Spike Lee is a low-balling motherfucker
DocMcCoy
"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
http://juanluisgarcia.com/dear-spike-lee/
Dear Mr. Lee,
It???s with sadness and hope that I write this open letter to you. I know you???ll understand my story of an artist trying to make a dignified living. It???s difficult and sometimes seems impossible because everyone wants you to work for free or for ???exposure.???
Back in January I was approached by an ad agency that was hired to design posters for your new film, Oldboy. They wanted me to design some comps to present to you. They told me the budget was small and that they could only pay me peanuts for the comps but if you and the studio liked any of them I would then be compensated fairly through the licensing buyout fee.
[I've since heard that the agency who commissioned this guy was Spike DDB. Take a wild guess who the CEO is.]
I know, I saw all of the warning signs but the idea of working for you and having my design represent your film blinded me. So I went along with it. Dealing with the agency was one the worst experiences of my life. It affected all aspects of my life from my marriage to my work and my health. I was taken advantage of, lead on, lied to, manipulated, and harassed for over two months while I put all I had into designing the comps. I wanted to impress you and I guess I did.
The agency told me, ???Congratulations, Spike loved a couple of the posters. Yours is going to be the key art.???, and I was thrilled. But when it came time to negotiate the licensing buyout fee the agency made an insultingly low offer. But they said that the important thing wasn???t the money it was the exposure and potential for more work. After thinking about it long and hard I had to decline. I tried to negotiate but they refused. I make the same amount of money in a single day as a photo assistant as what they offered and I had worked on these almost exclusively for two months. Plus there was still more work to be done so I had to refuse.
The agency was furious. They told me that I didn???t want to mess with Spike Lee, that I would never work again, that I was a despicable human, that they wish they never met me, and that they were going to sue my ass to oblivion. For what, I honestly don???t know. We never signed any contracts or work-for-hire agreements and I certainly never agreed to donating or selling any copyright of my work without a licensing fee.
The worst part of all this is that I never even got paid the peanuts they owed me. I was fine with it as long as they were out of my life. I couldn???t take another condescending phone call because I was ???only a designer.??? Many sleepless nights forced me to chock it up as a loss and learning experience and try to move on with my life.
Months went by and I realized that I had done all of that work for nothing. Early in the conversation the agency told me that I could publish the work as my own for the ???exposure??? so since I knew I was not going to getting paid I put the posters in my portfolio. Little did I know that they would catch like wildfire and spread throughout the internet overnight. I woke up to a google alert the morning after and they were on blogs everywhere. I immediately emailed the agency to notify them that the posters were taken from my portfolio and published without my permission. The agency responded by threatening me with legal action and worse. I immediately took them down from my portfolio but the agency kept calling and harassing me for several days after with the same threats. They forwarded me an email you sent them asking for an explanation but of course they lied to you and said they didn???t know who was responsible. I hadn???t done anything wrong but I was still scared. Eventually the threats stopped and I thought I could put this hell behind me.
Last night I was browsing the internet and my jaw dropped when I stumbled upon your personal and your production company???s social media pages. I couldn???t believe that you had been using and claiming copyright on three of those very same posters I designed. I just couldn???t believe it. I perceive you as an advocate of the arts and artists and have a sinking feeling that you are as much of a victim in this as I am.
I reached out to my attorney and several colleagues but after sleeping on it I decided to try and contact you. This has been such a nightmare that the last thing I want is to extend this. My wife and I are expecting our first baby early next year and the thought of bringing them into this makes my eyes water.
I need you to know the truth. Some of the posters you are using were stolen from me. I tried my hardest to resolve this amicably but the agency just blatantly refused. I am a fan of your storytelling and respect your success as a filmmaker, artist, and person. I definitely relate to your passion for the Knicks and competition, just ask my wife and family. I wish you nothing but success with Oldboy and all of your future projects. I hope we can resolve this between us because the agency refuses to work with me and they have tormented me and my family enough. Please feel free contact me at your convenience.
Peace and Love,
Juan Luis Garcia
(11/27/13) UPDATE: I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support. I have read most of your messages and emails and I promise to respond and update as things develop.
Meanwhile, on Spike's Kickstarter page, the pledge offers include "OLDBOY One Sheet Poster Signed By Spike And Josh Brolin - $200"
Dear Mr. Lee,
It???s with sadness and hope that I write this open letter to you. I know you???ll understand my story of an artist trying to make a dignified living. It???s difficult and sometimes seems impossible because everyone wants you to work for free or for ???exposure.???
Back in January I was approached by an ad agency that was hired to design posters for your new film, Oldboy. They wanted me to design some comps to present to you. They told me the budget was small and that they could only pay me peanuts for the comps but if you and the studio liked any of them I would then be compensated fairly through the licensing buyout fee.
[I've since heard that the agency who commissioned this guy was Spike DDB. Take a wild guess who the CEO is.]
I know, I saw all of the warning signs but the idea of working for you and having my design represent your film blinded me. So I went along with it. Dealing with the agency was one the worst experiences of my life. It affected all aspects of my life from my marriage to my work and my health. I was taken advantage of, lead on, lied to, manipulated, and harassed for over two months while I put all I had into designing the comps. I wanted to impress you and I guess I did.
The agency told me, ???Congratulations, Spike loved a couple of the posters. Yours is going to be the key art.???, and I was thrilled. But when it came time to negotiate the licensing buyout fee the agency made an insultingly low offer. But they said that the important thing wasn???t the money it was the exposure and potential for more work. After thinking about it long and hard I had to decline. I tried to negotiate but they refused. I make the same amount of money in a single day as a photo assistant as what they offered and I had worked on these almost exclusively for two months. Plus there was still more work to be done so I had to refuse.
The agency was furious. They told me that I didn???t want to mess with Spike Lee, that I would never work again, that I was a despicable human, that they wish they never met me, and that they were going to sue my ass to oblivion. For what, I honestly don???t know. We never signed any contracts or work-for-hire agreements and I certainly never agreed to donating or selling any copyright of my work without a licensing fee.
The worst part of all this is that I never even got paid the peanuts they owed me. I was fine with it as long as they were out of my life. I couldn???t take another condescending phone call because I was ???only a designer.??? Many sleepless nights forced me to chock it up as a loss and learning experience and try to move on with my life.
Months went by and I realized that I had done all of that work for nothing. Early in the conversation the agency told me that I could publish the work as my own for the ???exposure??? so since I knew I was not going to getting paid I put the posters in my portfolio. Little did I know that they would catch like wildfire and spread throughout the internet overnight. I woke up to a google alert the morning after and they were on blogs everywhere. I immediately emailed the agency to notify them that the posters were taken from my portfolio and published without my permission. The agency responded by threatening me with legal action and worse. I immediately took them down from my portfolio but the agency kept calling and harassing me for several days after with the same threats. They forwarded me an email you sent them asking for an explanation but of course they lied to you and said they didn???t know who was responsible. I hadn???t done anything wrong but I was still scared. Eventually the threats stopped and I thought I could put this hell behind me.
Last night I was browsing the internet and my jaw dropped when I stumbled upon your personal and your production company???s social media pages. I couldn???t believe that you had been using and claiming copyright on three of those very same posters I designed. I just couldn???t believe it. I perceive you as an advocate of the arts and artists and have a sinking feeling that you are as much of a victim in this as I am.
I reached out to my attorney and several colleagues but after sleeping on it I decided to try and contact you. This has been such a nightmare that the last thing I want is to extend this. My wife and I are expecting our first baby early next year and the thought of bringing them into this makes my eyes water.
I need you to know the truth. Some of the posters you are using were stolen from me. I tried my hardest to resolve this amicably but the agency just blatantly refused. I am a fan of your storytelling and respect your success as a filmmaker, artist, and person. I definitely relate to your passion for the Knicks and competition, just ask my wife and family. I wish you nothing but success with Oldboy and all of your future projects. I hope we can resolve this between us because the agency refuses to work with me and they have tormented me and my family enough. Please feel free contact me at your convenience.
Peace and Love,
Juan Luis Garcia
(11/27/13) UPDATE: I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support. I have read most of your messages and emails and I promise to respond and update as things develop.
Meanwhile, on Spike's Kickstarter page, the pledge offers include "OLDBOY One Sheet Poster Signed By Spike And Josh Brolin - $200"
Comments
"Cheap Trick"....From the guy who tweeted the wrong address for George Zimmerman and got and innocent couple harassed. Seriously Spike, follow through with your big mouth or shut up. The correct response would be....".I looked into this, fired the design company and I am pursuing proper compensation for the artists work". Or "Here's all the proof that this guy is lying". "I did not hire him" is a total cop out. It's your movie Spike, all these people were hired on your behalf to make you money. Take responsibility just like you insist all the other people in the world should.
Like I figured Spike is a blow hard. But I've know that ever since he argued with Steve Wonder that you can tell black people by the sound of their voice. As if Steve wouldn't be more qualified to answer that question.
Sarcasm?
Truth?
Here's what likely happened, his treatments ended up in a room of memorabilia crap, all of which Spike signed as gifts for his vampire movie Kickstarter. hardly stolen, cool story bro.
Not sure if my English was wrong there.....Probably 10 years ago I was watching a panel discussion on race and Stevie and Spike were on the panel. Stevie started talking about how he can't usually tell someones "race" by their voice. He was making a great point that seeing changes your perceptions since the whole black/white thing is all visual. Spike rudely cut in saying you can definitely tell someones race by their voice and you always know when its a black person on the phone ect. Stevie calmly pointed out that he can't tell and Spike just kept saying yes you can like Stevie was an idiot. I thought Spike was pretty full of himself to argue this point with Stevie of all people.
Spike was trying to say that black people carry themselves a certain way and talk a certain way, but if a white person said that Spike would flip! Not to mention that it's racist to say any group of people all act/talk the same. Your either demeaning another group or exaggerating your own.
I realized then that Spike was like Miles. I like their art but I don't want to know them as people because I probably wouldn't like them.
English was fine lol - I couldn't find anything about the exchange and just didn't get who was saying what.
Not really... what you're saying is pretty much what I first assumed when reading the letter but after seeing the evidence it's pretty much clear cut that some very foul shit has been perpetrated by the ad agency. The fact that the agency is owned by Spike Lee puts him on the spot and his reaction so far is an incredibly bad look.
I mean how can anybody look at this and not come to the conclusion that they just plainly stole the man's work:
And then Spike posted the designers comps and slapped his own copyright control on them... talking abut adding insult to injury.
The agency are playing the "We have no budget to pay you, but think of the exposure..." card and therefore hoping to keep all of whatever Spike was contractually obliged to pay, for his posters, for themselves. Fug the artist.
But yeah, given that their Modus Operandi are now out in the open, Spike's response is no-balls, never mind low-balls...
Well, the agency is named after him:
http://www.spikeddb.com
and he's not only the owner but also acts as their spokesperson:
http://www.spikeddb.com/about-us/
So in no way can he afford a "I don't know anything about this" standpoint. If you slap your name on it and tout it as your business, then it's your fucking business and ignorance is not a defense nor an explanation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/opinion/sunday/slaves-of-the-internet-unite.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131027&_r=2&;
Did you notice this little nugget in the comments section of the article:
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/11/28/why-dont-you-pay-me-for-your-stupid-text-on-thanksgiving-day-spike-lee-digs-deep/
This. And as for not having budget, they have seven figure campaigns coming out their ears: "Pepsi, Jaguar, State Farm, HBO, TNT, Mountain Dew, Johnson & Johnson, Cadillac and Chevrolet" "
[/missedopportunity]
Saw Oldboy today. I probably shouldn't have. Not that it's a terrible version. It's mediocre with touches of quality.
But seeing this only strengthens my thoughts on the OG.
Right in the beginning both me and my friend noticed "A Spike Lee Film" which completely set things off for me looking to be somewhat underwhelmed. Like Spike was slightly distancing himself from this movie in the first 10 seconds.
I'm not getting why this would distance him from the movie.
Because it said 'film' instead of 'joint'?
I like to think it's because of him claiming he has nothing to do with the agency that bears his name.
It should culminate in Spike being imprisoned in a room for x amount of years etc...
Rhum-cha!
ha I donated to his recent Kickstarter and trolled him in the comments with the "Why did Mookie throw the trash can?" question a la every white person in the '80s. He actually answered it too.
This is a pet peeve of mine too but after seeing so many people do it (both celebrities and regular ol' folks) I'm thinking maybe it's a default option of a particular smartphone or tablet or something and not done by the person themselves. It's still very annoying to read/see though.