Having met you I know you are a straight up guy. You just say it as it is and therefore this client must truly be a nightmare. In addition I have the same type of experience in that I am shooting music vids in London, sometimes with phenomenally difficult clients.
I have discovered most musicians are extremely difficult. For example, I asked one musician to bring headphones. She responded with an email stating 'I don't understand..'
What I have done is to put written ground rules in place which I refer to. I also bring the client into the editing process so they edit with me. However, I have had the opportunity to work with pros and know that musicians are extremely demanding.
Otherwise I would ask if I could see the vid as I'm extremely interested.
there were other problems with this particular artist when out on the days of shooting, for example:
day 1: i request to meet in central london as i know of some nice spots and to create a nice little storyline, artist calls me 2 hours before appointment to say that i have to come to near their home and shoot there.. i didnt know the area at all neither any locations near it, we had to shoot round the corner of her home, also when i requested that with each shot we do the whole song throughout she said no and only wanted to do it in sections for each shot, then she complained that it was cold and i didnt need to be taking that long.
day 2: again i request to shoot in central london to get the nicest shots and the busiest looking ones as thats what she wanted. she said she didnt want to go that far (20 mins on train) so again she made me come to a place i didnt even know and the same situation again only this time started moaning at me while preparing camera equipment.. totally disgusted as i was i just ignored her, its her money if she doesnt want my advice its her problem. she demanded that i know what part of the songs i wanted to do for each clip, yet she didnt want a story line for either two vids, then she asked if she could be filmed singing next to a horse... yep a horse and then before we even got two takes of the final part of the song she declared shed had enough (about 30 mins later) and that it was too cold for her and she had important places to be...
day 3: we went to stratford shopping centre where i had to go guerrilla style film on the brim as quickly as possible, i got pulled over by huge security guard thinking i was a terrorist, after explaining it was for a school project they let me carry on but only with her in the shot and no shops (they advised me i could obtain a free press pass from the office had i asked and explained)
basically she made my life hell, then when it came to editing, she didnt tell me what she wanted, so i did what i thought looked different and eye catching, when i showed her, she went into a fury, telling me all sorts of stuff. then i missed her call, so apparently that warrants fraud etc..
anyways the footage was crap, the video was crap and everything to do with this woman is crap!
you can see a preview of what shes actually happy with but with just a few adjustments needed for the first vid here (just a note that I had a brilliant storyline and imagery all set up, im not even putting my name on this crap):
the adjustments to be made are transitions sharpening and replacing 1 clip, she also keeps complaining about her belly ( i would have loved to have pointed to the nearest gym but hey ho)
I also had to film extra crap coz there wasnt even enough footage, as you can tell the repetative footage of her standing between the short wall and stairs was the only footage long enough i had that covered the whole song.
on the plus side, i now know never to work with anyone like this again, and im MORE THAN EXCITED for my next project with an artist who has let me co-direct his video and create a brilliant story line, so paul if your up for that im sure youl be interested he owns his own pub in euston too and we are filming in there and around central london, it involves a man with a gasmask and suit..