Digital Video - July 2008 - (Page 50) PRODUCTION DIARY A FISTFUL OF SCHOLARS: BY STEFAN SARGENT THE GOOD, THE BAD AND A FEW DOLLARS MORE THURSDAY. Chelsea College of Art and Design. “Sarah, I’m at Chelsea but ” “Oh, not again.” “Yep. I’m just going to grab some students and make it happen.” FRIDAY. Camberwell College of Arts. “Sarah ” “Don’t tell me.” THE UGLY MARCH 1995. Entertainment Productions goes bust. The University is now my client. There’s still little cooperation, but I’m shooting my way in. It’s tough, but I’m getting there. I sneak in through a back entrance and shoot the end-of-year degree show at Central St. Martin’s. Only the formal graduation ceremony to go. Made it. Finished! A full 18 months since the job was commissioned. The University decides to bypass EP’s receiver and pay me the last 50 percent. With EP gone, there’s no 50-50 financial split. I keep it all and double my money. Above: End-of-year degree show at Central St. Martins College of Art & Design Inset: Sargent finds himself up a ladder. CENTRAL ST. MARTIN’S COLLEGE OF ART, LONDON 1995. I’m up a 14-foot ladder with my 16mm Eclair NPR. It’s a film about the five colleges that make up The University of the Arts London. I’m in the TV studio of the college. They have a three-camera setup with a pro control room. Below, the kids are prepping for a shoot. I’ll film them wide and high and then take a shots from the floor. The lecturer enters. “I guess you’ve all met Mr. Sargent up there on the ladder.” I smile and wave. “I want you to give him no cooperation. The shoot is off!” With that, the jerk walks out of the studio and signals his students to follow. They leave. Dummies. They’ll never make Citizen Kane — or even Plan 9 From Outer Space. I could scramble down shrieking “Come back, come back!” But no, I get out my cell and call Sarah Young, the nice girl at the University’s head office. “Hi Sarah.” “How did go?” “They walked out on me.” “Again! Try this then. There’s a virtual reality demo at Chelsea College of Art. It’s in two hours. Can you make it?” A FEW DOLLARS MORE THE GOOD It all began a few months ago when my client, Entertainment Productions, won the job in competition with several other production companies. Make a 12-minute video covering the university’s activities. With five colleges and hundreds of courses, it’s one big mission impossible. The problem: This film is to recruit high-paying international students from Spain, France, Malaysia, Japan — even from the USA. For local UK students there are grants, the colleges are almost free, but for every seat sold to an overseas student, there’s one fewer for a local. Many students and faculty members feel that the Institute is selling out. In their eyes, I’m working for the Evil Empire. Then just when I think it’s all approved. More changes! Sarah’s boss hasn’t got the budget to pay me for the extra work. “Don’t worry. You need VHS copies. How about, I’ll get the best price I can and add £1.00 on each copy?” He’s happy; duplication comes out of a different budget. They order 5,000. I make an extra £5,000 ($10,000). A year later, another 3,000 copies. Next year, more copies. What a great deal — in all, I make an unexpected $20,000. Almost nobody wanted this film made. Half my shooting days were aborted. The production company went bust. Life’s a bitch. I doubled my fee. But not always. You can see a three-minute clip at www.stefansargent.com/college.html. Stefan Sargent has a production company in San Francisco. He’s made a zillion TV commercials, pop videos and corporate films. His docs have been screened on the BBC, the Discovery Channel and somewhere else. THE BAD MONDAY. London College of Communication. I turn up to film the weaving class and the rooms are empty. “Sarah, there’s nobody here.” “They told me Monday!” 50 dv july 2008 www.dv.com http://www.stefansargent.com/college.html http://www.dv.com
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