You’re Only As Good As Your Word

30 June 2019|CONTRACTING, PRE-PRODUCTION

By Ramsey Pietro Nasser in London, United Kingdom

I have to admit — I’m feeling a little let down by two people whom I hired to film an event this week. Thankfully, I’ve found stand-ins just in time

I think it’s really important to be as good as your word. Your word has a credit value. If you break it, sometimes it cannot be repaired; and a reputation can take years to fix

When hiring, a degree of formality goes a long way — but at the same time, you must break the ice

Getting to know a candidate; clear communication; planning; telephone run throughs and face-to-face meetings, with a record of agreed key points, helps avoid misunderstandings on the day

Time spent pre-producing is all about brokering a contract and pre-managing the production so that nothing can go wrong. As the production gets bigger, so do contracts, and so does the task of managing the production

There are some tremendously skilled people out there who are specialists in every field. In smaller productions, though, the filmmaker does everything, and is essentially a one-man band

What’s a contract? A contract is an agreement between two parties or individuals. Interestingly, ink is only needed to record a meeting of minds

As is well known, there are people whose word cannot be trusted! Whatever their circumstance — some just cannot deliver on the day, whilst others even go to the length of misrepresenting their skills and services.

In civil law, breaking your word is known as a tort.

A County Court judgement against the tortfeasor is a record of a serious offence; it would have an immediate and deleterious effect on your ability to obtain credit.

At the moment, I’m building a team of production professionals whom I know I can trust #contractlaw #productionmanagement