How to sue an editor
- Thread starter ihatedv
- Start date
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
The DP on a short film project I produced was supposed to edit the film. I was naive, but I still felt more comfortable copying the tapes before handing them over to him, which I did. Good thing too. He never lifted a finger to edit anything, and instead erased the tapes and used them for another project!
When a friend was hiring this same guy to direct her feature, I warned her about what he'd done to me. So she made sure to copy all tapes before handing them over to him for editing. Sure enough, he did the exact same thing to her -- erased all the tapes ON A FEATURE and re-used them.
Always, always, ALWAYS make backups before you let them out of your hands. I don't care how much it costs or how long it takes. ALWAYS make copies!
Hope you get your tapes back.
The DP on a short film project I produced was supposed to edit the film. I was naive, but I still felt more comfortable copying the tapes before handing them over to him, which I did. Good thing too. He never lifted a finger to edit anything, and instead erased the tapes and used them for another project!
When a friend was hiring this same guy to direct her feature, I warned her about what he'd done to me. So she made sure to copy all tapes before handing them over to him for editing. Sure enough, he did the exact same thing to her -- erased all the tapes ON A FEATURE and re-used them.
Always, always, ALWAYS make backups before you let them out of your hands. I don't care how much it costs or how long it takes. ALWAYS make copies!
Hope you get your tapes back.
I love 20's & 200's
I was drunk in the back of one that iced up over Costa Rica and got a kick out of the pilots making a full power decent (upgradded CF700's on it) to get some bleed air pumped into the wings. That part of the world is the worst for ice.
I don't have time to stay current on a jet, I fly my little 2000 malibu mirage around the midwest for fun, to the Bahama's once and ran into Lorenzo Lamas on the ramp who has the same exact plane as I do, it was fun.
I was drunk in the back of one that iced up over Costa Rica and got a kick out of the pilots making a full power decent (upgradded CF700's on it) to get some bleed air pumped into the wings. That part of the world is the worst for ice.
I don't have time to stay current on a jet, I fly my little 2000 malibu mirage around the midwest for fun, to the Bahama's once and ran into Lorenzo Lamas on the ramp who has the same exact plane as I do, it was fun.
ihatedv
Well-known member
Haha, yeah the 20's are famous for needing pwr during approach with the bleeds on! The malibu looks like a fun airplane. cool, its nice to see some other aviators here!
Douglas Thigpen
Well-known member
Why are you doing any sort of business without contracts? Especially this business?
ihatedv
Well-known member
Point well taken. I wont make the same mistake.
Ted Spencer
Veteran
I have no reason to doubt your word, but this person would have to be so unbelievably cheap that it's nothing short of monstrous. Are we talking about MiniDV tapes? The kind you can get for a few bucks at a convenience store? So the guy erased an entire feature film *he shot* and was hired to edit so he could get a handful of used penny-ante DV tapes? Are you *sure* you have this straight?
Sorry, but this sort of story, if it's really true, basically puts the guy's behavior in the realm of the psychotic, which is a little hard to reconcile with the fact that he'd developed the necessary technical, business, and personal skills to get himself hired in the first place...by both you and your already-warned friend.
Not that it'll make any real difference to me and my little world, but do you have solid proof that he did just what you're saying? Otherwise, as a tale, it sounds a bit tall to me.
Maybe I'm just naive...
If you would, please be so kind as to disabuse me of my skepticism.
Batutta
Major Contributor
Smartest thing to do these days is to digitize the footage yourself and then just give the editor a hard drive. I'm getting more and more projects this way and it saves time. Drives are so cheap these days its probably less expensive then making copies of all your footage, especially if it's a feature with lots of media.
grinner
Carbonite Member
drives me crazy on the other hand. Some dude with anything from movie maker to FCP spends a boatload of time capturing then gets huffy when I can't use any of his hard work in my Avid. I just need the tapes and a deadline. A script is optional. I sure don't want other folks capturing my footage. I didn't like it with asst editors back in the day who were trained to do it and I sure don't like it when clients add hours to the day by helping.
Dude, I thought you sold your Avid and got a FCP suite?
ihatedv
Well-known member
Am I missing something? I've never captured footage before, but is there something you can screw up?
Batutta
Major Contributor
Avid is more finicky...Final Cut will take just about anything.
ihatedv
Well-known member
can you elaborate more? curious.
Batutta
Major Contributor
Avid needs to convert everything into its own OMF format. If your editor is using Avid, then digitize on an Avid system and he won't have much problem. Final Cut will take anything in a Quicktime format, although preferably an I-Frame codec (DV, DVCPRO, PRO-RES, AIC, Uncompressed). Things in FCP that could be screwed up during capture -- clips logged with the wrong reel number, dropped frames, long clips that go out of sync.