I'm a professional comedian, and I hired a videographer to film a 50-minute DVD.
The rough cut I saw is absolutely dreadful: for example, filming my light skin and white hair in front of a bright white background. I want my money back, and will need to go to commercial arbitration, as per the contract.
Two items of significance:
A. The contract states (twice), "Seller provides 2 professional videographers. Seller provides 1 assistant." When we met at the venue, the seller stated that he did not bring an assistant, but that he "won't charge for an assistant."
B. The videographer claims he can hand me whatever final product he wants, since the contract reads, "The purchasers will allow ALL shooting, editing and artistic techniques used in the comedy video to be the sole discretion of the seller."
Which raises three questions for which I'd appreciate guidance:
1. Does the seller's not providing 33% of the contracted staff at the last minute constitute a breach of contract?
2. If so, does the seller have any right whatsoever to hold me to (his interpretation of) the terms of the contract? And if, by some reason he has that right, does the wording "The purchasers will allow ALL shooting, editing and artistic techniques used in the comedy video to be the sole discretion of the seller" mean he can hand me, say, 50 minutes of total blur and call it his "artistic technique"?
3. In arbitration, in addition to asking for a return of my deposit, can I ask for additional compensation such as costs incurred in producing the failed filming?
By the way, I'm pretty funny, and I only use one lawyer joke.
Many thanks!
The rough cut I saw is absolutely dreadful: for example, filming my light skin and white hair in front of a bright white background. I want my money back, and will need to go to commercial arbitration, as per the contract.
Two items of significance:
A. The contract states (twice), "Seller provides 2 professional videographers. Seller provides 1 assistant." When we met at the venue, the seller stated that he did not bring an assistant, but that he "won't charge for an assistant."
B. The videographer claims he can hand me whatever final product he wants, since the contract reads, "The purchasers will allow ALL shooting, editing and artistic techniques used in the comedy video to be the sole discretion of the seller."
Which raises three questions for which I'd appreciate guidance:
1. Does the seller's not providing 33% of the contracted staff at the last minute constitute a breach of contract?
2. If so, does the seller have any right whatsoever to hold me to (his interpretation of) the terms of the contract? And if, by some reason he has that right, does the wording "The purchasers will allow ALL shooting, editing and artistic techniques used in the comedy video to be the sole discretion of the seller" mean he can hand me, say, 50 minutes of total blur and call it his "artistic technique"?
3. In arbitration, in addition to asking for a return of my deposit, can I ask for additional compensation such as costs incurred in producing the failed filming?
By the way, I'm pretty funny, and I only use one lawyer joke.
Many thanks!
