I posted this briefly as a comment but decided it deserved a blog post of its own.

Once upon a time there was a young guy in portfolio school. He was one of the best in his class and got in at a hot agency on the west coast. This agency was known for doing outstanding, breakthrough work for top clients. When working at this agency, all he has to do is sit back and be himself. He pumps out an idea and there's some top designers to make his ideas look beautiful. When he writes commercials, top directors cut their rate just to work with his agency and client.

The more great work he does, the faster he gets promoted. Soon he's a group creative director. At this point, there's really not a whole lot more the agency can do to keep him. They've already piled the cash on him as far as they can go. Heck, the last contract he signed they threw in a rare luxury car to sweeten the deal. The creative is getting restless. "There must be something else out there." Doing awesome work is great. But he wants a challenge.

One day his phone rings. It's a headhunter in New York. "I heah yaw really talented" she barks. There's an agency looking for a turnaround. While not known for great work, they're committed to putting out much better ads. And this is the guy to do it. He's the "chosen one." He's coming from the big agency. He has more awards than can fit in his office. "We'll give you an office just for your awards" they joke. Then they go fire a traffic coordinator and really make it happen. The new agency doubles...no...TRIPLES his salary. Paid plane tickets back home 4 times a year.

With no more mountains to climb on the west coast, the creative jumps at the offer. "If I can turn this place around, I can do anything!"

The first two weeks of work are a dream. There's no creative to do while he gets settled in his new office. Everyone comes by to welcome him. "Wow, you're HIM. From that GREAT AGENCY." A few even drop off their resumes, in case he wants to pass them along.

The assignments start to pile up. He heads down to the production department to get some help. "Do you have a job number for that?" "No." "I'm sorry, but I can't help you." No one in the production department is doing a thing but playing Doom. But no job number, no work. "This is really important pitch." "Look, no job number, no work." "I'm here to improve the agency, we need to work as a team and do some great work together!"

The production manager glares, then laughs out loud. "Ha, you're like the 5th guy in a row who said that. Oh, give it a couple of weeks, you'll get the hang of how we do things around here."

He calls an AE and asks for a job number. "Sorry, we haven't issued one yet." He decides to start doing his own comps. It's faster. Of course, this limits his ability to be creative. "You know at THAT GREAT AGENCY, we used to..." becomes his new catch phrase. People are tired of hearing it. "Why don't you just go back there then?" Someone snaps.

The head creative director calls him into his office. "Hey, stop trying so hard. Just do 80%. Pick your battles. Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep your chin up!"

He goes back to his office and starts throwing things. People think he's a bit temermental. "Oh, it's another one of those assholes from THAT GREAT AGENCY. They can't deal with real accounts with real problems."

His first round of ads are done. He heads to New Jersey for his first focus group. A fat woman with a huge mole on her nose says all his ads offend her. The AE's send a 3 page list of revisions based on her feedback.

Meanwhile, the production department has placed 3rd in the inter-agency Doom tournament. And the new hot shot creative is staying late making all the changes himself.

A few months go by. Whispers of "He had such a great portfolio. What happened?" "Maybe he worked with a good writer." "I heard he stole all of his ads right out of CA in 1999." "Yeah, this guy's a fraud."

Rumors start to go around that he's lost it. Or that he never had it.

Then the day comes. Just as he was starting to hit his stride. Just as he was coming to terms to with the ass-backwards way of doing things. That he had to comp his own ads. That his clients were no longer visionary. Just when he thought he could make a go of it.

"You're fired."

"This just isn't working out."

"It's not you, it's us. We know how we are. We can't have people like you here telling us how bad we are all the time. It's demoralizing."

"This is nothing like what you had in your portfolio."

He hits the streets. He starts to look for some freelance, but suddenly his calls are not being returned.

"That guy? I don't know what happened. His book...yeah, it's kind of...dated at this point. He hasn't done anything. Anything at all..."