Has anyone here ever made a deal with someone to write a script for with the promise of 3% gross revenue & $1000.00?? and then you have correspondence with the person throughout the month about the script then when you send them the script they send you a message on dvx saying that they don't feel comfortable with i-9 form and now there email is blocked and they don't answer the phone!!!! I HAVE BEEN BURNT!!!!! Sorry if i'm rambling!!!!:kali: :kali: :kali::badputer:
Fraud People!!!!
- Thread starter TRISTLW
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Chamber005
Carbonite Member
Whoa. You WERE burnt. And on these forums?! I would have totally called the person out.
Randall_Oelerich
Veteran
I think if it was me, after some informal MOAs using email, I would have done the actual written contract by mail, with signatures.
It was me.
I responded to the thread here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=181942 where Tristan said he was looking for someone to add solid dialogue to the story that he already had.
We went back and forth on email, and it soon became apparent that there was no story and that the job would be considerably more than simply putting in the solid dialogue. There was a vague idea, at best, it wasn't even fleshed out enough to make for a logline, let alone an entire story.
My first inclination was to back out right then, but I had already started getting ideas for the story and thought it could turn out well. We had a little more back-and-forth, and I got started (even though we initially said that the first payment was due on commencement, I commenced without any payment).
After a few weeks (part of which I was mistakenly waiting for a return email when it turned out he had already sort-of answered the question I had asked and I had missed it in the email initially), he told me he was sending the contract.
I received the contract and any remaining thought that participating in this script was a good idea immediately vanished. The rewrite clause basically said that I would be contractually required to rewrite the thing until he was satisfied, which is a ridiculous, open-ended commitment. The contract also claimed that the script would based on his "story" even though he had never given me a story. The credit protections were weak (and, considering he was claiming a story he never provided, it seemed clear that he was going to try and claim a writing credit from the get-go despite contributing no writing to the script). And I don't recall the 3% of the gross being in the actual contract.
The deadlines were also unrealistic given the date the contract finally got to me (I recall getting it around the 18th of October with the contract stating the script was due on the 30th or 31st and the rewrite due at the end of November).
And the I-9 thing is important. I've never met the guy. All I really know about him is that every few months, he seems to make a post asking for a script to produce without ever actually producing anything (this is another thing that gave me pause that I didn't discover until later in the process than I should have). Giving up a social security number to a stranger is always a situation that should make a person think. Giving your social security number to someone who misrepresented the initial job, is frequently trying to get scripts from people without having produced anything and sent a one-sided contract leaving out even the most basic protections for the job is a situation where a lot of people would go running to the hills.
I was already on the fence about the whole thing because of the misrepresentation that the job was to add solid dialogue to an already-written story rather than to write an entire script based on an extremely vague idea. Now that I was going to have to get into contract negotiations and essentially fight for what I thought to be the most basic of protections, I decided it wasn't worth it to continue. So, I let Tristan know that I was uncomfortable with the I-9 and that there were a lot of contact clauses that were unacceptable. Since no money had changed hands and we had never come to a final agreement, I decided to just let it go.
And, since everything had added up to make it seem like it wasn't such a good idea to continue under any circumstances, I blocked him on my email and phone. There has been too much that has come across as shady to me to want to try and negotiate a different deal. Because everything - from the initial post misrepresenting the job to the apparent credit grab to the open-ended rewrite clause to the extremely vague idea and vague answers to my questions trying to get more information to the missed promises of when the contract was sent out and when it would arrive (leading me to believe he wanted me to complete as much of the script as possible before I saw the contract language) - tells me that this is one of those times when it's best to chalk up the whole thing to experience and know better to express my concerns early and don't put as much trust in the idea that everything will work out.
I responded to the thread here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=181942 where Tristan said he was looking for someone to add solid dialogue to the story that he already had.
We went back and forth on email, and it soon became apparent that there was no story and that the job would be considerably more than simply putting in the solid dialogue. There was a vague idea, at best, it wasn't even fleshed out enough to make for a logline, let alone an entire story.
My first inclination was to back out right then, but I had already started getting ideas for the story and thought it could turn out well. We had a little more back-and-forth, and I got started (even though we initially said that the first payment was due on commencement, I commenced without any payment).
After a few weeks (part of which I was mistakenly waiting for a return email when it turned out he had already sort-of answered the question I had asked and I had missed it in the email initially), he told me he was sending the contract.
I received the contract and any remaining thought that participating in this script was a good idea immediately vanished. The rewrite clause basically said that I would be contractually required to rewrite the thing until he was satisfied, which is a ridiculous, open-ended commitment. The contract also claimed that the script would based on his "story" even though he had never given me a story. The credit protections were weak (and, considering he was claiming a story he never provided, it seemed clear that he was going to try and claim a writing credit from the get-go despite contributing no writing to the script). And I don't recall the 3% of the gross being in the actual contract.
The deadlines were also unrealistic given the date the contract finally got to me (I recall getting it around the 18th of October with the contract stating the script was due on the 30th or 31st and the rewrite due at the end of November).
And the I-9 thing is important. I've never met the guy. All I really know about him is that every few months, he seems to make a post asking for a script to produce without ever actually producing anything (this is another thing that gave me pause that I didn't discover until later in the process than I should have). Giving up a social security number to a stranger is always a situation that should make a person think. Giving your social security number to someone who misrepresented the initial job, is frequently trying to get scripts from people without having produced anything and sent a one-sided contract leaving out even the most basic protections for the job is a situation where a lot of people would go running to the hills.
I was already on the fence about the whole thing because of the misrepresentation that the job was to add solid dialogue to an already-written story rather than to write an entire script based on an extremely vague idea. Now that I was going to have to get into contract negotiations and essentially fight for what I thought to be the most basic of protections, I decided it wasn't worth it to continue. So, I let Tristan know that I was uncomfortable with the I-9 and that there were a lot of contact clauses that were unacceptable. Since no money had changed hands and we had never come to a final agreement, I decided to just let it go.
And, since everything had added up to make it seem like it wasn't such a good idea to continue under any circumstances, I blocked him on my email and phone. There has been too much that has come across as shady to me to want to try and negotiate a different deal. Because everything - from the initial post misrepresenting the job to the apparent credit grab to the open-ended rewrite clause to the extremely vague idea and vague answers to my questions trying to get more information to the missed promises of when the contract was sent out and when it would arrive (leading me to believe he wanted me to complete as much of the script as possible before I saw the contract language) - tells me that this is one of those times when it's best to chalk up the whole thing to experience and know better to express my concerns early and don't put as much trust in the idea that everything will work out.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Wait -- you never got paid a single penny, yet you're being called a "fraud"?
If Clay's version is accurate, Tristlw doesn't have a toe to stand on, much less a leg.
Since you both are on the forum now and could continue this PRIVATELY, in PMs, go right ahead. No further good would come from this being aired out in public.
If Clay's version is accurate, Tristlw doesn't have a toe to stand on, much less a leg.
Since you both are on the forum now and could continue this PRIVATELY, in PMs, go right ahead. No further good would come from this being aired out in public.
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