That Time I Was Fired from a Music Video for Being ”Too” Good-Looking
I was hired, signed a contract, then I was replaced, and I still don’t know how to feel about it
I wish I could say this was going to be one of those stories where I lament how amazingly good-looking I am, and rant about how people don’t understand the horrors of what it’s like being so amazingly good-looking, alas, though I have been told enough times that I am good-looking to believe that I am good-looking, I ain’t that good looking. So it’s not going to be one of those stories.
However, I was fired from a music video for being deemed to be “too” good-looking, and I still to this day don’t know how to feel about that, to tell the story several years or so back, a girl I knew introduced me to the world of modelling.
Basically, I was a photographer and things were a bit tough at the time, but she said that I could probably make some good money if I signed up to the agency she was with, you’re a good-looking guy she said, have the perfect look for what they are looking for right now.
And so I signed up and it turned out that she was right, I did a couple of music videos just for local singers, things local to my region, and I did a few modelling gigs (one of them being a national water safety campaign for the RNLI). You could barely see my face in the final image, but it was still cool.
Anyway, after being with the agency for a few months my agent called me up one day and said that she had a great opportunity for me; a music video was being shot in the region, they were looking for a male around my age to star in it, and she wanted to put me forward for it. She told me that she couldn’t tell me the name of the singer but that he had sold over a million records in the UK. She also told me that if I got the job, I would be paid a thousand pounds.
I certainly was not going to say no to that, so I told her that I definitely wanted to be put forward. Literally about an hour later, I get a call saying that the director loves my look and that they think I’m perfect to star next to the girl that they have already signed up to star in it — for the purposes of this post I will call her Sarah.
To say the least I’m pretty happy about this, starring in a music video for a top singer, getting paid a thousand pounds. Cannot complain at that. So anyway they invite me in and I get introduced to the production crew and Sarah. The director then starts giving us some information, he also tells us who the singer is.
(I’m not going to tell you his name because I don’t want to risk getting him in trouble, I doubt he would get in trouble but by the end, you will probably guess why it’s better that I don’t share his name — for the purposes of this post I will call him ABC.)
As it happened ABC was not at this meeting, and Sarah and myself were told that we would not likely meet him because our scenes were separate from his, which was fair. They tell us that the story is really basic, Sarah and myself are going to play a loving couple who are going to go through a little bit of a difficult period before going on to have a happy ending. Our scenes will be shot over the course of two early morning shoots.
Once the director had gone through everything, they get me to sign a contract, and they tell me that it is preliminary based upon ABC himself approving my casting, but that they were certain he would. So I sign it and a week passes; the shoot is now one day away. I’ve not been told that ABC does not approve so I assume all is good. I then get a text message confirming everything for tomorrow and asking if I’m clear about everything, I say that I am and that I’m looking forward to it.
At this point all is looking good, surely nothing can go wrong…
But then the evening comes, it was about 7:30 at night and I get a phone call from my agent. She says the following: “I’m really sorry, David, I don’t really know even how to say this, I can’t tell you how pissed off I am about this but… They’ve replaced you for tomorrow…”
“You what?” I said.
“I’m really sorry, David, but ABC said he doesn’t want you in the video and that he wants somebody else.”
To say that I was in disbelief about this would be an understatement: It’s not that he doesn’t want me in the music video, it’s that he left it so late to make the decision. I even say this to my agent, highlighting that I got a text message earlier confirming that tomorrow was still on. I tell her that I had cleared things in my schedule to do this music video.
My agent then continues and tells me that what she is about to tell me is off the record but that she feels that I deserve to know the truth. “In truth,” she said, “he initially gave his approval but we can’t prove that, and it’s just not worth taking it to court because it would make us all look bad.”
Now I’m not just in disbelief, I’m really annoyed, don’t get me wrong: It’s his video and his prerogative but leaving it this late in the game is just a bit of a you-know-what move.
“Why did he change his mind?” I ask. “Do you know?”
There is a little bit of a pause, and she says, “There’s no easy way to say this and I’m really pissed off about it but, to put it bluntly, he felt that you were too good-looking and that you would show him up.”
At first I think she’s joking, I mean surely she has to be joking? I’m good-looking but not “that” good-looking? And ABC is a good-looking guy himself so I cannot see how I would show him up? But she makes clear that she is not joking and goes on: “His agent said that it’s important for ABC’s female fans that he remains the best looking guy in the music video; he said that you shouldn’t have been selected in the first place.”
I’m about to respond to this and let my absolute disbelief be known, but before I can my agent continues: “But that’s a load of bull shit. The director told me it’s to do with ABCs girlfriend, apparently she kicked him out the other night and now he’s having a mental crisis and basically he wants to be the best looking guy in his music video.”
I don’t even know what to say at this point, but my agent continues. “It’s really messed up, David. He literally went through all the male models we have on our books and I’m not joking picked out aesthetically speaking the least good-looking one. I mean don’t get me wrong,” she added, “there’s nothing wrong with that but it is just an all-round shitty way of going about doing things.”
And with that, that was the end of that. And there you have it: The story of how I nearly co-starred in the music video of a million-plus selling singer only to be replaced the day before because the singer got dumped by his girlfriend and wanted a guy in the video who, in his mind, was not as good-looking as he is.
Or as I like to say it, that time I got fired for being “too” good-looking. That sounds better doesn’t it?
That’s all for me; thanks for reading and if you liked this you may enjoy the following:
That Time A Bride-To-Be Propositioned Me For Sex
My Date Said I Had Walked Into A Situation — This Is What She Meant
That Time I Accidentally Stole £10 — I’ve Felt Guilty About It Ever Since
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