Not Getting Paid

Ira Ratner · September 12, 2008

If you want to guarantee not getting paid...follow the above advice. Acts like that generally only work in front of the camera.

She HASN'T been paid, so your point is what?

Asking politely for the money?

Spending hours and hours negotiating this nonsense?

We are talking crap money owed to her here, and if you don't think busting someone's b***s for this pittance will get a reaction when they realize that "It's more trouble than it's worth--pay her," then I don't know what business you're in.

Scam artists like this only understand one thing:

Fear of losing more money than the situation is worth, or getting their knees busted.

They found a nice girl they thought they could rip off, and there's only one answer to it:

Rip them new a-holes in ways they would never have imagined.

Ira Ratner · September 12, 2008

Here's your opportunity to try out my "pay in advance" suggestion, as this is obviously a situation in which you have every right to do so and nothing to lose.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's what these sleazebags always do!!!!!!!!!!!!

They dangle "future opportunities" in front of you as a way to deflect from the scamming they did to you before!!!! It's a CLASSIC scam artist move!!!!!

She gets to the shoot, they'll have some scene planned where he says, "Isn't Sarah here yet? She's supposed to have the check here for MICHELLE! This pisses me off! I'm sorry, Michelle. We'll take care of this. Let me call her right now, but in the meantime, let's get to work. And did I tell you how PRETTY you look today!?"

It's simply in these guys' genes to cheat. I was a victim of it when I was very young, different business, and there's just no defense against it for young kids.

Michele Peterson · September 12, 2008

Here's your opportunity to try out my "pay in advance" suggestion, as this is obviously a situation in which you have every right to do so and nothing to lose.

Normally I wouldn't be one to suggest turning down jobs, unless you have another, better one. But for me in this case, it isn't worth the trouble of dealing with people (and this guy is guilty by association) who play games with my paycheck. I'm much better off leaving myself available for better jobs than taking a low-budget gig that is full of hassle. I politely turned him down.

Dan Goulder · September 12, 2008

Normally I wouldn't be one to suggest turning down jobs, unless you have another, better one. But for me in this case, it isn't worth the trouble of dealing with people (and this guy is guilty by association) who play games with my paycheck. I'm much better off leaving myself available for better jobs than taking a low-budget gig that is full of hassle. I politely turned him down.

I understand. Well...best of luck in your future endeavors, which will hopefully not include working for any more deadbeats. I have a feeling you'll be sufficiently vigilant from here on out.

Brian Dzyak · September 12, 2008

To continue my story, the Executive Producer has now only chosen to become involved after my warning to the industry here on Cinematography.com. (do a search and you'll learn who I'm talking about). I only went "public" after the dishonest Production Coordinator refused to pay my earned overtime by claiming an amendment to the original deal memo that I never received. The Executive Producer has asked that his company be exonerated from the wrongdoing of his Production Coordinator, however he still refuses to admit that she, as a representative of his company, has been in error at best, and outright has lied, at worst.

By choosing to side with her, the company and everyone involved is complicit in the deception that is designed to save money due to their mistakes. In the meantime, only because I had the "audacity" to bill according to the agreed upon deal memo, they have called into question MY professionalism and personal integrity. :blink:

A simple admission on the part of the Executive Producer that his agent (the Production Coordinator) has been acting dishonestly and without his authority, can solve the entire issue, but for some unknown reason, he is "circling the wagons" around this unethical Coordinator. I haven't even asked for the unpaid overtime, but merely an admission of guilt and an apology. Evidently, that's too much to ask for.

The world is a bizarre place. Unfortunately it's not enough for professionals like us to do a good job. On occasion, we also have to fight unscrupulous Producers and other Production personnel who aren't capable of doing their jobs properly and owning up to their mistakes. Pride is one thing, but all too often, it also costs us hard working professionals real money that we need to keep our children in school and our families in shelter, etc.

That these people are able to sleep at night is absolutely astounding to me. Lies are part of their makeup and I can't help but wonder just how they became that way. What makes someone think that lying and deceiving is okay? I'm not sure if I should be angry or feel sorry for them. This can be a sad sad world we live in sometimes. :(

Dan Goulder · September 12, 2008

I haven't even asked for the unpaid overtime, but merely an admission of guilt and an apology.

In our overly litigious society, that could end up being used against them in a lawsuit. Modern day lawyers advise against even making apologies, unless they are made after a settlement. (not that they don't owe you at least that)

Jamie Metzger · September 12, 2008

Interesting situation happened today:

I showed up to location for a company I normally work for. They neglected to tell me that the show had been canceled 2 weeks prior. Here is the sticky situation; I don't want to make my labor coordinator look bad, but I did actually pass up two other jobs to take this one. All of them paid the same great rate. So If I don't get paid for this 2 day show, I miss out on 4 days of work in 2 days.

I will post the outcome when i get a chance.

Brian Dzyak · September 12, 2008

In our overly litigious society, that could end up being used against them in a lawsuit. Modern day lawyers advise against even making apologies, unless they are made after a settlement. (not that they don't owe you at least that)

I suppose that's true, but the whole thing could just go away if they agreed to pay according to the deal memo that I agreed to initially and pay for the missing and damaged equipment. If they'd do that, then in good conscious, I could amend my warnings that are out to my network and let them know that despite having to jump through flaming hoops, this company eventually chose to do the professional thing and honor the agreement. It really can be that simple.

But for some, honoring an agreement that costs them money isn't worth building a decent reputation. This is a strange strange world we live in. I'll have to somehow weave this kind of "beware" information into one of my books for all the naive young (like I was) who only think that this is a "fun!" business to work in. It should be, but then we have to deal with the occasional issue like this. How irritating. :angry:

Michele Peterson · September 13, 2008

I showed up to location for a company I normally work for. They neglected to tell me that the show had been canceled 2 weeks prior.

Make them pay you for that BS. At the very least some sort of fee for canceling. I've had that happen to me when I showed at a location in Long Beach (I live in Burbank) and when I get there, no one is there, so I call and get "Oh didn't my Key PA leave you a message yesterday? We changed the call time and cut back on personnel. Sorry"

I also used to work for a company years ago that constantly canceled the night before, I later found out they were getting paid cancellation fees by the shops they shot for but not paying us crew! But those producers were pretty ridiculous and expect freelance crew to guarantee to be available, despite the fact that the company did not guarantee work days.

Lance Kaplan · February 6, 2009

Would love to have some feedback regarding this situation. Job was for a non-union music video. Invoiced the production company in mid-December. After much nagging (refusal to return calls or answer emails), I finally got this email today:

Hello All,

We are reaching out today to keep you informed on both the status of your payments and the financial situation of the company. We are experiencing a freeze due to many of our vendors remitting payment for the first quarter of this year. We do express our sincerest apologies for the lack of commmunication during this time as we try to clear the rough patch.

We do expect to begin moving forward with payments in the latter part of February/early part of March. We will be in contact as more information becomes available to us.

Thank you for you continued patience,

Accounts Department

Should I wait it out, or start a Small Claims suit?

Tim Tyler · February 6, 2009

Should I wait it out, or start a Small Claims suit?

Often, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. :)

Walter Graff · February 6, 2009

As they say in Ed Wood, "Bullshit". You started this post in September. Fiscal year ended three months later. It's now five months. Did they wait till December to bill? And if they did most companies want to have all ins and outs etc paid for by the 31st of December. Now they aren't getting paid by vendors till February? An acountat would laugh at the jibberish they present. You aren't getting paid anytime soon.

Jim Hyslop · February 6, 2009

As they say in Ed Wood, "Bullshit". You started this post in September. Fiscal year ended three months later.

Ummmm... actually it was Michele who started this thread.

Jim Hyslop · February 6, 2009

Should I wait it out, or start a Small Claims suit?

To sort of echo Tim, get VERY squeaky VERY quickly. And to echo Walter, it smells very much like BS to me. Vendors do not remit payments, they submit invoices. Even if the "Accounts Department" (side note - is that how they signed it, or did you change the name to protect the, um, innocent?).... uh, where was I? Oh, yeah. Even if they meant "submitting invoices" yours was in the queue well before the first quarter began, so it should have priority. Sounds to me like the company is having serious financial problems, and may not be around at the end of the month. You might want to drop by in person, and try to get straight answers about their financial situation.

--

Jim