The Diary of a Freelancer: Professional Courtesy

A lot of interesting (albeit, irritating) things happened this week. Work tempo has escalated a bit but still trying to keep loyal to the blood oath I made when I started blogging.

But I think the one unifying theme, that can collectively describe all the weeks events is Courtesy. Professional Courtesy. PC. Not to be confused with Political Correctness. Political Correctness is something you regurgitate when societal cues warrant it. Professional Courtesy goes deeper than that and involve rewiring the way you think and act towards others in business. The tacit just got clearer.

I'm not sure if I am just a stubborn a$$hole that forgets that capitalism is really a numbers game. For all you working class people and entrepeneurs that voted Cameron, I currently have stockpiled an array of weapons you can use to commit suicide with. But given the circumstances you may not be able to afford it. So I am doing society a huge favour and Ill give 'em to you for free.
But we digress.

Matter at hand, professional courtesy. I'll break it down in bulletproof points, and these tips are far from hollow. Shell we proceed, indeed (bit of a stretch):

1. ETTIQUETTE -please, thank you, simple primary school stuff. But some people have the brainspan of a gold fish swimming in Russian vodka. Example: dude comes to me some months ago asking to design a DVD cover for his pitch. No pay of course. And I had to make a hell of a lot of changes. No "please could you..." Just "I need you to do this ASAP" or "You sent the wrong file, send it through again". Matter of fact I'm still waiting for a copy of their supposed pilot.
2. COMMUNICATION- thanks to innovation in technology, we have ways of communicating to each other...phones, email, social sites, SMS, slap on the head. Endless. So if someone is putting work for you, keep em in the loop. This week I got a call from a dude who I agreed to do boards for. So what's the problem? I agreed to do it late Spring 2009.
   Met him back then, talked, and it was agreed the story art process would start in the following week. He disappeared for a couple months then popped up back out of the blue, demanded more than asked me to meet him so we could do the storyboards, even though he did not respond to my email i sent after our meeting. Stupid me, I entertained him, and he wanted me to sketch every single panel and show him in the meeting, so when a meeting with a director would usually entail going through a hefty feature film script in an hour, we hardly finished going through scene 1 of a short film in the same time. He had no clue of what he wanted. I made sketches, which he said was all wrong. So i would sketch some more trying to put his acid-thoughts on paper. And when i finally sketched something that he agreed with, all you had to do was compare the sketch with the first sketch i rendered- same, identical. "Oh yeah yeah, that's what I want". Plus the dude took more skittles than I was giving him by knocking the bag. Skittles from Miami dude!
   So I left that meeting frustrated and sent him a hefty email, along the lines of "you need to be sure of what you want to see, be precise of camera distances you want [how can you mix up a WS with a LS or a CU with MS] etc." I attached pencil sketches of the frames we discussed, and said if you want the rest done, you have to come and see me. I sent that email September 2009. I had no response. not one. until the beginning of this week- June 2010. Funny thing is he was responding to my email as if we last talked 1 day ago. He wanted me on the project. He said he is available to meet Tuesday, Wednesday. He didnt ask me when and if I was available to meet. No offer, no compensation for time wasted. Nothing. I dont respond fast enough so he calls. And has the nerve to say that the offer to work on the boards would be 'an experience'. Let's face it shrimp, if making story art was like sex, Id get more satisfaction from doing it myself than collaborating on your project- No homo. Told him to kick rocks. I really did keep my composure.
   
3. INSULTS and THREATS- I never respond kindly to them. A tutor in university said in my last year that if i didnt come in for an unimportant assessment, that my grades would suffer-"I promise you that". Another tutor, in my first year said he was 'really suprised' that I got the highest mark in the class, and that I should participate more in class instead of "talking to your bro". You know, the only other black guy in the class. It was the hand and body gestures that got me. Hm another instance, working on the set of Fantastic Mr Fox, the Head of Production, or at least I think she was ( not with those hooker boots) sent me home prematurely and made no fun to flaunt in my face that my hail mary chance of 'making it' in the company was unequivocally snuffed out and I was just 'wrong'. And on the marvellous Facebook I've seen 'bosses' refer to people that have helped to give 'em shine as 'freakin' mouses', and personify himself as 'the trap'. The cheese was payment of services etc. Really clever stuff. Also been called a "black [immigrant] drugdealler by RIZ MC, in jest of course. So, please dear friends, keep your sh*t to yourselves people, I have the tendency to show my bad side to people who speak loosely.
4. KEEPING PROMISES- "a comfort to a fool". If your folly is being a man of your word. Be careful of promises made by bosses, 'Specially if your working for crumbs. A man is only as good as his word. A director is only as good as his team. Anyone who is dishonest in business is dishonest in life. A few words to live by, friend and remember, if this was a different life, your broken promises could never be mended by cacophonic pleas.
   

Sum up,
I have a sudden urge to watch Goodfellas...anybody know why?