Thanks, Rob, for another great behind-the-scenes piece.

Thank you Liz for the information and the follow-up.

http://www.gianninicreative.com/about/accolades/

That wonderful CC print campaign, I’d imagine, was a really expensive production, as far as print shoots go. Because of everything that had to be orchestrated to pull that campaign off effectively, you bet your ass I’d want a treatment process from the pool of potential candidates. Too much is at stake and on the line and the AD/CD is gonna catch it if it all goes bad.

Are print treatments always required? No, I don’t think so. But the amount of trust and faith put into a photographer to pull off something like the CC campaign is tested at the treatment stage: if a shooter, when presented with the challenge like this one, doesn’t agree to a treatment process, it allows the creative dept. to make some swift decisions in the award stage…

That campaign was killer. When I saw the first ad – it made me smile, it was done so well… great images, great copy….. Bra- freakin-Vo!

One thing this interview further reinforces is that the creative team put a great deal of thought and effort into the concept long before they discuss it with a photographer. I have often heard from advertising professionals that the “pitch” is the big start, and it is usually done without compensation, much like a photographer doing “spec” work; definitely a bad idea, but I can understand how the agency wants a fairly good explanation of an approach prior to making a decision. Agencies do put out a “pitch” for a client, and end up not landing a project or account.

In all fairness, I suppose photographers could follow that lead, but not without sticking firm to our fees and rights. I would never do “spec” work, but I have no problem writing a creative approach into my Proposals. The agencies might have much to lose, but they need to understand that we also have much to lose.

One thing we could do is to have a recording system for our Proposals (or Treatments) to cover our creative ideas. Much like screenwriters cover their ideas to prevent someone using an idea without hiring them, there may be a way for photographers to create a system that would minimize potential abuse of ideas. Legal and/or monetary implications of “borrowing” ideas would limit using the ideas of photographer X while hiring photographer Y. Perhaps APA or ASMP can create something to address this.

Every time Liz stated something that had me saying “what?!?” , you did me the favor of immediately addressing the question. great interview!

this has happened to me where talks and even a pre production meeting on how i would handle and produce the job led to losing it . i heard later the agency did what i had said and how i would have produced it with someone else. how do we protect ourselves from this?
thanks again

jonathan

On about 25% of conference calls I’ve been on, it is difficult to hear, even from a land line. (And At times, Art Directors have thick accents that make it even more difficult to hear. NEVER take a conference call on a cell phone, unless you have to!) But I have to say that perhaps I’ve lost a job or two because of the crappy conference call connection. ( I don’t think it would be any better if I had them call back because it seemed to me it was the phone on the table and the acoustics in the room.)

Finally, about 25% of the time on my estimates, Art Buyers never called me or my rep back to tell us anything about the job. It is always, “Hurry up, we need the estimate by 10 tomorrow morning.” And then after a week we hear nothing. Often times, my family would ask me everyday, have you heard from the AB? “No.” Family: “Are we still going to visit your family in Idaho or should we cancel the flights?” Me: I don’t know. Lets wait another day and see if my rep hears from the AB. Until we just give up and go…. and hope we don’t get a last minute phone call. Or maybe we do hope we get a last minute phone call.

I agree Bob. In fact, on my last job, the agency wanted to hold us to every single line item. That’s OK, if everything isn’t cut to the bare minimum to begin with, but it is difficult to keep every single number from going over. On the other hand, if I was under in one category the agency wouldn’t allow me to move money from, for example, “Food Stylist” to “Wardrobe Stylist.

Its just another advertising agencies way of exploiting the artists and profiteering.

Its sad.

Australia.

“I’ve always said any magazine out there could be put out with half the staff if you simply eliminated the second guessing and decision by committee.”

Amen to that. I have lost count of how many magazines that I have worked on or for, but that decision making by committee is everywhere. It’s a risk avoidant behavior that spreads the blame and chips all the edges of off the work until it is safe enough for someone to say “let’s run with it.” In one place they called it “Putting on your underpants,” as in cover your ass.

The more likely a Creative Director or Photo Director or Editor is to be called into a spit flying post mortem over something inconsequential, the more likely they are to avoid or delay taking decisive creative action until forced to by circumstance or deadline.

With someone at the publisher’s level who appreciates and supports creative visual action, you could easily run a significant monthly magazine with half or less of the current staff on board. I know because I have designed the systems that can do it–if everyone shows up, makes their decisions, works as a real team, and delivers.

Rob, No, I don’t think the photographer should pick the opener.

I think the DOP should pick the opener, not the art director nor the managing editor (or heaven forbid the writer). In turn, I think the DOP should hire the photographer, give them either the finished words or whatever is available if the words are not finished, and let them run with the ball.

With this recipe, do you believe the photography would be stronger or weaker in each and every magazine that is currently published today?

The bottom line is this;

Whether it is for editorial or advertising, without great content there’s no reason for the viewer to take notice.

Yes, the Canadian Club campaign is a perfect example of great advertising content, but judging by most of the ads out there, it is also the exception, not the rule.

The current rule seems to favor mediocre images which fail to impress anyone, yet somehow are approved by committee. In the end, none of us reading this are needed to produce the 25% coupon.

Maybe that’s why I no longer get TIME magazine, yet the four color IGA grocery flyer continues to arrive each Wednesday without fail.

I should stay out of a discussion on treatments tho because I know nothing about it.

It is unfortunate if the agency creatives are being squeezed, why would that be an appropriate reason for the image creator to do more work for less return? Do the image creatives pay for the art, or does the client pay for the art?

The quintessential consideration for all sides is ROI. Does the energy, resources, and risk invested provide enough return, relative to other opportunities? One does not have to earn a living in these business to create art and meaning in their lives. This is true for the AB, AD, CD, & CW as well.

I appreciate the opportunity to read through this process, thank you both. It really doesn’t seem like much of the process has changed in the last dozen or so years (aside from flickr/amateur access). One exception, the *estimate*.

“We no longer work with 10 -15% variances allowed,”
If this is the case, it seems using the word “estimate” is actually a euphemism for the term: ‘bid’. (I don’t want to make the assumption the agency would cover overruns based on things like weather, travel delays etc).

I have been on both side of that phone call after I have done treatments. The “congratulation” calls are much better. I started to do these treatments only as way to express how I saw the production going. I know it is not for everyone, but I wanted the agency to feel confident about my execution of the project.

Thanks for the information Rob…Cheers!

For those that may not read Heather’s blog
http://www.heathermorton.ca/blog/?s=treatments