Demanding Doesn’t Equal Asshole in Video Production

I’ll say it: almost all of my clients are intensely demanding. And I love them for it.

I expect a client to be demanding when there’s high-five-to-high-six-figures at stake. I expect in-person meetings. I expect many calls, as we go from concept into pre-production and casting. I want my clients to be very involved in the process, I want them to care.

It’s the ones who don’t give a fuck that you have to worry about.

I’ve gotten up at 3am for conference calls in the UK while I’ve been in LA. I’ve taken calls from our studio in NYC coming from clients in Asia, at 12am local time. I’ve gone through multiple rounds of casting when my client’s vision for their spokesperson hasn’t quite been met. I often get up at 4am so that when the client walks on set at 8am, we are ready for them.

I love doing this stuff.

I’m not even against spending money not in the budget, if I can justify it, sometimes, for items that’ll up the production value of the video we’re doing for a client. For instance, on a recent financial services company commercial, I made arrangements for the lighting truck’s contents to be upgraded. I had a feeling that we’d need bigger lights than they usually carried. It cost me an extra $750. Guess what? We needed those lights, in the end.

I didn’t even tell the agency people how we went above and beyond for them with these add-on lights, I just did it. Because I know they had so much on their minds with their client already.

Because the secret is, as demanding as the most demanding client is, I am more demanding of myself and my team. We care.

I’m not telling you this to brag. I’m just showing you how one guy and his little production company has been successful with big and small clients over the last few years. A demanding client is awesome. They help you rise to the occasion, and most importantly, it means they care about the project, too. That’s a good thing.

 

Author: Patrick

I am a bicoastal, award-winning director and filmmaker. Here's my video production company site, here's our Facebook page, my Twitter, and my LinkedIn |