Lisa, et al,

One thing to remember is that a demo reel is supposed to show what you CAN do, not necessarily what you have done. (its' great if it can be both, but not necessary)
If you have no paying work, create something of your own for your reel. A short, a commercial for a ficticous company, product etc.

I hear ya
 

Yeah, Bill, that's actually what i'm currently working on. I'm working on a few different edits to show different things (music video and a vacation video edit to name two). I think once those are complete I'll have a much easier time getting any freelance gig. However, I still think that any editor that is skilled enough to have a nice demo reel should be getting more then $10/hr.

I'm working on that myself for VO now, I don't have much in the way of commercials or radio imaging work, mostly corporate/industrial/educational, but would like to get some, so I jotted down some ideas on the drive back from florida last week. (17 hours in the car means a lot of radio!)

you're correct. a skilled editor is worth a heck of a lot more.

10 bucks an hour shouldn't even be spoken of out load...lol. Really if you look at it in a national economic view point we're all in this together. Guys who take 10 dollar an hour jobs plain and simple shouldn't be in this business. I don't mean to sound like a snob really, but there has to be a consideration for our market. It effects us all. I've recently been noticing companies like expertvillage.com, and some other companies focused on real estate offering an extremely low amount for quite a bit of work. You find the subject to shoot, probably go shoot a half day, edit, author, and mail, all for how much 100 to 300 dollars?????? That is crazy!! The fact that people are biting this kind of stuff has a suttle threat to our industry. If a person is wanting to venture into the video production realm that's great, but start by getting hired by a company that charges what it's worth and pays you the hourly rate they decide, or start your own gig and be considerate to the current rates in your market.

Your right, problem is technology and affordability.
Gear is so cheap, performance computers, software....it's all so cheap! cheap! cheap!

I disagree a bit. I don't think it's that black or white. $10 from a large company in a large market looking for a large amount of work is obviously an extreme low-ball. But $10 at the local TV station in an Indiana cornfield is not.

Unless you've made your living overcharging clients for basic work because you were the only game in town then I don't think the flood of cheap equipment and sudden rise of competition at the low end is a threat. Top flight editors still get paid top flight money. There is just a new, lower end market that didn't exist 10 years ago. I mean, McDonald's pays people $6/hr to make food, but I don't think that undercuts chefs trying to get gigs at Ruth's Chris Steak House.

It used to be hard to get in the door and the tools were prohibitively expensive. It's still hard to get in the door but now the tools are so inexpensive that "everybody" has them. That hasn't killed the publishing, music, or photography industries and I don't think it will kill post either.

Yeah, if you open up your own business and purposely undercut everyone by 10% that's a bit shady. But, you'll probably end up w/all the low-balling, PITA clients (aka grinders) that the other guys would rather not have anyway. Karma's a bitch. ;)


-A

I don't market myself as an editor in the least, but wouldn't it make sense to charge for each finished minute, as opposed to per hour? For example... $7 (or whatever) for each minute of the final cut.

Or would this get you into too much trouble when the footage doesn't want to go together well?

No, 'cause what if you were doing a 1 minute commercial, or something, but it took you 30 hours of working with After Effects to complete it?

Ok! Thought as much.

Cheap Technology? Maybe, But The Price of One's "Tools" is Relative
 

I can't get over peoples' willingness in my locale to pay $18/hr for a house painter, whose tools consist of an assortment of brushes, a couple of ladders, buckets and drop cloths, but look at me like I'm crazy for wanting to charge $20-30/hr. The technology may be cheap relative to what it was a few years back, but I'm not convinced it's all that cheap compared to the tools other craftspeople, technicians, service providers use.

Hourly rate or flat fee?