The Job From Hell...

I really love it when I agree to do a job and my Production Designer says "Thank you so much for doing this. It is such a weight off my shoulders. I am not stressed anymore and now I know it will get done right." My response being "Great, now I am dealing with all of your stress." And he says "Yeah, but you do it so well." I think it was a compliment (I mean how great is it that your boss trusts you with a job so much that he can go out of town and leave it all up to you to handle) but now, 7 days into the job, I realize that it may have in fact been an evil plot to kill me.

This is the job where the more hours you put into it the less money you make and the director's soul job is to make you look like an idiot. HIS compliment to me last night when we wrapped at 12am was "I know this was a challenge for you but I wanted to let you know that you did a great job and I appreciate it." Hmmmm. A challenge eh? Was he referring to the fact that it has been a challenge trying to buy and rent for this job on a budget that matches my high school allowance (and I went to high school in the 80's) with a prep time that matches the time it takes Lindsay Lohan to relapse after rehab. Or was he talking about the fact that he scouted the locations with us the day before we shot (until 2pm might I add) and changed everything that we had talked about in the Art Department Meeting that he chose NOT to attend. Hmmm, I am not sure. Maybe it was a challenge because I shopped for and dressed the parts of the sets that we had discussed and then he shot in parts of the sets that we had NOT discussed and complained that they looked "bare." Noooo, it HAD to be the fact that I worked from 7am-10:30pm the night before and then came home to work on a fake newspaper (entire companies are actually dedicated to doing this job) until 1am and when I showed it to him in the morning before we started shooting, he didn't like it and asked me to fix it. I am sure it was none of those things. I am sure he was just being polite.

Asshole.

So this morning, I am refusing to work and relaxing on my couch and dreaming of working on a job with a budget AND a prep time AND a boss who is there to guide me and teach me instead of double booking himself and disappearing. Remember I said "dreaming." The only thing I have learned from this show is that my boss doesn't know what I am really worth and at this rate when the job wraps, my Art PA will be making more money than me.