Re: Raw Footage, No Contract, No Deal

Offer him this: Send your rep over and I'll give you 30 minutes to review the tapes and give him the originals AFTER he signs that the tapes are in good shape. Shoot the transaction with a discrete camera in the corner, advising him that you're doing so.

Why drag this out and why keep anything to do with the project?

Interesting story - I did a job for a client in 2007 and they called yesterday asking for footage to make a new TV spot, in-house. I looked their records up and they requested the original footage to store because they didn't trust any "outsiders" with their precious footage. I can understand that and have recommended against it as we have never lost anything and I have library tapes going back to 1983.

It seems at though the former manager left the company and the tapes are nowhere to be found. I did get $40 for a Quicktime of their finished 8 minute production that was still sitting in a folder on one of the edit machines.

I have one client that moved their entire operation to Texas. I asked if they wanted their library and they said "Hell no. We'll just lose that for sure".

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It's a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

Ask me how to Market Yourself using Send Out Cards