Who Wouldn't You Work With?

Back before we started Pixel Workshop (and before she was my wife), Ilana worked as an assistant editor for several different post production houses in Washington DC. One of them had an ongoing professional relationship with one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, doing training and P.R. video for them. They were a huge and important client for the post house, responsible for a large percentage of their annual revenue. (And remember what we said about having too many eggs in one basket!)

The funny thing about the relationship was that this client specified that they be allowed to smoke in the edit suites. (This was in the early 90s, before there were so many workplace smoking restrictions.) And they let it be known in no uncertain terms that if they weren't allowed to smoke in the edit suites, they would take their business elsewhere. So the post house went along with it. Again, times were different , even fifteen years ago, but still - quite a bargain to make. The deal drove the engineers nuts, because they were constantly having to tear down the equipment in the "smoking" suite to remove the layers of gunk left by the smoke. Other clients refused to use the room because it reeked of stale smoke.

Worth it? Well, for the post house, clearly it was. They went on like this for years, hiring editors who smoked, so they wouldn't mind the situation.

I can tell you that we never would have taken them on as a client, and certainly would never have allowed smoking anywhere inside the facility. Still, in our company history, we've done a handful of jobs for clients we didn't exactly agree with. We've done political ads (always get paid in advance with politicals...always...), we did an ad for an international "Day of Peace" which, unbeknownst to us, was actually a mass wedding ceremony for the Moonies. Oops.

And one time I did an online finishing job for a gent who, when booking the edit suite, said to me, "You don't have a problem with nudity, do you?" (For the record, that's like asking Popeye if he has a problem with spinach...) Turns out his indie film was a low-budget lesbian vampire slasher flick. And I had no problem with that.

But seriously, it's a good mental exercise. Who, if they knocked on your door, clutching fistfuls of money, would you refuse to work for? Politicals that were against your sensibilities? Porn? Religious content? Is it even our job to pass judgment on the products our clients are producing, as long as they're legal?

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