Fashion Film Shoot turned Nightmare (PART 2)

Did I love spending 4 weeks working in a studio to then discover that it was all a lie?

No is the short answer.
I guess, every job comes with its shit.
Shit like con-artists.

---

This is part 2 of our Fashion Film Shoot turned Nightmare, you can find part 1 here: https://steemit.com/photography/@itsnicoletv/fashion-film-shoot-turned-nightmare-part-1

So here I am volunteering to do light-tests. We are in one of the biggest studios in Seoul, and tomorrow we will be working with Jun Ji Hyun.

Look her up, she's like royalty in Asia.

The photographer is shooting the cover of his fashion magazine, and I am directing several fashion films starring a mega-uber-super-star. This shoot's generous sponsor is HERA, a beauty brand leading K-Beauty, who also just sponsored Seoul Fashion Week. Fantastic.

But then. Jun Ji Hyun's manager calls to announce that the shoot has been cancelled.
This is probably the fifth or so times that she has cancelled on us.

What a shocker.

The agent insists on staying together, so that we can come up with something to change Jun Ji Hyun's mind.
We've spent months planning this shoot. I guess spending another 5 hours in the studio, isn't going to make much of a difference.. Let's try think of something.

We came to the conclusion that the star is an absolute diva.

A few days later, the agent announces that we still might be able to shoot with Jun Ji Hyun. But we have to delay our flights back home. Also, she has a few more awesome jobs in line for me. She suggests being my personal agent, she'd like 20% commission of my salary. By then I've already had enough of her projects though. This whole diva drama was too much. We are flying back home.

Back in London, the photographer wasn't ready to just let go. He spent over 25 thousand Dollar on the studios, the rental, the equipment, catering, transport, etc. Usually the client has to provide some deposit, but he blindly trusted the agent, whom he met through a close friend.

He obviously needs direct answers. So he calls up Jun Ji Hyun's manager to find out the most horrifying and confusing thing. The manager has never even heard of us to begin with. He then calls up our other clients, but they are clueless. They've also never heard of that agent.

Have you already guessed the con-artist?

That wannabe agent.

He flew straight back to Korea and sued her. She ain't using her credit cards or starting any contract any time soon. No phone, no house, no loans, no nothing, until she pays back.
I don't intend to pity the con-artist in any way, she betrayed so many people, she's going to have to deal with a lot of hate anyway, but I think she actually believed her own lies..

Once all her lies came out, the first thing I did was search the Internet to find out how other people deal with con-artists.. There wasn't much. It's just a very embarrassing story to share, since you think something like this will never ever happen to you. Once you let your guard down, they get you, and you feel so stupid.

Glad its over.

Always trust your gut feelings and keep your chin up.

Nicole xx