Recently, I was asked to direct a music video for the Brooklyn based rap group, Team Stars. I was very excited to work with them, and to direct a hip-hop video in general. I love music videos, and the group was open to the ideas I was throwing out. It wasn’t going to be a money-making gig, but a fun one none the less. Which is why it’s really upsetting that I had to tell them I would no longer make the video for them.
Why did I quit? Well, because of a hyphen. [ that's the "-" mark, not code for something].
Let me rewind.
Team Stars work with a PR group called TCT Entertainment. They’re legit, because they have a Facebook, you guys. They represent the group and handle their affairs. The group has a manager, but he just takes care of them. They handle getting performances, getting them known, etc. Big mistake.
Through no choice of my own, TCT was tasked with producing and coordinating this production. However, since our initial meeting, they have been continually screwing up small details. Mostly dates and times of meetings and confirming changes in schedules. Once is ok, twice is annoying. Three mistakes is a warning sign.
I was given an address to meet the group for our final confirmation and planning of the video shoot date. I was emailed an address in an area I didn’t know, so I went to Google Maps to look it up. What I get is 5 different options for where to be, none of which were right. I called TCT to guide me, and no one answers. So I pick one and go. I end up on the other end of Queens, NY, opposite of where I needed to be.
I call and call and call TCT. Get someone and they say “we’ll text you someone’s number”. I wait and I wait and I wait. Nothing. Finally, I leave a strongly worded letter on their voicemail, venting my frustrations, and immediately I get a text with a number. I call that number, only to be told I had the right address, but a hyphen needed to be between two number. A HYPHEN! All this hassle over someone not taking two seconds to proofread an email for a HYPHEN!
After that, I was done. How can I trust a company that can’t figure out where to put a hyphen with coordinating a production involving 50 or more people? That sounds nit-picky [see what I did there?], but I was going to ask a group of freelancers to do a freebie for me, and stake my reputation with them that it would be done professionally. TCT wasn’t that. Details matter more to me than anything else, and if you don’t exhibit the skills to handle little details like that, I tend to not waste my time. So I got the number of the group’s manager, apologized for the wasted time and left the project.
More than anything, the part that bums me out is that this was not Team Stars fault. Those guys were nothing but kind and helpful. Their manager was great as well. I wish them all the best. I also wish for them to get rid of that silly company.
Producers, Project Coordinators, Line Producers, people with these jobs make great money because they’re doing a very difficult job. They keep track of details. All of them. You can’t do that, don’t pretend. You’ll make everyone else’s hard work worth nothing.
[NOTE: If you're reading this and think I'm being unprofessional about my quitting on this company for small details being overlooked, please do not consider me for hire.]