lonelysandwich

No negativity taken.

It's an interesting point you make! I'm curious, can you point to any specifically where you feel the video has had this effect?

Those rough categories adjust as the market for good video adjusts. Currently, $ is about $50K, $$ is $75-150K. $$$ is anywhere above that—we've done broadcast work in the high six-figures range.

That said, when a project with a small startup without much capital is interesting enough (read: first of its kind, first to market, best in class), there are other arrangements to be made. We figure out some sort of equity and/or revenue share with more than half of our clients, where it makes sense to forego some of our markup and other fees in exchange for opportunity to participate in the future success of a product.

I'd be happy to autograph your browser.

I take your point. I try and be extremely meticulous and selective with the projects I take on. But this is the tech world, and much like an investor, I can't always know what products will survive all conditions of the market.

I do have a reputation for picking strong contenders, and that has probably been my best asset in bringing interesting new projects. If it starts to happen a lot, that my clients fail to deliver on the promises they ask me to make, then I have to adjust. But for now, my track record is pretty shiny.

Re: cutting costs, that's not a consideration at all. On-camera talent usually accounts for less than .5% of one of our projects' total budgets. There are probably more people involved behind the camera than you'd expect. And it can actually be quite a bit costlier to have me on camera, while I'm directing as well (and I can be a real diva).

This isn't the first time I've heard this. It's not common but not unique. Even a few bigger clients with more at stake in terms of brand voice have shied away from asking me to be on camera. That said, it's usually at my discretion which projects feature me and which don't. There are ones that make more sense for me to be the guy, and ones that make no sense at all, and for those projects (roughly 4 out of 5 of our videos) I'm happy to put someone more suitable in front of the camera.

I'm not sure what I did to luck into my company being on HN today (thanks, coldtea), but if anyone has any questions about Sandwich, I'm here for you.

Over-produced is an interesting take on the only “spec” commercial I've ever made simply because I love the product. It cost me about $300, full disclosure. Meaning it's actually the most under-produced of our videos.