Scary solicitaion for a Face Painter...

So a guy I worked with at the Diet Mtn Dew gig forwarded this email to me. He does alot of event promo gigs where they hire people for a one time shot to work promoting whatever company. He gets hired by a third party company who puts on the event for the day, so the actual place or sponsor isn't hiring him or sending him the details, but this really got my blood boiling when I read it!
Here is what the email said (minus the client particulars):

Here are the event details:

Event Name: XXXX Face Painter: XXXX, Ohio
Event Dates: 4/9/11
Event Times: 10am-2pm
Event Location:
XXXX, OH 43035

Attire Requirements: khaki or black pants, clean sneakers. Please wear clean polo or button up in case tshirt isn't provided.
Event Rate: $21/hr
Event Details / Job Description: We need one face painter for this event! You will be painting faces of shoppers at the New Wal Mart store! You must have experience with face panting, and can paint whatever you like, as long as it's G-Rated. Be prepared to send photos of your past face painting work! We will provide you with a shirt, table, table cloth, chairs, and smocks for children, but you will need to bring YOUR OWN mirrors, paints, brushes. Face paints can be purchased at local hobby or art stores, Snazaroo for example is only $12.

That's easy, just press delete, they don't want professional quality and experience.
If you want to take an education moment send them your rate sheet and pix, they'll know then they get what they pay for. Since the $21 is much more than they pay their regular employees they may think it is enough. It is an offer and you don't have to take it, you can counter offer(and tell them about standard pricing in the industry) or you can just say no.
At least they are promoting the use of safe paints and not just getting a staff member to pull some craft paint off the shelves.

Yeah I know that promotion company, they try to get face painters around here to paint for Kelloggs. I sent them an email about how that was too low of pay and the response was that is all that Kelloggs would give them.

I remember that company I think. They were trying to get painters to paint at Walmart to promo Kelloggs right?
If you HAVE to have face painting experience, why would they need to tell you where you can get face paints from?!

Yep, that's the one. What is really sad is that a year ago I would have jumped at the chance to do that gig! I had no real training, had never heard of Snazaroo or any of the paints I now use, but still wanted to be a face painter. I thought I knew what I was doing then, but I was so clueless! Oh well... I guess let them find a newby that has no clue what they're doing to paint smiley faces on cheeks and be happy with $21 an hour.

I've gotten offers like that before. I usually send them a list of my prices/services & point them to my website for pictures I info on me. Some have hired me.

I was one of the amateurs who signed up for the Kellogg's face painting at Walmart.  Everything went well.  Store manager was pleased.  But the marketing company Alexandra Russo of Extreme Marketing did not pay me.  She will not answer my emails, etc.  I will contact Kellogg's to see if they will pay me.  Don't sign up for the Kellogg's face painting gig at Walmart through Extreme Marketing.

How long ago was your gig? I have had to wait payment as long as 30 days.

I painted for a walmart re-opening a couple of years ago but after I sent my info and requirements, they paid my full rate. it took close to 3 months and a million e-mails (felt like)before they mailed my payment. My husband, daughter, and her boyfriend went with me that day (it was several hours away) and they hired them on the spot to fill in for other workers for the event who were a "no-show." we all finally got paid but it was a HEADACHE!

i found out later that the money had to follow the line of people (in my instance, probably not that way with all)... walmart had to pay the organizer, the organizer had to pay the person they hired to supervise the event, he had to pay me....    way too many "it won't be long" notes sent to me, way too many middle-men. felt sorry for the young guy who was the supervisor there for this event. out of all the people supposedly hired to show up, i was the only one who came. the store manager was not a happy camper. glad my family came with me! they made a few extra bucks that day instead of a boring wait while i painted, lol.

lol i hope you all do not see this as a bad thing.... you now know that walmart and Kellogg both hire face painters. so market to them directly. put together a marketing plan that includes your services and pitch it to them. i posted on this down in the business section.

Thank you all for your responses – they were very helpful!

Rthing – My gig was on Oct 26. Thanks for asking.

Luvs to paint – thanks for telling me about the 3 month wait and why because it had to go through so many places. I just panicked because the marketing company wouldn’t answer back. So glad your family got to make extra money. Thanks.

Michael Magick – I appreciate the good idea about marketing to Walmart and Kellogg directly. Had not thought of that. I’ll go to the business section and look at your other posts. Thanks.

I can't imagine painting for WalMart would yield anything but the worst of conditions, low pay, and clearly timely payment problems. Why am I so not surprised?

Lady Jayde wrote:I remember that company I think. They were trying to get painters to paint at Walmart to promo Kelloggs right?
If you HAVE to have face painting experience, why would they need to tell you where you can get face paints from?!

i would have wondered the same thing, but i just recently relocated to connecticut, and you'd be surprised how many "professional" facepainters out here are using the cheap acrylic/tempura paint looking "face paint"....

actually I performed for wal marts Xmas party last year. I charged them $500 for 2 hours. they paid me in check as I arrived at the gig. the key is to have a solid contract. if you invoice them way before the gig they will have a check ready.

Glad to hear that worked out for you and sad to see the others for whom it did not.

it probably depends completely on whether that particular walmart hires you directly or if they choose to hire an organizer who in turn takes care of hiring all the "entertainment, etc." Sounds like those who deal directly with the walmart management have a better go.

dealing directly is better all the way around.

Michael Magick wrote:dealing directly is better all the way around.  

Apply that rule in almost all business situations. It's because the middleman tends to not build a relationship. Business = 50% timing and 50% relationship.