Hi there...
I have been all over the spectrum when it comes to this issue.
Passionate and attached to a platform only to watch it evaporate (almost twice).
Then completely agnostic and concerned with the craft alone regardless of the tools in front of me.
I had been very angry at Apple for quite a while, as I watched them take the tools and technology developed for over a decade in the industry and practically give them away as a way to sell computers...in addition to taking the rest of the market down with it. As many have found, however, it has been a necessity for me to learn (and in my case teach) FCP.
(....steps down from soap box.....)
I will still fall on the side of the fact you've got to pay the bills, and knowing more things makes you more vaulable, not less. I'd stop short of investing in a system for a job, however, if you have plenty of other work coming in. Put it on the to do list. Apple does hold the hot hand right now.
A big question is, what does your client expect to leave with at the end of a project? An edited master tape, an output file or a project file and media set they can take with them?
If you're not working on a platform that the client can walk away with usable assets, then this is a legitmate case for a client not wanting to give you a job, regardless of talent.
When it comes to film I have no idea what the Adobe pipeline is. But "film" is a pretty confusing term these days.....direct to DVD, offline for a negative cut, or digital print back to celluloid....FCP and avid have pretty known pipelines for getting to all destinations....as much as I love Premiere.....I'm not sure I could say the same...not that it can't be done...but how much depth and support indutry wide do you have in doing it?
The other reason cleints demand FCP (or Avid) or anything...is that to them it's a known quantity.....clients hate getting 85% thru a project to find out that my system "doesn't do that." On the other hand if people are asking for FCP but can't tell you why......then let your reel do the talking.
My .02....
hope it helps....
Alex
Alex Udell
Editing, Motion Graphics, and Visual FX
See My Current Reel
visit the
combustion exchange ftp
