Gerardo Martinez wrote:
You dun goofed hard OPee, always have the forms ready before a shoot! That way incase something goes wrong you can always go get copies.

Always have batteries and memory cards also.

Brooklyn Bridge Images wrote:
What usage to you intend ?
Maybe you don’t  require a release

Agreed in most cases unless you are selling the images commercially you really don't need a release.

Tony Lawrence wrote:
Sigh.... can we stop with who's at fault.   The OP indicated his printer broke.   That's not his fault.   It is what happened.

To be fair, we don't know whether the breaking of his printer was his fault or not.  Furthermore, the printer is not the issue -- he paid the model & sent her on her way without a signed release, and that definitely is his fault.  However, it appears that the OP is blaming the model for disappearing -- it's kinda important that the OP take ownership of the things he could correct.

In addition, I see plenty of constructive suggestions in this thread: 
...  You yourself pointed out that a basic hand-written release will do.
...  You suggested workable electronic replacements to a hard copy paper release.
...  Others suggested that he print out the release beforehand & stockpile blank releases.
...  (Others noted that they have spare batteries & memory cards, too).
...  It has also been suggested that getting the release signed before the first exposure is a good idea.

In general, good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement.  With forethought & preparation, no one needs to be stymied like the OP.  This thread is full of constructive ideas.

L o n d o n   F o g wrote:
Leaving aside the release not getting signed and printer issues I think I'm more shocked that a model was paid $100hr...!

Not a shock. Most Internet Photographers in the United States have the disposable income and gladly to pay models cash to see their nasty bits. Few will admit it publicly, to preserve their, "I never pay for a model" online persona, but offline, however, it happens frequently enough to support a stream of "professional" "traveling models" that feed off this source of income.

FilmmakerDC wrote:

Not a shock. Most Internet Photographers in the United States have the disposable income and gladly to pay models cash to see their nasty bits. Few will admit it publicly, to preserve their, "I never pay for a model" online persona, but offline, however, it happens frequently enough to support a stream of "professional" "traveling models" that feed off this source of income.

God knows why?

L o n d o n   F o g wrote:

God knows why?

"Law of supply and demand" is why.

David I. Gross wrote:
We haven't "outed" her for this behavior — yet — but we are not sure what to do to get a signed model release, and we are afraid to publish the pictures.

1. "outing" is against the site rules

2. define "publish", the use of the word in legal terms, is specific

3. i have hand written the short form (know as a "pocket" release) for a model to sign

David I. Gross wrote:
We would welcome any useful advice (please don't write, "You should have..." because we know we should have.)

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Seems to me that you are mostly at fault...Take some (most) of the responsibility for this snafu, and adjust your procedures so that similar situations don't reoccur.

Looknsee Photography wrote:
To be fair, we don't know whether the breaking of his printer was his fault or not.  Furthermore, the printer is not the issue -- he paid the model & sent her on her way without a signed release, and that definitely is his fault.

To be fair, none of that is what the OP asked, and he went out of his way to acknowledge that he made mistakes, and he's aware of them. How are your comments helpful in light of that, and rather than just point out that other people have been helpful, why not be helpful yourself regarding the actual question asked?

If you have an image of her driver's licence or whatever, you may be able to use that address to find her and have her sign your release, although I can imagine that if someone showed up at my door looking to sign a release, she's gonna be pretty skittish about it, but I don't see many other options at this point...

Brooklyn Bridge Images wrote:
What usage to you intend ?
Maybe you don’t  require a release

+1

Do you have any written correspondence indicating the scope and her prior approval of the photo shoot? However, I strongly discourage the displaying and selling of sensitive images (nudes,erotica, fetish, e.g.) of the model without formal written authority. IMHO

FilmmakerDC wrote:
Not a shock. Most Internet Photographers in the United States have the disposable income and gladly to pay models cash to see their nasty bits. Few will admit it publicly, to preserve their, "I never pay for a model" online persona, but offline, however, it happens frequently enough to support a stream of "professional" "traveling models" that feed off this source of income.

L o n d o n   F o g wrote:
God knows why?

You should see the model.

L o n d o n   F o g wrote:
Leaving aside the release not getting signed and printer issues I think I'm more shocked that a model was paid $100hr...!

Guess you dont spend much time on this site anymore
Browse the paid castings to get an idea what $$ demands are from models here

Caitin Bre  wrote:
Why out her? It is in no way her fault or responsibility. To blame her is very wrong. To think you need to punish her in anyway is very wrong thinking. It was your mistake not hers.

"It is in no way her fault or responsibility."  Seriously?

If she agreed to sign a release, is it too much to ask that she accommodate him?  He had an unforeseen problem.  (Unintended action)  How does her refusal to keep her end of the bargain become justified because the document wasn't available at the shoot?  (Intended action)

In the future, should we have some unforeseen circumstance which prevents us from having a release prepared, we should cancel the shoot and send the model home unpaid?

L o n d o n   F o g wrote:
Not a shock. Most Internet Photographers in the United States have the disposable income and gladly to pay models cash to see their nasty bits. Few will admit it publicly, to preserve their, "I never pay for a model" online persona, but offline, however, it happens frequently enough to support a stream of "professional" "traveling models" that feed off this source of income.

FilmmakerDC wrote:
God knows why?

And Santa knows if you're naughty or nice.

L o n d o n   F o g wrote:
Leaving aside the release not getting signed and printer issues I think I'm more shocked that a model was paid $100hr...!

Srsly? I pay that much and more at times depending on who the model is and it's money well spent considering I make almost six figures in return from the images/video. Shit, $100 an hour is a bargain.   

David I. Gross wrote:
A model we hired (here on Model Mayhem) promised to sign (an agreed upon) model release form after the shoot (we had a printer malfunction and could not provide the form at the shoot).

She was paid for her work at her requested rate ($100/hr) at the end of the shoot.

Since the shoot, she has "disappeared," in that we cannot get any response from email, SMS text messages, or queries on Model Mayhem. We haven't "outed" her for this behavior — yet — but we are not sure what to do to get a signed model release, and we are afraid to publish the pictures.

We would welcome any useful advice (please don't write, "You should have..." because we know we should have.)

There's nothing to out.

You should have had the model release ALREADY printed prior to the model even stepping inside the door. She modeled, you paid her, its not her fault YOUR printer malfunctioned. If she ends up signing well-after-the-fact, that's a courtesy on her part.

David I. Gross wrote:
We would welcome any useful advice (please don't write, "You should have..." because we know we should have.)

Farenell Photography wrote:
You should have ...

Sometimes reading all the way to the end is probably a  good idea before chiming in...

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
"It is in no way her fault or responsibility."  Seriously?

If she agreed to sign a release, is it too much to ask that she accommodate him?  He had an unforeseen problem.  (Unintended action)  How does her refusal to keep her end of the bargain become justified because the document wasn't available at the shoot?  (Intended action)

In the future, should we have some unforeseen circumstance which prevents us from having a release prepared, we should cancel the shoot and send the model home unpaid?

It is the responsibility of the photographer to have his/her paperwork in order not the models.
In this case the model isn't responding and the photographer is ready to burn her at the cross.
Maybe she is with her SO on a trip somewhere. Maybe the model has had a family death or something. Maybe she quit modeling. Maybe she is traveling. Maybe the photographer offended her.
Who knows.  Do you? does anyone? No.
But what still remains is a unsigned model release for the photographer. As a photographer myself I would only have myself to blame in this situation. As a model I am off to the next project and I may not have time to go out of my way for something the photographer didn't do in his process. It might not be a easy task since I travel a lot and long distances for many gigs...
BTW I have my releases already filled out based on negotiations and models approval before the shoot. Most people do in my experiences.
One thing I will say again" it is the responsibility of the photographer" to get his paperwork in order period...
Now he must do so at his expense on his time. Not her problem.
But be very sensitive to her personal situation if you go looking for her. She may be living with people that do not know she models and she wants it to remain that way.

Another thing is we have one side of the story. For all we know there might be a very good reason she is avoiding the photographer. We don't know the entire story.

One more thing. Many photographers have me sign a release on there iPad type gadgets. Then promise to mail me a copy. Only once has one showed up in my mailbox. The rest just blew it off.

Caitin Bre  wrote:
Why out her? It is in no way her fault or responsibility. To blame her is very wrong. To think you need to punish her in anyway is very wrong thinking. It was your mistake not hers.

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
"It is in no way her fault or responsibility."  Seriously?

If she agreed to sign a release, is it too much to ask that she accommodate him?  He had an unforeseen problem.  (Unintended action)  How does her refusal to keep her end of the bargain become justified because the document wasn't available at the shoot?  (Intended action)

Seems to me that she was willing to accommodate him -- he failed to produce a release for her to sign.  If I say that I'll make cheeseburgers for dinner if you bring the ground beef over -- is it my fault that we don't have cheeseburgers if you show up without the ground beef?

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
In the future, should we have some unforeseen circumstance which prevents us from having a release prepared, we should cancel the shoot and send the model home unpaid?

First of all, a printer failure is not necessarily "unforeseen".
Second, Read the thread -- there are plenty of suggested workarounds for the printer failure.
Third, for me, the appeal of photography is the problem solving challenge.  If a printer failure brings your process to a halt, I just figure that you might be too easily impeded.

David I. Gross wrote:
We would welcome any useful advice (please don't write, "You should have..." because we know we should have.)

Farenell Photography wrote:
You should have ...

DespayreFX wrote:
Sometimes reading all the way to the end is probably a  good idea before chiming in...

In general, it is a folly for an OP to attempt to direct the responses to a thread.  It is clear to many of us respondents that the OP wishes to blame the model for this situation, and we disagree with him.

Now, tell me that I'm wonderful & a genius and that I'm always right & everyone who disagrees with me is always wrong.  Let's see how that works.

Looknsee Photography wrote:
In general, it is a folly for an OP to attempt to direct the responses to a thread.  It is clear to many of us respondents that the OP wishes to blame the model for this situation, and we disagree with him.

Yes, clearly, just being helpful and answering the question asked, and not specifically doing the one thing he asked for responders not to do, was too much to hope for, we can agree on that much.

Coming to a photography forum for some guidance going forward on a photography issue... omg, what the hell was he thinking... preposterous, right?!

(Yes, I know, calling anything here a "photography forum" is a stretch some days )

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Seems to me that you are mostly at fault.  You paid her before getting the release signed, and you had no contingency plan for your printer failure.  Seems to me that when you "out" someone (something not allowed here on MM), you are placing the blame on them.  Take some (most) of the responsibility for this snafu, and adjust your procedures so that similar situations don't reoccur.

I'm amazed that so many of you expect — and accept — that a person you work would be dishonest. And, rather than blame the dishonest person, you fault the sucker. That's amazing. And sad. Just because people act this way (on occasion) doesn't mean I want to work with such people. "Fault" implies improper action, not a failure to be suspicious.

Final notes:
- The model agreed to sign and return the model release.
- All she has to do is digitally sign a PDF I have sent her. Not exactly an unreasonable request.
- If the model is on a trip, or something else is going on, she can easily respond and say so.
- She was well treated during the shoot. No one touched her, nor shouted at her, nor insulted her. Yummy food and and good coffee were provided. Uber fare was provided to the airport. A warm, clean robe was provided.
- She was paid $100/hr because she asked for it, and my friend (who has money — I don't) could easily afford it.
- My photos of her are not pornographic, nor even erotic, so it's not about paying some girl to show her privates to me.
- The model has signed into MM in the last two weeks and is not dead.
- The model has not replied in any way to my email and SMS requests — not even with a "no."
- Some models are very skilled (and talented). The first professional model I worked with ($125/hr) taught me a lot about posing and direction, and I watched her pose someone with an ease and speed I could not match. I'm not an amateur, either. These people can have skills, gained through effort and study, and a good model is a collaborator, not a subject. $100/hr is quite reasonable in the SF Bay area (the cost of living is stupid high).
- Oddly, many folks here cannot read: I did request, politely, that this not be filled with "You should have..." statements. Duh. I know I should have had a form ready, but circumstances intervened.

In summary, I thank those who offered advice and support. I am appalled by those who accept basic dishonesty and disrespect as an acceptable norm of business behavior.

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Seems to me that she was willing to accommodate him -- he failed to produce a release for him to sign.  If I say that I'll make cheeseburgers for dinner if you bring the ground beef over -- is it my fault that we don't have cheeseburgers if you show up without the ground beef?

I tell my clients I will start work when I receive a signed copy of the proposal and a check for the agreed amount specified on the proposal.  If my client calls me up and tells me they are mailing the check (happened a week ago last Friday) and then calls me up the following Tuesday and says their contractor wants them to go with his guy (happened with the same client the following Tuesday) but I have already started the job, then I am to blame because I did not get the contract in my hands.  (I didn't start because I don't know their word is good and there was a holiday in there.)  But they said, they would have the proposal and the check in the mail on Saturday.  They broke their word.  Should I be to blame because of the lack of integrity of other people?

Once in a while, a situation happens and I get a call that I need to be there because of an unforeseen circumstance, which is usually someone forgot to tell me the project was starting or the customer got in tizzy.  But I don't have a contract and a check.  Hell, maybe I haven't even seen the job or written the proposal.  Those are the jobs that I damn well better know who I am dealing with because I am going to have to take their word until the paper work catches up.  To put it your terms, if they were supposed to bring the meat and didn't, that doesn't stop me from stepping up and getting the meat while I am on my way to the burger roast to make sure the party happens.  (I will take mine without cheese, please.)  The responsible party can pay me for the meat when I get there.

Looknsee Photography wrote:
First of all, a printer failure is not necessarily "unforeseen".
Second, Read the thread -- there are plenty of suggested workarounds for the printer failure.
Third, for me, the appeal of photography is the problem solving challenge.  If a printer failure brings your process to a halt, I just figure that you might be too easily impeded.

-
"Not necessarily." "Not necessarily." So, it can be unforeseen?  Please enlighten me on how to predict when my printer will fail. (I keep spare ink and have two others that I could connect, but it would be good to know how to predict it anyway.)  I don't usually carry a printer into the woods with me for a shoot on location, so I am going to guess that the OP was planning an indoor shoot, or at least at a location that is accessible to office equipment.  I am going to guess that there was probably a discussion between the photographer and model about the printer not working, and maybe they would have to deal with the paper work later.  I don't know.  You don't either.  What I do know is that a prevailing attitude on this site is, "No release, no shoot."  It is right up there with, "I don't pay models" and "No escorts."  He could have sent the model home without pay and stuck her.  I would not be surprised if that happened and then we would be dealing with a thread from the model's perspective.  "I went all the way out there, and the printer didn't work, so we didn't shoot and he wouldn't pay me."   Instead, they shot.  Now, why would they do that without discussing the release and what the "work around" was going to be?  Because she was willing to accommodate him before the problem, why would that preclude her from further accommodating him after the problem?  Oh yeah, all the ficticous possibilities that Caitln dreamt up.  (Which I will address later, if I decide to post my response.)

Yes, there are work arounds.  There is always a hand written agreement.  A printer was there so there must have been paper.  Well, probably.  Maybe no paper was the problem.  Of course, writing it out would have consumed a lot of shooting time, so maybe they agreed to handle it later.  Maybe, they agreed he would get it taken care of, they would meet up, and deal with it.

I think the whole premise of this thread was about how to handle the situation now.  He knows he screwed up.  Some people have had nothing to offer but to remind him he screwed up.  I guess it would be handy to suggest some work arounds so that it doesn't happen again.  Or perhaps, someone could say he should have had some work arounds but not bother to offer any.  We may never have our questions answered, because the OP is probably smart enough to know that asking for advice in the MM forums is a useless and insulting waste of time, and he will not be back.

We will probably never know, because like most of the occasional forum user, this thread turned into the exact thing the OP didn't want: A bunch of people telling him he screwed up and he has to eat all that work.

We don't all find photography appealing for the same reason.  Personally, I solve problems all day at work.  It is not what I want to do in my free time.  If I am, it is because I need to, not because I need to feed off of it.

He was not easily impeded.  In fact he did continue the shoot.  He paid the model.  And he sought advice.

Edit:
Well, he came back once more.

DespayreFX wrote:
Coming to a photography forum for some guidance going forward on a photography issue... omg, what the hell was he thinking... preposterous, right?!

I'm confused.  I think he's received tons of guidance & constructive suggestions here.  He's even gotten good ideas from those people who disobeyed his conditions.  Is this not a good thing?

Tony Lawrence wrote:
Did I miss where the OP blamed the model for his not having a release ready?   Did he call her names?   Did he say she was a awful person?

Well, he claimed that she "disappeared", implying that she ran away from her responsibility.  He also said, "We haven't "outed" her for this behavior — yet" which to me (and to others here) implies that he's going to shame her because she's doing something bad.  These are the things that make several of us think he's blaming the model for his failure to provide a piece of paper to sign.  Finally, there's nothing in this thread to suggest that she is refusing to sign the release -- he just haven't connected with her yet, and he seems to be looking at ways to coerce her.

His follow up post seems to have a lot more nasty things to say.  In particular, he called her "dishonest & disrespectful" -- this was missing from the OP.

He doesn't address why he paid the model & sent her on her way without a signed model release.

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
"Not necessarily." "Not necessarily." So, it can be unforeseen?  Please enlighten me on how to predict when my printer will fail. (I keep spare ink and have two others that I could connect, but it would be good to know how to predict it anyway.)

I think you've answered your own question.  You have a contingency plan ("I keep spare ink and have two others that I could connect").  Many of us photographers have tons of contingency plans, like...
...  Having spare batteries, all charged up,
...  Having extra memory cards,
...  Backup plans,
...  etc.

Most of us print release forms long before the model shows up and in plenty of time to exercise a contingency plan.