From: Christopher Hudert <heyhoot-AT-mindspring.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:31:54 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Losing a BIG contract


Hey Mathieu,
   Welcome to the world of business and all of its risks. And the lesson 
you learned in this was....?

  A few comments/twenty-two cents worth:
    I might suggest that next time, you work with a signed contract 
stating the initial terms and how much you will be paid for services 
rendered, even if the project doesn't fly. Unless you are part of the 
development team that will also reap the rewards of the success - as in 
percentage of profits (and share in the risks of the failure), you are 
a contracted party and have billable services. What you might have to 
do to get paid for the services once a project tanks is another matter, 
but having a contract make payment much more likely.
    That said, sometimes you have to take a risk to succeed. When you go 
out on a limb, not every effort will be profitable. Actually, more 
often than not, it will not be successful or if it is, not hugely 
profitable. In TV/Film the ratio of success to failure (and even more 
so to projects ever even making it all the way to the screen) is very 
small. Even when a project is in the can, the plug can be pulled. A lot 
of effort goes into the pitch, but like in baseball few of the pitches 
are hit, and even less than that result in making it to first base, and 
only a tiny percentage are hit out of the park. The huge success is the 
exception and not the rule, but it is still the dream and the goal. 
Learn from your failures whatever you can and move on to the next 
project. Sounds like you thought the risk was worth the gain. Quit yer 
bitchin', as they say.

> Where on the scale of frustration should I be?
   My estimation - about 0.05%  You just got a little bug bite of 
reality, in the scale of things. You've lost (probably) a few hours of 
work. Many other in the project lost much more, perhaps even their job. 
Piss and moan for a little while (you're entitled to a little bit of 
that), then dust yourself off and get over it. Remember how this went 
to better prepare yourself for the next time.

> All these hours of designing, lost and unpaid. Unless the project 
> takes flight again, and then I can charge for the hours.
> I took the risk because it would have been my biggest contract yet, 
> considering the price I would have been paid for the single puppet.
   And so your complaint would be???
  Wah, wah. Here's a virtual hanky. What salesman do you think sells the 
product to EVERY potential client EVERY time? So you lost this one 
sale. Big deal. Yeah, it was potentially a big one, but still, big 
deal. It was a fish that got away. Now you have a fish story.

> I told them I would not work for free, that I would charge by the hour 
> and only start with an advance payment.
> But they convinced me with a short deadline and promise of quick 
> payment once the project started. You see, they needed some sketches 
> for convincing the network. The money was already set aside by them.  
> It was supposed to be a week or two for sketching, then a month tops 
> for the project to start. Another lesson learned.
   And that lesson was? And you will do what with that lesson?
  Again, you took a risk - one that you were perfectly aware of - and it 
didn't pay off. Somehow I'm finding it very hard to muster up much of 
the sympathy you seem to be going for.

> Have you ever lost a BIG contract?
   Anyone who has been in any business for any length of time has lost a 
big contract. Sometimes failed to get it, sometimes lost it to someone 
else after much invested work, sometimes lost it to business failure 
(of their own or of the client). Sounds like you lost nothing but some 
time. There are many who have lost much more when much deeper into a 
project. I have a puppet sitting in my studio that was developed 
through to puppet completion before the project was cancelled. I recall 
little to no payment for that. I'm sure others have similar stories as 
well, and I'm sure that there are many who did filming before the 
project was cancelled. It's hard to watch all of that real money go 
down the drain along with all of that imaginary future money. You take 
a calculated risk. Sometimes you win, many times you do not.

> What was your reaction?
   Piss, moan, and other wise vent frustration for a little while, learn 
a lesson or two, get over it, get on with life, tell the story when 
appropriate. Try not to forget the lesson and make the same mistakes 
again, but also not be afraid of occasionally taking a risk that may 
pay off big just because some other risk did not pay off at all.

> What was your salvation? Another project?
   Jesus Christ. (Okay, I couldn't resist)
   Reality is, life (and business) continues. I've personally have never 
been in one project so deep that it had the potential to pull down the 
whole company or my career. This certainly was the case for you in 
this. You lost relatively little. Metaphorically, you skinned your 
knees. Do you need your puppet mother to give you a hug and a band aid? 
You're a big boy now, take care of yourself.

> How does one resist the temptation of becoming a government employee?
  Does  loosing nearly total control of your work appeal to you? Does 
being a public cog or public servant have appeal? If so, seek a 
public/government job. Do you think that means absolute job security? 
Yes? After I finish laughing hysterically I'll think of a reply. I 
admire those who devote their life to public/government jobs. Most of 
them are pretty thankless but make the life of the average citizen 
better. (let's not get into the ones that make life a pain in the lower 
posterior) It's not the life for me, thank you very much. I pay back 
through service to some organizations and on some boards. The only 
appeal that being a government employee holds for me is a steady 
paycheck, but I can get (and have gotten) that elsewhere in corporate 
life.

Come on Mathieu, open the window and take a deep brisk breath of 
reality and move on to your next project. You are much too young and 
creative to dwell on the negatives of this for very long.


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