On a recent shoot we had a rare experience, twice. We have dealt with literally thousands of models over the years and 99.999% of models are GREAT too work with! They are fun, easy going and usually up for the team effort of getting the client what they need. Well on the shoot in question we not only had one, but two models that were mind bogglingly unprofessional.
They were both male models and truly no one you would ever know. Not a name, not a personality or celebrity – quite frankly we have work with plenty of celebrities and they would never behave as these two did!
The first walked onto the set as if he was the most famous person on the planet. He actually worked for us two days. The first day he was completely put out by the fact that he needed to try on different wardrobe to see what looked best, when we asked him to try on something different he said “I’ll just wait till you guys decide which one you want” clearly not understanding the concept that we needed to see what they looked like ON HIM. When we insisted, he proceeded to carelessly throw the freshly pressed wardrobe around with no care for the time the stylist had spent prepping the clothing for the shot. Then during a brief break he walked over to a directors chair where the client was seated and stated “I was sitting there”. The client, a bit stunned proceeded to get up and walk away. The stylist leaned over and told the model, that he had just kicked the client out of the chair. The model shrugged his shoulders as if to say “whatever”.
The second day, our location was at a studio , but the parking for the studio was actually a block down the street. When the producer told the model where the parking was his come back was “Will there be a car there to pick me up?” Stunned again by the audacity of the comment the producer replied, “No – Are you injured?, If you had a twisted ankle or something we would arrange for something but….No!” Well that day just before this models call time the producer gets a call from the model who is down at the parking lot and needs a ride because he has “twisted his ankle”! This days was absolutely crazy and packed with back-to-back shots and we really did not have time to get into it with a temperamental model so someone went down and picked him up. He limped through the studio, went through Hair, make-up, and wardrobe, stood in front of the camera for the shot and once done, changed limped through the studio and left. Once the door shut the set stylist ran over and looked out the door and watched the model walk back down the street towards the parking lot with no limp or any indication of injury or pain. We all actually had a great laugh at his expense.
The other model we had booked a week and a half earlier. The night before the shoot he calls the office to inform us that he doesn’t think he’ll be able to make the shoot. Another project he was working on needed him to come back for some pick-up shots and if we could change the day of the shoot he could make it but otherwise it was not going to work. Never mind that we have three other models booked along with him for the shot, and that we have built a set on stage and we have 6 clients and a crew of 15 on set, we’ll just tell everyone that this one model had something else he felt was more important to do and we’ll just scrap everything for his sake….. Needless to say I had a few choice words for him. Ultimately I informed him that this is not done by professionals and that he has a problem and he needs to fix it and that whatever it takes he needs to be on set. He asked if we could push it back even an hour, which we said we could accommodate. And so we called the other talent and pushed everything back a hour. But meantime we spent an entire evening scrambling to figure out a solution in case he did not show. Ultimately with all of our scrambling and changing everyone else’s schedule…. he shows up at his Original Call Time. (We did not pay him for the first hour!)
This was such an aberration that we were all left shaking our heads. Needless to say we will never use either of these models again! And we’ll be happy to share their names should anyone want to be sure to steer clear of them. Just give us a call or drop an e mail and we’ll tell ya who to look out for!