Indulgence

to hell and back

Nietzsche
Growth in wisdom may be exactly measured by decrease in bitterness.

If Nietzsche is right then I'm not very wise. Nope, not wise at all. I'm freelancing now and enjoying much of the "control" I have. All of a sudden, I had all the time in the world to catch up on my movie watching and reading -- time with myself and for my family. Of course, I started picking up as much projects as I could get, saying "yes" to whatever came, to establish networks and contacts and to become sort of reliable in the industry -- as someone you can run to if you need a writer.

Then I picked up this job that was just, to put mildly, like taking a Sunday stroll through hell. Suffice to say, it wasn't pleasant. Client was spoiled, arrogant and they were bullies. It was a rushed job with a small budget and they were still acting like they were all so high and mighty, when, they were so disorganized. They would send back the revised script with added stuff, things that were not in the briefing, to add on to the script. This was happening everyday for 4 days! Which means, they were rushing a project that they did not have the full details of and things were going to be worked on, on the fly. If I had known it was going to be like that, I would've charged more for my time and effort, you know? With the small budget that they were offering -- this was totally wrong and completely unprofessional. They should've said so in the briefing. What was agreed upon was that it was also going to be a 3-minute AVP which all of a sudden, 3 days later, was increased to 7-minute until it reached to 10 minutes because of all their add-ons! That was so unfair! There is a big difference between a 3-minute AVP and a 10-minute AVP.

At the same time, with their ever increasing demands, which were on the fly, not included in the briefing -- we were running out of manpower! So from just a writer -- I also ended up becoming P.A., co-director and sat in editing -- which I've never done as a writer, unless it was stipulated in the briefing, in which case, I would charge a little extra.

But this was just totally a big mess. I really wanted to cry but restrained myself from being attached to the whole thing -- did what I needed to do and the little extra and just walk away from this. It's over now, I hope and I just want to move on. I don't need this kind of pressure and tension in my life. Now that I'm a freelancer, I'm going to be a little more picky and choosy with the work that comes my way -- only take the jobs that are worth it. I can do more stuff in my free time and eventually make something that means more to me on a personal level than any of the stuff they ask me to do.

I was so out of it the past few days -- staying overnight at the editing place, dealing with calls from agency and stuff. I was so not in a good mood.

But it's over now; or it should be. I'm going to learn from this. No need to be so greedy. Pick and choose -- that's one of the advantages of being a freelancer. Take advantage of it!

posted by wanggo @ 1:58 PM