Latest Craig's List Chuckle....
 

Just to keep up on the market value of our work - heres the latest CL ad that had me laughing…

Small Company needs Video Production Intern and Video Spokesmodel
Freelancers Needed: Proactive duo capable of working independently to produce and deliver a high quality video clip for our employment website.

Production intern
*Shoot, edit, and upload video/web clip to our employment website.
*Should have access to studio, production equipment, tools and resources
Video Spokesmodel
* To work collaboratively with above producer to appear in web clip
* Must have strong verbal, public presentation and communication s
• Location: Phoenix
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
Compensation: $150 each

It appears now that unless you have a wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/friend/neighbor who’s SPOKESMODEL CAPABLE – don’t bother applying for THIS “internship” you’re simply NOT QUALIFIED.

(Grin)

But you forget that if you can do both they'd prolly pay you like $250! You know they put a remote in the camera box fer sumthin'!

I dunno', guys. That's far from the bottom for what I've seen on Craigslist.

Offering $150 merely suggests that the client is inexperienced and clueless. Or perhaps they're smarter than we think, and believe this is the way to get a video student and girlfriend/boyfriend, for a project that can look chintzy.

Most of what really bothers me on CL are the "work for free" listings that are obviously posted by a for-profit enterprise. The ones that suggest that an intern or entry-level guy or gal ought to be overjoyed to work for not even minimum wage.

I warn people away from these. A real intern or entry-level opportunity is one where you get to work with someone who has the skills you're learning, not free projects for end-clients. I don't see as many of those listings as there used to be. Maybe the State is getting after them for not paying minimum wage - Oregon says you can't volunteer for a for-profit, minimum wage must be paid.

Um, I could really rant quite a bit about internships, the good, the bad, and the horrible...

There's a CL this week in Miami, someone wanting a fully-equipped videographer ---"camera, editing equipment, maybe a mike (not sure it's needed)"....to produce a regular 5 minute cooking show in her home.

"I can only pay you in food and experience...."

Sure, somebody with a 50K+ investment in his/her profession --- who actually owns a mike, too! --- is going to work for food....

I'd laugh and say people are just greedy, but I fear this kind of thing indicates that professional work is seriously devalued by people buying it. Sure, the advertiser is just clueless, but there is an undercurrent of, " Heck, anybody with a cellphone is a videographer...." Makes me apprehensive for the future of the profession...

I really think that people are just clueless. I'm only a hobbyist, but most people I show my work to seem truly believe that the 5 minute video I just showed took 5 minutes to make from start to finish!

When you explain how long the shoot took, and how many days/weeks you edited for, they just go blank and don't understand, and if they do they just think I'm crazy to do so much work for a few minutes of video.

Yea, I just had this conversation over the last couple of days with someone wanting me to work on their project. They asked my opinion about what to budget for a feature length documentary. The look on their face when I gave them the basic breakdown totaling the low 6 figures you would have thought I had taken one of their family hostage and was demanding a ransom.

I'll give it a few days and see if they are still interested. ;)

Rest assured, it was the last time you heard from them. I had a CL guy recently, he wanted a website designed. We met, I showed him what I can do, he was excited. Then I told him I need half the money upfront, half at project completion. A couple of days later I called to see if he's ready to start. "Um... I have some other things to finish first"... it was the last time I heard his voice... two months ago...

I'm done with Craig's List!

How about this one?

CL ad:

Looking for someone who creates youtube videos with some kind of music/song, to promote new website. It will be for - so want the promo to show different instances of where someone would use this website (it is a facebook application). Please email links to youtube videos you have made, and also what you can do for this for $100.

Ahhh Craigslist!
I used to scour the ads for potential work but after responding to dozens of ads and as requested providing my rates, only one person was kind enough to give me a response which politely said I was out of their budget range though it looked like I could easily provide the services they wanted. Oh well! Guess I'll stick to my corporate clients!

I think anytime you find something on CL that even remotely sounds legit is a fishing expedition for info on rates, equipment, competition. Despite its shortcomings I do still have a few return clients that I got through CL. I can't dismiss it entirely, but there sure is a ton of garbage to sift through and it has only gotten worse.

You have to be selective with CraigsList. Looking for work, I've gotten a few good gigs that way, but probably less than one in a thousand posts is actually worth responding too.

Still, one of them has led to quite a bit of repeat work, still continuing..., so it's been worth the time.

But advertising services on CraigsList is a complete waste of time. I don't bother anymore. Just search the gigs and jobs.

I've gotten a couple of good clients from Craigslist, one that's lead to repeat work, which is great. But as mentioned, most stuff is useless. If you only reply to ads that look like real jobs, it's worth a look.

The one time I posted looking for shooters, I got tons of good leads, so reputable people are certainly checking it out. Of course, I didn't post offering work for food...

I think most of the low pay/no pay stuff on Craig's List is from small outfits without much money. They are genuinely looking for someone who is just starting out because they are just starting out. I don't see anything wrong with that. We do production and post-production professionally and I don't charge small outfits nearly what I charge fully funded entities. We keep busy that way (well, most of the time, anyway) and sometimes it leads to some wonderful projects that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

The thing I find humorous is the number of people looking for a DP for a web series that insist that the only camera that can be used is the Red. As if...

that is funny; my first collaboration, when i contacted the event organizer he SPECIFICALLY insisted on NO CMOS cameras.