Bad day today...what would you do?

W

Wilshireblvd

Active member
Alright...I need to vent. Please feel free to chime in with how you would handle this situation.

I was scheduled to shoot a 'profile' spot of a hotel for a point-of-sale type of video. I am contracted through the 'marketing' company who is working with the hotel. So, the woman who has set this up (I dare not call her a producer) told me that we were starting at 9. Usually, I can handle these shoots myself, but she has an intern so I asked her to bring her as a PA. I've worked with her before...and it's always been a little...unstable...but has worked until today. Keep in mind...all I'm here for is camera work and a little directing and that it's HER project. I got there at 8:50, ready to go. Here's what happened:

Wouldn't answer her phone
Showed up at 9:35
Said she knew we were starting at 9 but she had been out drinking with friends last night (she's in her 40s by the way)...so she slept in
Brought her 8 year old son to be the PA (yeah...I don't think so!)
Wanted to 'host' the video
Had no script
Had no plan
Had on way too much makeup
Just generally unprepared

So in the middle of filming her first little dialogue, I told her "stop...this is not working...this isn't GOING to work."

So we agreed that I would just do general shots of the hotel and then she would have someone do voice-over. As she was leaving, she kept saying..."Jazz it up...make it jazzy". When I politely asked her what that meant...she said "can you do it like the so-and-so video you did?" (which was for a non-profit) In fact...I'll paste a link to the video she wants this hotel spot to look like:

http://www.castlegate-pictures.com/PREVexample02.html

How the hell does one fit a Hampton Inn profile into that style?! I did that several years ago for a non-profit when I had Tony Scott films on the brain. I don't think the hotel would be very keen on looking like that. Meanwhile, I am having an allergy attack and I have a cold...all at the same time. Bad day.

Anyway...I'm really hacked off right now. I'm planning to cool down, set up a meeting, and basically tell her that this was totally unacceptable from start to finish.

Any thoughts? Commiseration is also appreciated.:) Just wanted to vent. (and fyi...I basically told the PA kid not to go anywhere near my stuff)
 
I feel for you man! No script, no plan, no clue - sounds like normal corporate video to me :) We're getting ready to finish an interactive video that we still dont know the final format of (flash, web, dvd, menus, who knows... changes daily). Should've cost the client about $5000. Going to cost them about 25,000, because we've redone it a million times. The scary part is that they are ok with it. Had to laugh at the "jazz it up" comments... I hear things like that all too often. "Yeah just tighten it all up and make it flashy!" what the **** does that mean??!? Sorry now I'm venting. Anyways I dont have any advice other than to bill her appropriately.
 
when I have situations like this I ask myself is the client and the money worth the abuse. If the answer is no...walk away
 
I agree...no project plan...no go! No amount of money is worth this kind of grief (been there done that).
 
jason.adams said:
when I have situations like this I ask myself is the client and the money worth the abuse. If the answer is no...walk away
Click to expand...

Exactly. Hopefully you were being paid for your time regardless. Her being unprepared should not equal you donating more time without proper compensation.
 
I would first make SURE i got paid for the work done already, even if it was never completed. Try and see if you can go above her and talk directly to the owners or whomever. then tell them you prefer her to be off the assignment entirely. :angry:
 
Sorry to hear that project developed into a nightmare.
If you can, walk.
Out of all the gripes you had with that woman the biggest tick off for me would have been the fact you were ready to go before time, where as she rocks up late because of sleeping in....because of partying....
That might have been the end of it for me right there. In any case, I hope all works out. Good luck.
 
Thanks god:) I was always thinking these kind of things are always happening in my country.Its nice to hear these are also happening in the countries which are given as a good examples to us in cinema school:)
 
Just get it in the can.

Do some nice focus pulls. Get some nice rays of sunlight hitting the hotel.

You can still have the same floaty type texty that you used in the other one, but have reassuring words like comfort and luxury floating over images of the bedrooms etc

You'll sort it. No probs.
 
Personally, I wouldn't walk away only because I wouldn't want the reputation of being unreliable. I know you are not being unreliable it just you wouldn't want this lady mouthing off about you infront of protentional clients. It sounds like she doesn't care about the video so just make it your own. Take the shots you want and design it the way you would be proud to put your name on. Yes bill her like crazy. If she doesn't like the finished product then you can get into the fact she wasn't proactive enough.
 
This definitely happens with corporate work. I mean, a lot of companies have trouble understanding what goes into filmmaking, so when they ask for something they're really not sure how to proceed. I look at it as my job to make the process as easy as possible and help them understand what we need from them to make them the best project possible, but ultimately you can't always ask for a good experience.

Shooting virtual tours over the last 20 days, just returned today, we had a rough experience in Seattle at a property where the staff wasn't very helpful or friendly and at times it honestly seemed like they were working against us finishing quickly rather than helping us show off their property as well as possible.
 
A few points:
1. Make sure you get paid before taking any additional steps.
2. I would talk to the marketing company and with your cool head tell them the scenario and that you want to handle the shoot by yourself next time...basically move up the ladder and take on the job yourself if that is possible. You've got what it takes and it seems the time is now to take the next step. Show them you need to work with professionals.
3. How is she tied into this company? Is she the one gettting the jobs for them?
4. Start thinking about branching out on your own.
5. Email me and we'll prospect for work.
 
I edit for an advertising agency and this is pretty much par for the course when people don't know what they are doing (see: most people). The thing that sucks for me is when I have to recut a video 200 times (very little exaggeration here) I just get my regular salary.

Makes me seriously reconsider the business I'm in and almost always has me checking job listings or noose tying how-tos by the end of the project.
 
I think decadencefilms has the right attitude here. You know, go with the flow, sort it out as he says. remain calm and give the client what they want.
once I was shooting something for a person who didn't have a clue, I listened to their babble, did whatever I wanted and they loved it, it was stylized and thats all anybody wants anyway, right.
 
a bad day would be not doing what your passion is for people who don't care. A bad day would be unloading trucks filled with carpet samples because you need the dough. A bad day would be checking tire pressure on a fleet of 475 uhaul trucks because you need the dough, a bad day would be working with a moving company relocating a fast food restaurant to the other side of a 200 yard parking lot, because you need the dough.

Shooting a corporate video for a drunk, hyper sexed up client babe in her 40's who wants to be jazzy? Dang, that sounds like it could be a good day, and productive too!!

whatever you do, stay away from shooting porn for dough, now that could get bad...

I'm just kidding, you get the idea.
As the great jazz musician Les McCan said: gotta make it real compared to what?
 
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