My fellow unpaid and less than fully paid Terror Nights workers:
Please contact Officer Frank Perez at Orange County Sheriff Department of White Collar Crimes at 407 836-4357, and tell him you are an additional victim of Case Number 06-102006.
In my opinion, there may very well be three actionable crimes committed by RAW:
1) Fraud. Since you've read the other reports, you already get this one.
2) Illegal contracts: legally, we should have been hired as seasonal employees, not subcontractors, according to standards set and enforced by the IRS. Gosh, I wonder if some of us might consider phoning the IRS? And I wonder if the Jacksonville event gave folks subcontracter agreements rather than legally requisite seasonal employment agreements. Gosh, it might be worth a mention to an IRS agent as well.
3) Blacklisting Threats.? Don't cross me or you'll never act in this town again. I know every producer in Central Florida, they all respect me, and I can end your career? Quothe Jon Smith on or about Friday, October 13 around 5:30 pm. The making of such threats is illegal, constitutes creation of a hostile work environment, etc. Gosh, I wonder if the State of Florida and its various employment regulation bureaus might be interested in a phone call about it.
Officer Frank Perez assures me that an Economics Detective from the Orange County Sheriff's Office of White Collar Crimes will begin an investigation of RAW Productions within the month. And he requests that should we all be paid in full in the interim, that we be so kind as to phone him back and withdraw our complaints. Sounds fair to me.
Other actions you can take immediately:
Fax a complaint letter to the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida, 1600 S Grant St, Longwood FL 32750: Fax number 407 786-2625. Mention that RAW Productions is in their database under,? Artists, Commercial.?
FAX a letter requesting that small claims court forms be mailed to you from the Orange County Small Claims Court: FAX number 407 836-2225.
Here are a few media contact names and numbers:
Josh Eineger, 407 402-9110, Ch 9 News, WFTV
Dave Ross, 407 645-2222, Ch 2 News, WESH,
Mike Holfeld, Problem Solvers, 407 291-6000, Ch 6 News WKMG
Central Florida News, Rich Civil, 407 513-1313, [email protected], Ch 13
Fox TV News, 407 942-1765
Orlando Sentinel, Greg Dawson, 407 420-5000 ext 5618
Orlando Weekly, Seth Kubersky, 407 973-4496
Orlando Business Journal, Bob Mervine, 407 649-8470
At Terror Nights at the Mercado, I was a roamer for the first six shows, then left in disgust. One of the biggest reasons I walked away from show business years ago in favor of being a self employed fulltime clinical hypnotist was no longer having to work for folks like RAW Productions. I know for a fact that blacklisting threats are illegal nonsense (if one person's word can ruin your career, you don't have one), and frankly I'm looking forward to testifying against RAW Productions in court.
It'll be nice to use my 35 years of standup comedy, music, theatre, and professional public speaking skills unto a truly honorable end: seeing that RAW Productions gets a raw prod wielded by a judge?
And we'll see then who's still working in this town, eh, my friends?
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