Trustworthiness and Credibility Now
Winter Holiday Later

Here we were, already settling into a warm, toasty holiday vacation mode, closing in on the third week of a fine December morning, just like everybody else. Then unlike everybody else, Ed (Creative Director, a dear friend of mine…and client for a 1,001 years), reached me and let me know that we have some shooting to do – "now"... (That meant before the end of the year), in a grammar school location, (schools are already closed for the holidays), with models (kids, many already on winter break and vacation cruise control) and, and, and!!! I take pride in being accessible, resourceful and doing the impossible. Now was my time to prove it.

As I had first thought, many children/families were already out-of-town, as well as most of the model agency talent bookers. My staff was on vacation too! I put together over a dozen models for our shot on a hope and a prayer from composite photos (no time for a casting). Ed’s layout required us showing our 9-year old 'star' to be exhibiting childhood depression…poor concentration, boredom and low self-esteem. Our location scout Valerie, found a terrific suburban school that was happy to work with our crazy schedule. We retrieved insurance permits, went propping, and what not. We had staffed up with excellent freelancers …assistants and hair/make-up, and we were off to our location with less than 2 days of prep.

Our young star had terrific resolve and focus...following my direction perfectly; he put forth an academy award performance while his classmates were doing their award performance of having loud fun at their table in the background.

It's amazing what can be accomplished when you have one-quarter of the amount of time than a job would normally take. It forces you to not second-guess yourself. There's really never any time for that once your plans are in focus …only time for making every moment count.

Were we trustworthy and credible…you bet! The Holidays…they were great!