RandyR
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
 p.30 #11 · Gameface media - heads up on getting paid | |
email from GF today:
Dear Gameface Photographers,
I am writing to thank you for your service this year and to give you an update on Gameface. Hundreds of photographers once again produced millions of professional photos that delighted amateur athletes around the world in 2017. You performed valiantly in the heat, cold, rain and mud during long work days. You also worked under stressful financial conditions where payments were often delayed. We greatly appreciate your patience and professionalism throughout.
I realize it may not feel this way to many of you, but we made significant financial progress at Gameface in 2017. We finally broke through to modest profitability early this summer. That has allowed us to make steady progress on payments to our photographers and to transition to a model in which we are pre-paying photographers for events rather than waiting until well after an assignment to pay your invoices. In many cases, you have asked that old invoices be paid at least in part before shooting again for Gameface. That is of course a fair request and we honored that hundreds of times this year. We expect that to be the model for 2018 as well.
We have two main sources of funds to fully catch up on any of your invoices that remain outstanding. The first is that we are now collecting from several of our clients who were overdue in paying Gameface. With your help, we have done great work for some of the largest companies in the sports world. Although these clients are happy with Gameface and renewing with us for 2018, payment cycles seem to grow longer every year. We are still collecting on engagements from this summer and even some assignments from 2016. Now that our biggest event expenses are behind us for the year, these funds will be used largely to pay our photographers.
The second source of funds to pay photographers is our investor base. We have dramatically trimmed expenses at HQ and eliminated some event clients that were very expensive to cover. (As a side note, I do not take a salary at Gameface.) Investors look at Gameface much differently now than they did in 2016 when we lost more than $1 million. We have interest from both our existing investors and new investors to provide enough money to fully clean up our payables. This deal will take several weeks to close, however, so we don’t expect that will impact photographer payments until Q1 of 2018.
As many of you know all too well, we have been guilty of overly optimistic projections in the past. For that reason, I wanted to propose a payment schedule that is much more realistic. Our intent is to make as many payments as possible this month with the money we collect from our brand and event clients. After that, we plan to pay people 25% of any outstanding invoices as of December 31 in each of January, February, March and April of 2018. So if we owe you $200 as of the end of this year, we would pay you $50 in January, $50 in February, $50 in March and $50 in April. We understand that is not a perfect solution and will be even more frustrating to many of you, but we would rather be realistic than over promise and under deliver. We are happy to consider any particular circumstances since we know we have created some personal financial stress for many of you. We have also heard from several photographers who have told us that they would be willing to take a lesser amount for quicker payment. We are happy to discuss that option.
I apologize that I have not been in touch more often with all of you this year. I had intended to have more frequent written updates to the entire group. Because of the discussion in social media channels, I have been reluctant to share specifics in writing. Instead I have tried to have as many one-on-one conversations with our photographers as possible. I understand how frustrating this has been for many of you because I have heard it first-hand in our phone conversations and email exchanges. I realize that we have a First Amendment in this country and that you are applying pressure on all forms of media and on our Gameface clients to get quicker payments. I can’t say that I wouldn’t do that same thing if I were in your shoes. I would only ask respectfully that you consider the impact of these actions on Gameface. The best way for everyone to get paid -- and to continue to get paid -- is for Gameface to remain a healthy company. We have paid more than $5 million to our freelance photographers over the years, typically at the highest hourly rates in the industry. We would be very happy to continue those payments for some of the most exciting assignments in endurance events. From my conversations with many of you, I know that most of you share the same sentiment.
From the time we founded Gameface five years ago, we knew we would be travelling a bumpy road toward a new model for sports photography. We just didn’t know how bumpy that road would be. Like most young companies, we wish we had a do-over on many aspects of our business plan. My biggest regret is how we have handled our relationships with many of you. You deserved quicker payments and more transparency. The new policy on pre-paying for events is a way to provide more than just words and promises. Likewise, the realistic payment schedule on older invoices is a way to provide some clarity on our plans. I know it may be disappointing to many of you, but it is an attempt at clarity and fiscal reality.
For the hundreds of freelance photographers who helped Gameface make dramatic progress this year, I thank you profusely. For those that have been disappointed at our slow payments, I apologize profusely. We are committed to continuing our steady progress on this front until everyone is satisfied.
Regards,
David
Gameface Co-Founder and CEO
[email protected]
my reply
David,
You are WAY too late. Prepaying while you still owe payments is unacceptable and it makes you and your company look dishonest and foolish. You can never be trusted again and this will follow you for years. Pay ALL your old debts and email that news to everyone and maybe your time in the penalty box will be minimized.
|
