It's Andy Fish!

I like to call this little fella “Mr Regret” because I paid a ridiculous amount of money for him at a convention I should have never agreed to. I keep him on my desk as a reminder- sometimes we make mistakes.

Freelance can be a tough game- you balance projects, you work for a variety of clients over the years, some really good ones you keep on speed dial (as if that existed anymore), others not so much. Sometimes we take a gig, accept an appearance request or commit to some other event because of

• Panic if work hasn’t been coming in.
• Time – if the request is made early enough and its so far away you just say ok.
• Persistence – a client or an event planner asks you so many times over that saying no again seems fruitless so you figure you’ll give it a chance, after all how bad can it be?

Bad.

With any luck the assignment you accepted isn’t tied into a two year contract — and this is why having a “kill” option in your contract is so important. Make sure the terms are clearly outlined for what will be the procedure if you or the client decide this relationship isn’t working. Better to be un-employed than miserable.

Not too long ago we agreed to do a show in an area we weren’t familiar with but was one we both wanted to see. The venue was connected to the official hotel so no need to travel to and from the event (and most shows that do require you to do that provide you with transportation). The trouble with some shows is if they are new or if the promoter (there is a show that runs here in MA two or three times a year by a well known expert in the world of pop culture and collectibles that has not grown at all, in fact if anything the shows are getting worse) who does not know how to attract an audience.

A typical comic con we do tends to range in the 10,000 – 150,000 attendance range, this particular show had no more than 300 people show up– and I’d say the number of people interested in having some interactions with the artists was well below 50.

Needless to say, not a great show. We did manage to catch up with old friends which always has a great deal of value but being out of our studio for 3-4 days (travel eats into time away, so does show time) costs us about multiple hundreds of production dollars, so we have to be selective about the shows we do.

The one exception is San Diego, that show is so massive, the city is so great, it’s worth doing even if you end up just breaking even on your expenses. But this particular show I’m talking about? Not worth losing money on.

We make mistakes in freelance, but as long as we do our best to learn from them then it’s never a complete waste.