I was emailing clients wrong for 2 years until a producer called me out

I had this habit where I'd send a quick email after a shoot saying 'got the footage, will edit it soon.' Nothing rude but just short and to the point. Well last month a producer I work with in Chicago called me after a job and said 'hey your emails make me nervous, you never say what the next step is.' I was like what? He said it sounds like I'm disappearing into a black hole with their project. That hit me hard because I thought being brief was being professional. So now I write out exactly when they can expect a first cut and what I'm doing first in the edit. Has anyone else had a similar wake up call about simple communication stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowanr8815d ago

Wait, was he expecting me to include a spreadsheet and a carrier pigeon with tracking updates too? Honestly I get it now though. I used to think 'will send draft soon' was fine until a producer told me they assumed I meant 'sometime next fiscal year.' Now I literally write 'I will have a first draft to you by Wednesday at 3pm' and apparently that makes me look like some kind of editing wizard. It is wild how a few extra words can save everyone from that 'is this guy dead or just slow' anxiety.

the_cameron15d ago

Did the producer say specifically which part of your short emails made him worry the most?

jamesc7914d ago

The Chicago producer actually broke it down really simple for me. He said my emails basically read like I was trying to ghost the project without actually ghosting it. That's when it clicked for me because I used to think being short meant being sharp and professional, but really I was just being vague and worry-inducing. Now I'll even throw in a dumb joke sometimes like "I'm currently wrestling this footage into submission and should have a first cut by Thursday noonish" and people love it. It's amazing how saying something as simple as "Tuesday at 2pm" makes producers think you're some kind of editing savant when really you just spelled out the obvious.