wedding videographer sued on Judge David Young show

John Knight · April 17th, 2009, 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Craig

... write down the full names of all the people taking part in the ceremony in capital letters not joined up writing....Alan

Crikey?! Are you serious??? That's a lot of work for them, and for you to re-type correctly... why not get them to email you, then cut & paste directly into your titling software. Less work... less chance of mistakes?

Alan Craig · April 17th, 2009, 04:07 AM

John it's not a lot of work at all it will take them about 5 minutes to write down the names of the people involved in the ceremony. I am not asking them to name every one who attends the church to watch. But at least if you copy what they write they cannot hold you responsible for spelling mistakes and this is all done before the wedding even takes place so I only type it once

Alan

Travis Cossel · April 17th, 2009, 11:41 AM

I gotta say, Alan, I would suggest having them email you. It makes for a nice official record of what they sent you and if you format it right then it's an easy copy and paste. Retyping from someone else's handwriting is going to be more prone to error .. I've been there.

Daniel Browning · April 17th, 2009, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Davis

Andrea and Juan claim John first missed the ceremony

The videographer missed the ceremony? That sounds like enough for at least a partial refund right there.

Dave Blackhurst · April 17th, 2009, 01:23 PM

sounds like he sent a "stand in", so "technically" the ceremony wasn't "missed", just shot by someone else (there's another thread here talking of such "book and sub" operations, looks like a nightmare waiting to happen to me... book the gig, find some bozo on Craigslist to show up for peanuts to shoot it...).

This is one thing as a business grows, there's the "need" to have more shooters or backup shooters, yet in this biz it's the creative and technical aspects that count and make the videographer worth the $$... If someone is worth a darn behind the camera or edit bay, they are worth more than you can afford to pay them. Not the sort of biz that "scales" well...

I've got one contract shoot service I signed up for ages ago, and they just announced they are adding a "wedding shoot" package - I'll be taking a look at their preview webinar on Monday, mostly out of curiousity, but they claim you don't have any of the "hassles", just show and shoot... it'll be interesting to see what they are up to.

Don Bloom · April 19th, 2009, 05:45 AM

I'm not speechless nor surprised that there is more than one way to accomplish a task. I try to keep it simple, No Ceremony Program, No names. Period. It is not worth the trouble that it could lead to with mispelled names etc. No Program, no credits. End of story.
BUT that's just me.

Alan Craig · April 19th, 2009, 05:50 AM

Yes Don now that's a foolproof way of doing it nice one.
Alan.

Blake Cavett · April 19th, 2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Waite

Snap! There is nothing you CAN do sometimes when you are dealing with a bride who is determined to get her money back for whatever reason.

A few things we do to prevent these sort of things:
1. We have a iron clad contract that was drawn up by a lawyer... it protects us from this and many other things.
2. We make it a habit to under promise and over deliver. (when it comes to dates we always are WAY conservative, that way they are thrilled when it's done earlier)
3. We don't go into too much detail in our consultations... we don't over sell ourselves, they either want us or they don't. This is where a lot of video guys get into trouble... promising the moon to try and make the sale.
4. Our contract states that "...after taking possession of final product, Client must inform HDM of any problems with the product within 48 hours. After 48 hours, if no notification has been recieved, the Client will be deemed satisfied with the product." (we have yet to have a client who was NOT satisfied... knock on wood)
5. We are honest and make through on all our promises, but most of all... are careful to not make promises.

#4 sounds like a REALLY good idea. I'm going to implement that today...

Steve Montoto · April 19th, 2009, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Bloom

I'm not speechless nor surprised that there is more than one way to accomplish a task. I try to keep it simple, No Ceremony Program, No names. Period. It is not worth the trouble that it could lead to with mispelled names etc. No Program, no credits. End of story.
BUT that's just me.

/agree with Don.

I do not do credits or anything with names except for the title with the Bride and Groom name on the Dvd Case and on my menu thats it. I always triple check the B&G name spelling also before I do it.

April 17th, 2009, 11:41 AM	#18
Travis Cossel Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 2,933	I gotta say, Alan, I would suggest having them email you. It makes for a nice official record of what they sent you and if you format it right then it's an easy copy and paste. Retyping from someone else's handwriting is going to be more prone to error .. I've been there. __________________ Black Label Films www.blacklabelweddingfilms.com

April 19th, 2009, 05:45 AM	#21
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	I'm not speechless nor surprised that there is more than one way to accomplish a task. I try to keep it simple, No Ceremony Program, No names. Period. It is not worth the trouble that it could lead to with mispelled names etc. No Program, no credits. End of story. BUT that's just me. __________________ What do I know? I'm just a video-O-grafer. Don

April 17th, 2009, 04:07 AM	#17
Alan Craig Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Warrington England Posts: 143	John it's not a lot of work at all it will take them about 5 minutes to write down the names of the people involved in the ceremony. I am not asking them to name every one who attends the church to watch. But at least if you copy what they write they cannot hold you responsible for spelling mistakes and this is all done before the wedding even takes place so I only type it once Alan

April 17th, 2009, 01:23 PM	#20
Dave Blackhurst Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Apple Valley CA Posts: 4,874	sounds like he sent a "stand in", so "technically" the ceremony wasn't "missed", just shot by someone else (there's another thread here talking of such "book and sub" operations, looks like a nightmare waiting to happen to me... book the gig, find some bozo on Craigslist to show up for peanuts to shoot it...). This is one thing as a business grows, there's the "need" to have more shooters or backup shooters, yet in this biz it's the creative and technical aspects that count and make the videographer worth the $$... If someone is worth a darn behind the camera or edit bay, they are worth more than you can afford to pay them. Not the sort of biz that "scales" well... I've got one contract shoot service I signed up for ages ago, and they just announced they are adding a "wedding shoot" package - I'll be taking a look at their preview webinar on Monday, mostly out of curiousity, but they claim you don't have any of the "hassles", just show and shoot... it'll be interesting to see what they are up to.

April 19th, 2009, 05:50 AM	#22
Alan Craig Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Warrington England Posts: 143	Yes Don now that's a foolproof way of doing it nice one. Alan.