Client from hell... can i withdraw my offering?

8salacious9

8salacious9

basically i agreed too do 2 music vids for client, i got paid half for one vid and none for other, im nearing completion of first but absolutely hate this person they have threatened me with legal matters just coz i missed a call and had more important matters.

there is no contract signed, but verbally and maybe some emails that agreed to the work in principle.

i do not want to do the second video for her, so can i cancel as she hasnt paid?
 
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As always, you should contact an attorney (or a solicitor in the UK?) to get definitive answers.

If this was a "Gentlemen's Agreement" verbal type of contract it comes down to "he said, she said."

If you have not been paid, at least in my jurisdiction, you have every right (in most cases) to withhold the materials from the client.
 
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Like Lennon's song sais:

"If it don't feel right you don't have to do it
Just leave a message on the phone and tell them to screw it
After all is said and done you can't go pleasin' everyone
So screw it... "
 
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finish the 1st, withhold it until you get paid, decline the 2nd job.

but i'd get legal help as well. anyone that is this much of a pain in the butt to work with will double their efforts to make your life miserable as soon as you get away from them :D
 
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My freelance agreements with new clients usually include the first revision phase or two in the price, then after that it's an hourly charge if they want more revisions.

Always in writing!
 
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Without a contract, I don't think you're under any obligation. And I just can't imagine having to work creatively with someone I don't trust; I can't imagine that the end result would be good for either party.
 
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iv had a long hard think about it, i face problems if i dont go ahead with it possibly legally and my reputation do i really want to go through all that hassle.. no, i mean all footage is shot and im getting paid money i need, they have actually liked my edit this time and i have 2 adjustments made to complete the vid to their liking, then i could just do the next one all next week.

but im going to decline future work with them, what im going to do next time is declare that i have a right to terminate work at any time with all money refunded and make sure it is signed before anything.

lesson learned for me i think.

thanks for your help
 
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It's often a good idea to clarify in writing, up front what the expectations are, what specifically you will do, what they will do and so forth. If there are any changes to the agreement, then the price changes. There is a name for it, I just cannot remember the name at the moment.

It happens a lot in the printing game. I don't see why it shouldn't happen here.
 
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8salacious9 said:
iv had a long hard think about it, i face problems if i dont go ahead with it possibly legally and my reputation do i really want to go through all that hassle.. no, i mean all footage is shot and im getting paid money i need, they have actually liked my edit this time and i have 2 adjustments made to complete the vid to their liking, then i could just do the next one all next week.

but im going to decline future work with them, what im going to do next time is declare that i have a right to terminate work at any time with all money refunded and make sure it is signed before anything.

lesson learned for me i think.

thanks for your help
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Having met you I know you are a straight up guy. You just say it as it is and therefore this client must truly be a nightmare. In addition I have the same type of experience in that I am shooting music vids in London, sometimes with phenomenally difficult clients.

I have discovered most musicians are extremely difficult. For example, I asked one musician to bring headphones. She responded with an email stating 'I don't understand..'

What I have done is to put written ground rules in place which I refer to. I also bring the client into the editing process so they edit with me. However, I have had the opportunity to work with pros and know that musicians are extremely demanding.

Otherwise I would ask if I could see the vid as I'm extremely interested.
 
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gorillaonabike said:
Having met you I know you are a straight up guy. You just say it as it is and therefore this client must truly be a nightmare. In addition I have the same type of experience in that I am shooting music vids in London, sometimes with phenomenally difficult clients.

I have discovered most musicians are extremely difficult. For example, I asked one musician to bring headphones. She responded with an email stating 'I don't understand..'

What I have done is to put written ground rules in place which I refer to. I also bring the client into the editing process so they edit with me. However, I have had the opportunity to work with pros and know that musicians are extremely demanding.

Otherwise I would ask if I could see the vid as I'm extremely interested.
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there were other problems with this particular artist when out on the days of shooting, for example:

day 1: i request to meet in central london as i know of some nice spots and to create a nice little storyline, artist calls me 2 hours before appointment to say that i have to come to near their home and shoot there.. i didnt know the area at all neither any locations near it, we had to shoot round the corner of her home, also when i requested that with each shot we do the whole song throughout she said no and only wanted to do it in sections for each shot, then she complained that it was cold and i didnt need to be taking that long.

day 2: again i request to shoot in central london to get the nicest shots and the busiest looking ones as thats what she wanted. she said she didnt want to go that far (20 mins on train) so again she made me come to a place i didnt even know and the same situation again only this time started moaning at me while preparing camera equipment.. totally disgusted as i was i just ignored her, its her money if she doesnt want my advice its her problem. she demanded that i know what part of the songs i wanted to do for each clip, yet she didnt want a story line for either two vids, then she asked if she could be filmed singing next to a horse... yep a horse and then before we even got two takes of the final part of the song she declared shed had enough (about 30 mins later) and that it was too cold for her and she had important places to be...

day 3: we went to stratford shopping centre where i had to go guerrilla style film on the brim as quickly as possible, i got pulled over by huge security guard thinking i was a terrorist, after explaining it was for a school project they let me carry on but only with her in the shot and no shops (they advised me i could obtain a free press pass from the office had i asked and explained)


basically she made my life hell, then when it came to editing, she didnt tell me what she wanted, so i did what i thought looked different and eye catching, when i showed her, she went into a fury, telling me all sorts of stuff. then i missed her call, so apparently that warrants fraud etc..

anyways the footage was crap, the video was crap and everything to do with this woman is crap!

you can see a preview of what shes actually happy with but with just a few adjustments needed for the first vid here (just a note that I had a brilliant storyline and imagery all set up, im not even putting my name on this crap):

the adjustments to be made are transitions sharpening and replacing 1 clip, she also keeps complaining about her belly ( i would have loved to have pointed to the nearest gym but hey ho)

I also had to film extra crap coz there wasnt even enough footage, as you can tell the repetative footage of her standing between the short wall and stairs was the only footage long enough i had that covered the whole song.


on the plus side, i now know never to work with anyone like this again, and im MORE THAN EXCITED for my next project with an artist who has let me co-direct his video and create a brilliant story line, so paul if your up for that im sure youl be interested he owns his own pub in euston too and we are filming in there and around central london, it involves a man with a gasmask and suit..
 
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Lol oh man your situation sounds like a nightmare, the few bits of footage you managed to get actually looks nice though, but the song is atrocious lol...

The first music video I did for a client was almost as bad of an experience. We were meant to do a rap music video, we never received the track from the artist beforehand we heard it for the first time when we got there. We turned up there and the track was just an instrumental with no lyrics. The "rappers" had just got out of bed and were literally making up the lyrics as we filmed. "Freestyling" if you will. Took a few hours to get a recording of them going through the whole song without them fluffing up their lyrics and that's the only one we got.

They couldn't bluetooth us a copy of the song(lol) so they said they'd email it to us later. Never recieved the song and never recieved the £20 we were meant to be payed lol. Never heard from them again. Edited the music video together and it was terrible, it's never gonna see the light of day.
 
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OMG, she's an evangelist! Makes perfect sense now. In the restaurant biz, we fear evangelists, no matter the ethnicity, cuz they are consistently the worst tippers. Oh, the irony.

I don't think you need to worry about negative comments from her ruining your reputation. Her music sucks, and in my opinion, for that reason alone, you never should have agreed to work with her. The chump-change she offered to pay you is not worth the wasted time, on a video that will never catch any public interest. No matter how great you might make your video to be, if the music sucks, nobody will watch it.

For what it's worth, I think you and I are in similar shoes, as far as our current status in making music videos. For now, I'm offering music videos for free, but only AWESOME musicians need apply. I could end up being wrong, but I think this is more likely to lead to better things.

Anyway, I think you should dump her. Best of luck, whichever path you choose to take.
 
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ajedproduction said:
Lol oh man your situation sounds like a nightmare, the few bits of footage you managed to get actually looks nice though, but the song is atrocious lol...

The first music video I did for a client was almost as bad of an experience. We were meant to do a rap music video, we never received the track from the artist beforehand we heard it for the first time when we got there. We turned up there and the track was just an instrumental with no lyrics. The "rappers" had just got out of bed and were literally making up the lyrics as we filmed. "Freestyling" if you will. Took a few hours to get a recording of them going through the whole song without them fluffing up their lyrics and that's the only one we got.

They couldn't bluetooth us a copy of the song(lol) so they said they'd email it to us later. Never recieved the song and never recieved the £20 we were meant to be payed lol. Never heard from them again. Edited the music video together and it was terrible, it's never gonna see the light of day.
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I hate to slag a client off so early in my career but I'm too honest of a guy and have to say it how it is about her, but thanks for the comment, but boy the next vid of her is even worse my fingers crumble just pressing keys while editing, I'm just waiting to move on and start work with the next guy who I feel I have a great relationship with, he actually lets me talk and he even knows a bit of what he's doing.
 
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