Been approached to shoot for this company, based in Toronto. Has anybody stateside worked for them and what kind of experience has it been for you?

Post-mortem on this:

I did the work for them and delivered it as requested with positive feedback on the footage.

The shoot took longer than they planned... no big deal.

Bigger deal is that I did this job back in May and still have not been paid. It's not all that much, nothing worth major legal action, so my guess is that this is money I will never see considering they're in another country.

The producer I'd worked with said he'd also had difficulties being paid on time (even though he eventually did). Oh well, they looked legitimate.

So, be warned. I'll let you all know if I ever do get paid.

Sounds like it's time for a phone call or two...

Got an email from them last week offering $110 for a shoot or $150 if I shot & produced. Deleted email after I stopped laughing.

Oh, I've called them and emailed, multiple times. Sent my invoice multiple times. No movement on their part.

Looks like their rates are dropping, too. For that price, I might be motivated to use the video camera on my phone.

It's infuriating. I searched on VideoBIO but didn't see any negative feedback or reports about how they stiff their video producers. Not even this thread.

I'm thinking of posting a clients' video on YouTube with PROOF written right across so it's not usable. When payment is received in full I'll post the full version / mail a CD etc. Any reason not to do it this way?

Regards,
Doug.

Hi Doug,

You could instead watermark the video with your logo, just make sure the logo isn't too small. Sometimes watermark with timecode works even better if the video is being posted for client review.

Hi Roger,
Thanks very much, that's very helpful.
Regards,
Doug.

Did a job for them this past summer and I was never was paid. I suggest spreading the work to black list VIDEOBIO.CO and VIDEOBIO as a SCAM (scammer) outfit.

They paid for a 60m rental in a studio that took 120m to set up, shoot and breakdown. I kept copies of all the footage and will be releasing it on Youtube with a warning to other camera ops that they don't pay their Cameramen.

It sounded fishy from the start, but the shoot was 2miles from my house in a studio I've done work in before, so it seemed legit for 1 hour of work. I was not surprised it took 2 hours. The bad economy made sure I couldn't turn down any work last summer.

I was not surprised, given their crappy pre-production checklist and lack of communication pre and post that they never paid me. They actually mailed me information about what to ask the client after the footage was already shot and uploaded to their website.

So they are indeed in several countries: Email for the job came from someone in Toronto. Their "producer" was a New York City number/email. Company seems to be based in Europe, perhaps Denmark?

Do not do business with them. AVOID.

Scott Caplan



Been approached to shoot for this company, based in Toronto. Has anybody stateside worked for them and what kind of experience has it been for you?

They emailed me today requesting my availability for another shoot :D

Still haven't been paid, by the way, despite speaking with the supposed VP of the company.

I'm going to have some fun replying to this.

I received a check in the mail today. Guess my response affected them in some significant manner.

I also, after haranguing them to pay their freelancers on their facebook and public blogs, received a check, it was 7-8 weeks late, but they eventually paid. I won't work with them any more. They gave me a runaround, and only cut checks after they were paid by their client that I shot video for most likely. A poor business practice. Freelancers expect Net-30 to be Net-30. Making you chase after them for less than $200 is a pain in the ass, just pay people on time or get out of the video business. Not worth the hassle for such a low amount of money.

Scott

I received a check in the mail today. Guess my response affected them in some significant manner.