Mr. Covington came to me saying he wanted to build a "mutually beneficial relationship" and talked me into doing some very high end production work at a fraction of what we usually charge. The first project went off pretty smoothly and I got my (tiny) check fairly quickly. The second project is when things started to get weird. I told him time and again that because he was paying so little he would have to take a back seat to my other customers, before during and after both projects. Despite this he did not hesitate to brow beat and cajole me all through the second project. After I finished the project he never responded to my invoice or followup and his phone number was turned off. Finally we sent him a strongly worded email and finally we received a check. On the third and final project he started to get really nasty in the way he talked to me and made unfounded complaints about the project after only seeing raw footage and after I explained to him (before we ever started shooting) that there would be limitations to the project because of the budget.
Mr. Covington seems like a genuinely nice guy. He's not the first guy who's taken advantage of me, but he is the first person who's taken advantage of me without me seeing it coming or having a bad "gut feeling" about him. I really thought he was going to be a good guy who I would be able to grow a working relationship with.
At any rate, be careful in your dealings with Mr. Covington should he contact you about doing work for him.
0 comments