Crew Connection

In the past, we’ve talked about how to use filters to find media pros that meet your project needs and how to reach out to them. Once you’ve found a good fit for your project and are ready to move forward, all you need is an estimate. Today we’ll show you just how easy that is with CrewCloud.

Once you’ve chosen which one of CrewCloud’s vetted media pros you want to work with, hit the Contact Crew button in the upper right section of their company profile.

A form will pop up where you can include your project details. If you don’t have it all worked out yet, don’t worry. Only the Subject and Message sections are required for you to send the form.

Our media pros are flexible, but it helps them know if they’re a good fit for your project when they have an idea of what you’re looking for. So if your details are indeed fuzzy, the Message section offers a great opportunity to explain more about your creative vision.  Include whatever you can: the type of project (there’s a big difference between a corporate interview and a sporting event!), the general location, the timeframe, and any and all gear you might need.

Don’t forget to point out any unique aspects of your shoot. Do you have existing footage that this shoot needs to match? Do you need a makeup artist who does great zombie effects? Let your crew know!

The more details you can provide, the better. You never know—your media pro might even be able to help you catch any gear or do any planning you may have overlooked.

As soon as you send your message, the media pro will get a notification. You will get one in return (get a refresher on setting up notifications here!) when your message is answered. Visit your messages tab any time to view all of your correspondence. Unread conversations will show up bolded.

While you’re reading your messages, you’ll notice two buttons to the left that allow you to add a coordinator to the conversation or request an estimate.

Add a coordinator to the conversation if you need help negotiating costs or have any questions. Use the “Request an Estimate” button to send a notification that you’re ready for an estimate to be drawn up based on your conversation. You can also simply shoot the media pro a message asking that an estimate be created.  You’ll get a notification when the estimate is ready to view.

We’re always working to improve CrewCloud and make the estimation and messaging process as simple as possible. The benefits of using CrewCloud are numerous, but perhaps the largest in this instance is the ability to keep a digital trail of your crewing history. If a conversation is taken outside of CrewCloud, we won’t be able to help with any miscommunications nor will we be able to make your job easier as your only approved vendor with a unique 30-day payment guarantee. 

[Tweet “Project estimates are easier with CrewCloud. See for yourself. #media #video #videoprod”]

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post-production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign In to Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

So your estimate just got accepted? Congrats! An accepted estimate means your project has a green light. You’re ready to roll. You’re good to go. You get the idea. (What’s that? You don’t know how to create an estimate?! Learn how here!)

As soon as you receive a notification (get a refresher on setting up notifications here!) that your estimate has been accepted, it will automatically be converted into a project. You can find that in, you guessed it, your Projects tab in Crew Connection. Your next step should be touching base with your client and crew to make sure all the final details are ironed out.

What we want to dig into today is what to do if your project is rejected. Here’s how to handle a rejected estimate in a prompt and professional way.

First of all, the client will have to use Crew Connection to formally reject an estimate. Just like you, clients get busy. If it’s been a while since you’ve heard back on an estimate, send them a friendly Crew Connection message to remind them to either reject or accept your estimate so that things can move forward! Feel free to discuss changes with the client in Crew Connection, but unless they actually reject the estimate, you can’t make any edits.

If a client does reject your estimate, you’ll get a notification. Crew Connection requires the client to leave a reason why the project was rejected. If the project is simply canceled, you don’t have to do anything. If it’s something else—like a changed date, additional gear, a new location, etc.—you’ll need to edit the estimate to reflect the client’s request.

If you need a refresher on editing or creating an estimate, check out our tutorial here. Once you’ve made the client’s requested changes, you have to submit the estimate again so that the client can see it.

Crew Connection‘s smart estimates and messaging make it easy to get your project started. Sign up for free in just minutes. Read our full tips and tricks series here to improve your productivity and book more jobs.

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post-production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign Up on Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

Busy? Of course you are. But stressed? You don’t have to be. We’ve been in the video production and live events industry for decades and we know exactly how much you have on your plate. That’s why Crew Connection keeps you on the ball with text and email notifications.

Be Less Busy

On the road a lot? Waiting to hear back on messages you’ve sent out to several crews? Whether you’re crewing several shoots a week or running a growing media department, you don’t have time to sit around and wait on project updates. Cut through the chaos and never miss another important message or estimate with Crew Connection notifications.

Beat Them to The Draw

Look, you’re great and all—but you’re not the only client courting a top-notch crew for your next video production or live event. Get your projects off the ground while your competitors are still checking their voicemails by signing up for notifications on Crew Connection.

Pick Your Flavor

You will receive a notification when a crew responds to a message, a crew submits an estimate, an estimate is resubmitted, or a project turns back into an estimate because changes need to be made.

In Crew Connection, you’re able to denote whether you’d like to receive text notifications, email notifications, or both. Email notifications will be sent to the email address you used to create your Crew Connection account unless you choose to change it. At this time, we aren’t able to send notifications to multiple phone numbers or email addresses.

Here’s How:

1. Sign up as a client or log in to your profile on Crew Connection.

2. You’ll land on your My Account page. Click on Notifications in the left sidebar under Client Account Details.

3. On your Notifications page, check the boxes next to Email and Text Messages and enter your info where you want to receive notifications. 

4. Click the blue Save button to start receiving Crew Connection notifications!

If you need any help turning on your notifications or just have questions, contact our crew coordinators today.

Not signed up for Crew Connection? What are you waiting for—sign up for free today! Check out our full tips and tricks series here and get back to the creative work you love.

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign Up on Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

Crew Connection gives you an avenue to talk shop before you or your client have to commit to anything—which is a great opportunity. But with great opportunity comes great responsibility! Here are a few tips to remember when you’re using Crew Connection’s messaging system to nail down the details, tweak your cost estimates, and kick off another great project.

Consider Your Audience

Sometimes the convenience of Crew Connection‘s messaging system makes it easy to forget you’re chatting with a potential client. Remember to keep it professional when you’re sending messages back and forth. If you need to add a crew coordinator to the conversation to answer any questions, just use the Add A Coordinator button on the left side of your screen.

Quick Turnaround is Key

Because clients are able to contact you directly, it’s important to keep your response time quick so you don’t miss out on any exciting opportunities. Set up your Crew Connection notifications and you’ll know when a client responds to a message or requests an estimate, an estimate is accepted or rejected, or a coordinator starts an estimate for you.

Built For Ease

When it comes to messages, response time and professionalism are important—but what you say is even more important.

We understand that approximating costs is part of the job when you’re discussing a new opportunity with a client. However, clients aren’t always aware of all of the nuances that go into creating an accurate final estimate. We recommend using the estimates tab of your company profile even when drawing up a rough outline of the cost. Our estimates are set up to automatically calculate Crew Connection’s commission so you don’t end up over-promising and under-delivering. It’s also easier to use an estimate to keep track of gear and services as the project details change.

Like most professional media matchmaking services, Crew Connection collects a commission, or “finder’s fee,” from our crews. Because our services come at no cost to our (and your) clients, we remain discreet about this fee when speaking directly to clients. We expect our crews to do the same.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Our messaging system is a means to an end: coming to an agreement about the details so a project can begin. Simply quoting the project cost in Crew Connection’s messaging system is not enough to start a project. You must make an estimate in the estimates tab and it must be accepted by the client before a project can begin.

You will know the client is ready for a formal estimate when the messaging system prompts you to create an estimate. You will also get a notification. If one of our coordinators notices that an estimate request has been sitting unanswered for a while, they’ll often jump in to start the estimate and send you a reminder to fill out the details.

Messaging on Crew Connection makes kicking off new projects a breeze. There’s no need to wait, you can sign up for free today in just minutes. Read our full tips and tricks series here to improve your productivity and book more jobs.

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post-production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign Up on Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

As a media pro on the go, the last thing you have time for is sitting around waiting for news on the projects you’re juggling. After almost three decades in the video production industry, we know exactly how hectic it can get. That’s why we baked email and text message notifications right into your CrewCloud company profile. Just turn ’em on and never miss an opportunity again.

Keep Up With Demand

Slow season? There’s no better time to get alerted the second a potential client reaches out about an exciting new project. Better yet, in busy seasons, CrewCloud notifications will cut through the chaos. If a client requests an updated estimate or sends you a message, you’ll always be in the know.

Beat Your Competition

Let’s face it, we live and work in a connected world. While it can very well mean more work for you, it can also mean that clients are able to easily move on to another crew the second they don’t hear back from you. Get the ball rolling on your next project quickly with an email or text message notification the minute a client reaches out to you.

Act Like a Professional

Connected world or not, communication sets professionals apart from amateurs. Even if you don’t have time to sit down and reply to a message about a new opportunity or update an estimate, quickly acknowledging a client’s message might be all they need to feel comfortable moving ahead with you on board.

Here’s How:

1. Sign up as a crew or log in to your company profile on CrewCloud.

2. You’ll land on your My Account page. Click on Notifications in the left sidebar under Crew Account Details.

3. On your Notifications page, check the boxes next to Email and Text Messages and enter your info where you want to receive notifications. 

4. After you click Save, use the View Profile button on the upper left corner of the sidebar to view your updated company profile.

If you need any help turning on your notifications or just have questions, contact our crew coordinators today.

Not signed up for CrewCloud? What are you waiting for—sign up for free today! Check out our full tips and tricks series here to learn how you can book even more projects on CrewCloud.

If you’ve been following our series of Crew Connection tips and tricks, your company profile should be in pretty good shape by now. We’ve covered how to add photos, upload a demo reel, update your content, choose your local locations, and provide proof of insurance to book more work on Crew Connection. Today, we’re going to put you another step ahead of your competition by showing off the goods and gear you bring to the table.

Services

Crew Connection gives you over 40 services to choose from when you’re filling out your company profile—so take advantage of them! This is a great opportunity to show your range of skills without having to clutter up your Our History section with a long list of services.

Offer both in-house and onsite editing? Check them off! Are you a drone crew? Don’t forget to add that to your list of services! Clients are able to filter their searches by services, so review the list carefully to ensure you’ve selected everything you offer.

Specialties

The specialty field gives you a chance to tell clients what you’re really good at and what kind of gigs you prefer. Your specialties give clients context on how you use the services you have listed.

If you love working on fast-paced reality TV productions and live sports events, include that in your specialties. If you offer hair and makeup services, let clients know that runway shows are your bread and butter.

Cameras

This part of your company profile is probably pretty self-explanatory. List those cameras!

Be sure to only select cameras that you either possess or are able to rent easily. Clients are able to filter their searches by camera type and are typically looking for a crew who can come prepared with that camera and no surprises, so be sure to discuss any rental fees beforehand.

Equipment List

Your equipment list is another area where you can let your imagination run wild! Clients can’t search for by your equipment, but it will give them insight into your depth of skills and experience when they visit your company profile. Instead of just repeating the services, specialties, and cameras you’ve already listed—think outside of the box. Name your state-of-the-art audio and video editing software, your still photography lenses, your cool drone doodads, and more.

Remember here that if your equipment list is so long or confusing that you can’t even read through it—neither will clients.

Here’s How:

1. Sign up as a crew or log in to your company profile on Crew Connection.

2. You’ll land on your My Account page. Click on Company Details in the left sidebar under Crew Profile.

3. On your Company Details page, you’ll see sections titled Services, Specialties, Cameras and Equipment History. Check or fill out each section appropriately.

4. After you scroll down and click Save, use the View Profile button on the upper left corner of the sidebar to view your updated company profile.

See—it’s easy! If you need any help updating your company profile or just have questions, contact our crew coordinators today.

Not signed up for Crew Connection yet? What are you waiting for—sign up for free today! Trying to find even more work on Crew Connection? Check out our full tips and tricks series here.

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post-production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign Up on Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

Next time you use Crew Connection to search for the perfect media professionals for your project, pay special attention to the results that show up. For our most popular locations, you’ll notice that the top several results have a yellow banner in the top left corner that says “featured.” These are some of our best crews.

Featured Crews

While each and every media professional on Crew Connection has been vetted and meets our high standard of quality, our featured crews have proven themselves as leaders in their industry. Crews with this designation have a long work history with Crew Connection, get consistently great feedback, and have hit a number of other benchmarks. Featured status can’t be bought. Our featured crews have proven that they can handle themselves professionally and we’re so confident in them that we’ve given them our stamp of approval!

So next time you’re using Crew Connection to find a makeup artist in Mumbai, a DP in Denver, or a drone operator in Dublin; book a featured crew and make your job easier.

Know a busy media manager who needs to book shoots with efficiency and speed? Tell them to sign up for Crew Connection today and check out our series of tips and tricks for clients!  

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a world of video service providers at your fingertips. In just a few clicks you can search, chat with, and book vetted crews local to your shoot—all on your own schedule. Rely on Crew Connection’s team of media experts to organize the crews and gear you need for multi-day and multi-location video projects anywhere in the world. Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock if you ever need live assistance. Visit CrewConnection.com, call us at 303-526-4900, or shoot us an email at info@crewconnection.com.

Just like most companies, Crew Connection requires its independent contractors to carry insurance. We don’t do it because we just love paperwork; we do it because it helps our clients and freelance media professionals pull off the best projects possible.

Uploading your proof of insurance to Crew Connection not only protects you, your crew, and your project—it makes you more desirable to clients. 

Protection for You and Your Project

More and more often, clients come to us looking for media professionals who have both general liability and worker’s compensation insurance. When a freelance media professional on set doesn’t have coverage, it puts everyone involved at risk of costly audits and potential lawsuits. When you’re tied up in a legal battle or struggling to pay fines, it’s really hard to pull off a flawless shoot. Requiring certificates of insurance doesn’t only protect us, it protects our clients and crews, too. 

The Independent Contractor Agreement that you accept when you sign up for Crew Connection states that contractors must carry “Commercial General Liability Insurance (including, but not limited to, premises-operations, broad form property damage, products/completed operations, contractual liability, independent Suppliers, personal injury)” and “Workers’ Compensation insurance as required by Statute, and Employer’s Liability insurance.”

If you don’t think you’re required to carry worker’s compensation insurance, give us a call anytime at 303-526-4900 or contact us to talk through the details. If you choose not to upload any proof of worker’s compensation, clients won’t be able to contact you on Crew Connection without first going through a coordinator.

Making Yourself More Marketable

Every day, clients use Crew Connection’s filters to search for media professionals who carry the general liability and workers’ compensation insurance they require. Don’t let your competitors beat you to the booking just because of insurance coverage.

Luckily for you, Crew Connection makes proving your insurance coverage easy. All you have to do is upload your paperwork to the Professional Documents section of your company profile. Now your coverage will show up under Insurance Type in the Our History section of your company profile. Keep reading for step-by-step instructions on uploading your insurance documents on Crew Connection.

Please note that we aren’t able to book Crew Connection crews who have expired insurance. In order to prevent missing out on any projects, please remember to update your certificates of insurance on Crew Connection before they expire.

Not signed up for Crew Connection yet? What are you waiting for—it’s easy! Looking for more tips and trips for getting more bookings on Crew Connection? Check out our full advice series here.

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post-production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign Up on Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.