Have you been contacted?

[Benjamin Treplin]

Hi,

 

Yesterday I've been contacted by a guy from the UK looking for a Steadicam operator for mid Dec. 5 to 8 days.

 

The first mail and phone call was a bit hard to follow. He wants me to get the camera crew and rent equipment for the shoot which will take place in the UK and a few other "special" service for the invoice. Asking for more details on the project (DoP, Dir, Titel) I was told that further information will be disclosed if I sing in. There is NO information about his name or prod. company on the web

 

Altogether I get the impression it could be a scam.

 

If you have you been contacted too please send me a PM.

 

Thanks

[Erik Brul]

Hi,

 

Yesterday I've been contacted by a guy from the UK looking for a Steadicam operator for mid Dec. 5 to 8 days.

 

The first mail and phone call was a bit hard to follow. He wants me to get the camera crew and rent equipment for the shoot which will take place in the UK and a few other "special" service for the invoice. Asking for more details on the project (DoP, Dir, Titel) I was told that further information will be disclosed if I sing in. There is NO information about his name or prod. company on the web

 

Altogether I get the impression it could be a scam.

 

If you have you been contacted too please send me a PM.

 

Thanks

 

Hey Benjamin, same here.. yep.. a scam for sure. My equipment was (currently a pilot) good enough for 35mm work.. :lol:

So be careful all !

 

Best, Erik

[JobScholtze]

LMAO, had the same call today. I asked him if it was alright if i used the ultra lowprofile turn around the corner post for this job, and he agreed. Gave him a price of 2500 dollar a day for the rig only, he didnt blink at all and agreed. Of course my last statement to him isnt for a public forum LOL

[Erik Brul]

And again at 15:53 CET today they tried to contact me again. Only by phone this time, not a email sofar..

It´s getting annoying

 

Erik

[Benjamin Treplin]

On Wednesday I told him that I would be more than happy to do the job but he has to provide me with the names of the DoP, Director, Production Company etc…

You could hear his brain starting to work.

 

DoP went back to Thailand… so he is no longer on the project (creative!) errp… the new guy? yes sure… his name? … we are still looking…

ahh Director mmh ya first time Director ahhh…

I was just heading for the cast. Sure send me a mail with all the details. I really love to do the job sound promising!

 

Silence so far.

[Rogerhaugen]

But when you say scam, what´s in it for these people? I don´t get it?

Roger

[geoff shotz]

i'm loving this story! but i'm with roger, what's in it for these people? i can't wait to hear how this develops! keep us posted and thanks to all the european ops for entertaining us with this!

 

geoff

[Benjamin Treplin]

Happy you enjoy it.

 

IMHO it is about equipment theft. In this scenario here they hand over the rental of the camera package and labor to the guy they contact. They try to allure you in the deal by offering you participation on money they will get with an incorrect (overpriced) invoice you provide to them. Greedy as you are you go ahead book folks, rent the equipment, bring it on location and some how loose controle over the whereabouts of all the stuff.

 

"Sure we have security over night and the building is locked the hole time. See ya tomorrow."

The only one showing up next day is you and your crew and Mr. Big Trouble.

 

This year we had some serious burglaries of camera rentals here in Europe. Several Arricam STs and LT are missing and lense sets as well. The rentals enforced all there alarming and security measures.

It's just a guess but that could be a way to get there hands on the equipment without picking one lock.

 

Fly safe

[Jason Torbitt]

It's odd how they're contacting European Ops, but not those who are actually based in the UK!

[Jess Haas SOC]

Anyone contact the cops about setting up a stink operation? Could be fun :-)

[Benjamin Treplin]

I came across this on CML which explains a lot:

 

Quote from CML General:

 

"Once I heard all these things I was very suspicious and got in touch with some of the crew who worked on this,

and of course all I heard were horror stories and unpaid invoice.

So I kept things quiet and I was given a script, and their latest demand was that they needed

that one invoice (with all the expenses including gear and crew...) to be made as if it was coming from abroad.

They told me they were getting in touch with some production companies services from abroad.

After all these things I told them I didn't want to get involved on this, and I am pretty sure they are going to try to get the DP they previously had on this shoot last year, although he left them in the middle of the shoot."

 

"This sounds too familiar. The impression I have is that they are now trying

to get someone from outside the UK to do this. Be aware.

BECTU here in the UK have just won a famous victory against them at an

Employment Tribunal when with BECTU’s backing an Art Dept. Assistant won her

claim for National Minimum Wage plus holiday pay for all the hours she

worked on the film last year. They are in a black list of companies here and

they owe money to a lot of people and hiring facilities. They shot most of

the film in 2008, with the DP leaving them due to all the chaos. Most of the

crew haven't got paid yet after 1 1/2 years...My first impression was also

that they were after the gear..."

 

Link to the BECTU

 

 

To generate some Google search results:

The guy who called me named him self Matthew Jerling or Matt Jerling. Probably not his real name.

He uses Two 1 Production or Take 1 Produktion as company names.

 

The main production company seems to be London Dreams Motion Pictures Ltd.

 

The titel is "Coulda Woulda Shoulda"

 

 

Nuff said self-explanatory!

 

Fly safe!

[Richard James Lewis]

Wow, I remember when that job was going around! I was contacted again a few months back when they were doing pickups, as my name had been given to them by another operator at the other end of the country. I guess they really did try every operator in the UK.

 

Funny!

 

R

 

I came across this on CML which explains a lot:

 

Quote from CML General:

 

"Once I heard all these things I was very suspicious and got in touch with some of the crew who worked on this,

and of course all I heard were horror stories and unpaid invoice.

So I kept things quiet and I was given a script, and their latest demand was that they needed

that one invoice (with all the expenses including gear and crew...) to be made as if it was coming from abroad.

They told me they were getting in touch with some production companies services from abroad.

After all these things I told them I didn't want to get involved on this, and I am pretty sure they are going to try to get the DP they previously had on this shoot last year, although he left them in the middle of the shoot."

 

"This sounds too familiar. The impression I have is that they are now trying

to get someone from outside the UK to do this. Be aware.

BECTU here in the UK have just won a famous victory against them at an

Employment Tribunal when with BECTU’s backing an Art Dept. Assistant won her

claim for National Minimum Wage plus holiday pay for all the hours she

worked on the film last year. They are in a black list of companies here and

they owe money to a lot of people and hiring facilities. They shot most of

the film in 2008, with the DP leaving them due to all the chaos. Most of the

crew haven't got paid yet after 1 1/2 years...My first impression was also

that they were after the gear..."

 

Link to the BECTU

 

 

To generate some Google search results:

The guy who called me named him self Matthew Jerling or Matt Jerling. Probably not his real name.

He uses Two 1 Production or Take 1 Produktion as company names.

 

The main production company seems to be London Dreams Motion Pictures Ltd.

 

The titel is "Coulda Woulda Shoulda"

 

 

Nuff said self-explanatory!

 

Fly safe!

[Richard James Lewis]

I've heard this has been going around again. I even had queried to me by another op. Didn't realise what it was at the time, but they weren't paying anywhere near enough to even catch my attention.

 

Someone took it, I think they were paying a couple of hundred quid for a few hours work, with a few more days in the pipeline.

 

It's a shame people are prepared to work for this kind of money...

 

Rick.

 

 

 

 

Wow, I remember when that job was going around! I was contacted again a few months back when they were doing pickups, as my name had been given to them by another operator at the other end of the country. I guess they really did try every operator in the UK.

 

Funny!

 

R

 

I came across this on CML which explains a lot:

 

Quote from CML General:

 

"Once I heard all these things I was very suspicious and got in touch with some of the crew who worked on this,

and of course all I heard were horror stories and unpaid invoice.

So I kept things quiet and I was given a script, and their latest demand was that they needed

that one invoice (with all the expenses including gear and crew...) to be made as if it was coming from abroad.

They told me they were getting in touch with some production companies services from abroad.

After all these things I told them I didn't want to get involved on this, and I am pretty sure they are going to try to get the DP they previously had on this shoot last year, although he left them in the middle of the shoot."

 

"This sounds too familiar. The impression I have is that they are now trying

to get someone from outside the UK to do this. Be aware.

BECTU here in the UK have just won a famous victory against them at an

Employment Tribunal when with BECTU’s backing an Art Dept. Assistant won her

claim for National Minimum Wage plus holiday pay for all the hours she

worked on the film last year. They are in a black list of companies here and

they owe money to a lot of people and hiring facilities. They shot most of

the film in 2008, with the DP leaving them due to all the chaos. Most of the

crew haven't got paid yet after 1 1/2 years...My first impression was also

that they were after the gear..."

 

Link to the BECTU

 

 

To generate some Google search results:

The guy who called me named him self Matthew Jerling or Matt Jerling. Probably not his real name.

He uses Two 1 Production or Take 1 Produktion as company names.

 

The main production company seems to be London Dreams Motion Pictures Ltd.

 

The titel is "Coulda Woulda Shoulda"

 

 

Nuff said self-explanatory!

 

Fly safe!

[Lars Erik]

This isn't a single case I'm afraid. A different company and a different set of producers/executives from the UK did the same thing here in Norway. Only thing is that the crew got suspicious, so the lead sound engineer confiscated all the sound. The DP didn't deliver the rolls for print, but had to eventually due to fearing the film stock would get ruined.

 

A very big american actress played in it. She was smart enough to demand her pay up front. But she was really cool when she heard what the producers did, she said she would refuse to do any sort of commercial work until the crew got paid.

 

Then the production company offered not money, but "shares" in the film to the crew eventually, so if the film went well in the cinema, they would get paid. Everybody turned that down of course.

 

After 2 1/2 years, and legal battles, all the crew had got their money. There are lots of crooks and people without any sort of empathy in this business. There are some of these over here too, but only once there has been someone as bad as the stories here. Well actually, worse...

 

 

LE