The Lord giveth. Some jerkoffs taketh away.I was in a commercial for an investment company. It was low paying– just 200 bucks– but I was new to Hollywood and proud I had beaten out a slew of other actors for the role.
After the commercial's production company had some sort of staff shakeup, I didn't get paid. So I filed a small-claims lawsuit, which cost me $50.
They chose to ignore the lawsuit notice and didn't show in court. So I hired a sheriff to make sure they got the next one. My updated tab: $125.
The company’s lawyer hopped to, called and cut me a check. The check, naturally, bounced. My bank charged me a $25 fee. And I had to file another lawsuit
Scoring update: $200 of my money to be in a commercial for a million-dollar investment company.
By now I had grown a permanent scowl, kinda like Cindy McCain. I did my homework– so much so that I wound up explaining the law to the nice, but unenlightened judge on my third trip to court that at this point I was eligible to be rewarded twice what I had lost. His honor ruled in my favor: $800.
Two days after the ruling, the company went out of business. Grand total: not only did I not get my 800 bucks, I lost 200 trying to corral it.
And people wonder why I’m the kind of guy who’s waiting for the McDonald’s dollar menu to stop being so pricey.
