Clients that rate - Editor's Note - post production companies offer package rates - Editorial

Post, Nov, 2002 by Randi Altman

There is no denying that our industry is having a rough go of it at the moment. Just look at all the post companies - both studios and manufacturers - that have gone out of business in the last year.

So how are people surviving in this nasty climate? Well, a lot of it comes down to bringing in the clients, which means a lot of it has to do with reducing hourly rates or finding other ways to help clients get the most from their dwindling budgets.

Fred Ruckel is creative director/Inferno artist at NYC-based boutique Stitch. He has felt the effects of the times. "In order to secure a project, large post houses are offering package deals with the film to tape and online," he says. "The trend has become to conform at night at a discounted rate and make the minor tweaks during the daytime at full rate. This really has an impact on the small company because they usually don't have a night staff, so our day rate has to become competitive with the package deals of the big companies. With the onset of lower-end systems making big promises, it puts the high-end boutique at a financial risk. In the end, I think this will contribute to an overall decline in the quality of a product."

Is this also a trend in smaller markets like South Florida? 'We've been forced to be a bit more accommodating with budgets during the past year," reports Michael Murphy, marketing director at Fort Lauderdale's Battle Medialab. "This hasn't meant reducing our rates as much as it has involved helping clients narrow the scope of their projects, while still achieving their original, intended project vision."

And what about competitors lowering their rates? It's a concern," he says, "but more so for standard def." Battle works in both HD/SD. "We've seen some smaller shops offering SD rates that have raised eyebrows. This is a result of the economy over the last year, but I think it may also be a reflection of smaller SD shops having to compete with Final Cut kids. However, within the HD marketplace, which is our primary focus, we've found a real willingness to maintain the value of our services."

Are agencies benefiting from the tight market? Executive producer Bob Emerson from BBDO, New York, says his agency follows talent, not rate cards, so facilities dropping rates wouldn't drive him to a certain house.' 'We tend to keep to about three places, where we do 95 percent of our finishing work. That's a tremendous amount of volume, so we can basically ask for discounts." Emerson says due to the amount of work being given to the studio, "it doesn't hurt them [financially] to give us a discount."