TALENT CANCELLATIONS…DUH DUM..I hope that reads as the sound of impending doom. Because that is what I feel like when a talent calls/emails/texts (which, btw, email and texting are NOT acceptable ways to cancel for an event) to back out on their scheduled event.
So, what’s the big deal?, you ask. Can’t you just find a replacement for me? And what if you really are sick (and I’m not talking about the common cold, allergies, a “headache”…these don’t count. For these I say hightail it to your local drugstore and get yourself some OTCs) or, what if your car DID breakdown…maybe there really is a family emergency…. Well, this does not apply to you. We are not monsters. We do understand that things happen. This blog is for the talent that calls their booking agent only hours before the event, moaning that they have been vomiting all morning due to a serious and sudden stomach virus (aka a hangover) and cannot possibly work. Booking agents are like your mothers. We know if you are lying.
The big deal is this: our client wants you. They have carefully hand selected you from the competition. They pored over talent profiles until they conceded that your unique qualities were a perfect match to their product and services. They do not want a replacement. And anyway, do you know how stressful it is to find a replacement only hours before an event? It involves many, MANY tedious phone calls. Usually, when you would like to be spending time with your family, or watching America’s Next Top Model, or even sleeping …for those middle of the night, event starts at 8am type cancellations (which, coincidentally, Justin just received one of these calls last weekend. ACTUALLY, it was a text message -please reference the aforementioned “text message”- AND it was at 2 am for an event that started at 7 am. Not cool.) And then, after the many, many tedious phone calls, there is the waiting. It is like chinese water torture. Will somebody call back? Is somebody, anybody, PLEASE, available? And when your phone rings, and it is that awesome girl who randomly has the day off from work and lives right down the street from the venue and would love to help you out….when she calls, there is relief.
Really, you are just hurting yourself when you back out on your job (now I really sound like your mother). These cancellations are noted in your profile (or, if it was an extremely offensive cancellation, we may just go ahead and make your profile inactive and never book you on anything ever again) Now, when booking agents view your profile to consider you for a job, they can see that you have a blemished record. And then we don’t want to book you anymore. It is not because we think you’re a horrible, unreliable person who is not to be trusted… but because we don’t want to deal with even the slightest possibility you will do this again. We don’t want even the slightest chance of something going wrong. We need it to go right. We are in the business of customer service, and our livelihood depends on things going right for our client. And quite frankly, we don’t want the extra stress or the extra work that comes along with a cancellation. You don’t cancel=you make my life easier=me like you. And then, I book you on jobs. Like the old adage, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Talent and booking agent, in perfect harmony.
