Complaint Review: Cinemadona - New Orleans Louisiana
- Cinemadona 1001 S Broad St Louisiana New Orleans, Louisiana USA
- Phone: (347) 310-8108
- Web: http://cinemadona.co/
- Category: Producers
Allendra Freeman AKA "Cinemadona" refuses to pay crew for music video shoot. Los Angeles California
*Author of original report: Cinemadona has it all wrong
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: White Male Crew takes Advatantage of Black Female Producers
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Allendra Freeman AKA "Cinemadona" and Cessali Fournier have gone into hiding after a music video shoot in Los Angeles. The music video was for artist Bryan Andrew Wilson. We (the crew) have tried to get into contact with both Allendra Freeman (Director) and Cessali Fournier (Producer) and they have not answered our calls, texts, emails. Allendra Freeman was the one who contracted the crew and agreed to rates.
We filled out our W9 paperwork after the shoot day concluded and were told that we would be paid in cash at the end of the day. That never happened. We were then told to exchange Venmo info. It has been almost a month and radio silence from "Cinemadona".
Cessali Fournier and Allendra Freeman have since blocked some of the crew's phone numbers and their emails have since returned to sender (Not real).
This is extremely unprofessional and we want people in the Los Angeles area to know not work with these individuals.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/22/2017 12:01 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/cinemadona/new-orleans-louisiana-70125/allendra-freeman-aka-cinemadona-refuses-to-pay-crew-for-music-video-shoot-los-angeles-1357654. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#2 Author of original report
Cinemadona has it all wrong
AUTHOR: - ()
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, March 01, 2017
Hello,
I was one of the crew members on this shoot. There are a lot of things wrong with Cinemadona's rebuttal that are completely false. For one Evan and the rest of the crew arrived on time while Cinemadona arrived nearly 1 hour and a half later then call time. If you have been working professionally all of these years how come you arrived late to your own production? Also, the crew was not provided a lunch break. It wasn't until later that we were found out lunch was hidden in another room (We had to find out ourselves). We "disappeared" because we were busy eating for what little time we had to do so (They ran out of water too!) I also want to note that Evan repainted the greenscreen for you guys and there is no mention of this.... You guys never stepped in to help or offer help. If Evan didn't care about this production and was justing trying to make "a quick buck" why would he repaint the screen? How come the DP is doing what production is supposed to handle? Also if the crew wanted a "quick buck" then how come they went out of there way to get lights for the production (their own)?
One of the most concerning things about Cinemadona's rebuttal is there is no mention of the Steadicam guy who showed up and did nothing and was the only one that got paid that day. Wow! Lets also not forget that we were going to shoot pickups for another music video that night at the same rate and when that fell through you guys disappeared. If you were unsatisfied with the lighting YOU should have spoken up. YOU are the director. We were contracted to do lighting, not AC work. Evan said he could handle the camera. We lit it the way Evan wanted... and to say that you need to reshoot it because the "lack of light" is complete bullshit. We had 3x 2k's lighting the backdrop from the grid, 2x 4 Bank Kinoflos lighting the actors and 1x 1k for filling in. I am sure your BTS guy could show that. We take Evan seriously, please don't try to throw people under the bus for your lack of communication.
This is another example of people that don't want to pay for work done. Regardless of how it turned out you are obligated to pay the crew no matter what the situation, if you were a professional you would know this. You can name drop all you want but your production was poorly put together, lacked production needs and your lateness all contributed to the fact of how unprofessional the set was run. Your reasoning for not paying the crew further proves that you have never done any professional work (Despite your additional videography on Lemonade), so please don't use that against us.
My final thoughts on Cinemadona's use of the race and the female card is absolutely ridiculous. No one was trying to take advantage of you. This is a ploy to distract from the big points above. We worked the best we could with what we had, not to mention the little time we had. I hope that my W9 paperwork was properly disposed and not just thrown in the trash like this production. Learn to run a set and production better, not sure how you guys do it down in the south but this is not how it works here in Los Angeles.
#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company
White Male Crew takes Advatantage of Black Female Producers
AUTHOR: Cinemadona - (USA)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, February 28, 2017
This crew of 3 in actuality ripped our entire production off because we were black women filming a black gospel production, assumed that they can do the bare minimum, thought that we were not educated and experienced enough to realize that they were ripping us off. The DP Evan Avtal tried to get away with filming an entire green screen production with two 300 watt led light panels and ensured me that it was enough light to have my special effects editor to properly key the background. Although I had suspicions and had mentioned to him that we needed much more light and that we had a few Mole LEDS from a shoot that we filmed prior available about an hour away, he told me we didn't need them and I trusted him as a DP and thought that he would care about the production enough to light it properly. When I asked him whether it was enough light and if he was sure, the AC looked at him as if he was making a mistake and shook his head but didn't say anything. Throughout the short 5 hour production I (the director ) had to assist Evan Avtal (the DP) with setting up tripod, adjusting light, moving tripod, switching lenses, and setting up shots while the the two AC's were either no were to be found or outside taking miscellaneous breaks. There was even a moment that we have on camera filmed by our BTS guy where I asked Evan "where's your guys?" and he looked towards the door and said "I don't know". Filming for over 7 years the experience I know if a DPs crew disappears and doesn't care enough to stay on watch it means that they don't take the DP seriously or just don't care/respect the production. This was an extremely EASY shoot. Evan and his crew did not care enough and acted as if the shoot was beneath them, a quick buck, and treated us as if we were a joke. After filming this video I sent the footage to my sfx editor immediately because of my suspicions and he said that it would be best if we reshot the video because the lack of light would require much more time and money to finish properly. Prior to hiring Evan Avtal he told me that he was an expert at filming on green screen. After the shoot he mentioned he just bought his camera and that this was his very first shoot filming with it which also raised my suspicions. Cinemadona Studios has been producing innovative films specializing in creative direction for 5 years and this is our very first terrible experience working with a crew of such careless calaber. Maybe Evan thought that he could get away with being careless because we were women, not from LA but from the South or just hoping to make fast money and hope that we wouldn't notice in time. I (the director) possesses an extensive professional background from working on major films and productions including Beyoncé Lemonade, Lil Wayne first VR project with Hulu/LiveNation, Arcade Fire and have an immaculent, positive reputation in the city of NYC, ATL & New Orleans where we are based. In the future, we hope to meet positive DPs and crew who care enough to work together and work their best no matter if it's a major film or low budget music video. In this field it is common to be a woman that gets taken advantage by male crews. We wish that no one ever has to go through what we went through with Evan and his crew.
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