New Company to watch out for

[Kyle Fasanella]

Hey Guys,

 

I want to warn you of a new company (Drive Digital Media) that has yet to pay me after 4 months. They will be looking for a new Steadicam Operator, Most likely they will contact people off the SOA site to shoot in NJ this weekendJuly 30th- 1st. They will have you shoot footage of the race and racecar driver Scott Tucker.

 

You will most likely be contacted by

Jin Kim jkim (at) drivedigitalmedia (DOT) com OR

Steve Starr sstarr (at) drivedigitalmedia (dot) com

 

An email may even come from (at) thisisamg.com

 

 

Is there a blacklist of companies for steadicam Operators? If not is there someone who can make one?

 

I am still trying to get them to pay me and stay within good standings with the company if possible.

[William Demeritt]

Is there a blacklist of companies for steadicam Operators? If not is there someone who can make one?

 

I am still trying to get them to pay me and stay within good standings with the company if possible.

 

Hey Kyle, I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with someone not paying, I've been in your situation a few times before.

 

I'm not sure if an all-out "blacklist" will work, but I do think open communication about production companies and agents of those companies failing/refusing to pay is smart. Obviously, people will take their chances if they want to, and I'm not sure if I'd refuse a job simply because another operator claimed nonpayment (unless I trusted the operator, or spoke to him directly).

 

However, would a centralized list of companies whom other operators have struggled to receive payment work? Similar to what you're doing with this thread, but instead of needing to sift through the various threads or search the archives, just one site or subforum? Not sure, just spitballing.

[Garret Maguire]

Is there a blacklist of companies for steadicam Operators? If not is there someone who can make one?

 

I am still trying to get them to pay me and stay within good standings with the company if possible.

 

Hey Kyle, I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with someone not paying, I've been in your situation a few times before.

 

I'm not sure if an all-out "blacklist" will work, but I do think open communication about production companies and agents of those companies failing/refusing to pay is smart. Obviously, people will take their chances if they want to, and I'm not sure if I'd refuse a job simply because another operator claimed nonpayment (unless I trusted the operator, or spoke to him directly).

 

However, would a centralized list of companies whom other operators have struggled to receive payment work? Similar to what you're doing with this thread, but instead of needing to sift through the various threads or search the archives, just one site or subforum? Not sure, just spitballing.

 

 

Hi Guys, having read the above this is becoming an all to common problem, with the current economic climate. My suggestion and I follow it, is to ask for payment on the day of work. I now always inform clients when booking, that I would like payment on the day. It's easy just be polite, no one will refuse to pay you on the day if they are hiring you because they respect your work and like your style. if they act coy well then you'll never get paid no matter what, remember there's no use in being a busy fool! it will never put food on the table.

[Michael Calia]

I am hearing that it's less likely people will be paid in 30 from a number of sources around New England. 45 days, 90 and more. Hope they make it right for you soon.

[john skiadas]

Hope they make it right for you soon

[William Demeritt]

Just wanted to warn everyone again of this company. I did work for them back in May, and they even signed contracts with me to pay equipment rental within 30 days and balance within 90 days. So far, 90 days has come and gone, and they haven't paid either.

 

Avoid at all costs. Not only do they fail to pay, they also sell off your material to their clients. I'm currently pursuing action against them for failure to pay. As far as I can tell, they have nobody actually running the company. They're a sister/child company of Anthem Media Group / Allied Media Group based in Kansas City , but they seem to share the same office.

[Rob Vuona SOC]

Since our lawsuit hasn't ended I can tell all of you to steer clear of a company named HD Logix, it's been almost a year that they haven't paid the whole crew, roughly $3-$400,000.00 in payroll

[Osvaldo Silvera SOC]

I've always loved the way a Plummer works and have always wanted to adopt that way of working..

"I fix your pipe, you pay me" "you don't have the money, I remove your pipe, easy"

 

Time for everyone to ask the Company/Producer calling for references, just like they ask us for them. And tell them straight out, You'll have to do some calling around to make sure they pay their bills on time. If they get insulted, Screw them. Move on. Why do the work if your not gonna get paid?

 

I wonder if any operator here has a Merchant account to accept Credit Cards?

 

My wife has one and one client I had never heard of came to town and hired me for a day, I told them since I didn't know them, nor had they worked in south Florida before, they would need to put down a deposit on a credit card, and they did, they later paid me on time and everything was fine.

 

Just another way to make it easier to get paid.

[Ryan Rodinis]

I wonder if any operator here has a Merchant account to accept Credit Cards?

 

The iphone and the Square reader have really changed things. For non-corporate clients, I take credit payments up front to avoid any possibilities. squareup.com

[Daniel Stilling DFF]

I have to, unfortunately, add one name to the list.

Do not accept work from Animatic media from NY. They have burned me and another op in FL that I know of.

My account is now with collections, and they have still not paid the bill.

When collections contacted the guy, he screamed on the phone saying that he doesn't steal services. Well, it has been over a year....

[Jess Haas SOC]

I've always loved the way a Plummer works and have always wanted to adopt that way of working..

"I fix your pipe, you pay me" "you don't have the money, I remove your pipe, easy"

As the operator if you arent paid then you own the copyright to the image. Doesnt

help much with projects that dont go anywhere but if they are selling the material to anyone else you can contact the buyer and inform them that you are the actual copyright owner of the image and that they can not legally use it until you are paid.

 

-Jess

[Ken Nguyen]

Hi all,

It happened to me once.

I got the the pay collected by the city.

Here is how you should do.

File your claim in person with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) office that handles wage claims for the city/location/community where you performed the work.

Pay the fee ($75.00)

 

Next time, when that company file a permit to shoot there, the city won't issue the permit until the pay is clear.

The city collects the money then send you a check.

 

Cheers,

 

Ken Nguyen.

[Andrew Ansnick]

Unfortunately there are a handful of Producers that enjoy taking advantage of their hard working crews, an ongoing problem in our industry. I myself had the same thing happen over a year ago by a Producer named Steve Harris aka "Brother Steve" and his company Bro. Steve Enterprises.

 

There are several ways to go about getting paid - small claims court hasn't been brought up yet, but the best way is to prevent the situation from the beginning. Robert Starling helped me tremendously with regard to the business side of Steadicam, often overlooked but equally as important as your kit and your skill set. Rental houses have several ways of qualifying their clients to help minimize their risk i.e. full payment up front often by credit card, copy of photo id, insurance cert, etc. before you're even allowed to leave with their gear, long before the first shot is even setup. Why should we not put our producers through the same system of checks and balances? We are after all our own business entities, we rent our gear out to productions just as camera houses do.

 

I agree that there should be some sort of dedicated thread pinned somewhere on this board that contains a "blacklist" of sorts. It would be an invaluable reference to all operators who have any doubts about a potential client. I sincerely hope that one day we won't have to hear stories like the ones shared in this thread and others like it. If we stick together and keep the lines of communication open we can expect to see a decline at the very least.

[Robert Wall]

I can say unfortunately from experience it's not just production companies and private clients that do this. I was hired by a city government last year to shoot and produce a short piece. I signed the contract, paid for all the travel and expenses, shot the piece, produced it, handed it over, and foolishly thought I would get paid. They loved the product, it was exactly what they wanted, there was no argument that my editor and I had done exactly what was asked of us, in exactly the time frame. After hundreds of dollars of fees, runarounds, endless signing of forms and 6 months, they finally said they simply couldn't pay. It was for $10,000 so I finally gave up. A producer working on a related project paid me some of it because he felt so bad, he was the one who lined up the job for me in the first place. That's right, he just paid me some of his own money because he felt like he fixed me up with some losers. The city was the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by the way, not improving my impression of Louisianians.

[Brad Grimmett]

As the operator if you arent paid then you own the copyright to the image.

 

-Jess

I'm not an attorney, but I'm not sure that's always the case. I believe it depends on the laws in the state you're in as well as whether you did steadicam or just conventional operating.

Are you positive that this is the case in CA Jess?