egafd.com

I agree, we are a company that files accounts, we get paid by cheque and so it is normal to pay out by cheque.

The people to avoid are those that don't pay, CASH or CHEQUE!

lol definately, ours does quite nicely out of us....

I agree payment by cheque from a company is normal, the taxman HATES cash going out of a business and is just asking for an investigation

At Bluebird, we pay on a 28 day cheque basis, for the same reason as other legitimate companies. Both us and professional models have accounts they need to keep a paper trail for.

With around 300 payments a month to deal with, sometimes individual performers fall through gaps in the reporting system. But they just call our bookings manager and it gets sorted.

When it comes to amateurs shooting for our Waynes World or Ben Dover lables, we pay on the day.

I think it's a trade off. Working for big companies equals lots of good work in good conditions. But payment systems are needed to avoid total anarchy, so payments get delayed.

Shame Isabella's retired. Did some nice scenes for us !

For one off ad hoc work there is no reason not to pay people on the day, no matter how big and commercial you are.

Do you pull up at Esso and say "sorry mate, we're a big company, we'll pay you in 28 days"?

Didn't think so. If you want to pay on 28 day basis, you do that with suppliers with whom you have a regular relationship.

Of course if a 28 day process gets you the models you need, you can do what you like - just like a lot of big proper companies actually pay on a 60 or even 90 day basis just for their cash flow and stuff the supplier.

Lets face it - not many people in this country offer contracts, and a sensible girl wanting to impress would probably accept your terms for a one off shoot, and you have a rep to maintain so no doubt pay properly:-) But a lot of people in this game are not so solid.

Cheques though are perfectly acceptable, and companies rightly don't want to be handing over cash, for records purposes.

Cheers

Excellent point, We have a friend who runs probably the largest fetish sites in the the business out in good old U S of A and they always pay on the day.
If you cannot pay on the day then you cannot afford the shoot.

Isabella,

Hiwatt should be reacting privately, but if this is the company with whom you are in dispute I'm sure it's more cock up than malice. They can't afford a don't pay rep.

I suggest you send them a letter saying something like:-

I worked for you on X date - producer was Y.

I was promised payment of ? in 28 days, and I haven't been paid.

It was my understanding that I was working for you, and would be paid by you. Thus I am entitled to request the money from you, and for you to reclaim from other parties if, as far as you are concerned, they should have paid me.

I look forward to you sending me the cheque made payable to XXX asap to address ZZZ

Failure to act within 7 days means I will take court action.

Yours etc

and send it so it has to be signed for (can never remeber if that's registered or recorded).

Exactly, "Big" companies have used this ruse for years. This is how it works; if they owe for example ?30,000 in fees to models and say ?30,000 to other suppliers, all that money is in their deposit account, which has an automatic transfer system into, and out of a current account which always remains with a very small balance, so the main wonga collect crisp cash!

Of course "28 days" in reality means 28 days before they start to think about paying you, so before you get your cheque (Add on a week for clearance) they'll have had your money for 6-7 weeks!

Also, some companies add on the, "Let's make'em squeal" factor, which adds another month, of your money in their deposit account!

You work it out at say 5% a year and it amounts to quite a few slap-up lobster meals for two!

Some of us, actually used to run "Big" companies ourselves, so we know, that the excuses are actually ALL BOLLOCKS!