their script creation - if they need it.
2. Draw storyboards - if they need it
3. Give them rough cut and 1st cut and 2nd cut etc....

....and that each of those services comes with a price...provided they need it.

That way you are showing them what you are capable of doing, but at the same time letting them know that you are confident enough to charge for each of those services.

It's what I do.
 
+1 to Vince.

I always tell clients that they can be as involved or uninvolved as they want, but all those things should have a price tag. It tells clients that your time is worth money, and they need to be smart about how they spend it.
 
I think a lot of it goes with what you are selling yourself as. If you market yourself as a DP or videographer I dont think you are expected to work in story development. A lot of corporate jobs are people wanting to use you as a tool to complete there vision.
 
Steve Laramie said:
I think a lot of it goes with what you are selling yourself as. If you market yourself as a DP or videographer I dont think you are expected to work in story development. A lot of corporate jobs are people wanting to use you as a tool to complete there vision.
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Yeah that's what I went into the meeting as, just a videographer - shoot and edit. They certainly didn't say what their required level of participation was. The job is research oriented, interviews and other on the spot style of shooting. When the guy told me that other people have been offering scripting work and storyboarding, I was totally surprised.

Well it's one sales lesson I'm not going to forget soon.
 
chromeboy007 said:
Yeah that's what I went into the meeting as, just a videographer - shoot and edit. They certainly didn't say what their required level of participation was. The job is research oriented, interviews and other on the spot style of shooting. When the guy told me that other people have been offering scripting work and storyboarding, I was totally surprised.

Well it's one sales lesson I'm not going to forget soon.
Click to expand...

Even the type of production you describe needs scripts and storyboards. Now you don't script to put words in the mouth of the person being interviewed but you should outline the general direction his interviewer is going to take with the questions, the points that need to be covered, questions you know MUST be asked, that sort of thing. The show itself tells a story and has to have a point. Even a doco has an opening premise, exposition, and summary - the proverbial begining, middle, and end of a dramatic production - and a script establishes that flow while storyboards tell you how the story is going to be organized and told visually - when the CEO is telling about the new earthmoving technology they've developed, do you want to see his face in a talking head, show the technology in action with him in voice over, cut between the two, or what? You need to know ahead of time what shots you're going to need for the production. Scripts and storyboards are how you plan that.
 
Steve House said:
Even the type of production you describe needs scripts and storyboards. Now you don't script to put words in the mouth of the person being interviewed but you should outline the general direction his interviewer is going to take with the questions, the points that need to be covered, questions you know MUST be asked, that sort of thing. The show itself tells a story and has to have a point. Even a doco has an opening premise, exposition, and summary - the proverbial begining, middle, and end of a dramatic production - and a script establishes that flow while storyboards tell you how the story is going to be organized and told visually - when the CEO is telling about the new earthmoving technology they've developed, do you want to see his face in a talking head, show the technology in action with him in voice over, cut between the two, or what? You need to know ahead of time what shots you're going to need for the production. Scripts and storyboards are how you plan that.
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Yeah I'll definitely present the services to the prospects next time. Whether they use it or not it's up to them. At least I offer the services.

I'm still pissed.
 
No, lol, I'd never script or storyboard anything like that, that's just ridiculous. In fact if anything that strikes me as amateur hour. I think amateurs are far more likely to rely on storyboards because they have no clue what they're really doing and want to make themselves look important. This isn't Spider-Man 3. I'm not even storyboarding my feature film, a shot list is plenty sufficient, the most important part is having seen all of my locations, proper location photos, locked-down script, I don't need to draw a picture of a guy sitting in a chair talking, I mean let's get real here. Storyboarding is fantastic for things heavy in visual effects and fantasy-land material. Otherwise it's a waste of time and money unless you just can't visualize anything in your head.

As for working with clients, I do the same thing as Vince suggested, I tell them I can do anything but it costs money. I'll help them develop a script for a corporate training video but I will charge a lot of money for that expertise. I don't understand their business most likely, so they'll have to work with me to develop it, and that's a lot harder than them writing something first and just paying me to make it work professionally and do some rewrites. But whatever, I can do whatever they need.

I don't take kindly to them renting me as a tool, though, we don't do that business. I'm not a videographer, and I'm not an editor, I'm a director-producer, so if you want to work with my company you are paying for the expertise that I offer, and that means giving me enough creative control to deliver that. The more hands-on the client is, however, the clearer they are about what they actually want, the better I can serve them and the less expensive it can be potentially. Clients who have no clue what they want are definitely tricky because then I just have to go with my instincts, and hope that I'm close.
 
I second that emotion. I'm working with a client now who knows he wants to brand his service with a video presence but has no clue about any of it. The client that wants something but doesn't know what he wants. I'm literally having drag out of him the message he wants to send, how he wants to say it, etc. and as I delve deeper into the project I've come to the realization this is potentially going to be expensive for him.
 
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