Diatribe on Business Costs

[Jay Gannon]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mo...?cid=mkt_digg_tech#fbid=npOFYSddDrN&wom=false

Scary stuff, CNN reporting on the new music video tool. The iPhone.
Seriously how broke can people claim to be?

Honestly on a serious note, have people forgot the fact that it costs money to make money. I am seeing production companies who have less than 5000 dollars invested in their capital, I just don't understand it.
Yes I understand the lowering of the entry point but at a certain point it gets silly.

On the flip side I look at Oakley which was started on 300 dollars supposedly.
I am split between my understanding that a business needs capital investment particularly in this industry and the understanding that people are profit obsessed and will do anything to achieve it.

I just honestly can't find any respect for someone who has put so little investment into their business and take them seriously.

Does anyone agree with my sentiments or am I out alone.

(Disclaimer I am not talking about 5d/7d etc etc I am talking abut the general concept of business investment and recouping initial capital expenses etc)

 

[Richard Foster]

Some perspective on Business Capital:

I believe it is the commitment to quality that is important. Sometimes start-up capital is slim out of necessity.

When I first started my studio in 1975 I sold my darkroom for 3000.00 and used the money for first and last month's rent and security deposit on the studio space. All I had were 3 Nikon F's and 3 lenses. But I rented professional equipment as needed on jobs and grew gradually, adding lighting and camera equipment, both new and used to fit my needs.

When I began shooting television commercials in 1982 I continued to add gear, building custom lights, and adding an Arri 35, many lenses and support items. But I still rented, and do today, higher line gear such as Panavision, as needed.

In the end I had put hundreds of thousands in capital into my business. But I started slowly as most of us do not have megabucks when we start. But renting great gear until it makes sense to buy it is a formula that has worked very well for me.

 

[Eren Ozkural]

I fully understand where you're coming from Jay. It can also be frustrating to see such a simple, cheap approach to our business get a lot of press.

At the same time I can't begrudge any enterprising filmmakers for making do with what they've got. Wether it's an HVX200, 7D or yes, an iPhone 4.

All I'm concerned about is how to make my business thrive in this ever shifting marketplace of ours. The entry point for a lot of filmmaking tools is getting cheaper and more robust. The high end too (Red, DaVinci, Gearnex etc.) Budgets are decreasing in a lot of areas as well.

In the end with hard work, good networking and luck it's possible to find clients that pay well for good quality product and become repeat customers. Just be happy for the starving director that gets so much coverage for doing a shoot for breakfast money