Next / Now

:// INTRO

Once I had gone freelance after leaving ICS for the first time, that is where things started to change.

A lot of firsts here.

This is where my black book first started (I literally have a small black moleskin with studio contacts, no lie).

This was the first main work-for-hire after ICS.

This was also the first time a studio ghosted me (more below).

:// YOU’VE GOT MAIL (AGAIN)

So the email came in from Next/Now expressing their interest in commissioning a project which needed a quick turn around. We set up a meeting at their office.

This has been the nicest spot I have ever seen in person, no lie.

The meeting went great, their outsourcing manager was also one of the best persons (actually the best) I have ever met in that position.

The assignment was reviewed, terms were discussed and off we went.

I had less than 4 days to deliver a visualization piece. The “easy” part was that they actually only wanted screenshots.

The postmortem was great, we went over the project, they were happy with it and we discussed the possibility of coming on full-time.

Then a few weeks later, magic hour happened. I opened up my email and saw the invitation to come into the office for a final discussion re: a full time position.

I wish this would be the part where I could write that everything went great, but this was the first major set back I had ever faced.

:// IF YOU HAVE GHOSTS

So the day finally came for the meeting. I had called off of work in order to make it. I literally took 2 buses and a train to get there. I showed up rang their intercom and, nothing.

Absolutely nothing, the place was closed.

I called my outsourcing contact and notified her that I was at the door, she was shocked that I had been scheduled as there was no one in the office.

I called their art director which was the person who I had also previously met with, he was the one who actually emailed me re: this final meeting.

His response was “did you get my email?”

So this was early 2010, I had checked my email before leaving the house, but I had not checked it since then.

Dude had emailed me 5 minutes before our meeting (I am not lying) asking if we could reschedule.

Well shit, my 1 hour 30 minute commute was for naught.

The last I heard was “I’m sorry man, I’ll be in touch to reschedule”.

And that was that.

I held no hard feelings, hell I still don’t have any hard feelings towards NN. I had even emailed them a few months later basically saying “hey guys, I’m still down if you guys are.”

Nothing, they may have well been on the moon.

:// KNOW YOU’RE WORTH

There were some great lessons I learned here. First, always be polite and respond to inquiries whenever someone reaches out. Except that weird shit that come in from India. You can notice that trash from a mile away.

They ALL start with “Hello dear Sir/Madam”.

Toss that email in the trash, they will offer you “exposure”, as if they are doing you a favor.

By responding to real inquiries you can quickly tell which ones are actually worth your time and which gigs are not.

And there my children, is the most valuable lesson from this endeavor:

Know your worth.

In this case, this situation did not pan out. Not by my fault but because someone else didn’t value me or my time. No one is that busy. Anyone who tells you they had no time is lying. They are actually telling you the do not know how to manage their time.

It doesn’t matter if someone is a department lead or not, mismanaged time is mismanaged time.

Unfortunately, this happens very often in the production game.

But trust me, you do not want to be at a place that cannot even keep a meeting which they set up. Plus, that 5 minute heads-up is a big red flag of how things are run there.

We all get star struck when we walk into a nice looking studio space and most of us (myself included) have most likely jumped at the first chance and offer we get.

But trust me, you have value.

Know your worth.

Shitty management is shitty management.