I decided to make a separate thread for this as immediate action/help in any way is needed on this.
Once Bankruptcy is declared and accepted then liquidation of all assets will occur and those still owed money can only hope for at best that a partial payment is part of the Bankruptcy settlement. But this is highly unlikely.
As @Fab mentioned in the other Technicolor thread. International freelancers are not being paid and have not been paid for a couple months now
Although I was recently back at The Mill NY Nov/early December and January I personally was not affected by this since while Iâm currently living in Chile my permanent address/residence and LLC is still in NYC. Also as an NYC resident I was on payroll and not invoicing The Mill.-
I do not know what the next steps would be and what are the legal aid/advocacy groups in California?
@randy any ideas of people you know who might be able to help?
For the Californians @cnoellert@philm@ALan etc etc any thoughts, ideas?
Copying/Paste the message I wrote in the other page regarding the Mill.
Looks like theyâve been planning this for a few months.
Iâve been working with them remotely on Flame as a foreign contractor since COVID, taking on projects from time to time.
They still havenât paid me for my last two gigs (end of December â24 and early January on a Super Bowl spot / 11 days of work total). Since it was The Mill, I wasnât overly worried at firstânever imagined theyâd do this on purpose. I naĂŻvely assumed there were some banking hiccups maybe even because of my bankâŚ
Today, a freelancer working in Korea reached out to meâhe told me they owe him 8 weeks of work and have been ghosting his emails when he enquired for payment
My scheduler gave me contacts to email AP (Accounts Payable Supervisor), but as a foreign contractor, I feel like they can easily ignore me.
Any idea what could be done or attempted? Theyâll probably cut off emails soon or fire the people Iâm trying to contactâŚ
Thanks for any insights!
crazy timeâŚ
Note : As a freelancer, working unpaid is painful, but I canât even begin to imagine what itâs like for those who have been there for so long and are now thrown into uncertainty.
If someone was being paid as a LLC/Corp, you totally fucked. Even if you did receive money from The Mill in the past 90 days, you are fucked. The liquidators are going to come after you and try and get the money back. It happened to me once about 15 years ago. The guy went bankrupt, and the court wanted me to give the money back, because as far as they were concerned, Iâm just a corporate vendor, not an individual, and if vendors received money 90 within a company going bankrupt, your fucked. I think I ended up just closing down my corporation, and never responding to the lawyers again.
Thanks for the insight. I get that this situation is chaotic, but honestly, adding more stress and worst-case scenarios doesnât really help right now. I havenât been paid yet for my two gigs, so my focus is just on getting my invoices processed before everything shuts down.
From what I understand, clawbacks usually target bigger corporate vendors or preferential payments, not freelancers just getting paid for regular contract work.
Besides, before these two gigs, I hadnât worked there for quite some timeâwell over 90 days ago from now.
Appreciate the heads-up, thoughâIâll stay on top of it.
Yeah, as a Flame Artist, weâre definitely trained to handle stressful situationsâbut thatâs not really the point here.
I didnât post in this thread to be told Iâm âtotally fuckedâ five times.
I know the situation isnât looking great (very slim chance of retrieving my 11 days of work money), but I was hoping to hear from other Mill contractors who might be in the same boat or someone in this great forum who has an idea that could actually helpâwhether thatâs a key contact at The Mill, a legal suggestion, or any move that could improve my odds.
As for the clawback issue, from what I understand, it mainly applies to large vendors who received substantial payments right before a bankruptcy filing. Since I havenât been paid yet, and Iâm a freelancer, Iâd be more worried about getting nothing rather than having liquidators knocking on my door to take money back. Unless a payment was flagged as preferential treatment (which is more about insider deals), the likelihood of a trustee actively pursuing small contractor payments is pretty low. But yes, itâs true. It could happen (luckily it has been over 90 days I havenât worked with The Mill before they steal my time from me for free)
That being said, Iâm still skeptical about the liquidators coming to burn my house, curse my crops, and steal my dog (yes, I work remotely from the countryside).
So, if anyone has a lawyer contact (though I wonder if itâs worth it for $12K) or any other suggestion, please chime in.
Not sure if itâs possible in this forum (but I guess itâs possible), but you can Private message me.
You might want to talk to an accountant before an attorney -should be less expensive. Iâm not sure if youâre in the US, but if you are, you can write off business losses. This sure sounds like a classic example. If it qualifies, that writeoff can offset the tax you owe on revenue from other jobs, so you wonât be up, but you wonât be down as much.
And⌠taking the loss is also a LOT less painful than dealing with the courts.
Iâm really sorry youâre in this situation, and whatever you do, keep notes every step of the way, they might come in handy.
Thanks so much for the suggestionâI really appreciate it. Iâm actually based in Europe, so the tax situation might be a bit different, but itâs definitely worth looking into whether thereâs a similar option for writing off business losses here. Thatâs a good point about checking with an accountant before going down the legal routeâit does seem like a much less painful (and costly) way to handle things.
Iâll keep detailed notes as you suggestedâwho knows, it might come in handy down the line.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply, and for the support.
Where are you based? I ask as if youâre based in the UK, I know The Mill wanted people to be within IR35 for any contracts, which actually treats you as an employee, as you have to pay tax and National Insurance through PAYE at the same rate as an employee. It would just mean you may have more rights regarding clawing back any money owed as you would potentially be seen as an employee rather than a contractor.
Of course, if youâre not based in the UK then this wonât apply, I just thought Iâd mention it in case it helped.
(IR35 is some messed up rule in the UK to get you to pay more tax as a freelancer. Most people avoid contracts within IR35 like the plague.)
Thanks for bringing that up! Iâm actually based in France, so IR35 doesnât apply to me, but itâs interesting to hear how that works in the UK. It sounds like a tricky system for freelancers to navigate.
I appreciate you mentioning it, thoughâany bit of info helps when dealing with this kind of situation.
Appreciate you starting this thread and bringing attention to whatâs going on. I was a vendor for The Mill and am currently dealing with an outstanding payment issue from work delivered before the shutdown. Definitely a frustrating situation.
Iâm looking into the best way forward and exploring options. If anyone else is in a similar position or has insights on next steps, Iâd be interested in hearing more.
Thanks again for shedding light on thisâhoping we can all find a fair resolution.
Sadly I have no idea how to help. Based on some anecdotal evidence, 10,000 people across the globe just lost their job. Hundreds of contractors, vendors, and more wonât be paid for days or weeks of work.
Unfortunately, thatâs exactly what bankruptcy looks like. An instantaneous evaporation of any and all fucks. And by fucks I mean assets.
