Beyond the Box Productions (PBC Beyond the Box Productions, LLC) is the name of the production company that produced the event Muse : a fashion week after party event. As I mentioned in the earlier post, I did a body painting for this event.

They were very unprofessional and unorganized. It was by far the worst professional experience I’ve ever had as a body painter.

First, they were really cheap. In the ad about the gig, they explicitly said that they would offer 4 tickets, valued at $40 each. The ticket was actually $20 pre-order and $25 at the door. When I called them to inquire about this, they changed it to 3 free tickets. They don’t realize that they are already getting a very good deal. I normally charge hundreds of dollars more than $160. They finally let me put 4 names in the guest list, as if it was a favor. Then they added that everyone after that will pay $25 instead of $40. At that time, one could still get tickets for $20.

That was not the end of this financial unprofessionalism.

They wouldn’t let one of my friends in. When I went out to confront them, they first said that I was only allowed to put 2 names in the comp list, then they said that there were already 6 people claiming to be my guests. What was really going on? Is it really that hard to check someone’s ID and match it to the name on the guest list? They finally let my friend in after I created a little drama at the ticket booth.

This is not really about the monetary value of the tickets. I can afford to pay for them if I wanted to invite my friends. This is about respecting promises.

Now, let’s move on to the topic of incompetence in planning.

The entertaintment director, Nicholas – big tittle like this is a red flag – who I was in contact wth assured me that they would provide the models. They asked me to paint 2-4 models. They told me that I could start anytime after 3pm, so I went there at 3:45pm so I could have enough time to paint at least 2 models properly before the show starts at 8pm. When I got there, there was only 1 model available.

I worked with that model, Dannie, a very talented dancer/actress. I really enjoyed working with her. In fact, this was the only good thing from this whole experience.

After I finished painting Dannie, Nicholas found me another willing model, Diamond, who couldn’t stay still because she was too distracted by other models. We did the body painting where the models did the fitting. Diamond wanted to make sure that she’d be the center of attention, so she wanted to be painted AND do the runway. Lucky for her, she got that. The dress she wore covered 80% of the painting that I did on her. I spent 2 hours for nothing. WTF? That’s a good way to show appreciation to somebody’s hard work.

To be fair, they did try to feature the first painting where the guests would see as soon as they walk in.

A woman claiming to be a body painter/make up artist was supposed to assist me. I contacted her prior to the d-day to coordinate. She told me she would be done with a wedding around 3pm. She sent me an email around 6:15pm. She never came.

One of the reasons why I decided to do this free gig was to promote what I do. Nicholas made a big deal about how they’d credit me on their big screens. After the show ended, they had a rolling credits on the screens like credits for movies. Guess what? For body paint artist, they put that woman’s name then at the very bottom, under special name they added mine. Great way to show appreciation.

Another thing that they promised to lure talents was that they would have professional photographers taking picture of the finished work. Yes, there were guys with professional looking cameras, but I’m willing to bet that I will not get any decent picture of the body paintings.

During the correspondence with Nicholas, I already felt that they are the kind of party promoter/event planner who exploit talents and they are very inexperienced. I should’ve gone with my instinct.