My DP has lost his mind ...

B

BennyMonday

Active member
Ok, I've read the stories about difficult DP's and the sometimes awkward on set antics ... but I have come to the conclusion my DP has lost his mind. First off we are in post, filming wrapped several weeks ago. Here's basically what happened.

I had a vague story, got a writer, started looking for talent, came time to find a DP. Craigslist, got a few excellent people with good reels and I decided on this guy. He was young, in college, but seemed movtivated and very entusiastic. Insisted on using his camera, Mmm ok. The deal was credit/copy/meals/transport costs. I had little to no budget. He offers lighting and equipment from "his film company", ok I wasn't planning on going that deep but he seemed cool and offered. Then asked if some friends with expereince could help, they had some expereince so sure why not. A little more expense money but maybe a better project.
Anyway, things are getting dicey with him from time to time ... he's extremely hyper. Remember that squirrel in the beginning of Icee Age the movie?? Picture him on 5 Red Bulls. OK? Yeah.

So one shoot the location owner shows up a freaks out because he didn't expect such a big production ... I calmed him down he left ok. After that the DP is bouncing off the walls. He's ordering the actors around calling action ... like he had a short circut. I finally had to harshly tell him to stop it and just finish. He blew off the following shoot that evening and went home "sick".
Many other little situations along the way.

I finally got rid of him (went back to school) picked up a new DP and finished filming. It comes to Color Correction and I tell him "no need" I have someone covering it. He explodes and barrages me with emails and yelling into my voicemail.

This is all very sureal to me now ... he's threatening legal action, demanding to be paid, demanding Master copies of the tapes. He needs to finish "his" project, and I'm stealing his work ... ok, checking on who's project this is, mine ... who was brought in "work for hire" and "paid" in credit/copy as is from my understanding a norm in the indie short world.
Finally after 2 days of this I simply say "you're fired". He goes on and on with emails every hour.

Please don't get me wrong, his work was fine but that fact I almost lost two actors in the middle of shooting due to him and his tantrums as well as a few crew members just makes him more trouble than he's worth.
His Ego is the size of Saturn .... lol. The reason he is not a film major is that he said he "knows more than the people in that department" of the University .. this is not a Comm College I'm talking about either.

I'd like to more on and get back into editing but he starting to get on my nerves!
I take the blame, I hired him I know ... lesson learned.

Is this just my really back experience or are their similar or god forbid worse stories out there??
 
There are probably worst stories out there but yours has got to be the funniest one...lol

Ok. on a more serious note. As long as you never had a contract with him, nothing signed saying you was going to pay him, then you are good. He knows from the beginning he wasn't getting paid, so as far as this legal action stuff, nothing he can really do.

Maybe he can try to take you to Small Claims court, but I doubt it, bottom line legally he can't ask for money. As for the mastered footage.. that's a whole other can of worms.

If it's his tape and camera then it's his footage, unless you yourself had a written agreement contract stating you would hire with and keep the footage or if you provided the tape..

Bottom line, this is some messy stuff. I doubt it will come down to Legal Actions, but if it did, believe me neither you or him would want to waste the time and money on this. Maybe you guys would come to an agreement and just give him his masters and just make yourself copies or vice versa...

Anyway, I would hate to be in your shoes right now. I know alot of time it's tough to know in the beginning who's gonna be a pain in not, so that's why when it comes to something as critical as a DP, I live to only work on referrals.

But one thing I commend you for is firing him. Just from your side of the story alone, it sounds like you needed to. You as the director should never have anyone take over your project. If only you could of fired him alot sooner maybe the headaches would be less right now.

Good luck.
 
hey damnit I'm still waiting on the master tape of my project. I gave you my address where are my tapes!!

those were my tapes, as capital said, and don't you try digitising them then setting them down by a magnet before you return them (hint hint) or I'll be very upset with you take you to court and all that.


anyway, man we've all had some bad times on set, it comes with the artform, egos are everywhere, you have one I have one, it's jsut a matter of being able to control it at the right times, this guy sounds like he needs a little work on that. I have one DP I'll never work with again. well i'm sure he has no desire to work with me either. so that one works out i guess lol.
 
What a pain! Sorry you had such problems.

Make copies of the tapes. Keep the copies, give him the originals. Remind him that the script belongs to YOU, so he has no right to cut and distribute the film. Remind him also there is no contract in place, so he would have a hard time suing you. Then part ways and hope you're done with the guy. (You probably aren't. He's probably going to try to 'ruin' you in the film community, but his rantings will probably only ruin his own reputation.)

Good luck!

And get contracts signed for EVERYONE next time.
 
I really dont think you have anything to worry about, give him new blank tapes to replace his, he sounds like a barker which means he has no bite, he'll trash talk you a bit in his little world and you'll move forward. anyone who ever says they'll ruin you, you'll never work in this town again! (unless they are a major player at a major studio) needs to be laughed at a bit. anyone who says do you know who I am, do you know my reputation, again, barking cause they have no bite people who can bite you, almost never feel the need to bark, its more like a very low growl lol.
 
make copies and then blank the masters- if they were his tapes and he wants them back, give him his TAPE, the imagery was yours. OK maybe that would make him worse, but if you had the time and resources replace the footage back onto the masters with your watermark on them
 
I'm not sure who the imagery belongs to. Giving him blank new tapes or wiping his original tapes may only make matters worse. You have no real reason not to give him the original tapes WITH his footage intact, as long as he understands he has NO rights to the intellectual property recorded on those tapes. You can allow him to use footage for his demo reel, but that's all he can legally do with it.

The trick here is to keep outrage and repercussion to a minimum. Be as accommodating as you can legitimately be. Damage control is important. But in the end, you have to have the footage to cut and finish your film.
 
Well in this case as the camera was volunteered, I dont think he has any come back as far as him owning any footage, even if you dont have a contract. Always always make a contract.

My advice is move on, let him carry on and dont take it on yourself, get editing. This will never see a court room.
 
I agree with Chapelgrove. Don't play around and try and "pull a fast one" on the guy. Since it was his camera, and his tapes, technically they (the recorded tapes) do belong to him, though the artistic content is yours. There is always a fine line between those two areas. It is the same way in music, the artistic content belongs to the one that performed it, and the actual recording belongs to the engineer, unless there is something beforehand that counters that. Namely a contract/agreement. It sucks, but it's a reality.

This is a definite learning experience. Here is a phrase for you, "Work-For-Hire" agreement. Have that in place the next time you shoot with someone you don't know. Also, provide the media (one less thing he can argue).

Sorry to say, you may have to suck it up and make nice with the guy.

BTW, "Remember that squirrel in the beginning of Icee Age the movie?? Picture him on 5 Red Bulls. OK? Yeah." That is funny! Good Luck.

Doc
 
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Noel and Doc - both right.

Push comes to shove, draft an agreement that you both will sign when you give him the tapes. In the agreement he gives you all rights to use the footage for your film, and you give him rights to use it for his demo reel. Quid pro quo.

If he's not willing to sign, give him the tapes and use the footage anyway. He'd probably have a hard time suing you for it, as Noel says.

But he probably WOULD trash your reputation online to anyone who would listen. When that happens, DON'T fight publicly with the guy. State your case calmly and rationally, then let it go. The more he rants and yells, the easier it is for others to tell who the lunatic is. Above all, be professional.

Good luck!
 
Oh, one little piece I left out ... .they are my tapes. I have the receipt :)
No, I'm not stupid. As I read in many posts where the DP purchased the film stock or tapes he had a potential claim. So I insisted on buying the tapes.
I will burn him a Final Cut when it's done ... as I advertised and promised.
 
If your original emails with him state that he will not get paid for any of the work and he agreed then I think he is still work for hire and has no right to the tapes.
 
Beat Takeshi said:
If your original emails with him state that he will not get paid for any of the work and he agreed then I think he is still work for hire and has no right to the tapes.
Click to expand...

But there's a problem with using emails in court. If you just print them out, then it's too easy to alter their wording -- with a word processor -- and change them to say whatever you want. I expect you'd have to bring your PC into court and logon to your email account, so you can show the actual emails themselves to support your printouts. That may open a whole new can of worms, with opposing counsel insisting on having access to ALL your emails. The law is a funny thing. Don't go into any legal battle like that without proper legal counsel.
 
I have to disagre with Chap, you agreed to give him a copy of the film, and thats what you should do, and thats what he can use for his reel. the DP only gets to pick from all footage if the Dirctor or producers alow it.

a little tip for next time however, and i don't understand why you didn't do this to begin with, always always use tape you own. if the DP brings tape for you to use the pay him for it, right then and there. you as the filmmaker need the originals, if you give up the tapes and your digital copy or copies bug out, you're screwed. if you don't mind him having all the footage, give him a copy of all the footage. and even either offer to pay for the tapes or replace them.

let him calm down, and explain to him what the role of a dp is, he is after all a student.

3rd in the future, unless you are a student yourself. if you can't afford to pay your cast and crew, you can't afford to make your film. if you as a non student want to make a film with out paying, don't look any further than your family and friends. Students get enout Reel work by working with other students and the odd Pa or AC gig.

if you have the money to go out and eat, but you don't have quite enough for the tip, guess what, you don't have enough to go out and eat.

but thats just one opinion
 
My advice to the OP was an attempt to keep tempers from flaring and causing him major headaches and problems, because it sounds like he's dealing with an irrational person. It's certainly true (I think) that he doesn't HAVE to give the guy the tapes with the footage on them. But I'm not a lawyer. All I know for sure (from past experience) is if the DP starts feeling bullied or cheated, he's likely to raise a HUGE stink, whether he has a leg to stand on or not. Whoever said "There's no such thing as bad publicity" was just flat out wrong. Trying to work things out amicably is the best way. If that fails and the guy just refuses to be willing to compromise, then laying down the law is your recourse.

And BTW, for what it's worth, I've made two features so far with cast and crew working on deferred pay, and numerous shorts with everyone working for meals, credit and copy. If I had the money to pay people, I would absolutely do it -- but I've gotten some excellent folks to work on films without up-front pay. So it can be done. (It's always BETTER to pay, but sometimes you do what you gotta do.)
 
I agree he should give the guy footage for his reel, and maybe even a copy of everything if he so wishes, but I think he needs to keep the originals.

Deferred payment is ok as long as its truly deferred and not based on the film making x amount of money or more.

and yea it can be done, its done a lot, and the DP gets something out of it, so does the gaffer, and if you have a first camera they have a usable reel as well, but PAs grips, and other no designing crew really jut get food and a few days of hard work,

but hell maybe after I'm no longer a student I may change my mind on this lol
 
do you have a copyright on the script? not WGA but a real copyright
Was it a SAG shoot?
Do you have deal memos?
If yes tell him to go away. If not you learned a lesson for next time.
But you still have the intellectual copyright on the material and the use of the talent performances is entrusted to you by that right.
Tell him that next time if he wants ownership in intellectual material he should have that spelled out in his deal memo. with no memo, he has no access to footage or use in his reel or anywhere else.
cc a lawyer, if you don't know one put Esq after someones name and say if he wants further contact please do so by way of his legal council.
Its a bluff, but its also a bet he can't get a lawyer to rep such garbage.
 
this thing about the tapes is crazy. he does not own the content of those tapes! if he did not ask for reimbursement at the time of purchase then the tapes become a donation no more valuable than the donation of the talent and craftspeople who also donated. If you feel bad ask for a receipt and write him a check, how much could it be? either way he does not have any rights to the content on the tapes.
 
Buy brand new tapes of the same make, and give them to him. It's your footage he shot. If he used his tape stock them give him back what he lost and nothing more. Why would you consider giving him the original taped footage? For what. So that he can take you to court later and show the judge proof that he shot the original stock, and then lie about how you sheeted him if the film does well.
 
I have everyone sign a crew deal memo on my shoots, outlining my obligations to them (try to have a meal break every 6-hours) and their obligations to me, the pay, their position, that they are work for hire, etc.

When I shoot my first professional short film (really hoping for doing that this year), I will have everyone aboard sign a deal memo before we even start shooting. Usually I've done it day-of shooting because it hasn't been as big of a deal, if someone didn't show up I could have done the shoot anyway, unless they were a key member, and those people I trusted. They were true professionals working in the industry.

On a short, though, with what I'll probably spend locking down locations and getting everything ready, everyone will have to sign before the shoot and if they don't show up or screw around for some reason, I will take them to court. I can't afford to have that happen, when people agree to something they need to follow through.
 
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