Always have a contract, I'll never work without one.
A long time ago, I had an incredibly difficult client that I shot a corporate for, who wanted almost everything changed.
I said fine, I can do all the things you requested, but it will mean an extra: 2x days re-shoot at $600/day and x amount of hours in post at $100/hr.
They very quickly came around and thought that the original edit was 'great'.
You really just need to be up-front. Sometimes it's difficult as a creative to be a good business person, but when you're doing corporate stuff especially that's what you need to be. I used to over-quote, then over-deliver and come in slightly under budget, so it always seems like the client's getting a good deal. I always used to try my hardest to do what they wanted, and then only bring in 'extra charges' if their requests started getting ridiculous (like one client who asked me to change the background in one shot because it was too green, or another that asked me to re-shoot one interview because the people in the background were too ethnic..).
It's important to have something in writing that you can refer back to. When the client starts screaming at you because 'that's not what we wanted at all!' then you can refer back to the initial contract and say well actually, this is what we agreed upon.
A long time ago, I had an incredibly difficult client that I shot a corporate for, who wanted almost everything changed.
I said fine, I can do all the things you requested, but it will mean an extra: 2x days re-shoot at $600/day and x amount of hours in post at $100/hr.
They very quickly came around and thought that the original edit was 'great'.
You really just need to be up-front. Sometimes it's difficult as a creative to be a good business person, but when you're doing corporate stuff especially that's what you need to be. I used to over-quote, then over-deliver and come in slightly under budget, so it always seems like the client's getting a good deal. I always used to try my hardest to do what they wanted, and then only bring in 'extra charges' if their requests started getting ridiculous (like one client who asked me to change the background in one shot because it was too green, or another that asked me to re-shoot one interview because the people in the background were too ethnic..).
It's important to have something in writing that you can refer back to. When the client starts screaming at you because 'that's not what we wanted at all!' then you can refer back to the initial contract and say well actually, this is what we agreed upon.
Savini was the person who got me interested in SFX in films, which lead me to film. I owe it to him for getting me interested in the art form/business at all.