Merrilee
Plano,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, June 30, 2006
Chip Richie remains a documentary producer in Dallas. Our particular matter was brought to court, settled by a judge, and he paid the amount owed to me for work performed on his Sea Warriors Film. Although it was bitter, justice was served. He claims that no others have been in this situation with his company in the past, he claims he had good intentions, and eventually would have paid me. I hope that is the case. He claimed in his rebuttal here that I was not involved in the industry anymore, however, that is not true, as I still work as a news anchor for CBS News, and serve on two active film/tv Boards. All sour grapes. Regardless, I wish to put this all behind us and wish him well with his future endeavors. Merrilee Plano
Robert
Dallas,#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, June 29, 2006
In 75 years of business you will occasionally run across the bad apple. Such is the case with Merrilee. We had an open ended oral agreement that she would supply market service to sell the film Sea Warriors. She represented herself as having done this successfully on an international scale. This proved not to be the case and she did no better with Sea Warriors. Of all those that worked on the project, she was the only disappointment. She lied about the music composer James Neel. (E-mail from James to Merilee - The truth is, I never invoiced Chip for anything more than what he initially told me he had budgeted, and he paid me that, in full, within 14 days of my invoice. At the last DPA meeting, I remember your asking me if I had been "paid" - by indicating "No", I merely meant that I hadn't receieved any more compensation for the extra effort I put in on the film. But, again, there was no unpaid invoice out there, on Chip's desk.) She did not tell the truth in small claims court and won the case. She seems to have disappeared from the Dallas film community for which many should be grateful. I consider the film a success having won the New York Festivals for Best History and it sells well on the website and Amazon.com. I consider the matter closed. Were she a professional, she would have amended a follow-up on this site, which I have requested she do.