Done an excellent gig – and they won’t pay you!

UPDATED 3 January, 2014.

While CX is certain every performer and contractor associated with the amazingly bungled NYE Water Party at Village Roadshow’s new Wet’n’Wild park in Sydney was paid in full by the promoter, there’s plenty of tales of woe associated with no payment or part payment generally. No one has contacted CX to complain about One Cube Entertainment Pty Ltd, or its directors Cuban Diego Tuff, aka Diego Armando Tobar aged 31 of Potts Point.; Nikola (Nick) Alavanja also aged 32 who hails from Austria; Eric Woo (38) from Hong Kong and living at Blakehurst, and Sri Lankan Ruchitha Perera, also aged 38 who resides at Zetland.

But the question is often asked: what is the payment protocol when a gig is cancelled? The simple answer is, read your contract. Any performer appearing without a standard contract (10% deposit on booking, full funds 48 hours to show) is risking a loss. But what about service providers, light production firms?

“We get 25% on booking, 50% 48 hours out, and balance on completion”, one major told CX. They did not want to be named. “We can take a loss of 25% if we really have to, but if the promoter is a complete unknown we would require the whole lot 48 hours out. There have been gigs we just did not do because the money didn’t come. And we’ve burned the 25% on prep”.

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What’s worse than not being paid for gig? How about when they refuse to pay because your services were not up to scratch.

Melbourne Event Manager Ben Neumann must regret ever taking a gig for Michelle Rose, who allegedly let her teenager Facebook the party in a venue hired by Neumann on her behalf. 400 teens arrived and paid $30 a head to get in, and it is claimed, trash the joint. Neumannm called the police, and then Rose refused to pay him or meet the damages bill, according to the HeraldSun.

Ms Rose is quoted thus: “He destroyed all the fun for the kids”. She went on about knowing about security, having worked with terrorists at the Jordanian border.

Across the equator, Australian Event Supremo Ric Birch delivered a stunning opening ceremony for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, only to be left unpaid – along with several other leading Australian suppliers.

Mr Birch said he was told by Delhi Games organisers secretary-general Lalit Bhanot: “We’re not going to pay you because your services were not up to the mark.” Naturally infuriated beyond belief, Birch let fly on News.com. “Mr Birch joked India was an acronym, “standing for ‘I’ll Never Do It Again.’ The organisers [were] totally unreliable, totally incompetent, and often told total untruths”, the media outlet quoted.

Plainly Ric Burch did an excellent job in India, despite the offensive comments of Mr Bhanot. Mr Burch has just been appointed executive producer of Filmmaster Events, the subsidiary of Filmmaster Group, who are in charge of both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Payment hassles are just one of the topics at the 2014 Dirty Money seminar at CX Roadshow in February 2014. Info at www.cxevents.com.au

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