Discover Channel Tornado Special tonight

[Shane Adams]

No union needed...and it would never work anyway. We can't even agree on what a tornado is, let alone money.

Bottom line, shoot your video, and if you get something awesome, set your price and shop it. I've realized that if someone wants what you have, they're gonna pay your price for it. I think the biggest problem is a lot of chasers don't understand the cat-n-mouse games they play, and expect to get the deal they want right out of the bag. They get impatient and just give in. Remember, the most important weapon a seller has is not caring if they make a sale or not...but caring about their bottom line. A sale for anything less than what you want is worthless.

There will always be low-ballers. There will always be people who just give stuff away. That doesn't matter. If you have a quality product, they'll pay for it. If they don't, it's their loss, and your footage continues to be some of the best stuff the world has never seen. Selling's only good if you get your price.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

As it stands, I believe the current rate is somewhere from $35.00 to $75.00 per/second. I usually do not even try to "play" with these guys...

For those who thought they did a "good job" I am going to assume that you have not had a lot of dealings with production companies IMO. Just beacuse they did a good job getting the Fed X stuff straight (so they could get the video faster) does not mean they are honest, and most certainly does not mean that you are going to receive your check in the mail any sooner than the next guy. IMO this production company is worthless, dishonest and stole a whole lot of video from people, if not outright then they swindled it with the "our budget is only so big" speach. Anyone who has worked in the media, or has been in the chase community for a decent amout of time knows what I am talking about.
Lie after lie after lie is all I got! Before anyone asks....yes, I got paid, but what a mess to go through to get it.

As stated before, I thought they did a good job, and you are wrong to assume I have not had a lot of dealings with production compaines (5+ years). I sent them a screener, they told me what they wanted and they paid for it. They actually used less than what they said they were going to but I still got paid for what they originally said they would use. I quoted them a per-second price, it was never questioned (it was in the $35-$70/sec range), I was sent a release, and I got paid before the show aired. I had to call back twice after messages were left for me, and both times someone answered and got me in touch the the necessary person. To me, that's a good dealing. Sorry to hear others weren't as fortunate, but I've also heard a lot of good stories.

 

[Chris Wilburn]

No union needed...and it would never work anyway. We can't even agree on what a tornado is, let alone money.

Bottom line, shoot your video, and if you get something awesome, set your price and shop it. I've realized that if someone wants what you have, they're gonna pay your price for it. I think the biggest problem is a lot of chasers don't understand the cat-n-mouse games they play, and expect to get the deal they want right out of the bag. They get impatient and just give in. Remember, the most important weapon a seller has is not caring if they make a sale or not...but caring about their bottom line. A sale for anything less than what you want is worthless.

There will always be low-ballers. There will always be people who just give stuff away. That doesn't matter. If you have a quality product, they'll pay for it. If they don't, it's their loss, and your footage continues to be some of the best stuff the world has never seen. Selling's only good if you get your price.

Shane is giving very good advice here. This was the first time I sold video, but I did research and got what I believe was a fair price. Shane you are 100% correct when you mention the biggest weapon is not caring if you make the sale or not. You are not going to get rich and most of time on these shows nobody even knows its your video (or even cares) except for some close chase buddies and friends. Bottom line if you feel you are not getting fair value for your video do not make the sale. I know is hard for the new chaser that wants to say his video made tv, but just try to get fair value.

This is the only production company I have ever dealt with, but I am sure most of them try to low ball. Do not fall for it or even hesitate to counter offer what you think is fair. Just for the record this company tried to low ball me at first and I didn't bite. I set a rate and told them I would not sell it for any less than that. They called back and accepted.

 

[Brian Stertz]

I was pretty much mortified how many facts were butchered...loved the Chickasaw OK location stamp. Nice piece of research & journalism there. I would be embarrassed to have a production with as many errors as this one had. I give it a B for tornado video and a D for factual documentary information. Aside from Mike Smith's good commentary, this show ranks right up there with Atomic Twister. Ughhh.

 

[Lanny Dean]

No union needed...and it would never work anyway. We can't even agree on what a tornado is, let alone money.

Bottom line, shoot your video, and if you get something awesome, set your price and shop it. I've realized that if someone wants what you have, they're gonna pay your price for it. I think the biggest problem is a lot of chasers don't understand the cat-n-mouse games they play, and expect to get the deal they want right out of the bag. They get impatient and just give in. Remember, the most important weapon a seller has is not caring if they make a sale or not...but caring about their bottom line. A sale for anything less than what you want is worthless.

There will always be low-ballers. There will always be people who just give stuff away. That doesn't matter. If you have a quality product, they'll pay for it. If they don't, it's their loss, and your footage continues to be some of the best stuff the world has never seen. Selling's only good if you get your price.

I vote for a union and I vote that Shane should be our union Rep.
Anybody feel the same?
Maybe I should start a new thread about this, really, The Stormchasers Union thread....any ideas? Some may think I am kidding but with the stupidity of these production companies it just may not be a bad idea after all. This of course could only happen after "we" decide on just what constitues what a tornado really is.

 

[PeteMcConnell]

From what I've heard (and from my experience) they were very good at getting release forms to everyone and were a very courteous company to work with. Surprisingly, they took my first offer for a per second rate, which I thought was even a bit high considering most of what I sold them was from '03-'05.

I wouldn't hesitate to work with Cheri Sundae Productions again, everything was smooth top to bottom.

That's good to know Scott. It never hurts to get some of your gas money back for all of your hard work. I'm eager to see what the 2009 chase season will bring. More importantly, I'm eager to see if my photography skills will improve significantly as well.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

The "full force nature" type of editing done to this show made me want to puke. Showing tornadoes that do not illustrate what the hell they are talking about finished it off for me. Show was rather pathetic, but that's the norm anymore on these things. They should title them "How to ruin great video".

 

[Bill Hark]

With the exception that National Geographic special on tornadoes with Tim Samaras and episodes of the Storm Chasers series from Discovery Channel, I rarely rewatch tornado shows even though I have taped most of them over the years. Instead, I like to rewatch the Storms of XXX series that is by chasers and aimed at chasers along with other chaser's highlights DVDs that I have purchased over the years. Of course, nothing beats watching my own storm chase videos and reliving those experiences.

BTW, I am not bothering to record to DVD this most recent show. I already bought Jeff P's May 3 compilation years ago and I'd rather watch that again.

Bill Hark

 

[Ian Contreras]

I could've sworn they mentioned (when the Kansas overpass vid was shown) that "this is what it is like to go through an EF-5 twister" or some crap like that....

Did anyone else catch that or am I imagining something?

 

[Marc Austin]

They probably did. It wouldn't surprise me. Given that the storm had produced an F-5 tornado earlier in it's life, they probably felt that their assumption and "hype" was justified. That tornado didn't even actually hit those people dead on! I do remember them saying something like, "They escaped the wrath of the tornado, but the danger isn't over yet" and they implied that another tornado was coming or that it was coming back toward them after the tornado had already cleared the overpass. It was so stupid! I know the Discovery Channel has done some good tornado specials in the past, but lately, they really suck.

 

[Mike Smith]

That tornado didn't even actually hit those people dead on! I do remember them saying something like, "They escaped the wrath of the tornado, but the danger isn't over yet" and they implied that another tornado was coming or that it was coming back toward them after the tornado had already cleared the overpass.

The tornado did hit them. The center of the tornado was just east of where the five people were tucked under the overpass. Had someone been looking from several hundred yards away, Gregg, Ted and the others' location would have been within funnel's diameter.

After the tornado passes and they begin to emerge from the underpass, the rear flank downdraft hits them and Gregg Jarrett says, "here comes another one" or words to that effect. That was not added by Cheri Sundae or the Discovery Channel. Keep in mind that Gregg and Ted were not meteorologists and were reacting to the pressure of the moment.

Mike

 

[Marc Austin]

The tornado did hit them. The center of the tornado was just east of where the five people were tucked under the overpass. Had someone been looking from several hundred yards away, Gregg, Ted and the others' location would have been within funnel's diameter.

After the tornado passes and they begin to emerge from the underpass, the rear flank downdraft hits them and Gregg Jarrett says, "here comes another one" or words to that effect. That was not added by Cheri Sundae or the Discovery Channel. Keep in mind that Gregg and Ted were not meteorologists and were reacting to the pressure of the moment.

Mike

Mike, given the information you provided, they "technically" weren't hit directly by the tornado, which is what I said, and what the video seemed to suggest. Don't get me wrong, they were much closer than I would ever want to be, in the outskirts of the funnel, and they were certainly in a life-threatening situation. I don't mean to downplay the situation. I was also apparently mistaken on how the situation was portrayed. I thought I heard Cheri Sundae echo what Gregg and Ted said by adding "the danger isn't over yet." Given what they knew, I suppose that was legitimate as they probably don't have a grasp for the anatomy of a tornadic storm. You apparently know or know of these two men and I didn't mean to question their judgement. I'm sure I would have reacted similarly in the scenario, and I do have a degree in meteorology. I wasn't criticizing the two men, I was making fun of the video, which still, in my opinion, sucked.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Mike, given the information you provided, they "technically" weren't hit directly by the tornado, which is what I said, and what the video seemed to suggest. .

But they were "technically" directly hit by the tornado. A tornado is a rotating column of air and they were within the rotating column of air. Just because they weren't within the condensation funnel does not mean they weren't within the circulation of the tornado.

 

[Jason Young]

How did ya'll like them acting like the Kingfisher, OK. Tornado shot by a normal chopper , not Kwtv . Very funny

 

[Marc Austin]

But they were "technically" directly hit by the tornado. A tornado is a rotating column of air and they were within the rotating column of air. Just because they weren't within the condensation funnel does not mean they weren't within the circulation of the tornado.

Well that's exactly what I mean. They were not within the condensation funnel. I will be more clear next time. Either way, I don't really want to debate whether or not that crew was hit by a tornado. I personally would agree that the tornado hit them, this is why I put the word, "technically", in quotation marks. I was being anal retentive. In any case, it's old video. Great video, but old and it's been overused and played to death! Anyway, the show still sucked. No organization, confusion of dates, and the list goes on...