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cosplay deviants. six months no pay.
I did a shoot for a model back in march. She wanted to use the pictures for the website cosplaydeviants.com where she is a member. I agreed to do the shoot. (having never shot that type of picture). And they turned out for what she wanted them for. I edited them myself and sent them to cosplay. It's been six months now and they haven't paid what they promised. but they have posted my pictures. I got a email from one of them and this is what it said. "Jordan, I apologize for the longer than norm delay in payments. We are backlogged a bit because we are waiting on some invoices of ours to be paid out, so I can't send the usual amount of checks a week as I have in the past. Rest assured that your payment will be sent as soon as possible. We expect the payments to us to arrive the first week of September, to give you a better time frame. Again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience of this, I thank you for your patience, and please let me know if you have any further questions I can answer for you." I still haven't got anything for my work. What would you do? Sep 11 11 07:25 am Link JJAG Photography wrote: you can either wait, or sue...whichever you think will work for you Sep 11 11 07:29 am Link JJAG Photography wrote: and I'm sure there will be people who will start, "oh you'll lose a customer" and all that nonsense, but if you don't pay mr landlord, mr landlord will sue you and throw you out..so same difference Sep 11 11 07:31 am Link How much do they owe you? Sep 11 11 07:34 am Link George Ruge wrote: They usually pay between $100-150 a shoot. Sep 11 11 07:37 am Link George Ruge wrote: They pay 100 dollars for the set. and 50 extra dollars if you edited them. Sep 11 11 07:37 am Link pullins photography wrote: if i sued. would i have to travel to the state their company is? Sep 11 11 07:37 am Link JJAG Photography wrote: yes....so is it worthwhile to wait, or go on principle? Sep 11 11 07:39 am Link I'd continue communication with them. Weekly reminders that they missed their promise date is appropriate. Sep 11 11 07:40 am Link Suing takes way more work than becoming a massive pest on all of their social media sites and shaming them into paying you off to shut you up.  Sep 11 11 07:40 am Link Good Egg Productions wrote: they have already missed about six promised dates they told the model. Sep 11 11 07:41 am Link JJAG Photography wrote: a law suit for $150?? time for a sanity check Sep 11 11 07:41 am Link JJAG Photography wrote: Did they end up accepting the set you sent? Sep 11 11 07:42 am Link Farenell Photography wrote: yes. and it has been posted on their page all summer Sep 11 11 07:43 am Link Z_Photo wrote: one hundred and fifty dollars is a good deal of money to a broke photographer. and it's more about them stealing a photographers work than the money Sep 11 11 07:44 am Link JJAG Photography wrote: Wait a minute, now I'm confused. Sep 11 11 07:45 am Link Farenell Photography wrote: They have the photographer send the set to them. and they pay the model, and photographer. so the photogerapher cant stiff the model. yet they're stiffing both Sep 11 11 07:47 am Link Send them notice to remove your pictures from their site or pay now. Contact their hosting site. Sep 11 11 07:54 am Link Did you sign a contract or accept terms of a license use agreement when you uploaded the photos? If they do not have valid use license, you can use a DMCA notice to get the photos yanked if they operate the server in the US. My invoice form only activates the license on payment, so no payment no license. Codero.com is their web host and you can find their legal policies here: http://www.codero.com/legal/lip.pdf Good Luck- Scott Sep 11 11 07:57 am Link Not only pay only 150$ for a set of minimum 75 retouched pictures and make you wait, but they also make photogs sign an exclusivity contract stating he can't shoot for one of their direct competitors for one or two years afterwards. Then, they make you wait more than 6 months to pay, but they don't withold the pics from being used on their site? That is very bad business from their part, they'll have trouble finding more photogs to make their shoots. I had applied to shoot a model for them (for the experience, and yes for the small pay, at least it helps paying the hardware), but as two photogs applied from the area, the model chose the other one. Now, I'm very glad she didn't choose me. Sep 11 11 08:47 am Link Eralar wrote: Good ones who actually might read the contracts, sure. Sep 11 11 08:54 am Link i did the shoot for practice. And the one thing i learned. is to never wokr for that site again. Sep 11 11 10:47 am Link $150 is not a lot of money. I would send them occasional reminders, but a lawsuit seems a little extreme. Also, consider adding a past due interest charge caveat for payments older than 30 days onto your future invoices. Sep 11 11 11:07 am Link You'll never see that money . . . but it was fun right . . . fun Sep 11 11 11:14 am Link George Ruge wrote: +1 Sep 11 11 11:15 am Link Fotographahaulic wrote: why do you say that? Sep 11 11 11:17 am Link Did you sign a contract? If not, your fault. Doing it for practice or not. What different does it make it your shooting a model in a cosplay outfit or naked as a Jaybird. If you knew it was meant to be used on a website, do your homework. Without a contract, kiss the money goodbye. It's won't even cover the cost of you asking a lawyer in your state to send a letter. You might not want to work for the site again, but in reality, they won't care. You're out a promise, and time. You got your practice. Sep 11 11 11:18 am Link JJAG Photography wrote: Suck it up. They're going broke. Sep 11 11 11:23 am Link ZingArts wrote: That is what i figured when i read it. Sep 11 11 11:28 am Link George Ruge wrote: +1 Sep 11 11 11:29 am Link DMCA takedown notice - if they didn't pay for them they don't own them. Sep 11 11 11:44 am Link The costs to file the lawsuit with the court is going to be at lease $250-$300. Small claims court is where this would go but it would have to be in their state. Even then, when they lose, they still may end up giving you 10 bucks a month. My feeling on payment is if you don't have payment in full within 60 days of first invoice you have lost money. IT sounds like you are in a tough spot. I agree that $150 is a lot for a poor photographer. Problem is the costs of collection are higher. I would be on them everyday by phone or email. Someone in that company has $150 they can send you. I think you are on solid legal ground to demand the images come down. Without consideration (payment) any contract with them is void. But that won't help you. Why did you give them the images without getting the initial payment first? Sep 11 11 12:17 pm Link Since it's only $150.00, I'd send weekly reminders via mail, and email. Send at least one actual letter. Legal reasons. I'd also wait a few more months before worrying about threatening legal action. Sep 11 11 12:22 pm Link What do you want, a lesson or revenge? Cause you ain't getting paid. They shouldn't get the benefit of your work. Take some screen shots and then post the truth of the matter all around the internet and send a DCM notice to the site and have them removed. Even if they are struggling, they don't get the benefit of your images, but truthfully they have already got the benefit and need new images. Sue them in local small claims court since there where the work was produced. Make them come to you. Sep 11 11 12:26 pm Link Make sure you get screen captures with your images on their site before issuing a take-down notice.. Seems they've used your images all summer a take-down will just get them to do a site refresh! Sounds like they're going down.. make sure you're first in line to get paid.. Squeeky wheel and all that! Sep 11 11 12:26 pm Link "Squeaky wheel gets the worm!"... er, uh, something like that. Sep 11 11 12:58 pm Link JJAG Photography wrote: Do you have a contract?? if so call a lawyer and sue them for not coming threw. Sep 11 11 01:55 pm Link Continue to send correspondence until they pay Sep 11 11 03:04 pm Link JJAG Photography wrote: yes, thats why you only take on contracts that will be worth litigating over Sep 11 11 03:06 pm Link I sent a email earlier saying i wouldn't ever shoot a set for them again and will be telling others my experience with them. and this is the email i got back "Jordan, Your payment was sent out this weekend as soon as we returned to our office and should be to you shortly. I am sorry to hear that you will not be shooting for us again, but please do not see this out-of-norm delay as a reflection of our usual business practices. Again, your payment has been sent, and thank you for the work you submitted." Sep 11 11 03:40 pm Link |
