I can rack up another award on my resume. Under Surveillance, the independant feature film I shot and co-produced with writer/director/actor/producer Dave Campfield, won the Best Long Island Film and Best Score (I can’t take any credit for that one) awards at the 2006 Long Island International Film Expo.

Dave and I worked hard to get this project done, and I really enjoyed watching it on the big screen at the festival. It is very satisfying to have the hard work recognized!

Congratulations, Dave. You earned it! (Now let’s get going with that new script!!!)

Watch the trailer:

Is this the new model for creative work? Yahoo invites users to create ads for them. There are no prizes or awards available, but they are hoping to get some great creative content. Please, if you have an ounce of talent, don’t submit anything.

It seems like a lot of new web services are popping up with a business model that consists of:

1. Build an online repository for content
2. Get people to fill it full of creative original content and promote it to all their friends
3. Build an advertising business around the visitor traffic
4. Keep all the money!!!

Item 4 is the one that makes me uneasy. It’s one thing to outsource work to qualified people in countries with a lower cost/standard of living, it’s quite another to just assume you don’t have to pay at all. This business model counts on creative people making a living some other way and producing content at their own expense. It also devalues similar creative work and makes it harder for everyone to make a living - it makes everyone who participates into a hobbiest.

I hope the trend is short lived. In the world of video, it probably will be. Cameras and editing software may be cheap, but it still takes a lot of work to get together a crew and cast to make a video. Not too many folks will do that for free very long. It may be a different story for writers, graphic artists, etc.

Do you want to help shorten the lifespan of these businesses? Then don’t send content to anyone who doesn’t offer you something of value if you earn money for them. It could be a per-use fee, advertising credits for your business, access to useful content or tools to help you with your work - it could be anything. But, they should be willing to acknowledge that your work has value and offer you something.

If creative people, who want to earn a living with their talents, only contribute to websites that recognize the value of their work, it won’t be long before the business practices change. Or, these types of websites will become flooded with low quality work by kids - sometimes interesting, but not reliable in my experience.

What do you think about this trend?

The Go-To Guy

While doing some maintenance on the site today I realized that my contact form settings were incorrect and any emails sent through it were not being directed to my email account.

The mistake has been fixed and I’ve sent several successful tests to confirm that everything is working properly.

If you have tried to contact me recently and not gotten a reply, please re-send your message.

I apologize for any inconvenience,

The Go-To Guy

Darren Rowse, at ProBlogger.net, has assembled an alphabetically organized list of resources for bloggers. There are over 120 resource links in the list already and he plans to keep adding to the pile as new things come along.

Pro Blogger is a great site filled with practical advice on making a living as a blogger.

The Go-To Guy

Blogger Yaro Starak released a great 2-part podcast on his Small Business Branding site. It’s an interview with Internet Entrepreneur Daryl Grant entitled ‘How To Make $250,000 A Year Selling E-Books.’

They discuss how she sets up her sites, how the books are produced (she doesn’t write them herself), how she generates traffic, and how she writes the sales page copy to convert visits to sales. Her website also gives a thorough breakdown of her process: www.AndrewandDaryl.com. The site includes links to sample survey pages, a spreadsheet for calculating the profitability of an idea, and active e-book sales pages (surprise - not one of them is about online marketing!)

This is a great bit of educational material. Listening to it inspired me to test a new product idea I had. I wrote about how I did the market test and my results.

The Go-To Guy

Would you like to make $100,000 a year part-time creating profitable how-to manuals at home? Let publisher Ken Silver show you how.

“What happened?” “I don’t like it!” “You’re a brave man!” “Let’s pin him down and shave his eyebrows too!”
These were just a few of the comments I got when I suddenly showed up one day with a bald head.

Much as some people would like to disagree, I have not gone crazy. I’ve been curious, for a long time, to know what I would look like bald. I’ve had generic ’short back and sides’ hair, I’ve had flat tops, I’ve had long hair and pony tails. I’d never been bald - until now!

A couple of months ago I started thinking seriously about it and asked my wife if she’d mind. She wasn’t crazy about the idea but said it was fine by her. I figured I would wait until June, because I could let it grow out over vacation if I didn’t like it. June arrived, and it brought razors.

It has been interesting seeing how people react. For a number of them, it’s been inspiring. Even if they don’t like the look, they like the fact that I was willing and able to do something bold. The more traditionally ‘macho’ guys I know keep talking about my having ‘the guts’ to do it.

The funny thing is that it wasn’t a big deal and I really didn’t think about it that much. I knew that people would react positively and negatively and some would just laugh. I looked forward to the banter. But mostly, I just wanted to know what it would look like so I did it. (Anyway, the worst that would happen is people might laugh - and that happens anyway!)

It’s been a week. I’m slowly getting used to the reflection in the mirror. It looks much better than I had expected.

The maintenance is pretty high. I have to shave my whole head every 2 days because it grows back so fast. Great big lumpy heads are challenging to shave.

I’m going to keep it going until July 11th and then let the flat top grow back in. My wife said that she wouldn’t mind at all if it grew back in!

Hope you get a kick out of the picture,

The Go-To Guy

A few years back I worked as co-producer and director of photography on an indie film called Under Surveillance, directed by Dave Campfield. He just let me know that it will be an opening night feature presentation at the Long Island Internationl Film Expo. Show time is 7pm on July 11, 2006.

There will be a short panel discussion after the movie and Dave and I will be speaking.

Come out and support the cause if you are in the area.

The Go-To Guy

On my indie filmmaking blog I posted an article reviewing my new Porter Case camera case.

If you travel frequently with equipment and lots of bags, check out the review of this camera case that comes with a built in hand-truck.

I went through the e-books I’ve collected over the past couple years and pulled together all of the ones that give permission to re-distribute. I put them all on the site today for you to download.

They’re mostly about sales and marketing online. If you come across any books that you think should go on the pile, send them to me and I’ll put them online.

Enjoy,

The Go-To Guy

I just posted a new article on calibrating color for home theaters on www.ColossalTV.com.

Check out the Calibrating Color article and let me know what you think.

The Go-To Guy