Thursday November 17

Thursday, November 17, 2005


Had a WONDERFUL thing happen the other day.  I won a three year battle with The Ford Modeling Agency, those arrogant fucks.  How sweet it is.

I will reprint here my letter to Ford Talent written in 2002.  Ford Talent in Chicago is owned by The Ford Modeling Agency in New York.  The letter is self-explanatory.



Brian Houlihan

December 14, 2002


Ford
641 West Lake Street
Chicago, IL  60551
Attn:  Noreen

Re:  check for Motorola/Turner Design job


Noreen,

Well I finally received the Turner Design job check a full two months after I did the job.  To say that I was shocked by your accounting sleight of hand would be a mild understatement.

Let me see if I’ve got this right.  I did a job for you a year and a half ago.   You have decided now that you screwed up the accounting then and paid me too much money for that job.  To make up for your error then you have decided to take more money out of funds you owe me for a recent job.   Have I got it right?

What businessman in the world would put up with this?  None that I know of.  I cannot believe that you have the nerve to attempt to pull this off and think that I would accept it.  I won’t.  As far as I am concerned, this is theft.

If your accountant screwed up a year and a half ago that is Your Problem, not mine.  Fire your accountant.  You are going to have to eat Your Mistake.  I’m not going to.

You must be under the impression that I’m stupid, very naïve, or intimidated by you.  I’m none of these things.

I am returning your check in the amount of $264.00.  I am going to be a gentleman about this and give you an opportunity to CORRECT  YOUR MISTAKE.  Now I am asking you to send me a check for the correct amount of money that you owe me on the Motorola job, which would be in the neighborhood of $420 ($525 x 80%).

In the event that I do not receive a check from Ford in this amount within 30 days of today (by January 14) I will write to the Attorney General of Illinois, the Attorney General of the State of New York, the Attorney General of the United States and the Better Business Bureau.  I will pursue this vigorously in court and I will win the money easily.

Don’t bother submitting me for any other jobs until you have sent me the correct amount you owe me for this job.

You are not the only talent agency in Chicago.  But if you keep this up you will not be a talent agency in Chicago.



Brian Houlihan



Ford Talent never even bothered to acknowledge my letter.  They just sent me back the wrong amount check, which I of course cashed.

When the 30 days passed, I wrote to all of the government bodies that I mentioned.  None of them said they could help me.

However, I believe that the Attorney General of New York forwarded my letter on to a law firm handling a very large class action law suit against several modeling agencies, for much larger money.

Six months later I received a note telling me that I was now part of this class action lawsuit.  It cost me nothing.

Long story short.  I received a check in the mail the other day from the law firm representing the models.  It was in the amount of $1379!!!  VICTORY.  I won.  Made my day, of course.

The only thing better would have included shoving a 2x4 up Eileen Ford’s uptight, wrinkled asshole.