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Assumptions Are Often Wrong
Then my brother wanted to film it. He has quite a bit of film equipment. He came down from Tacoma. The first day on the set, I told him we needed to sit down and hash out a royalty agreement, as I am a "starving artist." He immediately quipped, "Naw, don't worry about it! Let's just get it in the can! We can talk about that later!" Well, never talk about money later. After four weeks of filming, and four months of delays due to technical repairs, we had one week left of filming. A few days before he came down, he sent me an email with an invoice for $40,000 due prior to the release of any film!
Dear Lon,
Because I am way too timid about discussing final $ amounts with dear friends and family, (not clients who contact me) your story is a vivid lesson. I have dear friends with whom it is hard (for me) to discuss a $ amount. We KNOW that the dollar issue needs to be clarified, but darn, it is hard to do with those whom we know and trust. The bad thing about doing business with any family/friends is that we EXPECT them to treat us fairly and with respect. (as we would do to them...)
BINGO! Big mistake. Assumptions. Never a good thing as they often turn out to be incorrect.
Thank you for exposing a true story that probably is all too familiar to many of us.
Carol
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