Independent Contractor agreement says Contractor gets paid “after Company receives payment from Company’s clients” – Is this legit?

[Greg Ball]

Time code doesn’t look like punishment either. I tell the client that the time code will help them point out specific areas of the video that they wish to discuss or change. This is absolutely true. Then when they approve the video, and they pay the balance due, I send them the video without the time code. Everyone is happy.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Ned Miller]

Sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound harsh. Used the wrong word.

Also, I get them to use the counter numbers rather than burned in TC. Simpler.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Greg Ball]

So far I’ve never been stiffed using timecode numbers. I always take a deposit up front, or a credit card, and the balance is due BEFORE the final video is delivered. As I said, timecode numbers help the client.

I have had maybe 2 clients in 15 years want to pay according to their terms, and we’ve parted ways. I’m not in a position to bankroll someone’s project.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Ned Miller]

Hi Greg, please educate me. That’s what I like about this forum, to see how others do things.

I’d say 1/2 to 2/3rds of my work is “Just shooting” and I luck into producing gigs because I’m the only “video guy” they know. Or I originally “just shot” and then the next time they need someone to produce they call me. However, sometimes things happen so fast that a corporate type can’t get a check cut BEFORE I shoot. Last week when the Erin Andrews case was being decided because she sued Marriott for $77mil, I got a call from Inside Edition (who I haven’t heard from in 10 years). Turns out her stalker lives in the town next door and they wanted me to do a Door Knock shot, in the next few hours, will take 20 minutes and is worth $850 (although I might get shot). The Dr. Phil Show always calls the day before needing to shoot so the subjects don’t have time to reconsider, and they pay very well. Are you saying you’d turn those down?

Or a new Fortune 100 prospect calls and suddenly they remembered no one booked a shooter for their CEO receiving a prestigious award tomorrow, or they need a trade show repeater reel produced for the convention next week because the in-house guy blew it. Need to start work instantly. Would you turn that down?

Sometimes like with Todd Terry’s clients, I get a call to start work immediately on new videos that are using the same template as all the previous ones: 2 min max, 1 day shoot, 1 day edit, so the price is “assumed” the same as the previous gigs less chump change such as lunch, parking, etc. They trust me and I turn in the same invoice with just a different title and job number, give or take a couple of hundred. I become the “Go To Guy”, easy to work with. There are certain categories that are definitely COD like attorneys, ANYONE running for office, inventors needing a Kickstarter video, etc. Or if I smell something rotten, like hustlers, I send them packing such as club and restaurant owners, band managers, etc. But for the most part I want to be frictionless and that’s what corporate marketing types appreciate. They just want someone they can rely on.

My two really slow payers lately were due to a series of errors my client contact could not have predicted. Little did my bank client or his Navy client realize that when they submitted my invoice of around $32K to the US Treasury that I would have to prove I am a US citizen, they want my vitals, no outstanding warrants or liens from the IRS, how many minority subcontractors I’m using, etc. etc. This caused a delay of months. And the big advertising agency last summer, no one knew that since I am “not in the system” and I had to be “set up”, that would cause delays of emails going back and forth for months. Would you have stopped progress on the jobs regardless of their deadline?

For 25 years I shot for nearby Kraft HQ until they were recently gobbled up by Heinz. They had a yearly IC agreement that said 60 days net. So I would call crew and say “I got good news and bad news. Good news is I need you two days next week. Bad news is their check won’t arrive for about 64 days. You in or out?” I had a cadre of good crew who knew the drill and what goes without saying is don’t hassle me until 64 days have passed.

The video Mark embedded about F U Pay Me, I’d hate to live that way, never trusting my clients, many who are friends or strong acquaintances. I can’t afford to get a lawyer involved. A few months ago I was traveling for a week and I needed an important update to my website because I was doing a bid and I knew they would visit my site. My web guy, who I have given good money to over the years, has an automated credit card acceptance system and won’t do squat without payment first. Yet I won’t do ANY financial wifi transactions on the road, especially in airports and hotels. So this was him saying, “Don’t trust you Ned”. That lost my warm fuzzy feeling and now when I think of him, a very talented guy, it’s “What a D**k.”

In sum, my mentor taught me: “We aren’t making films and videos. What we do is make our client look great to their boss!“. or: “We make our client look great to their client!” And being able to run with the ball and make the deadline is crucial to that. Some categories such as out-of-owners coming in for a live event, that’s expected to write a check at the end of the day, but I have no idea how you can function if you insist on half up front before doing any work. Please clarify. A new client individual I may insist on that but with TV shows and Mega Corps I don’t see how you do it.

Thanks

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Greg Ball]

Hi Ned,

I don’t get calls from inside edition or the doctor Phil show. I do projects mainly for corporate clients, medical clients, industrial clients and other business clients.

I worked in corporate America for over 25 years. I often needed to hire a crew for something and needed to pay them quickly. Sometimes that would require getting my boss to sign off on a request and walking that over to the accounting department. In one day, I had a check.

For those slow payers, you’d be surprised how quickly they can make things happen when they need their video right away. Let them figure it out. It’s not YOUR responsibility. Personally I do not have the cash flow to finance several projects. I can’t call my mortgage bank and say they’ll get paid in 90 days. I can’t pay my car loan that way.

When I hire a crew, they expect to be paid promptly (by me). I do that and always have good crews. To answer your question, depending on the client, I may refuse a gig if it seems like payment will not be made quickly, and they want their video right away. We all know, and someone said in this thread that they most likely will not take someone to court, so the only recourse is to get paid for your services. Somehow when your clients need to fly across country for a meeting, they can do that without waiting 90 days for reimbursement, or for AMEX to be paid. Clients can do whatever they need to do. For every project I require a minimum of 50% up front in my agreement. If they do not wish to do that, they can give me a credit card to charge. Then they do not receive the video until I’m paid in full. As I said, I’ve lost 2 clients in 15 years doing that.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com