Write-offs
There can be nothing worse in this business than working really hard for someone, perhaps pulling out all the stops in order to get a challenging job completed, maybe sacrificing your weekend, spending time and money on travelling and post-production etc, for that person to betray you by not paying you despite pressing for results quickly. It's like having an abusive partner who loves having power over the other, telling them that they really love them, yet continuing to knock seven-bells out of them whenever they feel like exerting their superiority.
It's only happened to me three times in my career, and the most recent was last year. I've just written the amount off - a not-insignificant sum which would have paid for Christmas, and a debt which I could definitely see coming. Just like the others.
Number one was a seriously flawed individual who had a property development firm in the Newcastle area. I knew from the start that this was a business relationship that I should have stuck two fingers up to instantly. Upon introduction, his opening line was something along the lines of "I'm telling you now that I own any photos you take, and if I see them ANYWHERE else, I'll f*****g sue you." Not even a "how do you do?". I did a few property photography jobs, and every one was a complete hassle from start to finish. He would only pay in cash (to avoid VAT), and I'd always turn up to an empty house when it was time to be paid. It would take a few 80 mile round trip visits to eventually get compensated. I'd then put the amounts through my accounts, and dutifully pay the VAT and tax that he should have been liable for. His conduct in all aspects of life was frankly disgraceful, he procured the services of the vile Sayers pseudo-gangster family for personal security, his licence had been lost to a drunk-driving conviction, and it all ended when I did an extremely personal job for him which was associated with a threat of execution if the original photos weren't destroyed immediately afterwards. He subsequently emigrated to his gated mansion in ex-pat Marbella - leaving me unpaid obviously. He apparently returned about four years ago to undergo NHS treatment for a rare blood cancer, and died shortly afterwards. Money couldn't solve everything it seems. During my dealings with various property professionals, I subsequently discovered that he owed various creditors millions of quid.
Number Two in the list of shameful operators is my ex-landlord. We rented a small cottage on a lovely country estate in rural Northumberland until the spring of 2017, and I was commissioned to shoot some PR stuff for the owner, who the press dubbed "Britain's richest vicar" I suspect that he paid someone to write this Tory wet-dream drivel.
Shooting some headshots of the new general manager for the press resulted in a bill for a paltry £85 plus vat. It was promptly ignored for months despite repeated requests for payment, and the fact that I was living on the estate deterred me from pushing things. As it happened we (as well as the other tenants, including two pensioners) were eventually evicted when the estate was put up for sale. We didn't even get advance warning of the sale, discovering that our home was being flogged via the property section of the local press. What a complete bell-end.
So this brings us to my most recent event. This one's an arrogant estate-agent who bailed on his employer on very bad-terms, and started out on his own. I reluctantly agreed to do some high-end lettings work, which was portfolio standard stuff, only to be blanked and blocked when it was time to pay. In addition, this tool used some of the images shot in previous properties after fooling me into releasing them for free on the basis that the vendors were free agents. He's disappeared from the scene completely, leaving me with a hole in my finances just before Christmas. I suspect that I'll hear from him as soon as he wants something else in the future. That'll be a fun call.
Nobody in the freelance world is immune from the people who take advantage, and my losses are miniscule compared to some others I'm aware of, but it rankles just the same.
