How do I deal with this situation

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digifruitella

Active member
I've been working for this extremely small, independent (and highly incompetent) production company for 9 months. This week, or precisely the past 24 hours have been the most depressing hours of my life not just there but in a while.

It's a startup that tries to be a production company / NEWS STUDIO which shoots everything from panels, live events, to "calling cards" - and guess what, I'm one of the two editors that has to deal with some of the most terrible footage I've seen. Yet, I do my job, fix ****, cut around and make everyone happy. I get paid. Everything is good.

But just a day ago, my "boss" who really is an editor who has been here before both myself and another guy who have been hired - came back from his "2 week" vacation. Which was the amount of time he gave me and the other editor to work on our respective "projects". Mine was an hour long conversation shot with two cameras....drum roll please....on monopods. But wait, there's more. THE ENTIRE APPROACH...of this place is to shoot on these things. Can you guess whose idea that is? Yep. You got it. THAT GUY. The "BOSS" who actually 'runs' the company is this woman baby boomer who has zero ideas or expertise in filmmaking or anything video production related. Over the past 9 months that I've been there and saw the 'meetings' and heard this guy talk. He plays her like a fiddle.

We were all - the whole team - were watching this 15 minute piece that was produced - footage of which I shoot for some sections - and at the end of it the usual "Walk towards frame / rack focus" that you so often see in News reports scene came on, which was shot by THAT GUY. And because we shoot on DSLRs, there's no follow focus, there's none of that to assist focus. It goes out of focus and the BOSS woman goes "Why is it blurry" and he goes "Camera defect" and her usual response is always "OH ok" - I look at the other editor - who's also a shooter and just shake my head. This is only an example, and I promise you I'm getting somewhere with it.

Back to our project. He says he gives us "TWO WEEKS" while he's gone to get everything finished, that means edit the two-camera interview that's an hour long which comprises of out of focus shots, Shaky footage - terrible stuff. And then I have to create a highlight reel as well.

The moment he leaves, I begin to edit - but the next day the BOSS assigns me to another project that a "correspondent" is editing, she asks me to make it more "alive". She likes what I do, because with the terrible footage I work with, I always turn it into something that competent and interesting (supplementing an interview or panel with "Ken Burns effect" montages, or proper b-roll, etc) And so I spend majority of the week (AFTER THANKSGIVING which was 4 days off from that "imaginary 2 week" deadline) to edit that project all the while I bounce around the office and help others either clean up their edits or fix footage. ALL THIS TIME I never get to work on my own project. And I asked the BOSS herself, "What about my project?" and she responds "Thats ok, I'm not worried about it" - so, you can't argue with the BOSS, then all is good. One one of the days I don't even have a workstation to work on my own project on the day that I CAN.

A DAY before THAT GUY comes back... is when I work on my project and at that point I have most of it finished, but not the highlight reel.

Guess what happens when he's back. This guy is raving mad (He is in his mid to late 20's I'd say) and he's losing his **** while talking to me "I gave you TWO WEEKS" is what he repeats while I TRY to calmly explain what exactly went down. He keeps going on and on about how he shot and edited a ton of projects with poor gear and poor editing systems and bla blah and how he KNOWS "what cutting around bad footage means". I kept myself cool and levelheaded but this dude got red in the ****ing face and started opening his mouth at me without knowing the FACTS of the past two weeks he was GONE and without letting me explain what the **** happened. Both myself and the other editor were pulled off our projects he assigned by the BOSS herself. And then they make a "production meeting" and wonder why some of the content was not pushed out.

The amount of miscommunication around that place is staggering. I don't know who I'm supposed to listen to when two people are telling me what to do and then they wonder why things take slow or one thing is not finished.

So the whole "out of focus" story earlier and above - basically, whenever he is inside the room with the BOSS one on one, I fear that she'll side with him any moment of the day because he knows how to bullshit her and manipulate her lack of knowledge about how editing works, how time consuming things are and how BAD GEAR DOES AFFECT HOW LONG OR FAST YOU EDIT when your footage is **** and unusable.

I wrote out a 4 page "Timeline of Events" while it was still fresh in my mind of the past two weeks (really, LESS than that, when you include the Thanksgiving weekend and the 2 days of the next week). I am planning on printing it out and letting them BOTH read it, but I'm hesitant.

I don't want to lose the job because some egomaniac can manipulate the boss - but at the same time I don't want to work within that environment. And I'm thinking of using that document - to prove what has happened - at the next production meeting which is happening soon. The BOSS actually likes what I do for them, but I fear this guy feels threatened by me for the quality of work I do for them with what I'm given.

Should I address how he behaved at this meeting and how none of this is my fault due to the clusterfuck of miscommunication between everyone. Or should I just concentrate on the timeline of events that resulted in mine and other editor's projects not being finished when he was back.

I feel like just letting it all out because honestly in the past 24 hours he's been a ****ing dickhead to me, on the day he was back, and today - which made me feel like total ****.

Anyone been in similar situations? or have any advice?

Thanks.
 
Sounds like you are dealing with a sociopath. Straight from the "been there, done that" department, it can be soul-crushing to be in that situation for an extended period of time. When you have what is, essentially, an office bully, you will expend most of your energy trying just to survive.

There is no reward or fulfillment simply in surviving.

You have two clear choices.

One, you can accept that this is a toxic place and, as long as this guy is able to manipulate the boss, it won't get better. So, you bail. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

Two, you can make an attempt at improving your situation, which is challenging and can backfire on you. A direct conversation with the boss, explaining the abusive tantrums and unrealistic expectations, would be one step in that process. Documenting everything that happens with this guy, including time and date and a detailed explaination (keep an electronic journal of everything that happens), will help you explain the situation down the road. He's creating a hostile work environment, which can open the company to lawsuits. Is this fight worth it? A conversation with the boss can come back on you if he's able to play her when she talks to him about it. Honestly, whether it's worth it to expend your energy on survival is your call. I would not recommend it.
 
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Everyone needs to vent but I would not post it here unless you want to risk the parties in your post reading how you feel. IMO if you can't say it face to face then don't say it at all.
 
That sounds awful.

Do you really need the gig? Honestly, if there was other work available in your area, I'd ditch it (respectfully) and look elsewhere. Life is too short and I can feel the stress in your post.

I also sincerely doubt things will get better. So either you'll learn to just not care, or you'll continue to feel like crap.
 
if you're that good at working with bad footage, perhaps you should seek employment elsewhere.

So long as you are still on good terms with the ACTUAL BOSS, I would make sure you are good with her and only her, and keep it between you guys, and get a letter of recommendation and a LinkedIn review or something because that would be important if you applied elsewhere. Get it stat, too, at least I would think.. hard to ask for it if you're no longer on good terms. But could be tricky asking for it without revealing you are beginning to look elsewhere.

It's really hard not being in your shoes or right there for the situation so it's always hard to say, but it almost seemed like when angry man was chewing you out to say EVEN LESS and just say "I was reassigned by the boss for the last 2 weeks, so was unable to even work on the reel." --let him vent-- "I understand, but I was reassigned to other projects by the boss, and I have to defer to the chain of command as much as I like and respect you, because the actual boss told me to do something else and I have to respect that."

But yeah man, good luck. Where you work and who you work with play a major role in our lives. Life is short. I would not work somewhere that made me miserable, stressed, and depressed.
 
msorrels has a good bit of advice.

Should I address how he behaved at this meeting and how none of this is my fault due to the clusterpoo poo of miscommunication between everyone. Or should I just concentrate on the timeline of events that resulted in mine and other editor's projects not being finished when he was back.

Neither. This is not a topic for a production meeting. If you want to continue at this job and if you can't work for this person, that's a tough spot. Making a confrontational presentation at a production meeting is a really bad idea. You've been there 9 months. You should be a trusted and valued employee by now. It should be clear even to a modestly competent manager who is who. It may not seem like it, but managers are keenly aware of what is going on. The know who is good, who is bad, who is an ass-kisser etc. Unless your management is completely incompetent, they know what is going on.

You have several bad choices:

Leave
Put up with it and hope your boss goes away ( fat chance)
Tell management your displeasure working for your boss. That always goes over poorly unless you are valued and respected; you decide.

Good luck.
 
1. I agree with THAT GUY, two weeks is enough time to complete your project. Stop blaming others and making excuses for not finishing on time.
2. You are partly to blame for the bad footage. The reason is you know THAT GUY'S methods are terrible. By not demanding a tripod for an hour long interview, you are agreeing to participate in his lunacy.
3. THE BOSS is clueless and is being fed bad information by THAT GUY. So why didn't YOU speak up and tell her the real reason the footage is so bad? How is she supposed to know if no one tells her the truth?

If it were me, I would talk to her in private and express all your concerns before the next production meeting.
 
If you do quit this job, consider freelancing instead of employment. Only one client out of ten will be as big of a headache as this situation, the other nine will be a walk in the park. And freelance pay in my experience is usually several times hourly wage- with many expenses being a tax writeoff.
 
I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit... it's the only way to be sure.

But then that's my answer to everything.
 
digifruitella said:
Anyone been in similar situations? or have any advice?

Thanks.
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There is a general principle in hierarchal systems... "perform the last order given by a superior, until countermanded".

THAT GUY, who delegated work to you, should have informed BOSS that you were working on what he directed you to do. If BOSS overrode that assignment, it is up to BOSS and THAT GUY to figure out scheduling and who was at fault.

Remind THAT GUY and BOSS of their respective responsibilities in directing your activities, and have your resume/CV in order.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
There is a general principle in hierarchal systems... "perform the last order given by a superior, until countermanded".

THAT GUY, who delegated work to you, should have informed BOSS that you were working on what he directed you to do. If BOSS overrode that assignment, it is up to BOSS and THAT GUY to figure out scheduling and who was at fault.

Remind THAT GUY and BOSS of their respective responsibilities in directing your activities, and have your resume/CV in order.
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THIS, in general has been the issue all along for many months now, in varying degrees. There's not only miscommunication on their end, but the other employees seem to have no freaking clue sometimes. During these two weeks, the project which I was re-assigned for - I finished it by Friday and uploaded it to our YT channel and set it to private as PER REQUEST of BOSS... guess WHAT. It wasn't until TUESDAY of the following week, the guy who is supposed to be in CHARGE of that project being PUSHED OUT comes up to me and asks me "So what's up with that project..."

I'm at a loss sometimes at how unorganized and clueless everyone is. How is it that the BOSS asks me to do one thing, and the person in charge of making it live isn't even doing so. And THEN that following week when THAT GUY comes back, myself and another editor are in a meeting and they wonder why some stuff wasn't pushed out when it wasn't even our job.

ugafan said:
1. I agree with THAT GUY, two weeks is enough time to complete your project. Stop blaming others and making excuses for not finishing on time.
2. You are partly to blame for the bad footage. The reason is you know THAT GUY'S methods are terrible. By not demanding a tripod for an hour long interview, you are agreeing to participate in his lunacy.
3. THE BOSS is clueless and is being fed bad information by THAT GUY. So why didn't YOU speak up and tell her the real reason the footage is so bad? How is she supposed to know if no one tells her the truth?

If it were me, I would talk to her in private and express all your concerns before the next production meeting.
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I realize you don't know the full details, so it's easy to say what you're saying now. But the reality is, you'd be singing a different tune if you were in our shoes for those two weeks.

1. In doing the MATH of these "two weeks" that I were given - do you know the TOTAL TIME I had to work on this project? 1.5 DAYS. That is taking into considerations the Thanksgiving weekend that is 4 days, and the following weeks' weekend = 2 days being days OUT of that week where we were all HOME. The REST of that time was spent working on projects we were re-assigned by the actual BOSS to work on, ONE of those days where I didn't even have a workstation to work on when I was at work.
2. I am to blame? How? When the guy who makes the decision CAN'T BE REASONED WITH (multiple times we've asked him why doesn't he just shoot the panel on tripods - when his answer is always "It's this style I want that our clients really like" - which is utter BS because the clients don't even know any better and they don't specifically ask for the 'handheld' / 'shaky' effect. Also, I wasn't operating a camera - I was assigned to film other footage during that time. HIS operating is TERRIBLE. His camera resulted in the most bad footage I had to cut around as opposed to the other guy I work with who was operating another angle
3. I did speak up, when THAT GUY was gone, myself and the other editor spoke about it to her - at which point THIS is what resulted in her wanting to make a production meeting when THAT GUY was back. ALSO on which day... after that brief meeting which was cut short - he isolated me and the other editor respectively at different times - and lost his s*%t with us, got raving mad, red in the face and actually brought up how he didn't like we blamed it on the PROCESS of his decision of shooting or bad gear. You can tell this guy is just an egomaniac sociopath who wants everything his way. Multiple times he said "I don't care" when we explained to him everything.

It's not like I don't take responsibility for my job and when things takes slow, I don't blame anything on anyone unless it is truly warranted.

That said, I've read everyone's response and appreciate the feedback. I've been thinking about it and spoke to the other editor. We've written out our concerns and we'll just present it all at the meeting. At this point I've stopped caring for the consequences. It is a toxic place mainly because of THAT GUY. He imposes his rules on a process that should not be this difficult, and he treats us like we're children. I think this is a case of a guy who got a taste of power which got to his head and he feels threatened by anyone else's insight or suggestions.
 
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Intraoffice email is the key. I used to be in this situation all the time. ugafan isn't wrong and neither are you. Try to document and raise these issues as they come along through email and queries written in an above reproach professional manner, delete ANY emotional words and sentiments before you send. This generates a virtual paper trail and ensures that communicate occurs. It honestly sounds to me like you are as much a part of this poor communication paradigm in your fear to put your hand up and say there is a problem. By trying to please everyone you please noone.

Write something like:

To: THE BOSS
CC: THAT GUY
RE: our discussion about the project

Just to confirm in regards to our earlier conversation. I just wanted to make absolutely sure that you want me to prioritise this project. It will impact on my ability to deliver on the project THAT GUY assigned to me before taking leave. I don't want to bother him on his time off and would appreciate if you could contact him and let him know in case this risk needs mitigation. Thanks.


It sounds like you haven't done a good job of pushing up your concerns, have failed to keep your 1up and 2up in the loop and tried to take on more than you can deliver without being clear that the extra workload jeopardises the original project. Do these things in good faith, demonstrate a professional attitude and give your managers the chance to provide the support it sounds like you haven't asked for. Don't wait for the "a-ha, I've got you here is the evidence" moment. That's not professional. Simply refer to the email conversation and ask if they'd like you to find the dates so they can check it out for themselves. Nicely. And not through gritted teeth.

If you can't let the emotions go on this one you have to leave regardless of the situation or outcome. You can't do good work or get anything of value out of a situation that you bottle up or explode. Always look to what you could be doing better and when you run out of things then it is them and you must leave the toxic environment. I don't know your age but I do know that juniors always know better than everyone else in the place. Sometimes chaos is more controlled than you think although based on your descriptions of technical knowledge I do concede it sounds like you have a case. However, professional behavior at all times is the only way to sustain your employability. Don't let this employer ruin you for future employers.

EDIT: Didn't register point 3 of the above response at time of writing. Sounds like it will now either play out one way or the other now.
 
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digifruitella said:
he treats us like we're children.
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you can't allow yourself to be treated like a child by another co-worker. basically you're going to have to grow a pair of balls if you're a guy. or if you're a woman, i guess the equivalent would be ovaries. not sure on that, i'm not really an expert on anatomy. the point is, whatever parts you have, grow them bigger. just make sure you don't overdo it with balls so big people start to wonder if you have a tumorous growth (metaphorically speaking).

the guy who makes the decision CAN'T BE REASONED WITH (multiple times we've asked him why doesn't he just shoot the panel on tripods - when his answer is always "It's this style I want that our clients really like" - which is utter BS because the clients don't even know any better and they don't specifically ask for the 'handheld' / 'shaky' effect. Also, I wasn't operating a camera - I was assigned to film other footage during that time. HIS operating is TERRIBLE. His camera resulted in the most bad footage I had to cut around as opposed to the other guy I work with who was operating another angle
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it comes down to communication. you have to be more direct. when he gives his BS excuse, i would tell him that is complete BS. if he sends me horrible footage, i would call him in to look at it. the first thing i ask him is to check my desk for a loose leg. because if my desk isn't wobbly, how do you explain this? was it captured during the middle of an earthquake? you do realize it's bad for an interview to look like a deleted scene from the blair witch project, right... i mean come on, look at it! if this footage were a disease, it would be parkinson's... i guess i'll do my best editing it and hope the client is legally blind.
that's how i would do things. you'll have to find your own way within yourself how to handle working with that guy, before this happens..:badputer:
 
We've heard your side of the story, which sounds pretty miserable.

But given the chance, what would your BOSS and THAT GUY have to say about you? Because people don't become bosses & managers by magic.

PS- leave
 
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