Thanks to all that posted the positive words... Just to keep my vent going, the producer that I cancelled the meeting on called today. She was very upset about the whole situation. I again explained the situation, that I had to shoot for another client that was in trouble, and again I apoligized. All she could say was that I don't get it. I stated that I had been busy and just hadn't had the time to re-schedule the meeting. I guess that was the straw that broke tha camels back. She yelled into the phone that I must be too busy to work for her than and hung up on me. I guess that's it. I'm sorry to see the business go but I think I'm better off.
Have you ever had enough?? Update
- Thread starter Sean-1966
- Start date
DanHostler1985
Active member
Screw her.
Necktie Boy
Well-known member
Sounds that you are better off without her.
Baltimore Shooter
Well-known member
You didn't lose a client, you gained your sanity, not to mention you left the situation with your dignity intact.
Warren
Warren
I had a commercial client several years back. We were going to shoot a spot on a certain day but he told me the client was very difficult to pin down. Another client called for that day. It was about a week away. I called repeatedly to the first client over a day and a half. No response at all. So I finally took the other job. The first client calls a day later and I told him I had been trying to contact him and that I finally took the other job because he told me his job wasn't firm. He went nuts screaming the f word at me.
I think he was avoiding me in the first place so he could keep me on the hook. He had no firm answer and didn't want to release me or guarantee me the work.
Good riddance to bad garbage.
I think he was avoiding me in the first place so he could keep me on the hook. He had no firm answer and didn't want to release me or guarantee me the work.
Good riddance to bad garbage.
Hiding Under Here
Well-known member
I was on a very big network magazine shoot. It was big because there were three cameras. And we were shooting an event that would wrap up the show. It was an hour long special they had been shooting for a year.
I was the first camera. We had to do an eight on one interview in a large function hall. After the interview, we had to set up to shoot the function itself. I lit the eight on one by myself. We shot it with three cameras. That went off without a hitch. Then we set for the night time stuff. I had a lighting guy for that but I supervised. Then we had a very brief production meeting.
In the hall where we were shooting, their were two large video monitors. The people in the hall would watch some of the show that had already been edited. When the people watched the two, eight minute segments, the producer instructed one camera to shoot b-roll of people watching one monitor and another camera to shoot the same on the other side. The correspondent was going to make a speech at the begining before the videos ran. I would shoot that, hand-held for eight minutes. The videos would run and I was supposed to go shoot a little b-roll on one side of the room of people watching -- even though another photographer was already covering that.
So we start to execute. I shoot the speech. The videos run. I get some b-roll alongside the other photog. It's dark in the room and the pictures are scant. It's the same thing over and over. When the videos end, my job is to get the correspondent introducing the eight subjects to the audience. I see the subjects standing up assembling to be introduced. There's about five minutes to go on the videos. I realize the subjects need to be lined up because they will be hit by a light when they are introduced. I go over and line them up and also shoot them as they react to the video they are in on the big screens. Lights go up. Everyone on their marks. Applause. We have our moments.
A few weeks later I get a call. The producer. Why didn't I get more b-roll of people watching the screens in the dark? That's what I was supposed to be doing. I say there was another camera guy -- in fact there were two camera guys -- shooting that b-roll. I got some of it. Not enough says the producer. She's screwed. I screwed her. I have screwed her worse than anyone in the history of television. Her show is ruined because I didn't shoot enough b-roll that OTHER photographers were already instructed to shoot. I have screwed her and she will never forget it.
If I hadn't been there to help put the subjects on their marks, the lights would have come up an no one would have been lit. Also, their reactions to the video were the best reactions in the house. If I had been in the audience shooting other people I would have missed it. The producer was pissed because I didn't do EXACTLY what she told me to. I had lit this huge shoot, managed it fully, stood like a statue shooting hand held and saved her butt -- she was socializing in the back when the subjects should have been placed on their marks. Yet I ruined her shoot.
I wanted to walk away THAT day.
I was the first camera. We had to do an eight on one interview in a large function hall. After the interview, we had to set up to shoot the function itself. I lit the eight on one by myself. We shot it with three cameras. That went off without a hitch. Then we set for the night time stuff. I had a lighting guy for that but I supervised. Then we had a very brief production meeting.
In the hall where we were shooting, their were two large video monitors. The people in the hall would watch some of the show that had already been edited. When the people watched the two, eight minute segments, the producer instructed one camera to shoot b-roll of people watching one monitor and another camera to shoot the same on the other side. The correspondent was going to make a speech at the begining before the videos ran. I would shoot that, hand-held for eight minutes. The videos would run and I was supposed to go shoot a little b-roll on one side of the room of people watching -- even though another photographer was already covering that.
So we start to execute. I shoot the speech. The videos run. I get some b-roll alongside the other photog. It's dark in the room and the pictures are scant. It's the same thing over and over. When the videos end, my job is to get the correspondent introducing the eight subjects to the audience. I see the subjects standing up assembling to be introduced. There's about five minutes to go on the videos. I realize the subjects need to be lined up because they will be hit by a light when they are introduced. I go over and line them up and also shoot them as they react to the video they are in on the big screens. Lights go up. Everyone on their marks. Applause. We have our moments.
A few weeks later I get a call. The producer. Why didn't I get more b-roll of people watching the screens in the dark? That's what I was supposed to be doing. I say there was another camera guy -- in fact there were two camera guys -- shooting that b-roll. I got some of it. Not enough says the producer. She's screwed. I screwed her. I have screwed her worse than anyone in the history of television. Her show is ruined because I didn't shoot enough b-roll that OTHER photographers were already instructed to shoot. I have screwed her and she will never forget it.
If I hadn't been there to help put the subjects on their marks, the lights would have come up an no one would have been lit. Also, their reactions to the video were the best reactions in the house. If I had been in the audience shooting other people I would have missed it. The producer was pissed because I didn't do EXACTLY what she told me to. I had lit this huge shoot, managed it fully, stood like a statue shooting hand held and saved her butt -- she was socializing in the back when the subjects should have been placed on their marks. Yet I ruined her shoot.
I wanted to walk away THAT day.
Hiding Under Here
Well-known member
What's that saying? The worst thing you can do for a producer is to give them exactly what they ask for.
BluesCam
Well-known member
I was on an agency shoot some years ago and their client was a county govt.
When the on camera person (a county administrator) said something that didn't sound right, I mentioned it. His snooty, severely bleached blonde assistant said "oh, now camermen have opinions."
To my surprise the agency people chimed in and said that I was only trying to help them and that they had hired me because of my experience.
She was very obnoxius to me and so I told her (not nicely, because I have a short temper with arrogant people) that I was not just a cameraman, but also a producer/director with 20 yr of broadcast tv experience and I was trying to avoid a potential problem that would surface later. She just turned her head. Interestingly, her boss quietly said that what he had said was correct, but when we re-shot it, he read it differently. Go figure.
The gal Friday is now the head of the county's media dept. Of course.
When the on camera person (a county administrator) said something that didn't sound right, I mentioned it. His snooty, severely bleached blonde assistant said "oh, now camermen have opinions."
To my surprise the agency people chimed in and said that I was only trying to help them and that they had hired me because of my experience.
She was very obnoxius to me and so I told her (not nicely, because I have a short temper with arrogant people) that I was not just a cameraman, but also a producer/director with 20 yr of broadcast tv experience and I was trying to avoid a potential problem that would surface later. She just turned her head. Interestingly, her boss quietly said that what he had said was correct, but when we re-shot it, he read it differently. Go figure.
The gal Friday is now the head of the county's media dept. Of course.
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Baltimore Shooter
Well-known member
When I'm in situations like that where I warn the producer of a potential problem or conflict, I always roll on what I say. That way, the warning is there on the tape and I can't get blamed for not mentioning the issue during the shoot. I haven't had to pull out the ace up my sleeve but I'm ready if I ever have to.
Warren
DanHostler1985
Active member
I paraphrase one of my colleagues quotes and assertively ask "Do you know what the hell I do for a living?!"
That usually shuts them up and we move on.
That usually shuts them up and we move on.
Deaf and Blind
Well-known member
I got a job interview tomorrow with an industry supplier. If I get it then it's good bye freelancing.
Ones mental health should come before everything else and crazed idiot producers have certainly been a thorn in my side for many a year.
Ones mental health should come before everything else and crazed idiot producers have certainly been a thorn in my side for many a year.
Icarus112277
Well-known member
Good luck- I think it would be cool to work for a vendor.
Deaf and Blind
Well-known member
Thanks Icarus, word got out and another company has asked me to throw them my resume which is nice. I don't think the package will be as good as the first company I had had discussion with but I will wait and see.
But if the price is right...
But if the price is right...