So I had an interesting shoot this morning. I was hired by a company to shoot interviews at another company’s corporate headquarters who hired the company to shoot these for them. Confused?

Here was the BIG dilemma. The company that hired me INSISTED on using mostly natural light, doing the interviews in front of plain walls, and only using the on-cam nat mic for sound. I’d been scratching my head all week leading up to this shoot. However, the marketing director for the company whom these interviews were ultimately for was appalled that I was told to shoot it this way. I even showed him the documents the other production company sent me. He insisted we light and do the interviews professionally.

So who do I listen too? Ultimately, the marketing director told me if I do it the right way and the other company doesn’t pay me, his company would. Sounded good to me. I lit everything and it all turned out great.

Now for the rest of the story. The marketing director asked what my day rate was and I told him. Turns out he was paying this other company, who is out of state, THREE TIMES what they were paying me to be there and shoot it. He was not happy at all.