Second shooter not delivering....

Alright, so back in July/August I shot an event for 5 days. Everything was paid for already, and I got paid about $3800 to cover the event. So I, like an idiot, instead of paying a portion of the money since I was the one who was contracted decided to be a good friend and half the money. Well, we are also waiting on a check (addressed to me) from a VERY large international company for $1500. Now, after the event we were supposed to edit images and send them into the event chairman and a few other people. Remember, it's my email that people are sending questions to, my name thats on the contracts and invoices, etc. After I get all the images edited and such I leave my hard drive at home so that my second can pick it up since he was in charge of sending off the images on a CD to the people. All the paypal money from a few other people who ordered CDs were sent to him. I get a call the other day from an organizer who hadn't received his CD He was supposed to call my mother to set up a time to get the hard drive so he could send his images along with mine to the customers. He understood this. I had sent multiple txts and left a couple voicemails a few weeks ago with no replies asking if he had picked up the hard drive and such. I, personally, don't feel that he should receive his half of the $1500 (already been paid for the other stuff) since I had to go home (2 hours away), get the hard drive and send of our edited images and originals to the customers. What do you guys think? He still has no idea that I have sent off the stuff to the people. This stuff was wayyyy late and it's all my name, not his. His reputation isn't hurt, mine is. They won't accept excuses, that's just laying blame on someone else.

BTW, I literally just received a txt from him asking where our money was....

I feel bad cause he is a good friend but sometimes you just have to draw the line.

Unfortunately I don't have any specific advice to help you (I feel iif he's not doing his job he shouldn't get paid) but this drives home 2 points I see very often. Always be wary of working with friends/family when money's involved, and always get everything in writing.

Yes, I should have got it in writing. Everything from the other two companies is in my name as to what was to be delivered, tax stuff, invoices, etc. But between he and I was a spoken agreement. Like, he still is talking about getting paid and hasn't even acted like he had to do anything for company 1. The stuff from BIG company is done except for payment and that's the money he is expecting. For the other one, we have been paid but stuff is not delivered. I don't know how to just say, "ummm sorry bro but you didn't hold up to your end of the bargain. I had to go and do the rest of it and put my name in jeopardy for your lack of initiative." Oh and he has done a wedding this past weekend and I have seen one or two senior shoots that he has done too so I know he hasn't been pressed for time so to speak.

I'm a little advantaged here because I am easily detached from personal vs work, whether a person transcends both of those parts of your life. Some might say that is why you don't work with friends or family (of course that doesn't help you at all)

Treat him as you would some random yet qualified guy that you hired for contract work. A friend should get away with no more/no less than any other employee. If he is a good friend you two should make it out of the ordeal just fine. If you have already paid him and you didn't have any terms of responsibilities itemized . . . it might just be your loss.

Nope, he hasn't been paid this last $1500 chunk. I'm thinking he just lost out on it though. That kind of stuff just pisses me off. Literally, all he had to do was go, pick up the hard drive and mail the stuff off.

If he is a good friend, then I would pay him his money. Depending on how you two are together you may be able to explain to him how not doing things on-time jeopardizes your work.

The more difficult bit, is how you handle NOT using him again if he expects to be working with you again.

I've gone through a few assistants...the first one was horrible, but was paid way over what they deserved because they did the work, just badly. The second one didn't show up on time, didn't do anything, didn't see a fricken dime. The third one was great and paid accordingly. You get the money you worked for, it's simple as that. Going to have to sit down and lay it on the table, the work wasn't done, what the hell happened, figure it all out, and then decide. Not in writing you have no legal obligation, and since he didn't do the work I wouldn't pay him a dime. The work he did do (actual event) should be paid.

+1 for what Mike said. Figure out what you should get paid for doing his part of the job that you did and deduct it from his cut. And the reason I say what you should get paid is you did your part and doing his part is overtime so figure it out at time and a half.

I've been in a similar position - it ended up that I had to sit down with him, face to face, and explain that he hadn't held up to his end of the bargain, so he hadn't *earned* his end of the bargain. He was a good family friend, and he chose to take it personally and hasn't really been in touch since.

Tough lesson to learn :/

It sounds like you need to sit down with him and have a face to face conversation to determine what has happened. Make sure he gets paid for what he has done and discuss why you're not paying him for the duties he didn't do. Maybe there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the way or maybe he was just lazy....either way, you should discuss the matter with him and listen to his side of the story.

Honestly, I would have a difficult time giving this guy a dime.

From the sound of it, he didn't do what he was supposed to do, and he's still looking to get paid. I'm puzzled by the logic which allows that.

Also, what happened to the PayPal money? You say it was sent to him. Did he forward that to you? Frankly, if he's a "second", I don't think money should've been sent to him at all. If you didn't have a PayPal account, it would've been a good idea to have one set up, or just not accept that as a form of payment.

A somewhat different situation, but the same in that it involved a good friend: I used to work for a local, small time concert promoter as his head of security. I would bring my camera with me, take some photos when the opportunity allowed, and would give him the photos.

After a couple years, I was doing the photography on a full-time basis at an annual festival he promoted, on a volunteer basis (yes, I can hear the groans). It was no small endeavor to do it. I'd wake up early, drive about two hours to the festival, shoot all day, drive home, and download the photos. As it wasn't a paying gig, I didn't feel compelled to stay up all night editing. Well, after two years of him calling me the day after the festival wanting to know where the photos were, I put my foot down. I didn't feel he was in a position to be as demanding as he was.

Last year, I told him I couldn't shoot his show, and I told him why; I couldn't do it for free anymore. He had the audacity to offer me gas money and free food and beer (the latter which I'd already been getting). I was a bit offended at that, as some other members of the "staff" were paid for their time. But, because we were good friends, he didn't feel he should have to pay me.

The point is that, even if it's a good friend, you have to take a stand. You have to be honest about your concerns and your reasoning when you talk to him. Lay it out there. If you don't think you should pay him, let there be no mystery as to why you don't think you should pay him.

I have to be honest, my decision in my situation has severely soured our relationship, but I'm okay with that. He wanted something for nothing, and had no problem taking advantage of people to get it...

Charge him for your time/gas/etc that you're using to clean up his mess, and then take it out of his cut...

Brennan.M wrote in post #10882894
Nope, he hasn't been paid this last $1500 chunk. I'm thinking he just lost out on it though. That kind of stuff just pisses me off. Literally, all he had to do was go, pick up the hard drive and mail the stuff off.

Now wait a second. You were paying that much for a courier and someone to burn a disk?

Either way, you're trying to run a business. Your "employee" didn't earn his money. It's actually a pretty easy decision. Are you running a business or just making a little money with a hobby? If it's a business treat it like one.

-F

Thanks for the input guys, I think I'm going to have a sit down with him and explain to him how I feel and he *might* see $300. I honestly don't think he deserved the full amount. The only thing I foresee happening is him saying "The money that I should be getting now is from company 2" which the work is completed for even delivery "and the stuff that was due was for company 1" which is what I had to take care of.