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-   -   Turnhere.com - Seriously?! (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/taking-care-business/469015-turnhere-com-seriously.html)

Gary Hanna February 4th, 2010 11:53 PM

I applied once but never heard back.

But once you check out demandstudios.com, THEN YOU'LL SEE SOME ABYSMAL RATES.

You get paid $20 for 1-3 minute videos with Broll and credits. They try to bait and switch you by saying it's $200+ per job (which is abysmal alone) yet look under each assigment, you see it's actuall 10 1-3 minute videos at $20 a pop, totalling $200...

ON TOP OF THAT it's up to you to find an EXPERT as a volunteer or paid out of your pocket that must be approved.

God damn.

Jason Robinson February 5th, 2010 11:32 AM

I was going to work with demand studios on their expert videos, but then i realized I'd rather get paying work elsewhere. :-)

Andrew Smith February 5th, 2010 11:40 AM

Looking at their "about us" page, I wonder how much they paid for their video. Don't think it would be their lowball rate.

Andrew

Jeff Emery February 5th, 2010 03:38 PM

WOW!!!

Demandstudios makes Turnhere look pretty good. I'd sure like to hear if anyone has had a positive experience with DS, as a video producer.

Jeff

Oliver Neubert February 5th, 2010 04:27 PM

Both these schemes are not good for anyone's professional career. If you are starting out in the industry and it's experience you are looking for, go to your local whatever, school, grocer around the corner, bodyshop, hairsalon, whatever.. make a cheap film for them. They will never afford a real production and you get experience. They are happy - you are happy.

These DS people have a interesting website which I find extremely misleading.... "job security" was the first word that jumped at me. HA! sure - but what about "security of income" isn't that what people actually mean when they talk about "job security"?
I watched the video of the poor guy with the house full of kids. "I can work from home" he says. Well - he has to - because with the rates they pay him he cannot afford an office ... And of course he can play with his kids - he has to - because his wife is out working to support the family and sustain his hobby.

Andrew Smith February 5th, 2010 08:40 PM

Actually, even journalists / writers are bellyaching about Demand Studio.

Scroll down and check out the first comment on this item:

Andrew

Brian Boyko February 11th, 2010 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethan Cooper (Post 1457878)
So you're doing 5 hours of work for $100?

In this economy, if you've got nothing else going for you, $20/hr is not that bad a wage. That's more than $40k/yr if you've got 40 hours of work from it.

I used to make $60k at my day job, but I recently took a job in New Zealand that pays $26k. If Turnhere wants to offer me $100 for 5 hours work, I'll take it.

Richard Crook March 8th, 2010 02:38 PM

Been there...done that. There's another company called Studio Now that does this too...only they pay more ($255). I've used both companies.

It's interesting to read posts backing these companies up. I used to do that too, until I figured out a few things. Understand that these companies thrive on the fact that too many people justify lowballing their rates. I read things like "I only do it when I'm slow" or "I did three of them in one day and made $675." That's exactly what they LOVE to hear!

Keep in mind that making one of these videos in a 2 or 3 hour window for these companies is on a perfect day. Don't forget the fact you must be open to 2 rounds of revisions. Meaning, the company can reject your video for any number of a million reasons and then the actual customer can do this as well. It might not be that hard...but still...opening up the editing software, making the change, re-exporting then re-uploading takes TIME. They also like to change up stuff on you in the middle of the project. I even had a "script" emailed to me after I uploaded the first cut. Do I get to say "Hey, I need to get PAID to do this re-edit?" Of course not. Guess what? I DONT GET PAID AT ALL UNLESS I REDO THE EDIT. They are holding all the cards here, not us. There's also the times when I drive out to the location and the business owner says: "Oh I canceled that last week." That's happened to me more times than I care to admit...because it's quite embarrassing. They send me a cancellation fee of $50, but there were a couple times they plum forgot to send me that.

For those of you who are backing these companies up and saying things like "hey...if you don't like it...you don't have to work for them and leave us alone," you need to understand something. People who lowball standard industry rates make it hard FOR EVERYONE. If these cheapie video networks grow...then WE'RE ALL at risk of losing work. Joe Blow business owner would gladly pay $500 for a video that would cost them $2000 from a reputable professional production company. They don't care if you tell them that "they get what they pay for" until you're blue in the face....they will still most times go with the cheaper service. The more of you willing to work for very little, the less and less clients will budget a higher expense for making these videos. It will only get worse!

When I worked many years ago in the hotel industry we had something called RATE INTEGRITY. There's a reason why a completely empty hotel during slow times won't reduce it's rates if someone walks in wanting to pay less than the standards. If you want, read my blog post below to hear more about this.

I wrote this a little while back because I too saw that these companies are coming up with ways to undercut legitimate video professionals and conning people into being paid lowball rates. Give this a read:

My Opinion About Some Internet Video Networks - Crooked Path Films Blog

I'm not trying to stir up a fight or be a jerk or anything ...but I see this ALL THE TIME in the industry and it's frustrating. If we all hold true to our standard rates, and maintain RATE INTEGRITY, then these companies will have NO CHOICE but to pay us the fair and justified amount.

Have a great day guys and STICK TO YOUR RATES! It's OKAY TO SAY NO!

Richard Crook March 8th, 2010 03:12 PM

Oh by the way....I noticed someone posted that Turnhere is watching this post...

I was contacted the very same day I posted that blog post by someone claiming to be a former Turnhere videographer who now works for the CEO...and wanted to let me know that the CEO himself was going to call me. I politely told him that I probably won't be taking his call, and if he would like to dispute anything that I wrote in my blog post to kindly respond in the appropriate "comments" section, as I believe everyone needs to hear the response...not just me.

Needless to say there was never any response to the blog nor a phone call.

Andrew Smith March 8th, 2010 03:15 PM

A bit of fresh air and sunlight keeps a discussion healthy. Sounds like a good idea.

Andrew

Richard Crook April 29th, 2010 02:27 PM

Turnhere charges the client $1000 for the video that they're paying filmmakers to shoot and edit for $200-$250. Great deal for the Turnhere hustlers!

Instant infomercials: TurnHere makes millions from video ads - Jan. 21, 2009

Rick L. Allen May 14th, 2010 05:28 AM

Richard, Great blog post and update on Turnhere. Thanks for posting and reinforcing the point.

My Opinion About Some Internet Video Networks - Crooked Path Films Blog

Larry Vaughn October 12th, 2010 09:15 AM

Video Business
 
It seems that many if not most of the postings here are by people that can't get work from Turnhere or have completed a handful of jobs, and may be waiting for a call to do more. I see similar comments on Sports Photography and Photojournalism for Professional Photographers and Photography | SportsShooter.com. Hey, don't work for x amount of money. Well, that business never was high paying for most of us, and is worse now.

Many of those same people that made those comments are now working on some college degree in another area. Physics, MBA, medical, etc. No connection to photography work at all.

As has happened with most businesses, the online video market is constantly changing. TurnHere responds to the changing market as necessary. Originally, they did travel videos. That is how I became aware of them.

I've looked at most of the videos here and contacted them a few years ago with an interest in doing the same type of work. TurnHere: Free video guides for travel, restaurants, hotels, local events & music However, this business model didn't pay off and they started providing ads for the yellowpages which offers them to phone customers.

Take a look at what has happened with newspaper photography. Most newspaper photographers are very good at what they do, the years of working and thinking on their feet cause that to happen. Still, the internet, the proliferation of cheap digital cameras with ease of use and minimal technical skill to get an acceptable photo has nearly wiped out the professional photojournalist.

I'm thinking the same thing will happen with videographers who don't develop a highly skilled ability to use all the Final Cut Studio applications and others video products such as motion graphic applications.

TurnHere used to call video producers, but now everything is on their website and you have to constantly look on their site for new jobs. I'm assuming that the only time they call is when they don't have anyone to do the job.

They do have a staff of people and a helpful site that will cultivate you as a professional. Yes, I've had jobs that pay 5 times as much per day. I don't see how anyone can actually do one of these jobs in 2 hours. You have prep time, travel time, time to get releases, editing time, uploading time, invoicing time and so on. I have found some of the claims to be optimistic.

Still, I value the work and have completed dozens of jobs for them. Hopefully there will be more. When considering working as an independent contractor in the IT business, I've done jobs that pay less than what Turnhere pays. Eventually, I got one that lasted 5.5 months, which made up for doing some jobs that paid me $50 to go across town, pick up something, fix something, send something in and finish the online paperwork. Even so, they still want you to work for less money. So I pick and choose. Some, if you consider travel time and expense, actually result in a loss or minimum wage payments and I don't do them.

We all aspire to bigger and better things. Companies like this can be a step along that path. Embrace it or not, it's your decision.

One comment I recently read was that even if you do go into some other line of work, the things that may be holding you back from success may still be there even if you do get that masters degree.

Finding out what they are and how to overcome them will help all of us in our quest for success and happiness.

Chad Eurie December 8th, 2011 01:39 AM

Re: Turnhere.com - Seriously?!
 
I realize this thread is old, but I think it's a great topic -- especially for someone just starting out in the business and who may come across Turnhere or another similar company. Before I say anything else, it really irks me that some people are telling others (in so many words), that their rates are too low, or they shouldn't accept certain amounts.

While I do think helpful critiques are in the spirit of this forum, at the end of the day, everyone has different overhead, etc...and what I may need to charge to make a profit may be drastically different than what the next person may need to. There is no universal "right" or "wrong". Just "right" for the individual in question. Furthermore, as most of us know, market rates vary from market to market.

I did some work for Turnhere back in 2008. While I don't do work for them anymore (my business has grown), there were some great advantages to working for them:

1- They take care of the marketing. You don't have to market to clients, deal with contracts, etc...nothing. Shoot, edit and turn over your project.
2- They paid on time. Never had to chase them down.
3- It can be a fantastic learning experience for someone just starting off. You really have to know at least the basics of shooting, editing, lighting and sound.
4- Great flexibility and a great opportunity to make extra money if you're in a slow period.

Disadvantages

1- If they don't approve your video, the extra hours you spend re-editing can make the hourly rate even lower.

While I no longer shoot for them, it was a great experience. If other people don't think their rates are reasonable, I respect that. But I had a great experience shooting for them.

Jeff Pulera December 8th, 2011 08:55 AM

Re: Turnhere.com - Seriously?!
 
I have to agree with Chad - a few years ago, I had been laid off from my day job and my wife had lost her job, and Turn Here was providing some pretty steady work to me at the time and I was very thankful to have that income.

It was a good experience and Turn Here was great to work with, paid on time, no headaches. With my current full-time day job, I'm unable to accept any shoots during the work week, so on hiatus with TH.

Jeff Pulera


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