I get asked this a lot when I take my Mk1 along to shoots and it never ceases to surprise me. Why on earth should I get paid? To me it indicates a rather naive view of how the world, and the PR/marketing world in particular, works. Let me explain. Consider what I get out of it. 1. Proper film/photo of my car, effectively given free to me, way beyond the quality that any of us can generate with amateur gear. These folks always send a private copy for participants use, quite often with outtakes and pre-edited scenes. So you get quite a bit of footage. 2. A fun day out with other owners, chance to meet the personalities in the scene, mucking about on an airfield. This is always a laugh and there is always an opportunity for you to be photographed with your favourite presenter etc. 3. A chance for your car to be seen by potentially millions of readers/viewers, whilst in a favourable situation and an interesting location. Show me somebody who doesn't get a kick out of that, and I'll show you somebody who isn't an enthusiast. As individual owners, we simply aren't in a position to demand a 'cut'. Why? Read on. Yes, these videos are made for profit, otherwise they wouldn't get made, but the economics aren't that impressive. Any given individual owners contributions aren't that important either, and certainly don't justify a fee. Hiring the airfield, photographers, insurance, safety crew etc is incredibly expensive and has to be paid upfront before any video/DVD sales are incurred. This means you minimise expenditure where ever possible. Infact, you could probably buy all of the Golfs in this shoot for the same cost as the liability insurance and airfield hiring. No cars like these, even a pristine Mk1 Golf GTI, are at a stage where they are rare enough to demand a fee for exhibition. If you've got a totally unique car, and it is worth 100k or so, then maybe, otherwise forget it. If the producers can't get a 'free' one they will move on to someone else unless the car is essential to the theme - which it never is. In this case, if the GTI feature became too expensive to film they would drop it and do something ghastly like a Saxo one instead. Even if you could get a 'cut' you would never be able to negotiate a percentage of the profits as these are negotiated way in advance of the video being planned. As far as the business types go, you're just an oik with a cheap old hatchback. "And who are you, exactly? Is the inclusion of your car going to drive more video sales then? What makes your red golf better than somebody elses red golf?" Nobody, no and nothing. You'd be kicked out in seconds. What is the point of this video? To make a fun video for the enjoyment of car fans? Not really, it's the Jeremy Clarkson PR vehicle first and the individual manufacturers or OEM parts suppliers marketing machine second. How much could you charge if you really felt so inclined? Not much... As an example, if you spend a couple of days writing an article for a magazine, the most you can expect would be around 200 for your trouble, that's 14 hours of hard work, not to mention research and proofing. It's hard being a freelance writer. By contrast, these shoots are mostly standing around and a short bit of driving followed by a couple of interviews. (Most people are really bad at this too). Tops 15-30 mins of which only 1-2 mins actually gets used. If you work this out the fee you could justifiably charge would be about 0.24. Not to mention there are loads of people who would pay to get their cars on telly! Personally I think contributing to an car video, having a blast with other owners and meeting JC and the like is probably worth 24 pence. You might have a different view of course... Cheers, Drew. Edited by: drew
