[NEohioPAL] Fw: sorry, but I have to defend myself and my company

[melissa logsdon]

Shawn and company I have done unpaid and paid work for you guys and I have nothing but respect and gratitude for both opportunities. Keep doing what you do and dont waste another breath defending yourself, you have not a thing to worry about! Melissa Logsdon ---------- Sent from AT&T's Wireless network using Windows Live Hotmail


-----Original Message-----
From: Shawn Rech
Sent: 6/30/2011 3:13:38 AM
To: post at neohiopal.org
Subject: [NEohioPAL] Fw: sorry, but I have to defend myself and my company
NEOHIOPAL members, someone chose to take a public shot at me and my company, so I'd appreciate the chance to defend myself/ourselves.

This is the post:

Sadly, this isn't the first pitch I've seen on this site for unpaid work. There is a Cleveland based company soliciting unpaid EVERYTHING on this site constantly, and I KNOW that they have corporate backing/money, tv placement and paid advertising in their time slot on tv. In lieu of actual payment, they call their "training" session a free "camp" in which they show you how to do the work they want you to do for free!!

 I think all adverts for "unpaid" work should be quarantined onto another page.

   Mark Alan Schulz


This is a blatant cheap shot for several reasons.

First of all, our planned Boot Camp is a first, we've never done it before.  All attendees were to work on the exact same footage and segment, so what exactly were we going to gain from it, other than to see who had potential and could be offered paid internships?

We have already hired several people through NOEHIOPAL to decent, full-time positions.  They enjoy the work, are helping the community and even winning EMMYs.  No one works for free.

Secondly, when we started our television show, we were hanging by a thread, and were very clear about actors being volunteers.  It was a community service and the show has never been profitable.  Several local acting veterans and mentors even contacted us about our posts, asking for further explanation for the unpaid roles, which we provided.  We even changed the way we wrote our posts based on their feedback.  Our actors are now paid and have been since last year.

Thirdly, what corporate backing/money have we had?  You (Mark) walked into our office and saw us doing a commercial job for my former employer (located downstairs in our office building) and developed some sort of strange conspiracy theory, which is why...

(Fourthly) we didn't hire you Mark Schultz.  If you are going to take a pop shot, explain to the readers that you tried to work for us but we were afraid of your paranoia.  That sort of history might explain why you would make these illogical leaps and assumptions now, two years later.

Why take out your bitterness and regrets on a public forum?  We took great risks and are finally starting to reap rewards.  Is that a bad thing?  The only thing we promised anybody but haven't delivered on is IMDB credit - which we're still trying to figure out - and we will figure it out.  Other than that, our promises have been kept.

I can't sit by and let you post this stuff based on wild thoughts, bitterness and jealousy and not step up to defend myself.  I wondered why you posted a YouTube video of your music blaring over our work - the day after the EMMYs.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yJXrC0_D1g  Were we on your mind?  Apparently so.
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