Clients and revisions - don't you love them?

[Chris_TC]

My client sent me a storyboard. I spent a day putting together a complex animatic based on this storyboard and sent it to him. He tells me that it looks good and that the direction is great. He will only need a few changes.

He sends me a few small changes. No problem.
2 hours later he sends a few more changes. No big deal, these are the kinds of small revisions that are to be expected.

This morning he sends me a PDF file with more changes. It's one page long, and the descriptions don't match the original storyboard at all. As in, every single shot is now different. I get to redo the whole thing. Of course it's a fixed price project, so I'll have to gently let him know that 90% of the work I did is now useless.

[Maximus]

I share your pain, happens to me all the time ;D
One solution would be to produce a really raw preview so you dont invest much time into making the first step, but i understand there arent many clients that like a raw preview!

[Zafar Iqbal]

Can be annoying, indeed - if the changes differ too much then I let my clients know about it, and expect new fee negotiations. If it happens in the middle of a project, then it's going to cost them on top of what was agreed upon, but it's something the client again and again needs to be reminded about.

Maximus: Previews can be a battle in themselfs since many clients have a problem with looking at something that isnt entirely finished.

[Hirazi Blue]

Couldn't a visit to your friendly neighborhood lawyer to draw up some legal document to elaborate the rights of both parties at such a stage of the project help (a little) in the future?

[Memag]

Problems with communication are annoying ,at least.
I recently had to re-do the job three times, totally different style for every revision.
Samples and previews were all "spot-on", in their respectful moment in time.
Lack of vision, sanity, artistic experience, consistency and looong hierarchy of editors and "experts" can be a living hell.
I feel your pain, and still cope with mine.

[mixepix]

I feel you! I do a lot of TV-show Openings where I first have to work against the production company that produces the show, and then when I think that everything is approved some network executive suddenly appears and changes everything. It is always such pain, especially when you like the the first version better than the final.