What should I say my daily rate is?

I want to get on a set to get filmmaking experience and their is a movie shoot scheduled and they are looking for a boom operator. Since I have done that before, I would like to apply, but they ask for what rate I charge.

I am happy to work for free, but I assume if everyone else is being payed under contract, they will want me to be as well, to show I am serious, compared to everyone else. So if they want to pay, how much should I say, to come off as professional to these people, more likely?

Thanks.

Tell them you're a Teamster.

You want to know how much to pay someone to let you work for them? ;-D

I'm just kidding. "Negotiable"

Okay thanks. I told them that, and they were interested in hiring me, but now they don't just want a boom operator, they want me to operate the boom and the field recorder, and act as PSM at the same time. I have practiced a lot with my field recorder, but I have tried to do both jobs before, and it's tough turning the fader, to avoid clipping, while holding the boom above the actors.

I don't think I will be able to order in a splitter in time. Should I tell them that I will be happy to do just one job, or will that look bad, and I should say I can take on both? I know from a couple of past projects over the last year, that it seems that most producers may tend to expect a person to do both jobs.

You take the job that you are equipped and experienced enough to fulfill with professionalism and good results. If you can't do that in this situation, especially if you work as a PSM/boom op and you end up and compromising the end-product, you can guarantee you won't be asked to do that again.

Well I took the job, and they wanted me to start right away. So far the production is run very poorly, with a lot of desperation and shortcomings on set. In fact, I don't think I will be able to do anything to hurt this production since it's already so chaotic. But I will see what they want me to do in the end, since the job description keeps constantly changing.

Have you explained your position? That you don't feel that capable of running multiple jobs, despite having experience? That you think someone trying to do that will damage the production? If their sound is average, and you've clearly not delivered as well as they thought you would, they're obviously not going to be happy with you (even if the production is bad). They'll feel deceived and mislead (they should probably have checked your qualifications etc, but regardless) and you'll lose any connections you made through the production and give yourself a bad name amongst those in the production.

Well I feel confident booming, which is why I applied, but now they want me to start spur the moment two weeks before the shoot dates, in the add. It turns out that it's not scripted, so I have to boom for non-scripted people, while possibly operating the field recorder at the same time. I am just going into it now, and will find out exactly what I have to do, but the plans keep constantly changing, and re-assigning.

It's a documentary which makes booming and recording harder, especially in a loud public place. I didn't know it was a documentary, as the add said feature film so I assumed they meant a scripted film with a somewhat controlled sound environment, rather than shooting in a loud public place. I guess I should have asked if it was a documentary before.

You probably shouldn't have needed to ask specifically for documentary, they probably should have told you that. Though perhaps you could have asked the more broad "what sort of project is it?" given sound requirements change between different narrative film projects, let alone between narrative and documentary.

It sounds a bit chaotic, but try and be clear with them about what you feel confident and comfortable with, and what you think they're overlooking, where they're expecting too much, etc. It's better than disappointing and making them feel deceived later down the track.

Okay thanks. Well I already told them I would come to the set, but they now want me to start, right after the interview. I don't want to leave them in the lurch either exactly, as I know how that feels.

They are showing me all their stuff, and what they expect of me, so I will make a decision afterwards. I thought I was just going to be a boom op, like the add said, but so far it does not look that way. After this, I should ask if it's scripted or not scripted I guess. I have noticed that in my experience so far, it's the non-scripted documentary movies, that are much more chaotic, and perhaps I should avoid those.

harmonica44 said:

So if they want to pay, how much should I say, to come off as professional to these people, more likely?

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Being (or appearing to be) professional is not about how much you charge but about having the knowledge and experience to know how much you need to charge to fulfil the director's/producer's expectations.

harmonica44 said:

It turns out that it's not scripted, so I have to boom for non-scripted people, while possibly operating the field recorder at the same time. I am just going into it now, and will find out exactly what I have to do, but the plans keep constantly changing, and re-assigning.

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How on earth can you quote for a job without knowing if it's scripted or not? How on earth does a producer expect to hire someone without telling them what the job entails? How can your job/s keep changing and being re-assigned if you have a contract or written agreement?

harmonica44 said:

I didn't know it was a documentary, as the add said feature film so I assumed they meant a scripted film with a somewhat controlled sound environment, rather than shooting in a loud public place. I guess I should have asked if it was a documentary before.

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So in your OP you essentially asked how much you should charge for doing a job without knowing exactly what that job was or what the producer's expectation were? (see my previous two answers!)

harmonica44 said:

I know from a couple of past projects over the last year, that it seems that most producers may tend to expect a person to do both jobs.

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So, what have you learned about these types of producers from your past experience? For example, have you learned that these producers are working with scripts which are carefully crafted to allow 1 person to do both jobs well or have you learned that these producers are just ignorant of production sound and have unrealistic expectations? If it's the latter, how do you intend to comply with my first answer?

harmonica44 said:

So far the production is run very poorly, with a lot of desperation and shortcomings on set.

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From what you've described, isn't this scenario exactly what you should have expected?

harmonica44 said:

In fact, I don't think I will be able to do anything to hurt this production since it's already so chaotic.

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What makes you think that? Poor location sound will always hurt any production, regardless of how good or bad the rest of the production is. Furthermore, the producer already appears to have little or no idea of what is required to achieve decent location sound and almost certainly has unrealistic expectations. Therefore, if/when the location sound is poor, the chances are that the producer will blame you personally for it.

harmonica44 said:

I want to get on a set to get filmmaking experience ...

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Just out of curiosity, why do you want to get experience of a very poorly run set?

G

Okay thanks. It's not that I want to get experience from a poorly run set, I just want to get one sets in general for experience, but well run ones of course.

I thought that this set would be better run, cause the producer had about 20 movies on his credentials, when I met him, but it could have been that he did well before, and this is the acception, or something. Who knows... I ended up not taking the job, as I am not right for this particular type of recording. The add said boom operator, but it seems that maybe it's common to be expected to do the mixing also, since last year, two other productions called for the same thing as well.

harmonica44 said:

It's not that I want to get experience from a poorly run set, I just want to get one sets in general for experience, but well run ones of course.

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If you want to work on well run sets then first off, you obviously need to identify those who know how to run a set well!

harmonica44 said:

I thought that this set would be better run, cause the producer had about 20 movies on his credentials, when I met him, but it could have been that he did well before, and this is the acception, or something.

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I use the word "experience" in a great number of my posts/replies but when I use that word I don't mean just experience, I use it with an added implication. That implication is that someone has the ability and intelligence to actually learn from those experiences. This isn't always the case, particularly in a multi-discipline endeavour like filmmaking. So, while experience is an indicator, it's just one of several indicators you need to evaluate when looking to take on a job.

harmonica44 said:

The add said boom operator, but it seems that maybe it's common to be expected to do the mixing also, since last year, two other productions called for the same thing as well.

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It's common that amateur filmmakers either don't have any idea of how to make a film or are only knowledgeable about certain aspects of filmmaking. An advert for a boom operator, when they are really looking for a PSM is an indicator that the filmmakers don't really know what they are doing. You find this sort of thing very commonly with amateur filmmakers in regards to audio post as well. They often advertise for a Sound Editor to create a final mix or a Foley Artist to edit dialogue, etc.

You have to ask relevant questions about exactly what the job entails, what their expectations are and evaluate those answers in terms of what you are looking for!

G