salary

Ha! I've seen this before. Here's how it's going to happen.

1. The salary you will negotiate has already been set. It doesn't matter what number you give them, you will still get paid what has been established. So just ask what the number is and then you'll know. There will be no negotiation, regardless of what you were told... the "negotiation" is just the justification of the part of the budget they don't know about yet.... AKA what the equipment will cost.

2. Your Dogs will stay in the USA... if they travel with you to Africa... they aren’t coming back.

3. The purpose of all the video work you will do is to a) justify the money being used locally for various side project the construction will require, b) to control/protect the Engineers who will oversee the project locally and back in the States, c) to show back home how the project advances, and d) to teach the locals about safety rules and how things get done around the construction ground.

4. Since you are probably a US citizen, you will still be required to pay USA federal income taxes on all money received regardless of where you did the work... you'll also be expected to pay local income tax too. So keep that in mind when it comes to getting paid in Africa. (US Citizens living abroad get a sizable Federal income tax deductible, but any amount over that...)

5. Register at the local US Embassy... in case you got to leave the foreign country real quick.

6. Equipment wise... stick with SONY as much as possible. There's probably a local SONY rep where you're going so get to know them. You'll probably be buying stuff from them (tapes) when you least expect it. Regardless, all video equipment will need to be imported and you'll be expected to pay import tax. Whatever it would cost you to buy it in the States, multiply that by 2 just to cover import duty. Also remember that foreign electrical outlets may be different than what you expect.

7. Camera Crews (locals) may or may not know how to take care of your equipment... stuff will get broken and stolen. Your budget will need to account for that (+ import tax if you're getting new stuff ever so often.)

8. Depending on local conditions, your equipment may get "adopted" by bugs that like heat emitting devices. Bugs and equipment don't get along well for too long.

Enjoy your experience.







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Paul Thurston
Producer
Chile