-
Freelance Editing + non competition agreement
-
I hear ya!
-
Yeah she may have been okay if I’d have called her, but then again (and maybe I’m being a bit passive-aggressive) I probably do not feel I owe her. I feel taken advantage of especially finding out what we each earned. Again my fault for accepting the terms, but feeling like she really took advantage of my naivete, I said yes to PBS right away. I understand what you’re saying though.
-
Lisa,
Here’s my .02 cents.
This person was NOT a friend. You are better off NOT ever dealing with her again. You are ENTIRELY
within your rights. In my opinion, you’re lucky she revealed her true colors early on. You’ve saved
yourself untold grief (and money) by bailing now on this relationship.Shed these kind of toxic people from your life as soon as possible. You will be much better without them.
Now, put this behind you and go create something!
mark
-
Lisa, oh dear, you did not just go and disclose one your clients confidential contracts to the public? You are past the 6 feet, if you dig any deeper you’ll hit lava.
Serious joke aside; There has been quite a few comments about freelancers making a living etc. But none what-so-ever covering the fact that you did not get off your own butt to win that new client. In fact, it seems like some people are conveniently, to suit their own needs, forgetting the cost of marketing, networking, winning and keeping a client.
I won’t comment on yours or your original clients rates. But with all due respect, $62/hour is not a lot of money when you take negotiations, insurance and all the other stuff that goes with being a producer. So congratulations, you screwed over your own client, you offered to do the job cheaper (with kit I presume?) than anyone else would, and by so, you screwed yourself over.
In my opinion: your client is better without you and PBS, if that is what they are paying her and if they then screw her afterwards. In my opinion, PBS should have “chat” with their in-house person about ethical behaviour.
Anyway, enough of my rant. Do the decent thing and give your client a payment of 10% – that only seems fair, and you seem to be up for doing that. So good on you.
For the rest of the “yeah” sayers in this thread, lets see if there amongst the readers here are any producer, production company or facility here, who would employ a freelance or full/part-time person, whom has been known to previously steel clients from their own current clients/employers before asking you for a job?
A “Yes” or a “No” vote in the subject line will suffice.My 5p just became 2p…
All the Best
Mads
London, UKPlease do visit our faceBook page here: https://www.facebook.com/MacMillionProductions
Mac Million Ltd. – Digital Media Production
Blog: https://macmillionltd.blogspot.com -
Hi Mads, I stated in a previous post (which i know it’s confusing on here sometimes to sort out the posts)… My producer left her contract at my house accidentally in a notebook. But yes, I saw it. My producer does not know I am aware of what she made on the piece.
-
“Serious joke aside; There has been quite a few comments about freelancers making a living etc. But none what-so-ever covering the fact that you did not get off your own butt to win that new client. In fact, it seems like some people are conveniently, to suit their own needs, forgetting the cost of marketing, networking, winning and keeping a client.”
Thinks must work different over in the UK.
The “get off your butt” part was that Lisa had a learned, marketable skill (editing), and the producer did not. Welcome to the world of using sub-contractors. Want to avoid it? Then learn to do what they do, as well as they do it.So did you not see the part where she did the editing (on job #1), and the client realized who was doing the work and wised up and stopped using the useless go-between who did nothing for the next job (#2)?
The only way the producer would be entitled to anything is if she had a contract with Lisa as her agent, which she wasn’t. And then agents usually get 10%, not 50%.What if PBS decided to stay in house with the next job? Is that stealing too? Shouldn’t that job belong to the producer? Where is that line drawn?
What if they like Lisa so much they offered her a job? is the producer magical entitled to a cut of her salary because she introduced them?So when you rent gear, and a new place opens up with better rates and customer service, how long are you obligated to keep using the former rental house? A month? A year? Forever?
Or how about the local market? Are you saying once you shop somewhere there is some type of ‘implied’ contract, and you can only shop there?
Or do these rules only apply in the world of media?Stealing implies ownership, and you don’t ‘own’ the client. It is a relationship, not a possession.
If your rates and service are good, your assistant, another editor, or some bloke in Sussex can’t ‘steal’ your clients. When I hear someone use that term, what I really hear is “I’m over-priced, and under-delivering, and got found out”.
The answer is to start delivering a better value, not whinge about someone stealing your customers. That is what the producer should do. She could neither edit, or produce effectively. Why should she get paid at all? Who is actually doing the stealing here?Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.comI have a system, it has stuff in it, and stuff hooked to it. I have a camera, it can record stuff. I read the manuals, and know how to use this stuff and lots of other stuff too.
You should be suitably impressed… -
OMG! She’s keeping 50% of the contract? Yowza! I’m in the wrong business!
She shouldn’t have left a contract out. That’s a huge no-no from a client confidentiality standpoint.
Agree to a commission from the contractor of no more than 10% specifically for business received from one of her former clients for no more than 1 year. It’s still free money for her and you are (likely) under no contractual obligation to do so anyway. Do this if you intend to do business with this person again. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure you won’t be doing business with her again anyway.
TALK TO A LAWYER! I’m a huge proponent of getting legal advice on most business things. You may find there is a lot involved you don’t know about and nobody on the board can give you legal advice (only well-intentioned legal-ish advice to which we have no legal obligation). Call around for a contract or business lawyer with a solid intellectual property and/or entertainment background. Many will give you a free 1-hour consultation for a specific issue and then will be able to quote you for any work they may have to do. Entertainment and IP lawyers aren’t cheap, but spending a few hundred bucks to save you thousands in the long run is money well-spent. Many will also be able to generate generic contracts you can use again and again that protect your interests. I assure you PBS has its own lawyers that represent their interests nicely.
If you don’t want to talk to an attorney or can’t afford one, check this out: https://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/standard-agreement – the AIGA Standard Form of Agreement for artists. This will not cover video specifically, but it will cover many forms of creative expression. It’s not a clip and paste doc, but it has a number of suggestions for the types of things creatives should be including in their own contracts. They will recommend you seek legal advice (anyone who offers any sort of legal document will make this recommendation to mitigate liability) and I still will, too. AIGA has been fighting for artist rights for decades and are a well-respected group.
Other legal resources for entertainment law:
https://www.lawlawlandblog.com/
https://marklitwak.blogspot.com/
https://www.filmindependent.org/content/legal-ease-entertainment-law-blog-young-filmmakers-0Cheers! Remember: slander and libel are illegal! 😉
Jonathan Ziegler
https://www.electrictiger.com/
520-360-8293 -
Yes, but I’ve gotten off my “butt” plenty of times and have gotten jobs. Remember….. these people called me. They do not want to deal with a middleman (for the reasons I mentioned in my original post if you kindly read)
-
“My producer left her contract at my house accidentally in a notebook.”
Smooth move Ex-Lax.
Why would she have not had this filed away in her office where it belonged?
Is this just not another example of why this person isn’t being hired back. If she is this careless with her business…Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.comI have a system, it has stuff in it, and stuff hooked to it. I have a camera, it can record stuff. I read the manuals, and know how to use this stuff and lots of other stuff too.
You should be suitably impressed… -
I don’t think things work that differently over here in the UK. Mads seems a little over-upset over this one: maybe it hits near home fior him. But it’s good for all of us to remember that potential customers can search these forums, and how we seem on here is a matter of record.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up