DATE #7: Date or Job Interview?

It's one thing to set a coffee date for a Sunday afternoon where two perspective mates can connect over lattes without the stress of work, but its something else completely to plan to meet at 3pm in the middle of the work week. And something else to meet where Tribeca hits the Financial district and the coffee is hand brewed at $3.56 (for a small) and everyone around you is in a business suit having a business meeting...

This is where I met an entertainment lawyer, who maybe could afford not to use a credit card for the $3.56 small decaf, who was supposed to be my afternoon date. I say "supposed" because afterwards I had doubts as to whether or not I met with the right person.

So you get the picture of me and this lawyer meeting at a swanky Tribeca coffee shop full of business people. Granted, this guy wasn't wearing a suit but a stripped polo straight out of Harry Potter. His photo showed him thin with blond hair yet he was heavier with very dark hair. He was a little late so I bought myself a coffee to start and wait. He gave me this annoyed look/feeling that I bought coffee ahead of him and that maybe, right off the start, I wasn't what he was expecting either. I have to say though, I looked good - you can ask anyone.

We sat down and talked for a minute about the weird art on the coffee shop walls, about Tribeca and then the date started to feel like an interview - but I still don't know which one of us was up for what job.

Apparently he's not a working lawyer at the moment, though he said he's "gone out on his own" and wants to work with the movie biz, maybe. So I told him about the movie biz and all the contracts I've worked with and negotiated and he would respond with legal jargon about cast contracts and riders he's worked with. It felt like a competition - who has read more contracts? Who's negotiated more interested things and for what? Cast? Locations? Prop rentals...

He didn't ever really look at me (and I looked HOT! for a Monday afternoon), he wasn't much to look at either but I believe you should look at the person you're talking to, whether or not they're cute - it's a respect thing.

He gave me his list of credits: educated at a college I've never heard of; law school somewhere else I've never heard of; internships at law firms that mean nothing to me and a job he "lost for budget reasons" that was for a well known broadcast TV company. I rattled off a few of mine, he was beat - I have just as much experience reading contracts and more in the film industry that he could ever imagine achieving.... yes, I was very annoyed at the conversation turning into a competition, can you tell? That's why I had to win.

I tried to switch the subject in my sweet girlie voice: "so what do you like to do for fun? on weekends?" His answer was lame - "well, working for myself every day is a weekend". Which I resent because I work for myself and I have a strict schedule: gym, coffee, emails, accounts, lunch, walk in park, emails, editing doc, nap, grant research, dinner... you get my drift.

Oh, and we talked about movies and what kind of director film kids want to be - Tarantino or Cameron? Like I care?

A little after an hour, we were both out of coffee and each peeling the paper skins from our cups out of boredom. We spent five minutes talking about apartment hunting, suddenly he got the idea that maybe he should be a broker. I said, "Good luck with that".

We shook hands and walked in opposite directions.