What to do with disappointing tickling footage?

Hello everyone!

A week ago I did a shoot with a couple of models who were both attractive (I thought) and had nice enough feet. Preliminary tests indicated that they probably wouldn’t be particularly intense ticklees but suggested they might have decent potential if we found the right techniques. For some reason I was reasonably confident they would loosen up and get better after a warm-up period.

Unfortunately, when we proceeded with the actual shoot the results were rather disappointing. One girl wasn’t too bad, but her feet/toes were mostly sensitive to feathers (not very common in my personal experience), a situation that doesn’t lend itself to increasing a ticklee’s reactions by tickling harder. Digging in with fingers didn't really help much, and rougher tools like a comb or a hairbrush were useless. Even the feathers produced moderate, irregular results at best. An electric toothbrush to the toes did get her going a bit more at times, but not in a consistent manner. Not an ideal candidate, I'm afraid.

The second girl was even worse. While her squirming and expressions suggested the tickling was getting to her, her verbal reactions were generally limited to heavy breathing and the occasional light giggle. Her feet may have been fairly ticklish for all I know (it did seem like it), but she simply wasn’t the type of ticklee who laughs out loud.

It’s really too bad, not only because I was hoping they would offer a better show, but also because, having taken the plunge and officially agreed to do a shoot with them, I kind of found myself obligated to pay them for the services, even though I soon realized that the footage would be sub-par. I wish I had been able to determine right from the start that they didn't have what I needed, allowing me to compensate them for their trouble while avoiding a more expensive shoot.

So now I find myself with footage I’m very hesitant to process and release. I hate the thought of wasting money like that (especially when I could have saved it for a better shoot with different models), but at the same time I’m not really comfortable releasing clips that I know wouldn't be very good. I mean, I realize my models aren’t all super ticklish, but these two are clearly below average. I’m inclined to accept the loss and move on, working on better material instead of wasting time and effort on a lesser product. But I’m not 100% sure that’s the best solution.

I guess I could release the footage anyway and hope for the best. I could also offer a preview so people can get an idea what I’m talking about. Or I could simply release the footage as free clips. But somehow I don’t find any of these options very satisfying.

What do other producers do with footage they’re not entirely pleased with? I get the feeling a lot of it simply gets tossed away, never to be released. But some of the footage is probably used in other ways. In any case, I’m curious to hear people’s thoughts about this, be they clip producers or consumers.

In my experience. I have found that when this occurs. It often will be scrapped or people become curious simply for the irregularity. You might as well make use if it since you have and release it at a reduced price. Or edit it together into something that comes off half way decent.
However if none of that seems appealing to you. You could always just cut your losses and release it as a free gift of sorts. While not the best. It could atleast serve a purpose as a nice christmas present to the forum instead of seeing it go to waste. Nothing like a little good PR to boost sales.

well if you are honest about the session instead of hyping it up...it may get some attention just out of curiousity.

I had that happen once to me, as a gal who came here from a reference from a friend of hers, but turned out she wasn't very ticklish at all. I stopped the thing after 15 minutes, and gave her a $20 for making the effort to come out here. Another one seemed to have a problem with me, and kept turning away from the camera. We turned that into a foot tease video, as she was good and happy with that. Besides, she looked quite good topless so it wasn't a total loss.

What to do with the footage? Cut the loss and move on if your not satisfied with doing anything with it. Sometimes shit happens. But yes, with the price of models, it would be nice to get something good all the time. The fact you've been doing this as long as you have and just came into this problem seems like you've been doing fairly well so far.

Cost of doing business, unfortunately.

I just keep it in the can and do not publish it. I've had a few of those over the years.

The Last Laugh said:

Hello everyone!
So now I find myself with footage I’m very hesitant to process and release. I hate the thought of wasting money like that (especially when I could have saved it for a better shoot with different models), but at the same time I’m not really comfortable releasing clips that I know wouldn't be very good.

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To be honest, if this has only happened to you once or twice I think you've been very lucky. I've probably shot nearly 50 models that I will never release any footage of, and every month I have shoots with new models where I ditch most or all of the footage. Results can never be guaranteed and bad footage is bad footage unfortunately. Most people don't realise what an expensive ball-ache it can be to produce clips sometimes!

Trash it or give it away free. Why put out an inferior product?

You could put it in your foot fetish section and hope for the best..

Well if you don't release it then you won't make anything off of the footage and it will be a complete loss. I think because you run a well established and liked company that releasing won't cause too much loss of revenue if you are honest about its quality.

My vote would be to release the footage with previews and see what you can get from it. Whatever profit you may get from it will surely be better than what will happen if you don't release it. If this were an upstart company making the first of a few videos then I would say no because it would cut into potential future revenue. However, due to your long standing reputable company...I see no profit loss as long as you honestly put it out there.

I think you should either release it at a discounted price, as other people have said, or release it for free. But I'm not a tickle video producer so I've never been in that situation. I just think you just deleting the video would suck because then it would have just been a big waste of your time to not do anything with it.

Many perfectly reasonable, valid suggestions, here. And I truly appreciate all the feedback. But I must admit that I don’t find any of the options to be entirely satisfactory, even as a compromise.

I can’t sell the clips at a discount, as some people have suggested, because I already sell my clips as cheap as Clips4Sale.com will allow. For a given clip duration, there’s a lower limit. If I edited and released the footage I’m talking about in this thread it would probably result in two clips of about 6 minutes. In this case I couldn’t sell them for less than $5.99, which is how much I sell all clips of that duration.

Being honest about the content and intensity of the clips is certainly a wise move, and it’s something that I always try my best to do, especially when I feel a clip is a bit on the weak side. And there are people who enjoy the lighter side of tickling, especially if they like the models. But there’s a limit to how mild or irregular a clip can be before it’s simply not worth the trouble anymore. Even if some people might like the action of the footage I shot last weekend, I don’t think it would lead to enough sales to make it worthwhile. And some customers might still be disappointed.

I’ve seen some producers release clips they felt were inferior products, figuring it might still be worth a shot as long as they’re honest about the content. An example that comes to mind is Tommy from Tickle Abuse. He’s released some footage that he came close to dismissing because he was disappointed with it. However, each time I’ve watched a preview for such a clip I realized that the action in Tommy’s “disappointing” footage was actually at least as good as one of my average clips, if not better. If people take Tommy's "lesser" clips as examples of what mine might be like, I'm afraid they’re almost certain to be disappointed.

Releasing the footage for free, using it as a PR tool… Not a bad idea, but the thing is that even a free clip requires some time and effort to produce. I have a full-time job that uses up a lot of my time and energy. When I get back home I rarely feel like editing videos or producing promotional material. Same for the weekend. I tend to procrastinate like crazy and accumulate a lot of raw footage. Right now I think I have enough unreleased (and unedited) footage for 14 new series, which is pretty insane. While I don’t do shoots very often, I still accumulate footage faster than I can process it. Considering how inefficient I am and how tedious I find this kind of work, I prefer to focus on material I think has a reasonable chance of success. Genuinely disappointing footage isn’t very high on my priority list, even more so if it’s not meant as a commercial product.

MrTicklefeet said:

I had that happen once to me, as a gal who came here from a reference from a friend of hers, but turned out she wasn't very ticklish at all. I stopped the thing after 15 minutes, and gave her a $20 for making the effort to come out here.

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Perfectly reasonable, and it’s also part of my own policies. If a candidate is open-minded, motivated and trusting enough to meet me for a shoot, I feel she deserves to get something for her trouble if I decide that she’s not ticklish enough for an actual shoot. After all, it’s not really her fault. Although I do try to make that decision by the end of the tests we always do before starting a shoot. Unfortunately, I had trouble making that decision with the two models I worked with last weekend.

To tell the truth, I had a feeling they didn’t have quite what I was looking for, but one of them mentioned that she could refer several of her friends to me. I know perfectly well from experience that such references don’t always work, but just in case it could lead to some interesting shoots I kind of decided to keep the models as happy as possible by giving them a chance, hoping it would work out better than I feared it might. But I was wrong and ended up having to pay them too much for the footage I got. Even worse, I'm getting the feeling I won't hear from her friends after all. Unfortunate.

turtleboy said:

To be honest, if this has only happened to you once or twice I think you've been very lucky. I've probably shot nearly 50 models that I will never release any footage of, and every month I have shoots with new models where I ditch most or all of the footage. Results can never be guaranteed and bad footage is bad footage unfortunately. Most people don't realise what an expensive ball-ache it can be to produce clips sometimes!

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Well, doing a full shoot and then getting rid of all the footage because I realized it just wasn’t good enough must have happened to me 3 or 4 times so far. Tossing out one or more individual scenes in a series but otherwise using some of it is a lot more common. And of course, I go through tons of candidates before I find some that I feel are good enough. I estimate that I turn down over half of all the candidates I get (which amounts to a crapload of people after 10 years). And even among those I end up working with there are several that aren’t as good as I’d like. Basically good enough to justify releasing the footage, but not good enough for me to expect any significant commercial success. That’s always disappointing, because I have limited resources and the salary money could be better invested by working with more ticklish/reactive models.

Unfortunately, when a candidate’s ticklishness and reactions are kind of borderline, not really clear-cut, it can be tough to tell her I’d prefer not to do a shoot after all. It’s not rare that I end up giving her a chance, even if I know she's not an ideal model. I wish it was easier for me to turn down any candidate that’s only moderately ticklish or worse. Then again, if I only worked with the super ticklish ones I’d have very little footage to release and would probably have closed shop a long time ago. I don’t get a lot of candidates, you see, so I can’t afford to be nearly as selective as some other producers are.

Yeah, I also wish more people understood that running a tickling video business isn’t all fun and games and that it can be very frustrating at times. Rather often, in fact. Believe me when I say that over the last 10 years I’ve often seriously considered giving it all up, even sacrificing unreleased footage just so I can be free of what basically amounts to a second job. I managed to hang on, somehow, but I don’t expect to be doing this for that much longer. Each year the market keeps getting more competitive, and I’m actually rather looking forward to putting it all behind me and moving on to something else. Which doesn't mean I don't enjoy tickling, you understand. It's just that doing it within a commercial context tends to take a lot of the fun out of it.

babinsky said:

You could put it in your foot fetish section and hope for the best..

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Interesting option. But I’m not sure I like mixing up my clips and stores. If I add the footage to my foot clip store, not only will most ticklephiles be disappointed with the action, the foot fans might also be so-so about the whole tickling/bondage thing, finding it intrusive. Also, the main reason why I haven’t updated my foot store in so long (not since 2009, I think) is because I eventually realized that my foot clips simply weren’t making any profits anymore. Things have become tougher all around over the last few years, but somehow I still have more success with my tickling clips. Foot clips simply aren’t worth the trouble for me anymore. So I’m worried that if I add the recent footage to the foot store it will just fail, just like most of my more recent series.

Ticklerguy4u said:

well if you are honest about the session instead of hyping it up...it may get some attention just out of curiousity.

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Possibly, but it’s not really how I want to attract customers. Besides, I never “hype up” my clips. I try my best to describe them as objectively as possible and let people judge for themselves based on the previews.

jhop220 said:

If this were an upstart company making the first of a few videos then I would say no because it would cut into potential future revenue. However, due to your long standing reputable company...I see no profit loss as long as you honestly put it out there.

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I don't know. I may have been doing this for the last 10 years, but quite frankly I’ve never been a major player in this market. A few particularly bad clips might be more damaging to me than you think.

Besides, as I explained, producing a clip requires a fair deal or time and effort, so I actually do have something to lose if I release this footage and it doesn't sell well (which it almost certainly wouldn’t).

marcusb said:

Cost of doing business, unfortunately.

I just keep it in the can and do not publish it. I've had a few of those over the years.

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Indeed, I realize that it’s one of the many downsides of this business and that, sometimes, one must simply accept the loss and move on. I may have to do it in this case. It wouldn’t be the first time.

imirritated said:

Trash it or give it away free. Why put out an inferior product?

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Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m thinking. Not 100% sure yet, but it’s probably what I will end up doing. Trash it, I mean.

By the way, in case some people are curious to see what the models I've been talking about look like, here's a picture of them posing for a portrait, showing off their feet. I have to say, it's a real shame the tickling didn't go better than it did, because I feel that, in terms of pure physical appearance, they easily qualified for a shoot.

My $0.02: Releasing an inferior session only hurts your brand. If it's not up to your standards, eat the session and chalk it up. That way you're only out the cost of the session. If you release it, you're out a diminished brand and lost potential future sales if burned customers don't want to risk another disappointing download.

Scrap the video of the shoot. Destroy it so that memory of it is gone and that it cannot be published accidentally thus tarnishing your reputation and live and learn to tickle test your would be "models" before agreeing to pay them for nothing. Seek the actual tickle community instead of professional models who will be apt to act and embellish just for the quick and easy buck. Money for nothing gets you just that. NOTHING.

TickledToDeath said:

Scrap the video of the shoot. Destroy it so that memory of it is gone and that it cannot be published accidentally-

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Basically, Kill it! Kill it with fire!! =P

TickledToDeath said:

Destroy it so that memory of it is gone and that it cannot be published accidentally

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How is that even possible?

TickledToDeath said:

live and learn to tickle test your would be "models" before agreeing to pay them for nothing. Seek the actual tickle community instead of professional models who will be apt to act and embellish just for the quick and easy buck. Money for nothing gets you just that. NOTHING.

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I do test the models before doing a shoot. I've tested literally hundreds of candidates over the years, avoiding countless bad shoots because of it. I think I explained why I gave these specific models a chance despite my initial so-so impressions of their potential.

While I do sometimes work with girls that turn out to be pros or semi-pros, I don't actively look for such models. I much prefer to work with girls who have little or no experience. Just like the two girls I've been talking about. Besides, am I supposed to turn down an attractive and ticklish candidate just because she happens to have some modeling experience? Oh, and I don't know why you put "models" in quotes or attached "would be" to it. What are you implying?.

Models from the tickle community? Really? Do you really think I would have the slightest chance of finding enough models for my little business if I focused on people from the community and/or are into tickling? Do you think I would even find one around here? In 10 years it's never happened even once, so I'm not holding my breath. I don't know if you realize this, but I'm not a super popular producer who lives in New york or L.A. and who goes to tickling munches and gets involved in the BDSM community. I'm just this guy who produces a few amateur videos in his apartment as a little sideline. My chances of getting in touch and working with a model who's "one of us" are almost nil.

In any case, the vast majority of models don't try to "act and embellish" their reactions, as you suggest. It doesn't even occur to most of them and I'm very clear with them that it's something that must be avoided.

IMO, put it up for free, as sort of a "longtime follower" perk or whatever. I've found a lot of times when producers end up handing out some of their "shit" footage I tend to enjoy the hell out of it.

If you're looking for a more lucrative option, though, market them as simply "foot fetish" videos, pretty women + pretty feet + stimulation is always going to have an audience.

The Last Laugh said:

By the way, in case some people are curious to see what the models I've been talking about look like, here's a picture of them posing for a portrait, showing off their feet. I have to say, it's a real shame the tickling didn't go better than it did, because I feel that, in terms of pure physical appearance, they easily qualified for a shoot.

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Let us see, plz. They're too damn pretty.

Comfort Eagle said:

IMO, put it up for free, as sort of a "longtime follower" perk or whatever. I've found a lot of times when producers end up handing out some of their "shit" footage I tend to enjoy the hell out of it.

If you're looking for a more lucrative option, though, market them as simply "foot fetish" videos, pretty women + pretty feet + stimulation is always going to have an audience.

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I appreciate your feedback. However, I'm afraid there are reasons why I feel those options wouldn't work for me, as explained in a previous post.

It's quite likely that you enjoyed the "shit" footage from other producers because it was actually rather good, just not quite as intense as their usual footage. The footage I shot last weekend isn't at that level at all.

As for the foot fetish thing, the fact is that my own foot fetish videos stopped being lucrative a long time ago, even before I stopped producing them for that very reason. At the very least, if I'm to have the slightest chance of success with such clips nowadays the models would have to be willing to do some foot licking. But the models from last weekend's shoot were quite clear that there was no way they would do something like that, even as a tickling technique. And even if it had been possible I doubt the resulting clips would sell all that well. The sales of my last few foot clip series suggest they wouldn't.

To tell the truth, I've never been very comfortable shooting foot videos. I'm just not very good at it. With tickling the action happens pretty much all by itself, without me having to direct the models very much, if at all. The models just have to tickle each other and react naturally. But with foot videos it's not quite as obvious. The models are often quite clueless as to what they should do. I'm only marginally less clueless than they are, so it makes for a somewhat awkward experience. Besides, while I do like feet, I find shooting foot videos to be rather boring. Shooting tickling videos can be stressful at times, as I'm constantly worried that I'm making mistakes (and I'm usually right about that), but at least there's a lot more action.

Let us see, plz. They're too damn pretty.

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They are pretty nice, aren't they? I have to say, I'm especially fond of the girl on the right. It's really too bad her reactions were so disappointing.

lol well it definitely wouldn't deter crime for the lee half of us

derkitzelnkonig said:

Shoulda had a backup plan for such cases, like plain foot fetish or itching powder.

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I've already explained why I don't do foot fetish videos anymore. And I don't use itching powder (who does?)

TigerChick22 said:

lol well it definitely wouldn't deter crime for the lee half of us

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I'm sorry? Was that reply meant for the "stocks punishment" thread, by any chance?

BrandiElizabeth said:

Basically, Kill it! Kill it with fire!! =P

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Is that the best way of destroying tickle-footage that isn't 'good enough'?

And I have to admit, I'd go with ComfortEagle on this particular issue.

PhilipRJ_UK said:

Is that the best way of destroying tickle-footage that isn't 'good enough'?

And I have to admit, I'd go with ComfortEagle on this particular issue.

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Haha I don't know, just the way TickledtoDeath was describing it was like he wanted it totally destroyed =P
I agree with ComfortEagle as well, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would like to see it!

Thanks for your high standards and hard work Francois. I appreciate hearing about some of the process behind your productions, and have enjoyed the clips I've purchased through the years. Best wishes.

TickledToDeath said:

Scrap the video of the shoot. Destroy it so that memory of it is gone and that it cannot be published accidentally thus tarnishing your reputation and live and learn to tickle test your would be "models" before agreeing to pay them for nothing. Seek the actual tickle community instead of professional models who will be apt to act and embellish just for the quick and easy buck. Money for nothing gets you just that. NOTHING.

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BrandiElizabeth said:

Basically, Kill it! Kill it with fire!! =P

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No, put it on the train tracks, and wait for the train to run over it.

(Wouldn't it be hilariously ironic if it was a passenger train, and there was a lion loose on the train?
There was a woman sleeping, who had taken off her shoes, but left her pantyhose on, and stuck her pantyhosed
foot out of the curtain to her bunk, so her suntan colored sheer toed nyloned foot, which was insanely ticklish, was
sticking out the tight hallway, and the lion passed by and started licking her foot, causing her to laugh hysterically, but
she wouldn't wake up because she's sleeping, and no one could hear her because they all had ear plugs in, and the lion couldn't
go any further because her soft nyloned foot was blocking his way.....so he just decided to keep on lickin' the sole of her foot and she, secretly
having a tickle fetish, just kept on laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing hysterically while her head rocked
back and forth from the laughter? Because that would be the hottest thing in all of human history if it happened.)

SOOO much better than just burning it!

They're just being sarcastic, poking fun at you because you seem to have over thought a simple decision.

(Boy, I bet a get a paragraph response for that one.....)

I for one am glad that you can look at the footage and think it's not good enough. You should do whatever you want with it, but obviously no one will
complain if you post it here for free. Other producers (Turtleboy) have, and have garnered much happiness and good will.

derkitzelnkonig said:

Follow the lead of other producers on the forum. Instead of talking your videos down (why would anyone buy them now) Why dont you just release it and in the description hype it up with some ridiculous clever wording to say they are moderately ticklish or cutely hesitant or adorably reserved, and are ticklish but just don't respond in any significant verbal way to being tickled, reacting instead with slight squirms, little breaths and an occasional noise, but also throw in that you do occasionally get a good reaction out of them as well in reference to the occasional giggle you mentioned. be sure to throw in that they giggled because despite how much they tried to refrain from laughing, you broke them because they are just so ticklish and couldn't contain themselves.

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No, no, he should do like producers who AREN'T on the forum, and post this exact footage, but with a GLOWING, OUT OF CONTROL detailed explanation!

"Oh my GOD, oh my GOD, Julie is, she's....TICKLED! TO DEATH!!! SCREAMING with laughter at the very THOUGHT of Barb's fingers getting NEAR her feet!
She almost breaks her restraints! And then, THEN....THEN DAMMIT!!! SHIT!!!! CRAP!! THEN!!! She tickler her OTHER FOOT! OH my GOD, I need my heart medicine!
HYPERVENTILATE! HYPERVENTILATE!!!!!"

And you buy the clip. And the ticklee's is just....looking at her foot as it's almost tickled. If you're lucky you get a smile every now and then......
Zero laughter. Squirming if you're lucky......