Mad Men

Last week, I got a call from a mega NYC ad agency asking for my book and a specific type of imagery to be sent to them priority overnight. This was 11am Pacific Time. My Fedex deadline here for that time zone is 3:30pm. I haven't had a book request in a few years, only folks asking for my website url. They caught me with my pants down. My printer has seen better days, my Lost Luggage portfolio from two years ago was still in the shipping plastic, and Lightroom was acting funny. It wasn't going to happen. I emailed them to suggest checking out my site and sent them a light box of the requested imagery from my stock site. The art buyer insisted again on a 'physical portfolio'. Ugh. I was imagining the bustling offices in Madison Ave with multiple high priced jobs being produced daily, phones ringing and couriers scouring about. The AMC show about advertising in 1960's NYC, 'Madmen,' also came to mind. Here I was in my suburban Seattle home, dog at my side, the iTunes turned to something mellow, and sipping Hawaiian coffee from a friend's roaster. A world apart.

In what seems like another life, I used to assist on car shoots in LA for Damon Productions where we closed sections of the PCH for BMW and Toyota. I also PA'd on commercials where we drove convoys of grip trucks across the state, a different location each day, sometimes nearly 100 on the crew and working 18hr days. We once had a dozen dwarfs painted in silver with bleeping laser guns looking like aliens running around on a beach for a Pontiac spot. Surreal.

With the tail between my legs, somewhat embarrassed, I had to tell the art buyer that no physical book was coming. Would I be blacklisted, forever banned from that agency? Over the years, I always heard rumors of such things happening. It was a wake up call that here I was marketing my services for assignments, but wasn't ready for such a call. I've since been researching new printers, testing printing papers, have ripped the plastic off my book, and am editing images. I can only hope I get another agency call so I can react to more professionally.