Posted with author name with permission:
I have been acting professionally as a actor in film and TV for 16 years. I have seen racism, homophobia, sexual harassment and other abusive behavior, and con artists who scam investors of tens of thousands of dollars to make “films” and then don’t pay their cast and crew and just pocket all the money. I have seen everything under the sun. I have plenty of stories to tell. I’m guessing you’re only interested in hearing about individuals who are of some prominence, so I’ll start with this story.
Damian Chapa (Blood In, Blood Out, Money Talks, Under Siege) is now pretty well-known for making really bad low-budget straight-to-video movies that leverage his popularity in the Latino community for his role of “Miklo” in Blood In, Blood Out. He was once married to Natasha Henstridge. Years ago, I worked for one day as an actor in his film Vatos Locos which was released in 2011. Besides being sold on DVD at Wal-Mart, it was posted on YouTube where it garnered 2 million views. I and other cast and crew were never paid for our work. At this point, he owes me thousands of dollars in late fees. I have reached out to him on social media to ask about the money he owes me and he has blocked me.William Ngo, M.A.
Jaren – “Witness” (867,000 views)How War Ends (12 film festivals)Five Points: Viral Video (27.8M views)
Stewart Fox
Anyone would block you on social media for that. What you needed to do was file a wage claim with the Labor Commission in California within 3 years of this happening. Because this was almost now 14 years ago it is beyond the statute of limitations. The only thing you can do now is if this was a SAG film is try to go after them thru SAG. If this was before distribution was made you could have gathered all the actors and fought back but it’s much too late now. This is one of those times you chalk it up to a tough lesson learned and if you ever run into this guy somewhere in a dark alley..he deserves it.