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Client issue
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Hi Ned, there was nothing as far as costs to bury. There was never any discussion about a “kick off meeting”. This was a simple shoot interviews and b-roll for a small property management company. There is no HR, PR, Corp Comm departments. The other funny part was that this realistically was a 2-day shoot, however the client who didn’t have a clue about production, and told me this by telephone, INSISTED on a 1-day shoot. I gave them the agreement for the 1-day, but in the agreement I said that after 1 day, we will notify the client if an additional day of shooting is necessary, which of course it would be. I can only imagine how they would have handled that.
For the boss, I drove the 140 mile round trip, presented to him, showed him my work, and he hired me. There was ZERO value in driving back there for a “kick off” the project meeting for this type of video.
Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com -
Well, in that case bill him for the time suck, couple of hours.
When I run into prospects with an unrealistic schedule I tell them I am the fastest cameraman they will ever meet, they have me for ten hours, if they can’t schedule it all in that time frame then, “It is what it is”, they have to go to Day 2.
This industry sucks as a business but sure is fun to do!
Later,
Ned
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
The section you need to add to the agreement/contract/blood oath is “Severability”. Severability clauses make it clear that if one part of a contract fails or becomes unenforceable, the other parts can continue.
This is in a wider sense the overall term of art for the rules of who can quit, when, how, and what the consequences are. Since you didn’t have formal severability language in the contract/deal memo, you don’t have a lot of legal leverage when they cancel like this.
Google up some severability clause boilerplate, then customize it to your needs, but keep it in vernacular English so as not to scare off the customer.
You have clearly dodged a bullet with being stuck married to a bad or crazy client here, so consider the lost money an investment in mental health. The person demanding you make a pilgrimage so they can stoke their ego is the kind of person that would have sabotaged the production and then blamed you for their bad decisions. Really, you got off easy here, and learned a lesson without getting too badly burned.
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Mark, I thought this may be better.
“In the event of your cancellation of this project, or any delay of more than two months, we will invoice you for the greater of either: 1) all work completed up to the date of written notification, including expenses; or 2) 25% of the advance deposit made for this project. All work will remain our property, but will be available if the project should be resumed at a later time.”
What are your thoughts?
Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com -
Not bad, but might want to put an expiration date or countdown on how long you hold onto it. Puts them on the clock, so to speak; otherwise, you’re essentially storing their project for free until they decide (if ever) to resume it, apparently, without consequence.
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You have to get a real live lawyer to write it so it will stand up in court. We tend to do cut-and-pastes. Otherwise there’s giant loop holes in it. Once you have a true contract written you can adapt it for future clients, but there are points that need to be made that those of us who did not suffer through law school do not understand. I learned this with a custom IC Agreement I had made. However, a real contract does look scary to the signee.
When I did have issues over the years and went in and showed my home made agreement to an attorney during a free consultation, they usually chuckled. I also learned that for the amounts of money we are talking about for today’s video scene, the cost of getting an attorney involved to enforce the contract is prohibitive, plus you don’t know if you’ll win until the end. So, if you don’t trust the client with a handshake don’t even start. I use a Letter-of-Agreement just so each side knows what they are responsible for, when, payment, etc. However, it would never stand up in court, it’s just to avoid misunderstandings.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
“Trust, but verify” ? 🙂
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Ned, I had a lawyer develop my agreement. But I don’t think I need to pay again for that one clause. I would probably settle before going to court anyway.
Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com -
Not all all, man. They retained you and you are willing to keep your end of the deal. Their not doing that does not in any way have to cost you money.
Communicate with them and explain you will be happy to apply that towards the next booking. -
Thanks Grinner. I’m not sure what you’re referring to… the lawyer fees or the client.
Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com
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