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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

how were you able to finally afford your red epic?

M

Matthew Glover

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Question says it all! How did you come up with the cash to afford the Red epic? Sell your sister, your car etc. I really want one and some tips would be appreciated..
 
Probably 1/2 as many ways people came up with how to pay for theirs as there are owners..


My Red One... Housing market was horrid, so took part of down payment/savings and bought mine... Shot, learned, rented, practiced and loved the camera.
 
I worked in computer games for a long time (currently Associate Art Director/Lead VFX on Mad Max). We hired my wife as a matte painter working as a consultant and this made an enormous difference. And after a year we could afford the camera and all equipment for it. To speed things up we took a bank loan so we didn't have to wait a year. If you are a team working, bringing in company money it can go very quickly to bring in money.
Hope that helps.
/Andreas
 
A friend came to me and asked if I could invest in his startup. I crafted a 5-year plan where I would buy a ton of equipment and foot all of the bills. We would split revenue 50/50 for the first two years. After year 3, we would go to 40/60 (his favor). Year 4, I down step to 30/70 (his favor) and then year 5 I would end up with 20% and he'd earn 80% of all revenue. Finally, upon the close of the 5th year, he would own the company free and clear. I even put him on a monthly guarantee so that he'd have his personal bills covered.

About the nicest terms I could imagine and a major cut above anything I've ever been offered in my life. I really thought we were buying into a long-term relationship, helping a friend out, and felt great about giving someone such a big helping hand. I even hoped it would serve as a model for future friend-investing.

Needless to say, within months I discovered the guy was lying and stealing from us. Big bummer.

Ended up with a mass of brand-new gear he had hand-picked and space I didn't know what to do with. Sold most of the gear having realized it wasn't the stuff I would use, then sat on that check for a bit and did some personal searching about what I wanted for my own business. I sketched out a few technical problems I hoped to eventually overcome and was shocked when I realized not only was there a solution to the problems I had been encountering, I could already buy the solution. RED was the key.

Never imagined I'd be in this part of the business, rolling with you guys here. But one year later, here I am. Couldn't be happier. Thanks RED and RU'ers.
 
worked worked worked, saved, bought a Scarlet, one year later it died after many issues, managed to have enough work with it though to step to the epic, moved all accessories over and a small bridge loan, bam Epic was born, couldn't be happier and the projects just keep getting bigger and better.
 
I owe it all to the Black Magic Cinema Camera.

I saved up for it then waited and waited and waited.

Never happened then the BT Scarlet was posted.

As part of my bucket list and as a birthday gift (the next ten years), I plunged into the debt I am enjoying ;)

Next is the EPIC trade-in maybe by fall.
 
commissioned projects with a budget for new gear. Also was one of the first scarlet owners, put a deposit on the epic too before the first price increase thinking it would take a year to get. 6 weeks later it was ready. Was able to sell the scarlet for the new increased price because of the demand at the time. That help a lot to bring the overall body price down.
 
Just kept gaffing and DPing, and saved enough to pay in cash.
 
I collected bottles then moved up to the street lottery, shot craps and did a little male dancing on the side so I could get enough gas money to hit a ATM...Now I have the camera.. guess what I'm going to do for a lens?
 
I borrowed money from family and bought myself a Red One at $4k. Didn't get to shoot any projects since it was quite a load of camera. I continued with my 5d3 for major projects until I found one suitable for the r1. Months later I decided to sell off the r1 as it wasn't getting used and saw a scarlet package for sale. Sold the r1 and jumped to the scarlet for its mobility. Now I shoot half my projects on the scarlet and my investments are slowly coming back. Now if only I can accumulate enough for the dragon upgrade.
 
took reducation, got working a lot, took some other cine camera courses, worked even more, got a scarlet...now am trading up...baby steps
 
Tony Harris said:
I collected bottles then moved up to the street lottery, shot craps and did a little male dancing on the side so I could get enough gas money to hit a ATM...Now I have the camera.. guess what I'm going to do for a lens?
Click to expand...


LOL!
 
Haha Matthew what a superb question!!! prob the best thread ive seen lol My story was getting the RED ONE on ebay in 2008, when i won, surprised to win, i had to quickly sell my car, and my Panasonic HVX200.. then as soon as I had the RED ONE the red Epic was announced... so i saved for that upgrade... 2 years later i preordered the EPic X stage 3... right on the deadline... then i needed to take a loan to pay the second deposit.. when i finally picked up the Red Epic.. the Dragon was announced.. it seems i will always be a step behind.. but i love the camera.. despite always running at the back row of this marathon.
 
In a nut-shell: Stay focused -- every Dollar spend on something that doesn't support your target is a delay.
 
Had lots of work on the go and Purchased a Scarlet and Pix240. Quickly paid for itself not having to rent and offering Prores or DNX to the clients that didn't want to deal with the Red workflow. I upgraded to Epic X and will now be in a position to upgrade to Dragon by Christmas. At which point I hope to be in production for a Doc show I co-created.
 
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