Easy to work with
Clients don't pick the most creative person — they pick the one who won't make their life harder. Being easy to work with beats being brilliant on most jobs, and here's what that actually looks like.
Back when I worked at big companies, I'd hear directors and producers say something like this all the time:
"Ugh, forget him. He's such a pain to work with. Let's go with this guy instead — less creative, sure, but he delivers and doesn't drive you insane."
The person picking the contractor has a job too. They have to assemble the project, hit the deadline, and deliver what was agreed with the client. So they weigh your creativity against how much babysitting you'll require.
The client usually walks into the agency having already looked through portfolios. They roughly know what to expect and pick people who've done something similar. They have a task and a picture of the outcome in their head. Now they'd like that outcome to actually exist.
From what I've seen, there are far more ordinary jobs than projects that need something genuinely unusual. You can lose to the guy at the next desk on creativity and still get the gig. The client sees that working with you is straightforward, and that the date you promised actually means something.
I love scrolling gorgeous eye candy on Behance as much as anyone and coming away aesthetically satisfied. But in my experience, clients arrive through word of mouth.
They need their problems solved without extra headaches. A pretty picture on its own tells the client nothing about whether you'll solve their problem or whether working with you will be easy.
When the result has to be special
Some projects do call for more. An art director or producer wants something above expectations, and if that means a difficult artist, they'll put up with the "artistic temperament." Whoever's assembling the project knows exactly what they're trading for.
At a big company, that artist might sit on staff; freelancing, they might get work through a sales rep who handles the human side. Sometimes there's a team they slot into perfectly. A lot depends on how the work around them is organized.
