face to face

In my late 20's I visited my mother in Maryland. I was living in NY at the time and just started EP'ing commercials. While confirming my travel, my mom asked if I could show her some of the worked I produced. Somewhat prideful, I asked the tape librarian to dub a VHS reel of some favorites. VHS. I'm dating myself. What else is new. 

I arrived at my mom's on Friday night in time for dinner. After we ate, we went into the living room and watched the reel from start to finish. She was semi-impressed and very inquisitive.

"So, how does this all work?"

Not wanting to go into to much detail I kept it simple. 

"It's pretty straightforward. Our sales reps solicit work from the ad agencies. If the agencies have a project they think one of our directors is right for, they'll send us the creative and we'll bid on it."

"And then you'll go make it?"

"Not exactly. I'll talk it over with the director and we decide to either bid or pass. If we like it, we'll get on a conference call to pitch our ideas to the creative team. After that I talk with the agency producer and submit the cost and calendar. From there, we'll negotiate over price and some of the specifics. If they like my guy, we'll book the job and produce it."

"How long does this whole process take?"

"A couple days to decide if we like it. A week or so to haggle over price. Another couple of weeks to produce it, then were done."

"Those conference calls. How long are they"

"About a half hour depending."

"I like that Volkswagen spot. How much did that cost?"

"That was one spot out of a three spot campaign. All in for production it was about million. We take a 30% mark-up on all the direct costs. When the job awards they send us a contract and half the money up front. The other half upon delivery."

"Hmmmm. So, let me understand this. You get on a call for half hour. Negotiate for a week. If they like your director, they send you a check half a million. Your done with all of this in three weeks and then do the same thing again."

"That's a little basic but looking at it that way it's pretty accurate."

"And you never meet the ad agency in person. They just hear your voice on the phone and they send you a check for hundreds of thousands of dollars...thats one helluva racquet you got going on."

Ah, the good old days. My mom was right it was a helluva racquet. No treatments. 30% mark-ups. No fear of float. But, the point of this post is not to long for days of yore. It's always stuck with me how my mom focused on the lack of face to face contact when making a deal involving substantial funds and relative importance.

It is rare to get a meeting with an agency on a pitch. I use to try all the time. After getting rejected, stood up or ignored it became a less frequent request. I realized on the odd opportunity when the agency agreed, it was because we were the front runner. The meeting was only to confirm their suspicions. It becomes more like the first day of production rather than an audition. 

The entire bid process is an arranged marriage where you must move in together, raise a family and send the kids off to college all in a matter of a few quick weeks. It would be nice to get to know, or at least meet, each other. I often wonder why the agencies don't want to engage more often in person. Are they afraid of rejecting someone once they've met them? Is the mystique of the director diluted by matching the persona to the reel? Maybe they just don't have enough spare time?

Whatever the reasons are I wish we did more of them. Chemistry and compatibility are huge in any creative process. Meetings help give a better insight than a conference call where half the people are on speaker phone and the other half on their cells. 

In today's climate every dollar and every opportunity counts. If given the option to meet a person who the fate of your project may lie in their hands, why wouldn't you exercise the chance to to stare them in the eye? The communications age gives the impression of familiarity without any intimacy. There is still no substitute for personal contact. I wish we did more of it.