GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - The Vendor Client Relationship In Real Life (video)

I was doing an animation for a huge client, and the length went from 2 minutes(in the contract), to 3 minutes. Because I got very busy, I never had an in depth discussion with the producer(who I have an excellent relationship with) until the job had already spiraled out of control.

When I finally got around to discussing the extra payment, here's how the conversation went:

Me: "I don't want to nickel and dime you or anything, but the contract was for 2 minutes, and I've basically stayed up all night for 2 weeks to get your extra minute done. I'm going to add another 50% to the price."

Producer: "It's a little too late for that."

Me: "how so?"

Producer: "We need to get the budget solidified early in the project. To get you more money, that means we have to go back to the client -- and I can tell my boss that."

Here's where shit gets dicey, and I have to walk the line between getting the money I deserve, and not losing a client.

Me:"I can't really be concerned with the politics of how you budget for projects. There's the fact that I did 50% more work, so I need that much more money.($5000)"

Producer: " I think in the budget, there's about half of that I can give you.($2500)"

Me: "So you guys write extra script and expect me to eat the cost of producing it? You're a multimillion dollar corporation."

Producer: "Things are tight here."

Me: "You probably spend $5K on bagels and coffee in a day."

Producer: "I'll go back to my boss, and see if he can get you the whole $5k."

Me: "just tell him this....he might think he's saving $2500, but it'll be the a very expensive 2500. The next time you come to me to one of these videos, I'll probably say I'm busy because I'll be thinking about the $2500 I was shorted. You'll go to a big studio and pay 5 times what I charge for the same thing, or worse."

I got my extra $5k, but I learned a valuable lesson in making sure you take care of business before you do the actual work.

I know it's not a lot of money, but principles can be a bitch. It was making me lose sleep getting punked like that.