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I was contacted by this producer last December and hired by him to do a ghost writing job. He gave me an absolutely unreadable script (uncompleted, too) and had me turn it into 8 half-hour episodes. At first I was going to refuse the job, but then he paid the first installment on time.

Four months later, I turned in the work. And he told me to wait 30 days for payment. To me, this is pretty standard so I was fine with it. Now 30 days later he refuses to pay me, citing that he is going through a divorce and business is slow. And when I finally asked for a date when he could pay me, he said go ahead and sell the scripts I wrote.

This project is unsellable. Trust me. And yes, we have a contract. So needless to say, you know what my next actions are going to be.

I just thought you guys should know. Another lesson about doing stuff for cheap or no money at all.

Again, if Boyce Uboh wants to hire you for a writing job, run in the other direction.

Thanks for the warning, Colin, and remind us of that name periodically, if you will, as some of us (me, at least) have Swiss cheese for brains.

Yeah, Terry. It's easy to forget a common name like Boyce Uboh.

Good one.

A few months from now, I might recognize the name but I probably won't remember what I heard about him. Brain like a sieve made out of old, moldy Swiss cheese.

Here is my suggestion. Start a new message titled: "Springtime for Hitler", or "Peter Jackson vs. New LIne" or some other such clever title. Name names and a brief description of the problem (most will be nonpayment). That way we will have a running tally of turkey producers.

Springtime for Hitler?

THE PRODUCERS, Patrick.

Damn Terry, your brain is not a slimey, moldy, oozzzing molten brie filled cake trap, memory laten sponge bob after all....

Thanks, James, for noticing that I have moments of lucidity between my oblivions.

If I aged only during my moments of lucidity, I'd live for eons.

Wow Colin. Thats too bad. I saw another script with your name on it which that same person hired you to write (he actually referred you to someone). You must've worked for him again. He must not have been too bad. Plus, some writer's are not worth several $6,000...which I actually saw the invoice and receipt for. You were paid...maybe not what you think you were worth but WHAT THE HECK. I think I'm worth a million bucks. Most writers I know (who write low budget scripts) only get 500-1000 for an entire script.

The second script wasn't actually his project. He got you that job as a middleman. The gentleman didnt even use the script because it was so far from what he wanted, he just chalked it up as a loss. It is certainly not the writers' job to chose the concept of a script. So I just envision the story I am hired to write and contruct follow-up drafts based on feedback.

I was hired to fix the script you wrote so actually, you could say he lost out too. I charged him a very small amount given what he had already spend on you. He turned over the final script in addition to his notes sent to you. I must say your script and his notes dont match.

I have written a for him several times and although he didn't pay me the balance until several drafts later, I thought that was fair, given he was paying me to actually finish a script based on his notes and his ideas. Not what I think would sell in my own mind.

It is the vision of the person who is paying me and that is how it should be written. Not what I think would be a good idea.

I think he is very specific about what he wants written and knowing that, I go into a script with a different outlook when I work for him.

I would work for him in a heartbeat. But I guess anyone can write anything, true or not, and post it.

We should all BEWARE.