Black Friday for Filmmakers: Year-End Deals for 2016

The concept of "Black Friday" — the kick-start for the holiday selling season in the U.S., with deep discounts designed to inspire a kind of mania among consumers — has spread to the degree that it has its hooks in the creative industries, too. This time of year, creative professionals can get discounts on everything from screenwriting and budgeting software to cameras, software, and RAID boxes. Since you should always be on the lookout for a year-end bargain, here's a round-up of the best Black Friday deals we know about.

16×9

Black Friday specials at 16×9 start on Friday, November 25 and run through Sunday, November 27. Deals will vary from brand to brand, but the company is promising "15% off most products from select brands" in its online store. You'll need a coupon code for those discounts: GREATDEAL. No coupon is required for some other deals, including 25% off Orca bags and accessories (Friday only), 10% off the new Movcam three-axis wireless system, and 10% off Flowcine's Black Arm. www.16x9inc.com

Adobe

Through November 25, first-time Creative Cloud subscribers can get an all-apps subscription for $39.99/month with a 12-month contract, a $10/month break from the regular price. And it's a great time for educational customers to buy, as Adobe is offering an all-apps license for students and teachers for $15.99/month, down to almost half off the regular $29.99/month. www.adobe.com

Apogee Digital

Through November 28, Apogee Digital is offering discounts of up to 55% off some refurbished products, including the Quartet USB audio interface for iPad and Mac, the Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt 2 audio interface, and the Duet interface for iPad and Mac. 

Avid

Avid is taking 40% off a Media Composer subscription, bringing the price down to $29.99/month. Additionally, Sibelius | First is free with a Pro Tools purchase, and a bundle of Pro Series Pro Tools plug-ins is discounted from $699 to $199. www.avid.com/special-offers/list

Boris FX

Boris FX, GenArts, and Imagineer Systems bundles are 50% off and individual products are 25% off through midnight PT on November 29. If you want to get your hands on Sapphire 10, Boris Continuum Complete 10 and Mocha Pro 5, now is your chance to do it at a sizable discount (we're talking four figures). borisfx.com

CalDigit

CalDigit launched its Black Friday discounts earlier in the month, but they're continuing through November 27. The Thunderbolt Station 2 (with cable) is currently marked down 15% to $191.25, the USB-C Dock (with cable) is marked 10% off at $134.10, and buyers of the T4 RAID get bumped up 4 TB to the next capacity level for free. shop.caldigit.com

Convergent Design

If you've been dragging your feet on upgrading an Odyssey and/or Apollo monitor-recorder system, now's your chance. Through November 30, Convergent Design is discounting upgrade options. The Odyssey Raw Bundle, Apollo Option, and Titan HD Extract upgrade are all available at a $300 discount, but you can increase that to $1,000 off if you buy two at the same time, or $2,100 off if you purchase all three of the upgrade options. (But don't drag your feet — CD says the "buy three" offer is limited to the first 100 customers.) convergent-design.com

DJI

Black Friday runs from November 24–28 at DJI, which is healthily discounting the Phantom 4 drone from $1,399 to $999. Discounts are even deeper on the Phantom 3 Professional (marked down from $1,259 to $799) and Standard (cut by 50% from $799 to $399). campaign.dji.com/black-friday/

Fayteq

From Friday, November 25 through Monday, November 28, Fayteq's FayIN match-moving tool for Adobe After Effects CC will be marked down 30% in both Silver and Gold editions. fayteq.com

Film Convert

FilmConvert is marking all of its film-stock emulation software down by one-third through November 28. filmconvert.com/purchase

Final Draft

Scriptwriters get a 40% discount on Final Draft 10, which is marked down from $250 to $149 through November 27. An upgrade to the new v10 is $79 (was $100) and the educational version is $99 (down from $130). finaldraft.com

Fx Factory

Through November 29, FxFactory is offering 20 percent off on its catalog of effects plugins for Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, and Adobe Premiere Pro. FxFactory.com

Jungle Software

Jungle Software is taking 50% off its Gorilla 6.0 budgeting and scheduling software and bundled packages on Friday only, starting at midnight PT. Additionally, a coupon code available now (Shakespeare) will take $20 off the regular $80 price tag on Jungle's StoryO 2 story organization software. www.junglesoftware.com

Luca Visual FX

Luca Visual FX is taking 20% off its plug-ins for Final Cut Pro and cross-platform style effects (alpha transitions and overlays) for Mac and PC through November 29. www.lucavisualfx.com

Mettle

Mettle is offering a 25% discount on everything in its store — 360-degree and VR plug-ins for Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro — between November 24 and November 28. Use the coupon code: BLACK25. www.mettle.com/shop/

P+S Technik

P+S Technik has put an array of products on sale, including selected lenses, lens mounts and adapters, lens accessories, and more. As an example, the PS-Zoom 18–35 T2.0 PL-mount lens (pictured at right) is marked down almost 28%.  pstechnik.de

Pro8mm

Pro8mm hasn't announced its Black Friday deals yet, but says they will include deals on film scanning, cameras, film packages, and more. Check the Pro8mm website on Friday, November 25 for the details. pro8mm.com

Rampant Design

Rampant Design is offering a 60% discount on everything in its online store with the applied coupon code: RDTBLKFRI. rampantdesigntools.com/black-friday-2016/

Red Giant

Daring to be different, Red Giant isn't running its one-day-only sale until Tuesday, December 6. So you'll have to wait a couple of weeks, but when the big day rolls around, Red Giant is putting all of its plugins and suites, including upgrades and already-discounted academic versions, on sale at 40% off. A coupon code will be published on the Red Giant website when the sale begins. www.redgiant.com

Sony

A selection of Sony α caneras, lenses and accessories are on sale through November 29. For example, you can save $200 on the α7 II, which is marked down from $1700 to $1500. alphauniverse.com/thanksgiving/