Bidding for work (stupid question)

[DeniM]

Hi guys,

I know this is a stupid question. But how do you bid for work in audio post? Who do you contact? Say I want to do the sound for a documentary, who do you contact and what information do you need to send off?

How does this 'bidding' work?

Many thanks and sorry for the ignorance!!

DeniM

[soundslikejoe]

If only it were so simple....

Bidding is an opportunity brought forth from consistent and successfull networking attempts.

You can't just put your name on a list and recieve a call; at least not for decent work.

[Lipflap]

It's like bidding for anything else, from installing a toilet to making a 747. Pay attention to what's being done in your market, find out what others are asking for the work, know what it will cost you to do the gig and how much (or little) you are willing to walk away with. And don't believe anything without some additional information.
Good information is at the heart of any bid.

Good luck,

[Rick Sanchez]

I assume you want to do this for a living. Generally the audio post budgets for docs are very limited and the ones that do have a decent budget will generally go to someone very experienced and talented in cleaning up raw and many times poorly recorded dialog.

If you simply want some experience, I would contact one of the larger film schools and work on a few student films or better yet, find a mentor with enough experience to teach you the ins and outs of budgeting a post project.

Georgia and Marti both have some great posts where you can learn some of the things to watch out for and how to solve many of the problems you'll encounter along the way.

Before bidding on projects I always go meet with the picture editor and producer / director and whenever possible, the production recordist to hear the sources and know what their expectations are. That will give you a good basic understanding of problems you may run into and the time needed to deliver a quality product.

[soundslikejoe]

Originally Posted by Rick Sanchez

Before bidding on projects I always go meet with the picture editor and producer / director and whenever possible, the production recordist to hear the sources and know what their expectations are. That will give you a good basic understanding of problems you may run into and the time needed to deliver a quality product.

That's a very good suggestion.... I would also advise asking to see a rough cut BEFORE agreeing to take the work.

I made the tragic mistake of believing the directors descritption of the film for my last feature. It sounded like a fantastic project to work on.... and then I saw it. I would have charged double if I had know before hand.

[philper]

Unless you are working for a large multi-room post house I would advise staying out of competitive bidding situations. You need to have a lot of experience both in audio post and in business and business law to fully understand what you are getting yourself into on a big project. For most films, the producer, director and editor already have a short list of people that they like working with based on past experience and what their audio budget is. If you are a small business and they are talking to larger studios, you may very well find that you can't deliver what they want in the time frame they need. If the situation is reversed you might find that you can't meet the price the producer wants and the give them the flexibility they need. I frankly am always very suspicious of someone I don't know who calls me up and wants to know my rate first thing off.

Philip Perkins