About 3 weeks ago when I was knee deep in freelance work I had an opportunity to shoot a motivational speaker in Raleigh. I answered a craigslist ad and the gig seemed solid. Two camera set up to record an all day presentation on Sales Training. Blake and I would shoot with 2 Panasonic HVX200s, one on sticks the other on a Fig Rig. The audio would be patched into the camera on sticks from a mixer with the speakers audio signal. This was an easy gig for me. I worked at The Brooks Group for four years as their multimedia producer. All they did was sales training and I shot many presentations during that time. So it seemed to be a perfect match.

Five days before shoot
I was asked to scout the location at the hotel. The hotel was located in Raleigh, I live about an hour and a half away from Raleigh. I would object, although I had some business to attend in Raleigh so it worked out.

Three days before shoot
I meet with Kyle at Fishbones, a cool neighborhood pub and have lunch. He grabbed the tab and we talked about the shoot and the crazy world of Sales Training seminars and the speakers who give them. Had a good lunch and something bothered me when he left. He said there was a 90% chance that the shoot was going to happen. Why would he give me a percentage that it was going to happen? I thought that is was an opened door so it could be slammed shut, in my face.

Day before shoot
I get a text message saying that it is now 50-50 that the shoot will commence. I knew then that it was not going to happen. He said he would get in touch with me by 10pm to let me know the status. I replied, there is no way you can give us the green light to shoot the presentation by 10pm. Blake needs to confirm with a sitter for his kid and we have to be on the road by 5:30 AM in order to be ready to shoot at 8 AM. He replied back and said 9 PM at the latest. I made up my mind there was no way I would shoot it if they wanted us. Enough is enough.

9 PM
I get a text message saying that it doesn’t look good. Really I thought planning a video shoot the night before was a great idea…putz.

12:30 AM
I get a text message telling me that the gig is not going to happen. Really, I knew that and I was already asleep.

The next day or SHOWTIME
Just when I thought that was it…I get a courtesy call and asked if I was interested in editing other footage. Are you kidding me? I guess he thought I enjoyed working with jerks. I refused. He wanted to save face and offer to pay for my gas for the trip to Raleigh when I scouted the hotel. I asked if he could instead pay for the 14 MiniDV tapes that Blake went out and bought. We use P2 cards and had to invest in tape stock. He said no problem he would mail me a check for $50. I agreed, thanked him and moved on.

4 days later
I get a call from Kyle. “Did you get the check I sent ya?” I answered very bluntly, “No” He pulled excuse 23.145a, “Ohhhh, thats right I sent a check to somebody else and they thanked me for it…I’ll send it today!”

10 days later
No check.

I’m not that upset that I haven’t received the check. As you could tell I didn’t put too much faith behind what I was being told. Two important business rules I learned from this experience.

1. Always write up a contract.
2. Make sure you do as you say and don’t misrepresent the person you work for. It makes that company or person look bad.

Kyle, not only did you inconvenience myself and Blake but you also gave your boy Grant Cardone a bad name in my eyes. Granted, I’m sure we will never cross paths again as far as business is concerned but don’t you think that Grant has the right to know how this went down. I do.