How unfortunate it has to go through this route. I was looking forward to this gig mostly because I was excited to hear from the authors of the Blue Ocean Strategy book Blue Ocean Strategy @razakschoolofgovernment as well as to hear the Leader's Dialogue.
When my managing husband told me the news on cancellation, my heart fell.
He noticed my disappointment.
"Don't worry... I will make sure we get paid in full since they cancelled our services"
I told him it was not so much about the money, but the knowledge sharing that came with it.
I barraged my husband with questions.
"Was the rehearsals discussed prior to engaging us? Did you give him options to work around with?"
He told me my concerns were addressed and dealt with.
I don't normally get involved with the deals as my job is the creative side. Writing and performing.
But this time I'm putting my foot down. I take pride being a professional emcee. I feel we did all in our capacity to act accordingly and I hope the real story was relayed to the clients accordingly. And not me/us being "difficult" or "diva like".
Story below.
Hi has anyone worked with MBE connect sdn bhd or Mel Bratton Events, the PIC is Nazir Nurish? we were recently asked to emcee the event which starts tomorrow, 16aug &:45am called the international Conference @razakschoolofgovernment on Blue Ocean Strategy Blue Ocean Strategy at PICC. When the deal was done, there was no mentioned of a rehearsal. So after doing the script last friday and submitting to them, they said we need to come for rehearsals today at 7am, we told them we had a shoot and we cant go at that time but if it was 1:30 to 3pm or after 6pm, that would be possible. They said that the time is fixed and if we cannot make it, they will find a new emcee. I said it was not fair to cancel our shooting arrangement, as it was unprofessional and it will cost thousands of dollars to cancel location, talent cost, crew cost per diem etc.
Thus, they cancelled our emcee services and hired another emcee. Am not being sour grape, its the decisions in life that people take and kudos to whoever got the job. But its stipulated in our invoice, if our services is cancelled within 6 days before the event, we have the right to charge the full amount of our fees immediately. Now since last friday my messages has been unanswered. After finally answering my call, he asked who i was (the nerve right?) and he just brushed my demand for payment and put down the phone on me.
My question is, has this happened to anyone? becos I'm tired of emcees being treated this way and event companies cancelling last minute and not paying up. Does anyone with legal experience can advice on this? thank you in advance.
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