Should I drop this freelance project?

[Tom Sefton]

Ignore his threats, do not finish this project without pay.

You are being professional by refusing to work for the pay that you were promised.

In the future, put a contract in place, but don’t worry about this job – your career isn’t going to be threatened by a client who can’t/won’t pay you for an agreed rate.

[Eric Kim]

Sometimes I’m just afraid of burning a bridge because the industry is so small and word can spread fast. He’s been in the business for decades and he goes out to ruin my reputation, his word has more weight in social circles than mine.

[Mark Suszko]

The rep thing works both ways. Subs dish about their primary contractors and who’s good and who is bad, all the time. When a guy that’s always late paying calls for help on short notice, everybody’s booked. When the guy that pays well and fairly is in a jam, folks come out of the woodwork like George Bailey’s Christmas Homecoming, eager to help out. That’s what I’ve observed.

If he’s so long-experienced, frankly, what’s he doing hiring a noob like you for this very important project, versus more pro talent? Could it be over the years he’s burned a LOT of bridges and worked his way thru the film board’s phone book of editors, and none of them will work for him, for his price? They all demand advance payment?

And why the scope creep, if he’s so experienced? Not paying your subs reliably and promptly is, for me, a dead give-away of a non-pro or grinder. On my private projects, the help all gets paid before I do, up front; in case the project dies, none of them are out any money.

Sometimes, people acting “big” are bluffing, and the folks that carry the most weight are exceptionally soft-spoken about it, they don’t need to say much at all. When they DO say something, people jump.

Stay the course with this guy, you’re in the right and you have time on your side. Deadlines only hurt him at this point. The longer you hold out, the more desperate he has to get. If he was good enough to ruin your career, frankly, he wouldn’t have hired you for this in the first place.

“Don’t bargain for fish which are still in the water.” — Indian Proverb