Re: Multi-track rates, revisited
- From: coffeyman@xxxxxxxxx (John Coffey)
- Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:03:36 -0800
Doug:
I know. I hear this every time I sell a new recorder these days. I
feel for you because it costs a lot to re-tool.
The fact is that most of the early users usually wound up making a
killing on their recorders and paid for it a few times over by the time
it became the "norm" and the specials deals they made, ceased.
I can cite example after example, going back to the first users of TC
Nagras. The early buyers like Roger Daniel, Crew Chamberlain, David
Kirshner and others sold the additional cost factor as a savings to the
producer and they were financially rewarded...all paying off their TC
Nagras with a secial extra rate for them, long before most people had
purchased their first IV STC.
Those same guys bought the early DATs and pulled off higher rates once
again. (I know Jeff Wexler was early too, but I don't re-call if he
charged more then).
The first Nagra D guys like Lee Orloff and Ed Tice made a killing too
and had a sub-rental business doubling that rate by renting post a 2nd
machine for their shows. The bottom dropped out of the NAgra D business
in a few years time as DAT took over, but those first guys made serious
money. It was like the stock market. The last ones in were left
holding the bag.
Then the first Deva owners 6 or 7 years ago, like Sean Rush, Jim
Tanenbaum and Glenn Berkowitch re-couped their money quickly and moved
into the profit zone by charging the producer more for Deva's service to
their show. (I seem to re-call that Jeff was an exception, being pure
of heart, might not have been charging more, I'm not sure, but most
did). In fact, most of the early adaptors made a killing on their Devas.
I think Sean Rush was making about an extra $1,000 per week on "JAG",
just for selling them on a Deva workflow that saved them one day a week
in editorial at Echo sound and telecine sessions at Encore Video that
saved 20%+ in time. He did that show for about 8 or 9 years, 10 months
a year, so do the math on that. I think he was not so lucky on his next
show "the Cell" because by now the shine was off and the UPM expected
the Deva as just another part of Sean's normal rental package.
The point is that in each new generation of recorder, the early birds
got the worm and then, when saturation took place, it was harder to
convince a producer to pay more.
The best example was to look at what we used to make on Deneke slates.
No one understood it and were grateful the sound mixer would handle
slates was an extra fee. Most of us, at minimum, quadrupled our
investments on those early slates. (The camera assistants blew that
one.) Slates were pure gold, until the producers grew to expect it in
the package. Weather it's because mixers were giving their slates away
through bad negotiating, undercutting or not, it's just the way it is.
Once the price drops, that's the end of the line. Right or wrong,
anyone getting in the game late missed the big money. The audio
spectulators have already been there and made the big dough...of course
they also carried all the risk too, so I'm happy for them that at least
they were financially rewarded for being the pioneers who paved the way
for the rest of us.
Doug, doesn't make you feel any better, but dems da facts.
John Coffey C.A.S.
http://www.coffeysound.com
.
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