The pitfalls...

[Peter Moretti]

I am feeling quite insecure tonight. I started Oakley with $300. Then RED. And no one wants to hear how both happened. What's up with that?

Oh, well... back to work.

Jim

If you want to speak at Michael Milken's "Milken Institute" in Santa Monica, I'm sure I could arrange that. Want to do it?

BTW, they just had Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos who sold sold LinkExchane to Microsoft for $250 million and Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion.

And of course you get to see Michael Milken and a nice group of people in the audience from philanthropists to pretty girls to retired Gordon Gekko's to a regular folks.

Know you're burning the candle from both ends and in the middle, but if you're interested...

 

[George Butterfield]

I have assumed that "everything can and will change" would cover it.

It covers it for me. Please keep us posted on the daily developments. As they say in the Air Force, "If you don't have a sense of humour, you shouldn't have joined". RDC might as well remain unique. As they say on Party Poker ... "All in".

 

[Maik Müller]

I definitely think the RED story deserves to be told ... I'd love to read the book or see the movie!

Yes, without doubt this story deserves it. Actually i think it needs to be told, just to clarify what RED is doing and whats making them so different to a wider audience.

I always hoped they had some cameras rolling all over the years, capturing all the highs and lows. If not, start doing it now, it's not to late for a nice documentary.

 

[Michael Fawke]

After watching TSN again... it reminded me of the time I had one of those "give back" moments and volunteered to speak to the students at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UCLA and my old almost Alma Mater... USC. I never heard back from any of them. Since they are the premier institutions in the land, you guys shouldn't pay much attention to what I say. They didn't seem to care much... I guess they teach "real" marketing and business principles.

Jim

Our university here in the U.K would bend over backwards to have you in as a visiting lecturer. Seriously if ever your in the UK, bored and want to have some media & design students blow smoke up your A** then please drop me a line.

I cannot believe they didn't get back to you, madness.

Keep pushing.

M

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

I think you guys at Red put a lot more pressure on yourselves than most of us do. We are happy, we are patient, we will get it when it comes, just like we did with the Red One. Just do what you have to do. I trust your work and the quality of your products. I waited 2 years to get my first Red, that's over 700 days, and today, I don't regret any single one of them.

 

[Neil Larson]

RED MX is more than enough to hold us over until EPIC arrives. It's amazing.

 

[Elsie N]

... it reminded me of the time I had one of those "give back" moments and volunteered to speak to the students at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UCLA and my old almost Alma Mater... USC. I never heard back from any of them.

Jim

Our university here in the U.K would bend over backwards to have you in as a visiting lecturer. Seriously if ever your in the UK, bored and want to have some media & design students blow smoke up your A** then please drop me a line.

The way I took that statement was that the time had long since come and gone when he had that "give back" moment. I think he was using this as a teachable moment... and maybe as a little self-deprecation in an attempt to keep from crowing from the rooftops about the camera he and his band of pirates are about to unleash against the world's land, sea and air in a broadside.

 

[Dave Weber]

I am feeling quite insecure tonight. I started Oakley with $300. Then RED. And no one wants to hear how both happened. What's up with that?

Oh, well... back to work.

Jim

Jim,

I've been with you since then. Oakley grips on my BMX racer and Freestyle bikes. Oakley glasses since forever! Oakley are only sunglasses I wear. I had a pair save me from a broken nose long ago and haven't tried any other. Now RED, I dropped the ball in 06 when I should have put down my 1K at NAB but got it in before the Oct 31 deadline.

That said, your insecurities should not get the best of you. I can't understand where you sit, but you have had more success than most. I'm sure there are others that feel the same as I do. You are doing a great job and leading a great team.

PS If I give you $300 will you help me start a company? :biggrin:

 

[Eric Rainey]

Jim, why don' t you make a movie about it?

 

[Frank Jonen]

Some people will always have a problem with evolution. Just imagine the shit scientists have to put up with certain people of a certain following.

If you walk slowly you're less likely to fall on your ass.
But if you run, with the right people, they'll help you back up.

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Jim, why don' t you make a movie about it?

"The Camera Network"

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Yeah, well generally you find people in teaching institutions tend to be there cause they couldn't make a decent living in the real world!

Most of the world's greatest thinkers, authors, scientists and people responsible for the real significant changes in the world as we know it worked in teaching institutions.

Not all revolutions come in the form of a product or have a profit motive. Practically every product on the market comes from research that wasn't conducted in the "real world". I wouldn't describe the writings of Descartes less significant to the real world than the latest iPhone OS.

If trading mortgage backed derivatives is the "real world" then I'd happily prefer to align with the fanciful world of academia.

That being said. Yes college administration tends to be a black hole of politics and discord.

 

[Barry Bishop]

I started Oakley with $300 after I paid the $151 house payment and the doctor and hospital to deliver our 1st baby. That was May 1975. We lived hand to mouth for several years. It was great.

Jim

Jim you need a Discovery channel biography.
Please give the engineers our appreciation, as i'm sure they have been put under alot of pressure.

 

[Tony Augustinack]

We understand Jim, this is extremely hard! Don't sweat it! We love that you talk to us and keep us in the loop, I think it is one of the biggest reasons you have as strong of a following as you do. First would be the cameras. hehe

 

[Billy Gedney]

If I may refute your argument Jim, I think your competitor's customers are likely just as argumentative/bitch/picky as RED's potential customers, but you've changed the game by telling the customer their ideas are important and given them a forum to bitch (and with your price point, you've attracted more customers, and thus, more bitcher). I think most have adapted well, but this is a huge change in market dynamics and some people need to learn to adapt. Some need to learn to shut the hell up, (and seriously, if you can make a product for that...) but that's beyond the scope of this post.

For me, I sent in a long email one time about how I though you need a different i/o module that supported uber high quality audio, I said give me nice PreAmps, give me word clock, give me this, give me that, but at minimum, give me AES/EBU.

Then the Pro I/O module came out. Hell, I dont know, nor want to know, if that was because of my email or not, or if I was one of many, but either way, that is way more of a response than I'll ever get from Arri, or Shure, or any other equipment manufacturer (Film industry or a fast food joint).

I'm a RED customer for life, and a lot of credit is due to my likely disillusion that I helped in the design process.

I know you're feeling the pressure from the pending Alexias in the marketplace- but Its important for you to know your first camera was still better than the Alexia (those who disagree, just agree for argument's sake) [IMHO]. You've displayed the entire process in front of anyone who was willing to read, and they still couldn't create a product as good or affordable as your blind, swinging in the dark at the fences attempt.

I understand that you now have a bottom line to protect, but understand you're in a position where you can not only revolutionize the cinema camera market, but you can also revolutionize the way cameras are designed. Your open process creates more loyalty than anything Arri can or will do.

Product aside, you've created a company that is on the leading edge of business standards.

I honestly applaud you.

I respect you for making an apology to those who have been forewarned that stuff is going to change.

I think it's safe to say, that those who feel you're jerking them around on the time frame, jaded because you said something that was misinterpreted, or some other misgiving are in the minority.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Gavin... I never know what to make of your posts. I like this one.

Jim

Just make of them what they say.

If I didn't care I wouldn't waste my time.

- Gavin

 

[Yang Liu]

Jim,What you are doing is making an "Epic". I can't forget how happy I see you at Red Studio. Each time I explained what's 'Epic' mean in Chinese to my clients and told them how many Epics we will have, I feel proud.

 

[Franck De Togni]

Jim,

I really want to thank you for keeping us informed and still talking to us like this. It is really important for the people to know they're not only potential customers, but human beeings considered as a part of the "Great plan".
That's also why Red is, IMO, one of the most important companies of the 21st century.
You've changed the world of filmmaking, and you're gonna do it again !
The only contribution I can make is shoot wonderful images when Scarlet's out.
So Thanks again.

 

[Randy Lee]

Jim,

Not that you need to hear it from the little people like myself, but keep it up. You'll hear a lot more of the negative by being open, but you'll have that anyway. This way you've got 100 people ecstatic about your work for every one that hasn't read about your process and wants you to do something that you said years ago was subject to change. From the biggest in town, down to the little guys like myself, we love what you're doing, and we love how you're doing it. Keep it up, and let your work show who's right in the end. I can't wait to get my hands on the next generation of Red cameras.

 

[Scott Miller]

I started Oakley with $300 after I paid the $151 house payment and the doctor and hospital to deliver our 1st baby. That was May 1975. We lived hand to mouth for several years. It was great.

Jim

Hey! I am just like Jim!!!! Well, except for the house payment, I rent