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Why would anyone take this attitude?


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I saw this post today on CL, and I just can't understand why one would have such a combative attitude from the get go...

"No-I am not looking for a company from out of state to come in. No, do not bs me about what I need as I have produced a weekly tv show before. I was doing tv and radio while you were in junior high. I need a crew to shoot this reality show pilot in HD and possibly 3D. Some cash paid but I know you need this gig on your resume. If I cannot find you in Charlotte, I will bring in from another city close by. This is 13 weeks of shows so make some cash and gain experience. I need a good post production person also. Let me know what you have done. If you try to get over on me, goodbye, so do not blow it. Let's roll here."

Seems to me to be the wrong way to go if you want to find crew. I'm green, and I won't be contacting him, for sure. He seems like a jerk...

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If he is so experienced and is good he would A: already have people to work with and B: be more professional.

Ignore him. He'll eventually go away or the quality of his work will be so low that no one wants to work with him.

Well said.

C: Have more money to pay his crew properly.

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Definitely not responding to his add, just thought it was worth posting here so people could see what kind of attitude we are up against on the low end of things. Yes, I want more experience and work, but I am not willing to work with someone who has such a self-important attitude from the start. 3 month + gig, "some money" (what does that mean, BTW?) involved, but "I know you need this gig on your resume"??? I don't need to go hungry while working. It is a legit add, link:http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cwg/3073966658.html

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@ Toy Robot, I hear you. I look on CL on the off chance that there is someone doing some last minute looking or damage control when their sound person falls through. Its netted me one good indie feature and a repeat customer in a local video production company. Other than that, I figure it can't hurt to spend 5 minutes checking it out every other day or so.

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Geesh - this guy sounds like a real dream date... with the potential for 13 weeks -- of hell.

I can just imagine how accommodating he'll be towards any production value.... sound or picture.

Food for thought: If he (or she!) was any good at producing / didn't leave a trail of stink from his apparently long list of "successes",

he might have a stable crew to rely on - but apparently that is not the case - hence the CraigsList approach to producing.

MF

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I look on CL on the off chance that there is someone doing some last minute looking or damage control when their sound person falls through...

It's also good for a sick kind of humor. I often pull the "job of the day" JOKE ad. Where do these people come from.

Next thing we may see is need sound guy. I will let you work my gig for a small payment of $500...

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"No-I am not looking for a company from out of state to come in. No, do not bs me about what I need as I have produced a weekly tv show before. I was doing tv and radio while you were in junior high. I need a crew to shoot this reality show pilot in HD and possibly 3D. Some cash paid but I know you need this gig on your resume. If I cannot find you in Charlotte, I will bring in from another city close by. This is 13 weeks of shows so make some cash and gain experience. I need a good post production person also. Let me know what you have done. If you try to get over on me, goodbye, so do not blow it. Let's roll here."

huge red flag... small print on label reads:

"WARNING -- I spent my entire budget on cocaine. It's all gone, and I still don't have anything in the can. If I'm derissive right out of the gate, I can probably get an inexperienced crew to assume I'm bigtime, and work for nothing, and then blame the ensuing lack of quality on them."

Definitely entertaining. Hang in there Andy.

~tt

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Thanks for the link Jim! I love it when the whimsical and the practical come together. In a similar vein, we have a nice ending to a local story around here:

Berkeley library welcomes back yarnbombing on racks

June 11, 2012 12:00 pm by Tracey Taylor

Yarn-bombing-N-Library--768x1024.jpg

Fresh yarn decorates the bike racks outside Berkeley's North Branch Library. Photo: Streetcolor

Some stories do have happy endings. Readers may remember in April when something of a brouhaha erupted over the “yarnbombing” of a bicycle rack outside Berkeley’s North Branch Library.

Here's the link to the rest of the not-so-long story:

http://www.berkeleys...-on-bike-racks/

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"I was doing tv and radio while you were in junior high."

In the immortal words of Woody Allen, "how I love being reduced to a cultural stereotype."

F'in' a-holes. Jerks. I'd argue that bad experience might be worse than no experience, and he can't presume to know who's going to apply for the job. 13 weeks of an attitude this hostile could very likely be Hell On Earth.

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"No-I am not looking for a company from out of state to come in" - because you (a) can't afford them and (B) don't know enough to not look like an idiot in front of them?

"No, do not bs me about what I need as I have produced a weekly tv show before". A show? Singular?

I was doing tv and radio while you were in junior high" - So nothing too recent then?

"I need a crew" - That's right, YOU need.

"to shoot this reality show pilot in HD and possibly 3D" - Well that's a bit vague.

"Some cash paid" - So is that.

"but I know you need this gig on your resume" - No you don't.

"If I cannot find you in Charlotte," - You can't

"I will bring in from another city close by" - You won't.

"This is 13 weeks of shows" - Grammatical car crash right there.

"so make some cash and gain experience" -I think not. I have a good idea of what kind of experience it will be.

"I need a good post production person also". I bet you will. Self shooting?

"Let me know what you have done". - Probably more than you.

"If you try to get over on me, goodbye" - Likewise.

"so do not blow it" - You just did.

"Let's roll here." - Nup.

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"No-I am not looking for a company from out of state to come in" - because you (a) can't afford them and ( 8) don't know enough to not look like an idiot in front of them?

"No, do not bs me about what I need as I have produced a weekly tv show before". A show? Singular?

I was doing tv and radio while you were in junior high" - So nothing too recent then?

"I need a crew" - That's right, YOU need.

"to shoot this reality show pilot in HD and possibly 3D" - Well that's a bit vague.

"Some cash paid" - So is that.

"but I know you need this gig on your resume" - No you don't.

"If I cannot find you in Charlotte," - You can't

"I will bring in from another city close by" - You won't.

"This is 13 weeks of shows" - Grammatical car crash right there.

"so make some cash and gain experience" -I think not. I have a good idea of what kind of experience it will be.

"I need a good post production person also". I bet you will. Self shooting?

"Let me know what you have done". - Probably more than you.

"If you try to get over on me, goodbye" - Likewise.

"so do not blow it" - You just did.

"Let's roll here." - Nup.

I think you should copy/paste this post and reply to his ad.

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Just because somebody is old, or has been doing it for a while, does not in any way mean they are any good. Maybe some newer people will take the job, make some money and learn what not to do. The person posting the ad sound tense and angry. Seriously, enjoy your work. You will live longer. Don't work for people that are that hostile, it's just a freaking job. A TV show at that.

A few Summers ago I worked on a film with an angry old DP that liked to constantly remind everyone that he is from LA and was doing this longer than they were alive. Personally I took the job because a lot of friends were on the crew, and it was 5 weeks in a hotel on the boardwalk of a Delaware beach working on a light-hearted movie (fun script). I had a great time at the beach with some great friends.

I wasn't impressed by the DP's resume of TV movies I had never seen. I also wasn't sure what it said that this 60something year old was working with a crew of mostly 20somethings. Shouldn't they be mouthing off that they are out of school for just a few years and already working on a project with this "seasoned veteran", and not the other way around? He was a hassle to me, my department, and most of the crew, but I we just did our job and got the best sound we could despite his half-assed work ethic. I made it clear to the financier of the film that he was making it hard to work, and what that would mean in post. Everything worked out in the end.

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