This is great actually, because the only people that will apply will be high school kids with criminal records or other prohibitive aspects to their resume exempting them from taking other jobs. I'd love to see who they end up with...

Anyone with enough knowledge to film and edit, could call ANY local company and shoot a video for $150 minimum, and that would be on the absolute lowest end of the spectrum. I shot a video a couple weeks ago for a tiny tattoo parlor, and was paid $300 for an extremely easy shoot.

Actually what I'd end up doing, is applying, and once I have the specifics on the business I'm doing the video for, quit, and then offer them my services directly at a lower price.

I have a real simple solution for idiots like this. Yes, I will show up, shoot and even edit* if they want. For my reel. If they want the footage, well too bad.

Oh, well the contract I signed never said you get to keep the video images.... oh wait, there wasn't a contact? How sad, I just managed to test my camera with the latest XYZ Dalek patch, and wasted your time. Never mind. Tell you what, special deal - I'll give you an exported VGA resolution version for only $100. Add $50 and you get 480p. Add another $50 and maybe 720i.

*on my own laptop

Note the location: Santa Barbara.

The home of Brooks institute.

Which means that in addition to the usual demographic of video enthusiasts… you have however many Brooks students are hungry for experience, etc.

And may or may not care about the pay.

The counter guy at Samy's told me "…the town is full of folks with sliders…."

Oh well.

RBD

The thing is, companies like this like to make a lot of demands / contracts. I encountered a similar one but for real-estate photography. I had to sign all kinds of forms to even be able to discuss terms / know what they expected from the job. Not to mention send them a portfolio of real-estate imagery. What a waste of time.

Potentially I would have been making a deficit for each shoot since I also needed to have my own car (without getting any milage).. Car breaks down, expensive to fix, I become liable for the potentially broken contract between the company and the real-estate-agents...

Meanwhile they were advertising their "method / processing" as something completely unique (which it wasn´t)..

Do not take these jobs. Compete, by all means, but do not work for this little money, unless you maybe are a student and need experience (and not necessarily the money). If you have a bit of craft and nous you´ll be able to make a better income on your own or in a group of people in a similar situation.

Yeah, I'd never take this kind of a job. If a friend asked me to film something and he kicked $25 my way for gas that's one thing, but in this situation it's downright exploitative. You aren't doing yourself any favors working for such low wages, and you're lowering the standard by which the rest of us work too. With every underpaid or otherwise exploitative job you take, you lower the rest of our credibility to work under fair terms.