Pet Peeves

[Bob Zelin]

oh my God – I just had this exact thing happen.

A guy emails me, and says “when would it be convenient to have a phone meeting with you” ?
His contact info and company was on the email, including his CEL #.
I called him within 2 minutes. Left a message. Emailed him and said “I am always available – whenever is convenient for you – including right now”. No response. I called him and emailed him the next day. No response.

SO, why did he contact me in the first place ?

and just to keep complaining (about Millenials) – this is what I observe.
They contact you. You call them, and you get “this mailbox is full and cannot accept any messages”. You email them, and no reply (because after all – who looks at emails anymore ? !!!).
The ONLY way to reach them is by texting them, and then they reply. WHAT IS THAT !

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Todd Terry]

[Bob Zelin] “this mailbox is full and cannot accept any messages”.”

Oh my gawd… not only is that the worst, but it happens to us all the time.

You know who the worst offenders are? ACTORS. We hire lots of them and I would say a good HALF of the time we have bad/poor or completely incorrect contact info for them (even though they just submitted for a role), and I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard “This user has not set up their mailbox”…. when that’s the ONLY way to contact them. Do they not want to get hired?

I swear every time this happens I say “actors are the dumbest people on the planet.” And I don’t mind saying that as a card-carrying AFTRA-SAG former actor myself. My brethren are NOT a smart group.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Mark Suszko]

Well, maybe they’re smart… but yes, they can often be “flakey”.

First peeve that comes to mind is, I can’t count how often I have busted my (redacted) to deliver something really good to a client, really fast… only to have them spend literally weeks before they respond, and that, only after some polite reminders.

Other peeves: people who are phoning it in. We played a music gig this weekend, and the venue’s sound man was absolutely checked-out in terms of commitment to doing his job. First, he complains that he doesn’t have enough inputs on his board to handle us, so couldn’t we just all huddle around his five mics (with 8 people, two speaker cabs for electric instruments, and 6 acoustic instruments). I showed him that I’d brought an extra 5 mics, cables, and stands, all set up and ready to go, plus I’d brought a 4-channel sub-mixer, so he really only needs to worry about one more input on his board. He stopped working the board and started playing with his phone for over half the set…. and he’s supposed to be mixing ten mics where every song has someone else doing lead solos. We show up early and there’s nobody on stage ahead of us, the audience is waiting, so we ask if we can start early.

“I don’t care”, says the guy. And it showed.

Whether it’s video or music performance, your team can work like demons to get it perfect, but it all goes to heck if one key person outside your team doesn’t bring their “A” game to the job.

If I ever get like that, somebody please shoot me, …then tell me.

[Bob Zelin]

ok – just one more (which is similar to the Actors one) –
I am trying to contact an editor that I don’t know. It appears that he is young.
Via Google, LinkedIn, etc. I finally find his webpage.
No phone, no email on how to contact him – nothing.
So he is “out there” – but there is no way to contact him.
So – how does he get work if someone wants to use him ?

Bob

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Tim Wilson]

I hear that the kids are all about DMs (direct messages). Maybe his social media profiles are listed on his website and you can reach him that way? There are many, many people that I primarily speak to this way. Definitely feels a little odd, but in some cases I have no alternatives….

[Todd Terry]

Sigh… those kids today, with their rock-n-roll music and Hula Hoops……

(a favorite phrase I break out frequently)

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Steve Mcmillan]

Oh man… the “this mailbox is full” thing drives me absolutely nuts. I’ve come close to throwing my phone across the room before.

[Bob Zelin]

I just had to add this, because it just happened.
Received an email 30 minutes ago “we are having problems with xyz. ”
I wrote back and said, “I can fix that for you, would you like me to call you”
they wrote back “that’s great – when can you call” –
I wrote back “right now”
I called their office #, and both of their CEL #’s. No one answers the phone.
I emailed them and said “I just tried to call all 3 of your phone #’s”.

Nothing – it’s been another 30 minutes.
What is that ?
Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Greg Ball]

You guys would like this one. I bid on a job for a corporate video. I gave them a proposal.

They contacted me back and said this.

Hi Greg,
Thanks for following up. I reviewed the quote with my VP and she has submitted it to the CFO for approval. Once this is cleared we can begin.
I will let you know as soon as we receive the “go-ahead” from him.

I followed up several times by phone voicemails and email with no response!! Today she finally writes me to say they went with someone else. I asked her why, considering she indicated we were the choice. She asked for our liability insurance information.

She then says that she sent me that acceptance email to me by mistake. It was meant for someone else.

I usually don’t go back after a client like this, but I asked her how it was a mistake by showing her our whole email chain. Her answer? “We were considering 7 companies, and were answering multiple emails, I sent this email to the wrong company.”

Can you imagine? She’s the head of HR for a company!!! What if she erroneously sent a job offer to the wrong person?!

All I can say is that I’m glad to not work on a video project with such a disorganized company!!! Live and learn.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Grinner Hester]

1. Haggling. Man, I am all about haggling over a coffee table at a garage sale. No harm, no foul. But it is insulting to any artist to be offered less than their rate because it translates to “you’re talent is not worth that”.

2. Late payment. Same thing. It’s insulting. And I totally bill for the time it takes to to collect late payments.

3. “Well my son edits and….” Shut up. I know. So ground him long enough to sit in one place for 20 hours. or pay me to do it.

4. Clients over my shoulder telling me to pan up, down, with ever. Can’t do it amigo. Completely impossible. Go sit with that kid that won’t stay grounded.

5. Every movie that has ever said “Zoom and Enhance”. Thanks so much, Hollywood. That makes sessions with corporate types so much easier. FML

and finally…. we’ve ALL gotten it:
6. “Oh you’re in video? You do porn?”