Hi, I have been contacted by a very stressed out disabled girl asking for my help.When it comes to the legal side of the entertainment industry I am a complete naif so I'm hoping you can point me, & her, in the right direction. The basics are:
J**** was under contract to *** Films for them to produce a music video clip for her. She signed a contract on August 2nd 2017. I recorded her voice & I wrote & recorded the music for it. By October I had everything organised to start shooting the video, at this stage *** Films had done nothing to help. When I told *** Films the project was ready to shoot & all I needed was a cameraman the project was taken out of my hands & the boss, S**** B******, said he was going to do it. I handed over all my recordings & all the other work I had done to *** Films. Absolutely nothing was done until a few weeks before the contract expired when the went into a panic & wanted a copy of the contract. Again, even after I had sent them a copy of the contract, very little was done until the contract expired.
At this time (after the contract expired) they fired me to avoid paying me for my work & messed around with my recording which made it sound pretty awful & the artist, J****, told them it was terrible & she didn't want to use it. This work was done off their own bat & was not approved by J**** & was done after the contract expired. The work they did was minimal - only added another vocal track that was my first practice take where the artist forgot the words, lost the timing & it was pretty awful (that's why I always do a few practice takes before the real ones). No work was done, pre-production or otherwise, on the video & the only work they did was to add that dodgy vocal track (a couple of hours work) but now they are threatening to garnishee her dole for $7000.
She is on the Autism spectrum & has Asperger's, ADD & a few other things so she is quite vulnerable. *** Films are taking advantage of her disabilities to bully her into paying for work they never did. She has nothing to show for it either, they haven't given her anything but are browbeating & threatening her for payment. The contract was for them to produce a video clip which they haven't done. *** Films are also threatening to sue me for advising her to seek legal advice & claim the NDA I signed prevents me from becoming friends or even talking to anyone I met in the job, even tho' the disclosure of information is the only thing mentioned in the NDA.
I'd really like to help J**** but I have no idea what to do or where to go - I'm hoping you can point us in the right direction. J**** can't afford to pay a solicitor so we need Legal Aid of some sort. I'm just about to start chemo/radiation treatment so I won't be able to support her for much longer & with her disabilities she can't do this on her own.
Cheers
J**** was under contract to *** Films for them to produce a music video clip for her. She signed a contract on August 2nd 2017. I recorded her voice & I wrote & recorded the music for it. By October I had everything organised to start shooting the video, at this stage *** Films had done nothing to help. When I told *** Films the project was ready to shoot & all I needed was a cameraman the project was taken out of my hands & the boss, S**** B******, said he was going to do it. I handed over all my recordings & all the other work I had done to *** Films. Absolutely nothing was done until a few weeks before the contract expired when the went into a panic & wanted a copy of the contract. Again, even after I had sent them a copy of the contract, very little was done until the contract expired.
At this time (after the contract expired) they fired me to avoid paying me for my work & messed around with my recording which made it sound pretty awful & the artist, J****, told them it was terrible & she didn't want to use it. This work was done off their own bat & was not approved by J**** & was done after the contract expired. The work they did was minimal - only added another vocal track that was my first practice take where the artist forgot the words, lost the timing & it was pretty awful (that's why I always do a few practice takes before the real ones). No work was done, pre-production or otherwise, on the video & the only work they did was to add that dodgy vocal track (a couple of hours work) but now they are threatening to garnishee her dole for $7000.
She is on the Autism spectrum & has Asperger's, ADD & a few other things so she is quite vulnerable. *** Films are taking advantage of her disabilities to bully her into paying for work they never did. She has nothing to show for it either, they haven't given her anything but are browbeating & threatening her for payment. The contract was for them to produce a video clip which they haven't done. *** Films are also threatening to sue me for advising her to seek legal advice & claim the NDA I signed prevents me from becoming friends or even talking to anyone I met in the job, even tho' the disclosure of information is the only thing mentioned in the NDA.
I'd really like to help J**** but I have no idea what to do or where to go - I'm hoping you can point us in the right direction. J**** can't afford to pay a solicitor so we need Legal Aid of some sort. I'm just about to start chemo/radiation treatment so I won't be able to support her for much longer & with her disabilities she can't do this on her own.
Cheers
