Not Getting Paid: One Freelancer’s Story (and Solution)

An anonymous LA-area freelancer has posted a cautionary tale that will prove valuable to anyone who works for hire.

One extremely helpful bit of advice is to require confirmation via deal memos before agreeing to work for someone. In this freelancer’s case, that practice ultimately helped him win a court case.

Also take note of the even-handed way in which his blog posts are written. Put in a similar situation, most people would be livid, writing hate mail to Motionographer and trying to smear the name of everyone at the studio in question.

Not so for this freelancer. I believe him when he writes:

I don’t write this to intentionally bash the company, but more to make other artists aware of what their legal rights are and what you can do when a company attempts to do you wrong.

And then later:

I have the utmost respect for all of the artists, and especially the director that I was working with there. This whole thing is the fault of faulty production and management, and has nothing to do with any of the artists. They are all very skilled and creative and I would enjoy working with all of them again.

Whoever you are, we salute you for sharing this information. Read the story here.

Photo by ToniVC