Cheap, Fast or Good – Pick two

[Victoria Fraasa]

Back in 1982 when I was first starting out in this business, I was working with a wonderful audio technician by the name of Bill.  Bill was an “old timer”, but as I look back I am sure he wasn’t over 35 years old.  Bill was a union guy, but worked a lot of “off the books” test commercials with the company I was stage managing for in New York.

 

Some times Bill could be a bit of a crudmegon and I just thought it was because he was getting “old”.  I was only 21, so anyone over 29 was the establishment in my view.

 

One day on set things started to fall apart.  The set, the lights, the camera all seemed to misfire one after the other.  You know one of those days that nothing seems to go right?

 

Eventually, Bill muttered under his breath.  Cheap, Fast or Good – pick two.

 

Now, this was a New York City eastside stage in the shadow of the United Nations and was the state of the art facility for “test” commercial production. There was nothing cheap about this stage. I have a lot of fond memories and terrific experiences, but our CLIENTS always forced us to bid lower and lower.  We cut corners on props, wardrobe, and crew, but never on equipment.

 

We kept our equipment up to date and the lights functioning properly, but it was just one of those days.  It was a fluke.  But, Bill’s comment stuck with me.

 

Cheap, Fast or Good – pick two.

 

You can have it cheap and fast, but to have it GOOD, you need GOOD people.  Experienced people.  People who know how to fix that light, or reboot the camera properly so you don’t run into extreme over time or worse, lose the shot. 

 

The “Good” clients know they pay for the best technician, DP, the audio guy, the crew, so when things go wrong; and they will, someone with experience will be there to make it work right, right away.

 

We did have “Good” on set that afternoon and there were delays which the client doesn’t want to pay for (and shouldn’t).   But, that is why “Good” is built into the price of the product. Flukes will continue to happen, but “good” is how fast the company is able to handle the problem and still satisfy the client.

 

 “Good” clients pay top dollar for products because they are paying for the EXPERIENCE the production company brings to the table.  It takes time do things right and time is money in any industry.  Most clients have a deadline, so cheap and fast is usually the first thing they go for and drop the “Good”.

 

But if it is not “Good” it will be the first thing those same Clients complain about. 

 

“Cheap and Good” also don’t really work too well because it is an oxymoron.  Be honest, think about the last time you got something cheap and good.  The company probably did not deliver in a timely manner because they are tending to the clients who chose the “Fast and Good” option.

 

The “Good” in the equation “Cheap, Fast or Good” is the most important factor.  Even cheap and fast needs some good to it, especially if you have high expectations.

 

“Fast and Good” defines a production company that has already made mistakes, at their own expense and will avoid it in the future.  That experience comes with a price tag and is not Cheap.

 

Things going wrong in the film industry can seem like flukes to the outsider, but longevity in this industry is not.  Longevity happens when the company knows how to handle the flukes and turn them into a “Fast and Good” product.  One that is delivered on time and is of high quality.

 

Cheap, Fast or Good – Pick Two applies to every job. 

 

You can’t survive in any business if you can’t make a decent profit to feed the machine; the overhead, the experienced staff, the seasoned editors and directors.

 

There will always be “Fast” companies who will be “Cheap and Good” for a little while, but they don’t manage to have a long shelf life because they aren’t making enough to pay themselves, much less a solid staff and experienced crew people. 

 

They are called the “Fly by Night” company, but that’s a different blog.