ProVideo Coalition.com: the EDITBLOG on PVC by Scott Simmons

There’s a great article on the Village Voice blogs by A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson titled I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script. It’s a must read for any editor who has spent a good portion of their career editing professionally and has an extended group of family and friends who know what he or she does for a living. I say this because if you fall into that aforementioned category then you’ve been asked, possibly many times, to edit the occasional wedding video, baby video, memorial tribute, work video etc. etc. etc. for a friend and family member or (perhaps worse) some friend of a friend who heard you were an editor.

The idea of Olson’s article is that as a professional screenwriter he has so many screenplays (and screenplay related) material to read that the last thing he wants is to read another screenplay for someone he may or may not even know. I love his standard response (from the Village Voice article):

The same thing can probably be said for most editors. If you’re like me there’s enough paying professional work to easily fill a normal 40 hour work week +. Then when I get home there’s my personal videos of the kid, camera tests I have been working on, short narrative films of my own, other director’s films that I have agreed to work on for free because I liked the script and tons of tutorials for any number of software products and creative skills that I want to learn more about. The last thing, last thing, that I want to do in the evening or on the weekend is to sit in front of the computer and edit a video that doesn’t fall into those categories, much less for a person that I hardly know or don’t care about.

I learned a valuable lesson about this many years ago. I was asked to edit a memorial video for a friend of a friend’s parent and since they had lost a family member I felt sorry for them and agreed. To my shock I got boxes of photos, scrapbooks and video tapes with which to make this video. I put it off and put it off until the last minute but finally slapped something together. The family thanked me for the video but have to believe that the sloppiness and lack of effort showed through. With that I learned to never accept such a job if I wasn’t dedicated to it 100%. After that I developed a standard response when asked to edit these kinds of videos, which I have used for years:

Thanks for the offer to edit your ______________ (insert video I don’t want to work on) video but you have to understand that I can’t do it for free. I edit as my profession, sitting in a dark edit suite all day every day so it’s hard to take time away from my family, friends, other interests and career pursuits, not to mention recreational activities that there is precious little time for anyway, in the evening and on the weekends to work on personal projects for other people. I will be happy to edit your piece but for that reason I can’t do it for free but I would be willing to do it for $____________ (insert extremely large flat fee that you really would be willing to do the edit for). That includes you giving me not too much material to use in a somewhat organized fashion, with notes on what I am seeing. I will offer you one round of changes and provide 2 DVDs of the end product. Any You Tube or Internet uploads will be extra.

I have only had one person accept these terms over the years and I made a cool $5,000 for a tiny 2 - 3 minute edit. That one was worth it. I’m certainly not saying that an editor shouldn’t do favor edits for friends and family, just know (as Olsen said in the article) that it’s okay to say ‘no’ when asked to do a freebie edit and not be a dick. Yes Olsen is an Academy Award nominated writer and the closest most of us have ever come to such an award is working with a person named Oscar but that doesn’t mean that your time is not valuable. If you feel you must take on a freebie job that you don’t want to do then why not set up a barter-type system as payment where you will do the edit but can ask for something in exchange from the “client.” If you’re lucky maybe they will own a business you can benefit from or provide a service where you can bank some credits and use that service in the future. If nothing else ask for an evening of babysitting or a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant. Most people won’t have any problem providing a little payment like this in return, especially when you explain how long it takes to actually do a proper edit. If they balk then say no, walk away and do not feel bad about it at all. The real dick in that equation is the one who ask for a freebie but won’t provide ANY kind of payment in return, no matter how small.

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What’s even worse is when you owe someone else a favor and they cash in for your services. You do the job and they are happy with the result. But then for some reason they expect those services to always be available to them because in their perception, their favor was bigger than yours.

Posted by zadie on 09/13 at 07:42 PM

As an old timer who has been there… done that, I rarely do anything for free unless it’s a favor for a paying client or a charity I would like to help.

I have a personal rule regarding freebies; always put some kind of value on your time because the following 2 rules are always, always true:

1.
“If you don’t put value on your time, other people will think your time has no value.”

And 2. they will try to take as much of it as they can get away with.

If you are doing an edit freebie especially, don’t let anyone come sit over your shoulder to supervise. See rule 2.

Shoots at least usually happen at specified times for specified lengths, but post just goes on and on and on and on….

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/14 at 12:34 AM

Personally I don’t mind helping others *if I have the time*. I shot and edited a wedding for a friend last month, before that I shot 2 music videos for local bands for free. Most of my own videos are Creative Commons anyway, so I try to share as much as I can with society.

Posted by Eugenia on 09/14 at 12:55 AM

Sproketz is dead on.

For me, the moment when i stopped saying yes to every freebie requested was, i believe, the moment i realised i had become a professional editor. (Hang in there with me - i know that sounds like horrible bragging.)

What it amounts to is the value and scarcity of your free time. I can honestly say - except for a single long weekend trip away, I have spent almost EVERY SINGLE DAY of the last 6+ months in front of a dual screen mac getting boggle-eyed. That includes Sundays.

When I wasn’t doing quite so much editing, i still thought that this whole deal would get somehow *easier* once i’d figured out how to make an NTSC DVD from 50i HDV footage… once i’d figured out how to round-trip that RED cam footage back into FCP… once i’d learnt how to integrate my AE work into media composer, once i’d figured out that difficulty i always had in making a 90min cut into a 30 min cut without losing any of the story….

Hint:
IT NEVER GETS EASIER. IT’S A MOVING TARGET!

When i was eager to get *any* experience i could get my hands on - then i’d always say “yes sure i’ll edit your actors reel - bring the footage over to my place this evening!”

But now i only do a freebie if i really REALLY like the person, or something gives me the impression that they are genuinely talented because i can’t bear the idea of getting tired and frustrated and guilty using up my rare days off on rubbish - to someone who will not appreciate or understand it.

It was an epiphany. Like a huge weight off my shoulders. I simply realised - i don’t have to do this. I’m allowed to turn down the jobs and freebies that are just getting me nowhere and wearing me out.

I still make the occasional baby video or new band video - but i do it for myself - not for anyone else.
I actually spend quite a bit of time looking for good up & coming directors who i can collaborate with (for free) but again this is for myself as much as them - i want to get into features and editing shorts and festival films is a great way to keep learning. I still have almost no free time, but now I have no hesitation in turning down anyone who is not completely focused and professional in their approach.

Sorry for going off on one there - hope it helps someone out there who is maybe in that position - just keeping one nostril above the surface - always feeling they can’t say no… IF you have the time do all the freebies you can - but when things start getting hectic, learn how to scale back and start protecting your sanity!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/16 at 05:42 PM

Great comment mchart.

There’s a lot to be learned from reading that!

Posted by Scott Simmons on 09/18 at 10:51 AM

For every hour you choose to give away, is an hour that could have paid someone’s house payment. Giving free edit time is the same as lowering your edit rate. If you lower the competitve fee to $25/Hr., we will all go out of business. Take Scott’s advice. Raise your rate! If they accept, take the money, get a grip, and do a good job.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/19 at 08:23 AM

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You can refuse to do a freebie edit and not be a dick