BLACKLISTED by a video production company! But they did me a favor!

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]This is production companies roll a scene one take one.

[00:00:10]All right, welcome to today's video. My name is Sparky Sorenson and I am an aerial cinematographer based in Fort Worth, Texas. Um, I've been wanting to make this video for a long time and I finally have the chance to sit down and get that done. So, that's what we're going to do today. So, my story begins.

[00:00:28]Uh, several years ago, I started working for a local production company here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. The first few shoots I did were not really big shoots, nothing crazy. They just hired me to fly a drone and film some drone light shows for one of their soft drink company clients. What I want to talk about today is this production company has a long long history of paying late and now not even paying freelancers at all. Uh I worked seven shoots for this company. I made a total of $30,000 with them. $30,415, which is a is a pretty good client.

[00:01:12]That's uh that's definitely, you know, somebody that you want to work with often cuz you're making good money.

[00:01:17]However, of the seven invoices, they paid six late. One was 9 days late and then the others were all four, five, 6 days late. Here's a 7 days late. They paid one invoice 6 days early. But here's what I'm going to say. That was the second invoice I ever had with them.

[00:01:38]They paid early. The first invoice I ever had, they paid four days late.

[00:01:43]Here's the reason why they only paid four days late. Because when that 30 days hit, I called, I texted, I emailed.

[00:01:50]There's no reason a company that is doing shoots for international brands, tractor companies, soft drink companies, uh I'm talking some of the biggest names in the business. There's no reason this production company should ever be paying you late. and there's no reason you as a freelancer should ever put up with it.

[00:02:14]So, here's the story of why I got blacklisted. So, here's where the good stuff starts happening. It's Thanksgiving week. They're past due on an invoice again. And I text the producers and I am going to say everybody with the exception of one person that's on the ground floor of this company that were actually working on these productions, they were all great people. Everybody was they were awesome to work with, very knowledgeable. It's the people upstairs in the cubicles that suck. And the owner also sucks. that week they have a pretty decent invoice that's late. Uh, and to be 100% transparent, this is the first time I've ever paid a mortgage payment late because they owed me a pretty large invoice. It has a comma in it. It's not just a few hundred. We're talking thousands of dollars. Um, so anyway, I texted that Monday, I believe, uh, everybody on the ground floor, the producers and directors and and said, you know, hey, look, I need this invoice paid. I'm a freelancer. I don't get a twoe check every time. I might get a few checks in a week and then it might be two or 3 weeks before I get another check. That's just how freelance works, especially in such a niche category as me. I'm I'm an aerial cinematographer. I fly drones for a living. Um, you know, the demand for drone operators in Dallas, Texas isn't massive. You know, they're not looking for Inspire 3 operators every day. I get a couple of texts back from the producers and directors and, you know, they're like, you know, hey, we apologize. We're sorry. We're going to see what we can do. Like, they're and I appreciate that.

[00:03:58]They're all great people. But then one of the other production coordinators or or whatever, I don't know what her title is, she calls me and she wants to talk to me about my tone in my text message.

[00:04:11]First off, you pay me late consistently and you're going to come ask me about my tone. Kick rocks, lady. Kick rocks.

[00:04:22]That's all I have to say. So anyway, enough about me. Um, after I raised this stink Thanksgiving week, obviously I get blacklisted. They never hire me again.

[00:04:33]I've had former employees tell me that they were instructed to never hire me for any jobs. That's fine. I don't want to work for a company that doesn't pay on time anyway. Well, it turns out being blacklisted by this production company was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. This right here is 47 pages of Chapter 11 paperwork of this production company filing for bankruptcy. Chapter 11. Um, the unfortunate thing is they're probably going to go through some stuff. They're probably going to pay off some people.

[00:05:06]Not the full amounts, but they'll pay them some. And when all this dust settles and clears, they're going to be back to doing what they were doing. The total assets for this company are in in the $12 million range.

[00:05:20]The total amount of claims is $9 million.

[00:05:28]The total amount of claims of nonpropy of unsecured claims is $2 million.

[00:05:35]And if you go here to about page 14 or 15, um, this is where you get into the who they owe and how much they owe info. They owe a couple of creditors $115,000.

[00:05:53]They owe another creditor $847,000.

[00:05:59]They owe another creditor $25,000.

[00:06:04]And this list just goes on and on.

[00:06:06]Here's another creditor, $300,000.

[00:06:09]Plains Capital Bank. 5,214,315 is what they owe. I can promise you they don't have that money. Then we go down.

[00:06:23]Look, more lenders. 450, 300,000, 64,000.

[00:06:28]I mean, the list just goes on and on and on. Then when you get to the I don't really know what you would call it. uh creditors who have unsecured claims.

[00:06:41]Now, these are your your freelancers like me and these small businesses. Um here's a buddy that I worked with. They owe $2,800 to. Uh here's another company, $18,000.

[00:06:56]AJL International, they owe $298. Like, how do you not pay a $298 invoice? AM Services. I don't know what they are, but they're owed $22,000.

[00:07:08]$12,000.

[00:07:10]$25,000.

[00:07:12]We're We're easily at about $100,000.

[00:07:14]They owe freelancers like me. $44,000.

[00:07:19]$1,200. How do you not pay a $1,200 invoice, especially to a city? This is all public record. You can find this.

[00:07:27]The list just goes on and on. $26,000, $17,000, $53,000.

[00:07:36]These these are all people like me that that freelancers that work dayto-day stage, lighting, and equipment, $100,000. Hope you get your money. Uh they owe the Grapevine Collieville tax office $435. Again, how do you not pay that? I could pay that today without even thinking about it. Uh it just goes on and on. party rentals 200 uh $200.

[00:08:01]Uh here's a another guy uh $11,000.

[00:08:06]I mean this this there are pages and pages and pages of look I'm I'm I'm just like here's one $14,000 $6,000 $40,000 to a company in Chicago. It it just on and on and on. And here's the here's the people that own the company. The people that own the company. And it just blows my mind. And here's the thing is like I've I've been trolling them a little bit on LinkedIn and other social media and they delete my comments. They delete everything they can. Um they got my account banned on LinkedIn for about 12 hours, but I got it back. Um, and if you talk to anybody that currently works for this company or if you talk to the owners, I'm the bad guy. I'm the guy out there that's that's doing wrong. So, yeah, if you add up 12 million and 9 million 12 carry the one $21 million.

[00:09:10]This company is $21 million in debt. And you know what really gets me? And this is what really ticked me off. They entered videos into the telly awards.

[00:09:24]You have to pay money. It's not a lot. A couple hundred bucks per category. You have to pay to enter these videos. They won six awards. And they actually bragged on their social media about winning six telly awards. One of those videos that won awards, my good friend, has still not been paid for for shooting that video. That right there is some is some that that just blows my mind. So anyway, banning me from your productions is probably the best blessing in disguise that has ever happened to me because you know what? I I first off, I hope everybody in these pages gets their money or gets close to the amounts they're owed. They're probably not going to. I've got a friend that's owed $26,000.

[00:10:14]$26,000 and he's he's a dad. He's got a family. He probably won't see that money, all that money, you know, and it just it it kills me that companies treat freelancers like this. And they have no conscience, no morals. They're fine, dude. They're they're still operating. They're down there in grapevine acting like nothing happened. They're posting on social media. They're posting accolades and projects they've worked on, all while they owe creditors and freelancers over $21 million.

[00:10:56]So anyway, that's how I got blacklisted from a production company. And I just want to say if anybody from this production company sees this, um, if your name rhymes with scarlet or if your name rhymes with jelly, thank you for never hiring me again. And also, this is me giving you the middle finger to your face.