quote:
Can you elaborate on this? I am very curious what those places are like. What made you hate it? Do the higher ups just abuse their employees a-la Ari Gold?
The whole Ari Gold thing is obviously an exaggeration... but actually not far from my experience. That world is just so insanely competitive and entitled that it brings out the worst in people. I was obviously a part of it for only a few hours, so I can't comment on what it's like in general, but I will say that ICM, at that point, was notoriously one of the worst of the big agencies. Maybe not in terms of clients, but at least internally, when it came to culture. So my experience is somewhat skewed. I knew that going in, but I thought, "How bad could it be?"
Basically, I was supposed to train for two weeks under an assistant for one of the bigger agents at the company, then take over for said assistant at the end of that two week period. A friend of mine had the same position a year prior and set me up there, he survived, so I was all set to take the plunge.
Anyway, I show up for my first day and they immediately put me on a
different desk, under a different agent, because his assistant had called in sick last-minute. So, some snotty HR woman sits me down at the empty assistant's desk and, without any training whatsoever, just leaves me there as if I have any ******* clue what's going on. Next thing I know the phone's ringing and it's my "boss" - an agent I hadn't even met yet - who was "out of town" that day. He's immediately pissed that some newby is handling his calls and starts asking me for all kinds of names and numbers of clients, contacts, etc. I hadn't even had a chance to turn on the damn computer yet. Never mind not knowing what program I'd use to find all this info in the first place. So he literally cusses me out and says he's calling back in five minutes and I better have all the info ready.
At this point I politely ask the girl in the cubicle next to me for some quick help. And to this day, I'll never forget the look on her face when I did. As if I had asked her to sleep with me, first sentence out of my mouth. She literally ignored me in the most disgusted way possible, so I asked
again, explaining the situation, emphasizing that I have no idea what I'm doing.
Finally, in a huff, she comes over and shows me which programs to use.
So, within five minutes, I had a pretty good idea of the culture there, which was one mainly based on
fear. Where the majority of assistants are all super-competitive and hardly talk to each other, while most of the agents I overheard were just complete and utter assh*les. This was just a day or two after Katrina and a couple of agents were actually
making fun of all the victims who lost their homes. It was just ******bag central all the way.
Anyway, long story short, I got b*tched out over the phone at least three more times before lunch. Then, around one that afternoon, the agent called again and told me to grab a box out of his office and bring it down to the curb. The guy was actually IN TOWN but had been lying to ICM - and me - saying he was out of town. I figure I could finally at least talk to the guy face-to-face and explain the situation better, but once I got downstairs, the assh*ole didn't even make eye contact with me. He just told me to put the box in his back seat and then drove off without saying another word.
He called back a couple hours later to ask for some client's cell number, and when I told him it legitimately wasn't listed in his rolodex (not even the b*tchy girl in the cubicle next to me could find it), he flew off the handle and just let me have it ten-fold. I've played organized football my entire life, so I have no problem with grown men yelling at me. But when it's for things that are completely out of my control, I draw the line. I had already decided this place wasn't for me, but I let him finish, then said, simply, "You know what, Alan? **** you." I then hung up the phone, grabbed my bag and walked out.
I can understand the guy being upset that they put some newby on his desk without any training. I get that. But he acted so incredibly childish about the whole thing, and I just had no desire to deal with people like that and try and "earn" respect from people I didn't respect myself. There's no one way to "make it" in the industry, so people suggest putting in a year at an agency, putting in a year at a production company, etc. in order learn as much as possible and find your footing. I had already done the whole production company thing, but what I didn't realize is that track is mainly for people who have no idea what they want to do in this business. I wanted to WRITE. And no agency job was going to make me a better writer, or give me the time I needed to do so. Yes, you can potentially gather a ton of contacts via agencies, but contacts were the last thing I needed. Plenty of my friends are in positions to make things happen. So I decided then and there to try and do this my way.
Not too long after that, a friend randomly hooked me up with a job working in fashion photography. A month later I was hanging out with supermodels, had plenty of time to write, and eventually found myself in the position I am now, working on a project I think has a legit shot at getting bought/made. So we'll see. Point is, leaving ICM at 3 PM that day was the best decision I ever made. Hopefully my next agency experience will be much better, and as a
client this time.
[This message has been edited by TCTTS (edited 12/19/2013 4:49p).]