Just curious how others on here might react in the following situation:
A few years back I got hooked up with a zero-budget filmmaker in Portland (about 100 miles from me). She was putting together a feature and had advertised on Craigslist for volunteer crew. I didn't have any other projects going at the time so I got in touch with her.
We met up in Portland and seemed to get along pretty well. I told her I'd shoot for her as long as she could find me a gaffer. She said she had one lined up already and introduced me. He was great; couldn't wait to work with him.
At my own expense I made several trips to Portland and scouted locations with the director (she had no car, so I drove). I asked what she had lined up for lighting/grip gear. She had none. I told her I had a small package I would rent to her at a substantially cut rate. I'd donate my time as DP, but needed something to cover wear and tear on my gear. She agreed.
We shot two weekends. The third weekend, I drove my loaded truck up to Portland, then received a call that the shoot had been canceled. Several more weeks went by and I heard nothing more, so I called her up. At that point she said she didn't want to work with me anymore because everything I'd shot for her had been overexposed and unusable. I couldn't fathom how that could possibly be the case, as I'd had a monitor (my own) on the set and everything had looked great. She insisted, though, so I let it go and told her I'd go ahead and invoice her for the two weekends' gear rental. She denied having agreed to pay for any gear rental and accused me of extortion (her exact word). We had no contract (shame on me), but I had copies of all the e-mails we'd exchanged discussing the matter. Upset, she said she'd pay me when she could.
Out of curiosity I called the gaffer I'd worked with the first two weekends. He informed me that the third weekend's shoot had not been canceled after all. When he'd shown up at the location and asked where I was the director told him I had quit the production; her friend would be shooting instead. When he'd asked what he was supposed to use for equipment, she asked if he had any. He did, but wouldn't let her use it for free. At that point she started crying so he left the set and never went back. When I told him what she'd said about the footage we'd shot he said that was a crock, the footage looked fine.
Fast-forward to present day: Not surprisingly, I've never been paid and never again heard from the director. Out of curiosity, I did a google search and found out she finally did finish the movie last year. I watched the trailer and, as I suspected, the scenes I shot are in it (they're the only ones that look halfway decent, definitely NOT overexposed). Despite volunteering many hours of time, traveling hundreds of miles at my own expense and providing an equipment package (for free, as it turns out), I was not invited to the premiere and (presumably) did not receive screen credit for my work.
I haven't seen the movie, but it frankly looks like a piece of sh*t. Here's the IMDb listing - judge for yourself: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617166/
I'm not sure it's worth pursuing, except on principle (the woman is obviously a con artist and I got taken). Would you let it go or raise a stink?
A few years back I got hooked up with a zero-budget filmmaker in Portland (about 100 miles from me). She was putting together a feature and had advertised on Craigslist for volunteer crew. I didn't have any other projects going at the time so I got in touch with her.
We met up in Portland and seemed to get along pretty well. I told her I'd shoot for her as long as she could find me a gaffer. She said she had one lined up already and introduced me. He was great; couldn't wait to work with him.
At my own expense I made several trips to Portland and scouted locations with the director (she had no car, so I drove). I asked what she had lined up for lighting/grip gear. She had none. I told her I had a small package I would rent to her at a substantially cut rate. I'd donate my time as DP, but needed something to cover wear and tear on my gear. She agreed.
We shot two weekends. The third weekend, I drove my loaded truck up to Portland, then received a call that the shoot had been canceled. Several more weeks went by and I heard nothing more, so I called her up. At that point she said she didn't want to work with me anymore because everything I'd shot for her had been overexposed and unusable. I couldn't fathom how that could possibly be the case, as I'd had a monitor (my own) on the set and everything had looked great. She insisted, though, so I let it go and told her I'd go ahead and invoice her for the two weekends' gear rental. She denied having agreed to pay for any gear rental and accused me of extortion (her exact word). We had no contract (shame on me), but I had copies of all the e-mails we'd exchanged discussing the matter. Upset, she said she'd pay me when she could.
Out of curiosity I called the gaffer I'd worked with the first two weekends. He informed me that the third weekend's shoot had not been canceled after all. When he'd shown up at the location and asked where I was the director told him I had quit the production; her friend would be shooting instead. When he'd asked what he was supposed to use for equipment, she asked if he had any. He did, but wouldn't let her use it for free. At that point she started crying so he left the set and never went back. When I told him what she'd said about the footage we'd shot he said that was a crock, the footage looked fine.
Fast-forward to present day: Not surprisingly, I've never been paid and never again heard from the director. Out of curiosity, I did a google search and found out she finally did finish the movie last year. I watched the trailer and, as I suspected, the scenes I shot are in it (they're the only ones that look halfway decent, definitely NOT overexposed). Despite volunteering many hours of time, traveling hundreds of miles at my own expense and providing an equipment package (for free, as it turns out), I was not invited to the premiere and (presumably) did not receive screen credit for my work.
I haven't seen the movie, but it frankly looks like a piece of sh*t. Here's the IMDb listing - judge for yourself: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617166/
I'm not sure it's worth pursuing, except on principle (the woman is obviously a con artist and I got taken). Would you let it go or raise a stink?
