Let's all work for free.

This isn't trucking related but it may be of interest to some friends who are into photography or video making.

I received  an e-mail before Christmas...

Dear Micky Flynn, 

I am writing to you from ++++++ Productions a television production company here in the UK. 

We are making a TV documentary about British weather, and one of our topics is the 2007 floods

Whilst looking for original footage on YouTube, I came across your video "Sheffield Floods June 2007". It's a really great illustration of what happened! I would like to ask if you shot this video yourself, and if so, would you consider letting me show it to the rest of my team, with the chance that we may include it in our film? 

In any case thank you for taking the time to read this email. If you would like to get in touch, we would love to hear from you. You can email me at ++++++++@gmail.com

Thanks again and hopefully we can speak soon.

Kind Regards,

++++++++

Researcher 

Very nice I thought, I could do with a few pounds, and I know that TV companies will pay £250  for a clip of your dog saying "Sausages" or your cat skateboarding down a slide in the local play park, so what the hell.


I checked them out...

Our critically acclaimed productions have attracted both high audience viewing figures as well as many prestigious awards, including Emmys, BAFTAs, the DuPont award for science journalism, RTS awards and many others. +++++ clients include Discovery, PBS, SKY, National Geographic, History, TLC, Travel Channel, HGTV, Discovery Canada, France 5, ZDF, ITV, BBC, Channel 4 and Channel Five.

These guys are pros!

They have a showcase of 69 full length documentaries just in one section, so I can offer them the original HQ footage I shot, rather than the puny, short clip on Youtube, great eh?

I replied...

Hi David,

Yes, the flood footage from 2007 is mine and I still have the original 8 mins which covers more than is on the video, including a fire at a factory below Tinsley Viaduct, showing their flooded yards with smoke coming out of the roof, accompanied by a report on the radio.
There is also footage of the flooding outside Hillsborough Football ground.
The footage I have is better quality than is shown on YouTube as I had to compress it in 2007 to save time uploading it.
I shoot stock photographs for Macro stock and I am aware of the value of this kind of material, so if you are interested in using the superior, more diverse video I can send you a link to it via Dropbox or similar, it's an 8 min 500meg MPG clip, and you can make me an offer for it's use in a single production, with freedom to edit picture and sound as you see fit.

Regards,

Mick Flynn.

They didn't bother to reply, BUT a month later a different researcher asked for the same clip, I replied...

Hi ++++
I already received an e-mail from +++++ with the same request which I replied to, unfortunately he wasn't polite enough to reply back. So I enclose my original reply.
Regards
Mick Flynn

Ok, let's review their pedigree before I show you what they offered.

Our critically acclaimed productions have attracted both high audience viewing figures as well as many prestigious awards, including Emmys, BAFTAs, the DuPont award for science journalism, RTS awards and many others. +++++ clients include Discovery, PBS, SKY, National Geographic, History, TLC, Travel Channel, HGTV, Discovery Canada, France 5, ZDF, ITV, BBC, Channel 4 and Channel Five.

 Very proffesional, eh?

So, 2 months later they replied...

Dear David  (yes, they got my name wrong)

Our since apologies that we did not respond to your kind email initially

Thank you very much for potentially allowing to use your great clip in our programme, much appreciated.

Since we are working on a documentary with a very low budget, we would be able to offer you a £50 fee. Would that be satisfactory to you?

If so, I would be very grateful if you could sign the attached release form.

If we do end up using your clip in the programme, we will contact you regarding the payment details etc.

Thank you very much again for your help.

Best wishes,

++++++

So there you have it, £50 because they have a very low budget!

I'm sure they don't expect Discovery, PBS, SKY, National Geographic, History, TLC, Travel Channel, HGTV, Discovery Canada, France 5, ZDF, ITV, BBC, Channel 4 and Channel Five. etc to schill them, and
obviously they must need the money more than me, so I declined their kind offer.

I also recently refused use of some pictures requested from a magazine because they said they had NO budget for photographs even though the magazine is full of them!

Would it be ok for me to just take the magazine off the shelf in the shop and walk out? if challenged I could say I don't have a budget for it, right?

I'm sure these media people pay taxi fares, bus fares, entrance fees to the cinema, I also think they pay their staff, even the window cleaner, so why do they not value everyone?

Maybe I just like to cut off my nose to spite my face, I am a grumpy old bastard after all.

FEEL FREE TO USE THE SHARE BUTTONS BELOW.