...OVER IT!

I shot a cover issue for VIBE magazine yesterday booked through one of my agencies. It's not the type of work I usually do since I've graduated from music videos and similar gigs to commercial acting work. Nevertheless, I was just going to sit in the house anyway so I accepted the booking.

I'm so OVER IT...
We arrived on set and to my surprise there were way more girls than I anticipated. I was under the assumption that there would be a hand full of girls and we'd be displayed as eye candy around the artist, Souljah Boy, and be done with it. Again, not my cup of tea but I still said yes. About 30 minutes into our call time and with about 20 girls hired, the crew has us do a test shot. WTH??? They used a crew member to fill in for the artist and said "Ok, ladies you're going to lift him in the air as is he's crowd surfing and scream and reach for him and tug at his clothes." Again I say WTH? And so the bullcrap begins. We spent about 30 minutes working on the test shoot and then broke for lunch. One of my friends on set said she over heard someone say that we won't start back up until 2pm. Huh... Umh I didn't sign on for this to just sit around. I'm so OVER IT! I got called for another casting after I accepted this gig and was thinking "Dang it I'm gonna miss a casting because I'm just sitting on my ass waiting to play a groupie for a magazine cover that I wouldn't even display in my portfolio". Even worse was that they said the artist was scheduled for 2pm but probably won't arrive until 3pm. So 2pm rolls around and no artist so me and a friend proceed to Starbucks when they say "its almost time to shoot you can't leave". Someone comes upstairs, takes a drink order and goes to Starbucks for us. Thank goodness they at least did that. Finally he arrives smoked out with the stench of weed and almost ready to shoot. We didn't start back up until 330pm (sooooo OVER IT!) and I'm texting my other friend like tell me how late the casting is going cuz maybe we'll finish early and I can make it. Thinking to myself "This is such a waste of my time". Meanwhile, girls are primping and puckering up and looking around to see if the artist is really downstairs and so the groupie scene begins. These girls were outrageous, literally pushing to get a good spot and hand on him as we raised him in the air. Moaning sexually towards him when we were asked to scream like crazed fans to get his attention. The photographer had to keep reminding us that everyone will be seen in the shot so you don't have to push and get too close to him. "Everyone will be in the shot!" OVEEEEEER IT! One girl was complaining the whole time about how she was leaving exactly at 5pm which is when we were booked until and not a second after. She was so grumpy and irritating that the photographer personally walked over and said you need to smile. It wasn't until the artist walked right up to my friend who was just chilling next to me, right past all the girls pulling out their best tricks to be noticed, that ole' grumpy perked up and was all dappin my friend up because Souljah Boy wanted to talk to her. Oh now you gotta smile on your face and you wanna be besties? (I was OVER her!) Other girls had been complaining from the beginning about how the agency never sends them on anything and blah blah blah. Moving on, worn out from all the girl's best attempts to be in the best shots right next to the artist I was ready to go. We wrapped around 530pm and the chances of me getting to my casting were over. So I guess I was OVER that too. I was so over this whole shoot that I cancelled a date with a girlfriend to have free cocktails at a hob snob party. Yes... I was that irritated that I turned down free alcohol. It amazes me how many females still don't realize that you can jump up and down and do back flips, when you got it, you got it, and you don't have to do tricks. All that energy those girls wasted trying to get what?... His attention? his number? an invite to the hotel later? I'm not sure but they exhausted me and I'm positive that it showed on my face many times throughout the shoot. As soon as they cut for a break each time the crazed fan character went out the window and I probably appeared to some like a big old B-I-T-C... ya know where I'm going with it. No smiles again until they called Action.

Get OVER It...
On the flipside and after receiving a disappointing email from my agent I have an alternate opinion about how the day went. Even when I don't feel I've done anything wrong, I always analyze myself to see if characteristics or actions of others that I dislike could be seen in me. And here's my take. From the beginning, I said I took the booking because I was going to sit in the house otherwise, I didn't have anything planned. So why complain about just sitting at the shoot, other than missing out on the casting where else did I really have to be? So I made the best of the shoot and networked with folks at the end of the day and made great contacts and in a sense tried to get OVER IT. I didn't complain about the pay in the first half of this entry, but girls on set sure did. I did make one comment when told I wasn't screaming loud enough by another model. My response to her was "I'm not getting paid enough to lose my voice, so they'll get a fake scream". To that I have mixed feelings, no I'm not gonna give you a million dollar performance for 5 cents but at the same time, money is money and a booking is a booking, so get OVER IT! In response to "that's the least they could do was give us Starbucks", they didn't have to do jack scrap. I've been at shoots that paid 15 times more than what this was paying and they didn't feed us lunch and certainly not a free Starbucks drink so again I say to myself "get OVER IT". Lastly, in response to the girls "groupie-like" ways draining me to the point where I was ready to go. One of my favorite quotes has always been "No one can diminish you but yourself". Just because they acting a fool don't mean I have to. I was worried about people standing by getting me confused with them and thinking I'm like that. Telling myself I'm gonna stand back and show that I'm not trippin with this little dude walks on set because I'm not a groupie so don't get it twisted. But the thing is from a distance a groupie and a Bitch don't look too different. They are both undesirable people to be around if you prefer positive energy. And I'm all about positive energy so now WTH is wrong with me. I could've made the decision to rise above what I disliked about this shoot and push through it. While, my attitude wasn't that bad on the outside, I know what I was thinking on the inside. And even if the crew and others couldn't tell, GOD knows and that's the "being" I'm trying to raise up in the air and worship and pull and tug at to gain all I can. Therefore even these thoughts were inappropriate.

At the end of the day, you win some you lose some and then there can be a DRAW. You do the best you're capable of doing in a less than desirable situation and sometimes sacrifice a little bit of who you truly are. I didn't fully let my personality shine yesterday because of the bull crap and if I had it couldve caught the eye of the right person at the right time cuz you never know who's watching. I lived and I learned that I will make better of myself should a situation like this arise again. Also, I lived and I learned that I don't want to be put in a situation like this again, so Mr. Agency Man don't send me on this type of booking again, please and thank you.

Peace yall!

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