Is it my age ? or what i want no bullshit answers .

[John Holland]

Hello everyone i finished my last job yesterday have nothing in the pipeline [ which is quite strange ] i really need to know the state of the "Industry" from other members . I am in UK but rest of Europe and the States ? Signed worried , John Holland. ps. please be honest .

[Alex de Campi]

Hello everyone i finished my last job yesterday have nothing in the pipeline [ which is quite strange ] i really need to know the state of the "Industry" from other members . I am in UK but rest of Europe and the States ? Signed worried , John Holland. ps. please be honest .

 

I shoot half in London and half in US. I can only speak for the sub-$20k budget music video space, which gets scarier by the minute. We've seen Colonel Blimp hitting £4k budget productions for their new directors, which pisses me off, as I really don't need that sort of competition. (Also, if I finally got repped by a big MV prod house and the first thing they handed me was a £4k video - which I can get on my damn own, thankyouverymuch - I think I'd cry.) Budgets on MVs seem to be imploding and so on the one hand good teams that normally do £75k stuff are hitting £20-30k work - and on the other hand bands/labels are exploiting the endless supply of eager kids with HDV cameras to make something for free that will be good enough to pass on Youtube.

 

As a director I'd use a grey-haired DP in a second on the principle that you know shitloads more than me and will make my music video look really, really pretty. But I'd fear you'd laugh at me when I told you what the budget was.*

 

*actually, personally, I'd ask you anyway, but others might fear insulting you or automatically assume a very experienced DP is out of their range. Most experienced DPs I know are really nice and will occasionally do a cheapie shoot for a laugh if there's nothing paid on and they know the shoot will be well organised.

 

From what I've heard anecdotally about the commercials space in the UK, people are very much cutting back and not interested in working with anyone young/new - just reliable, proven commercials directors & DPs. Which hoses me completely, but may be good for you.

[Freya Black]

Hello everyone i finished my last job yesterday have nothing in the pipeline [ which is quite strange ] i really need to know the state of the "Industry" from other members . I am in UK but rest of Europe and the States ? Signed worried , John Holland. ps. please be honest .

 

I'm sure it's not your age, in fact I'm sure that people in the u.k. would probably be more likely to hire someone older in the u.k. who may actually have experience from back when the u.k. had a proper film industry! People respect the wise elder, so the only problem might be that they might assume they couldn't afford to employ someone as talented as you!

 

So please don't put yourself down. I'm totally sure it's not to do with you as there was some postings about how work was drying up in the u.k. some months back. In fact it's probably because you are so experienced and talented that you havn't run into the downturn back when other people were talking about it.

 

I'm not sure what might be causing this drying up of work but I suspect it's fear of a downturn... ;)

 

love

 

Freya

[Guest]

I don't work in the day-to-day production biz as I'm more of a producer. However the Toronto scene is really pretty dead. If I get one more phone call from some one crying about how they have no money I don't know what I'm going to do? Cut off my phone and move to the Bahamas!

 

2008 has been a very slow year for my stock footage division, as very little production is going on.

 

I never thought I would say this but.....I'm glad I made an indie movie so I have some thing else to SELL and make money off :blink:

 

R,

[John Holland]

Thanks Freya you are a sweety , i am just really trying to judge other peoples feeling about ,i will call what it :unsure: is a major downturn .

[Serge Teulon]

I had a meeting today with a client that is always super busy and he's just suddenly ground to a halt......he ate his food like he does when we are shooting. Super quick. And then suddenly remembered that he had loads of time.....

He seemed very concerned and so am I.

 

Most commercial companies are being priced out by virals.

TV programs are heavily reliant on sponsors.

Promos are now being shot by students for a small portion of fish&chips

Corporates are disappearing as blue chips are tightening their rather large purses.

In January out of around about 200 proposals only 20 films were commissioned....in comparison to last year it is absolutely frightening!

 

Lets just hope that Obama getting in (and not having a kennedy done on him) might just mean that we miss out on the recession and it all goes back to normal.

[Andrew McCarrick]

Lets just hope that Obama getting in (and not having a kennedy done on him) might just mean that we miss out on the recession and it all goes back to normal.

 

Ahh, but with Obama in office none of us would be around long enough for it to matter. Then again that's why if he gets elected I'm moving to Canada.

[John Sprung]

Corporates are disappearing as blue chips are tightening their rather large purses. ...

Lets just hope that Obama getting in ....

A tax increase will be paid for by more of that tightening. Be careful what you wish for.

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Brian Drysdale]

I think most people have had periods waiting for the phone to ring. During the last downturn I was mostly working for broadcasters or independent productions commissioned by broadcasters, now the whole industry is much less stable with cost cutting and lower budgets. Even the BBC's human resources department has been outsourced to Mumbai.

[Serge Teulon]

Really?

 

Cause the general consensus here in the UK is that Obama getting in will have a positive effect on the position of the US throughout the world, which in turn (we hope) it then reflects on your economy (which of course we, your poodle, rely on).

[Guest]

Ahh, but with Obama in office none of us would be around long enough for it to matter. Then again that's why if he gets elected I'm moving to Canada.

 

Sorry...Canada is full up from people who came when Bush got re-elected. :D

 

R,

 

PS: Why do Americans always use Canada as their "escape to" country? Your country borders Mexico as well you know, much nicer winter weather there as well.

[Andrew McCarrick]

Sorry...Canada is full up from people who came when Bush got re-elected. :D

 

R,

 

PS: Why do Americans always use Canada as their "escape to" country? Your country borders Mexico as well you know, much nicer winter weather there as well.

 

Hell, I just want to get out of the way from nuclear bomb that Iran or North Korea's going to drop on us, if he gets elected... I don't care who's living in Canada at that point.

 

And I don't speak spanish nor do I want to deal with the economy of Mexico.

Edited July 15, 2008 by Andrew McCarrick

[John Holland]

But Serge we [uK] are supposed to be a part of the EU , I take it you must be or have a French background ? .If this country hadnt followed the US like a puppy dog we wouldnt be in the state we are in and its only going to get worse . Yes please lets have Mr Obama .

[John Sprung]

Really?

They're both ignorant of economics. In fact, they're the two least qualified candidates that I can remember. Hard to say which one would make the biggest mistakes. Probably pretty much a wash. If ever there was a time for a third party, this is it.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[John Holland]

You must have a short memory ! what about the current one ?

[Leo Anthony Vale]

PS: Why do Americans always use Canada as their "escape to" country? Your country borders Mexico as well you know, much nicer winter weather there as well.

 

Duh? They speak Spanish. Over the week end Obama was being dumped on by the right wing TV commentators for suggesting that American school children should learn Spanish & not because Chinese would be more useful for walmart buyers.

 

But even winter in Mexico is still too hot. All the deadly solar radiation. if only Alaska didn't have all those mosquitos in the summer.

[Dan Goulder]

PS: Why do Americans always use Canada as their "escape to" country?

Tierra del Fuego is too long a drive.

[Robert Tagliaferri]

I don't work in the day-to-day production biz as I'm more of a producer. However the Toronto scene is really pretty dead. If I get one more phone call from some one crying about how they have no money I don't know what I'm going to do? Cut off my phone and move to the Bahamas!

 

2008 has been a very slow year for my stock footage division, as very little production is going on.

 

I never thought I would say this but.....I'm glad I made an indie movie so I have some thing else to SELL and make money off :blink:

 

R,

 

 

What do you think about filmport?

[Michael Lehnert]

To be quite honest, I think that the impression of the scale of the economic downturn that is hitting even the most risk-repellent industries harshly, will not be as apocalyptic as some news media outlets want to make us believe: there will not be mass unemployment, global warming, worldwide flooding, a neo-Victorian Afghanistan debacle and stagflation for the remainder of what is left of Earth forever all wrapped in one. And no: Gordon Brown won't become PM with a mere jolly hand-over (oh, gosh, sorry, that actually did happen ;) ). I stopped watching tv news and reading newspapers because the incorrectness of what gets out from there is just aggravating me!

 

However, dealing with a great variety of industries on a daily basis, including those burnt-out alcoholic drug-addicts commonly referred to as "City bankers", I think that the gravity of the upcoming recession that is only now starting in Q2/3'08 will be more ravaging than believed, and surely will remain to be felt for the next 18 months. Those City folks are truly scared poop, with my contacts being turned-over with frightening rapidity; and I hence try to forget what I learned about political economy at LSE not to get swept away in that depressing mood, too. Life's too short to worry. But the housing market in the UK is now (with decreases well below the required 30% by this year's end to avoid the burst of the housing bubble) doomed, and if consumer debt is secured by (re)-morgagings, then people will loose their material existences across the country.

 

The resulting cautioness of many people at home and at work hits the domino chain, and the production schedules are draining from my viewpoint, too, John. I think skilled people with a quality personal network into the right places and an impressive background (both names & jobs) will continue to be working with some no-work interuptions (so I see no reason for you to worry, John). But for all other people, esp. in "general filmmaking" rather then specific film jobs, and those starting out now as greenhorns or worse: prosumer gear fans thinking their HVX-12938129 EG makes them the new Alcott, prospects are bad amist an already cutthroat end of the industry, even in the UK.

 

At worse, you can always apply to become a Papparazzi, John! You don't need any qualifications to become one (as a matter of fact, most can't even properly work their cameras) and if you know where the button that makes the thing "click" is located, you are hired straight away. Pays good, too. If you know some actors/actresses: even better, as you can pre-arrange "shootings" in the streets of Hampstead or Belsize Park. But I doubt you will have to resort to that.

 

(So conclusion: even though we will all be pennyless soon, we will still buy celebrity magazines.)

 

With hopes of cheering you up amid doubtlessly cloudy times,

 

-Michael

[Guest]

What do you think about filmport?

 

I hope it succeeds, but it will be heavily reliant on US/Hollywood films. I don't see Toronto returning to the boom years of the early 90s when tons of Hollywood features where shot in Canada. Hollywood came primarily for the low Canadian dollar which is a thing of the past right now. Also many US states have copied Canada's tax credit system, so now many US features are actually shot in the US, go figure.

 

The Canadian film industry is non existent so no native Canadian filmmakers will be using filmport. I know I can't afford to shoot there.

 

Not even Alliance Atlantis is making feature films any more, they could not make any money off features so they packed it in.

 

So who will use Filmport? I have no idea?

 

R,

[John Sprung]

You must have a short memory ! what about the current one ?

Gore certainly had more experience that both the current candidates, and W in 2000 had more than Obama does now. The really weird thing about W is that he pays no attention at all to his public image. His opponents demonize him, and he just sits back and says "okeydoke". He wins a second term 54-46, and then just stops giving a s--t.

 

The next one will start with a better image, but the substantive reality might not change much. It's a shame they can't both lose.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Paul Bruening]

The personal stories that are leaking out are way different from the stuff we're getting on our TVs. It's gotten ugly over here the last 3-8 months. (I've got a banking buddy that has taken to drinking heavily who has been regaling me with stories of woe and heartbreak). He told me about a friend of his that went from 100 million in stock assets to about 1 million in about 8 months. He says he's lost 80% of his own assets. His friends in the legal and accounting biz have lost as much as 95% of their assets. One of them is 70 and can't retire. He's lucky if he pulls in enough to keep food on the table. It's gone. It's just gone.

 

Many of them are holding onto some of the stocks and hoping like all hell that the value will go back up. If it doesn't, they're ruined. I mean like The Great Depression/jump out of windows ruined. As long as the trickle down isn't too pronounced, you're currently better off being a working Joe with a job and maintaining a low debt structure.

 

Last Friday the second biggest bank failure in US history occurred at Indie Mac over in sunny Cal-i-for-ni-a. They had a bonafide bank run. Yea, a bank run. If you had told me two years ago that this was going to happen, I would have laughed in your face.

[Jim Keller]

Last Friday the second biggest bank failure in US history occurred at Indie Mac over in sunny Cal-i-for-ni-a. They had a bonafide bank run. Yea, a bank run. If you had told me two years ago that this was going to happen, I would have laughed in your face.

 

I drive past their headquarters on my daily commute, and it's alarming to see the lines of people trying to get to their money. This morning the police had to respond to one of the branches because a fight broke out over whether the people who had been in line since 1:30 AM or the people who were there yesterday and told to come back should get in first.

 

So, yeah, I'm also in the "the economy's just that bad" camp myself at the moment.

[John Sprung]

Yea, a bank run.

You really only need to go run to the bank if you have more than $100K in it. FDIC covers everything up to that. Probably most of the people who went running didn't know that.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[David Mullen ASC]

It always seems busy for me when it's slow for others, I don't know why. Maybe because I work cheap...

 

I haven't stopped working since mid-February and now my agent is asking me to consider going right into a three-month job without a break once I wrap "Stay Cool" at the end of August. But I guess others would like to be in my shoes...

 

It's really just timing, sometimes it works in your favor and sometimes it doesn't. My worst years financially in my adult life were in 2000-2002, around the time I waited for "Northfork" to go into production.