Red Package in LA/NY/DC $400/day WITH AC/DIT

[Nick Gallegos]

I totally agree with a lot of what's being said here. The trouble is that in the smaller markets (in my case, Phoenix), there's legions of producers, directors and filmmakers in general that are so accustomed to making films on substandard budgets that they consistently undervalue their entire crews - and get away with it. And it surely reflects on their final products as well.

In AZ, if I asked for $400/day to DIT a RED shoot, I'd be laughed at and never get work. I've found that the MOST producers are willing to pay DITs here is around $200/day because they can't justify paying you more than they're paying their DP (not kidding!). Let's just say that despite the fact that it never hurts to have work, I've turned down several jobs because of this.

What it really comes down to is ignorance. Too many fail to acknowledge that even at fair market rates, we're not getting rich - far from it, in fact. We all have to maintain our gear, pay bills, pay taxes and put food in our mouths. The lowballers that exist in practically every market hurt the industry as a whole. I think that if more of their time and resources were spent building a fair and sustainable business through properly educating their clients, this wouldn't be as much of a problem. But the second a vendor undervalues their services, they become the guys that do things cheaper and often never recover from it. In fact, most of them eventually go under.

 

[David (dudi) Namir]

... a bad experience that reflects on the reputation of the camera in a way that hurts all of us.

That maybe the "price" Red Digital Cinema and owners of Red Cameras will have "to pay" for selling over 8000 bodies for $17.5K each.
Everything has its price.

 

[Xavier Henselmann]

All I can say is if you need a reference here is one: An IA 728 SLT(set lighting tech) on TV shows make around $500 a day for 12 hrs and if you think I would go out for less with my RED you have to be kidding me. Whoever this person is has no idea what the business is about and has alot to learn. You are a camera operator as well as a owner and with those two classifications I would hope you would work for more than what SLT's make and believe you me that is not on the high end of the market. If you need a guideline go look up the IA scale for camera operators and figure out your rates from there.

 

[Art Chong]

Does it bother anyone else that mike himself hasn't replied to any of the comments in this thread?

 

[Chris Ratledge]

...The trouble is that in the smaller markets (in my case, Phoenix), there's legions of producers, directors and filmmakers in general that are so accustomed to making films on substandard budgets that they consistently undervalue their entire crews - and get away with it.

In AZ, if I asked for $400/day to DIT a RED shoot, I'd be laughed at and never get work. I've found that the MOST producers are willing to pay DITs here is around $200/day because they can't justify paying you more than they're paying their DP (not kidding!).

What it really comes down to is ignorance. The lowballers that exist in practically every market hurt the industry as a whole. I think that if more of their time and resources were spent building a fair and sustainable business through properly educating their clients, this wouldn't be as much of a problem. But the second a vendor undervalues their services, they become the guys that do things cheaper and often never recover from it. In fact, most of them eventually go under.

I agree but $$ talks and BS walks. At some point there's obviously a line they're knowingly crossing and they know they're getting a lot for very little, and that they're taking risks as producers doing so. But when it all goes down with little headache a few times, it becomes the new MO.

I just got offered $100 a week to DIT a 4-week feature. That's right. A WEEK. Needless to say I turned it down, but somebody out there is doing the job.

I can totally relate to the smaller market theory and experiences you're mentioning, and while I don't think it's that bad here, (I honestly don't know what DP's make around here) AC's make anywhere between prob. $300-$600, so this guy is REALLY going low. He could charge double what he's doing and probably get more numerous serious inquires, and less of the $100/week crowd.

What really kills me is when the rental facilities will send out their FT employees as ACs or DITs, which kills the livelihood of the true freelancers in that market. I'm wondering if this guy is moonlighting with non-working gear from a rental house or other source, and that's why he's offering to work so cheap? Hotwire.com for filmmaking?

 

[Thomas Di Nardo]

If someone wants to whore themselves and their gear out for $400 per day, I say go ahead. Someone doing this has no clue what their cost of doing business is, so they'll be out of business soon enough. Nothing to see here, move along....

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

i love when people low ball rates.. when shit hits the fan and the producer moves onto me next time.. he will understand why I charge what i charge...

 

[Luis Cabrera]

In this economy I understand that getting $400/day for a basic Red package might be a financial reality for some people. That said, an AC or DIT who has even an inkling what they are doing should be getting at least $200/day which would be $600/day combined. Anything less and not only are you going down the tubes but you are going to take some of the rest of us with you. Moreover, producers looking for a "deal" will hire the low ballers and all too often have a bad experience that reflects on the reputation of the camera in a way that hurts all of us.

Threads like this are a real pain for those of us who treat this work as a profession and consider paying our bills important. Sorry to flame you, and I am not endorsing price fixing, but I would hate for the most active off topic thread on RedUser to be about the pros and cons of declaring bankruptcy.

Cheers - #19

Very good point...!