I never again want to see the offer of "experience" or "credit" or "defered payment" in regards to soliciting an editor, especially one with his/her own gear.

exactly WHY would an editor with his/her own gear NEED experience?

Before you make such a request, get your own gear at the cost of several thousand dollars and do it your self.

-- elvis eleven (Elviseleven@aol.com), November 22, 1999

Answers

Elvis,

As cold and harsh as your posting sounds, I have to agree with you. I am a gaffer with thousands of dollars worth of Arri, Mole and Lowell lights, and thousands of dollars worth of grip gear. Although I do the occasional gig for free, if the project sounds interesting, I don't need to do it "for the experience". But I have noticed on many boards the majority of solicitations say just that, work in exchange for "food", "credit", or an "excellent experience". It seems like everyone's jumped on the bandwagon to get free help for their film or video. While the vast majority of the films will never (let's be honest) make any profit, if it does the crew that worked for "food", "credit", or an "excellent experience" won't see a penny of it. One of the films I'm working on now is a freebee, and the only reason it is a freebee is because one of the producers quit her job to devote her full attention to this project. To me that's dedication. I can also see that she and the other producer are struggling to keep up with the financing of this film. So I'm convinced they're not just trying to sponge free help. In my opinion this is the kind of project that warrents soliciting for help in exchange for "food", "credit", or an "excellent experience".

A modification of your last statement would be "Before you make such a request, think about what you're asking someone, with experience and gear, to do for you."

Alan

-- Alan Chun (alan@vmaimaging.com), December 03, 1999.