Bear with me as it's a slightly longer read.I came across a job posting on YTJobs by a channel named Dr Brutality, owned by a person named James. He liked my profile and texted asking to connect on WhatsApp. That should have set off red flags in itself, as I primarily connect with clients on Discord. But alright. We get on a call, I share and discuss my scripting portfolio and my rates. He agrees to it ($400 per script) and says he will pay me 50% as an advance. He shares the case (35GB worth of files), and I start working. He hadn't uploaded them on Google Drive, so I did it myself. Come yesterday, I submit my script, going the extra mile towards adding tabs about research, case description, titles, and an outline.
Today, he asks to get on a call with his partners so we can review my script. I was woken up from my nap by a call from him, which I didn't pick up. I told him to reschedule the meeting to 7 PM my time (3 hours from when he called).
Joined by 6:50, and the melodrama began. The call started with us waiting for his partner to join. While waiting, I am introduced to a video editor (he says he's from my country and I can talk to him in my native language). He mentions the rate he is paying me, but I know nothing of the video editor. Then, one of his partners joins, and we start. He plays a video by Dr Insanity and discusses and breaks down their video a bit. Then we move on to review my script. I assumed they had already read it, but no :/
The partner doesn't know what a written script structure looks like, and I explain it (these are the clips followed by narration, another red flag that made me feel weird).
He plays the first 5-second clip, reads and edits the first 2 narration lines, and then the next 10-second clip and 3 narration lines. Then shifts to Dr Insanity's video on the same case. Immediately, they don't like it, and I add a comment on my script and tell them I can come up with 2-3 alternate intros from which they can pick the best. The partner asks for 15-20 mins so he could quickly edit my 15 seconds of intro and 5-6 lines of narration to see what it would look like. While he was gone, the editor makes backhanded comments on my script while speaking in the native language. Then says, "James, you can understand, right?" James switches to the native language!! I didn't know he was from the same country and that he knew the native language. Big red flag.
The partner comes back, shows the intro made with AI, James says it's shit and then talks of a refund. I decline, saying I put in hours and days on this case and they have the whole script at half the price. The best I can do is work on changes based on their suggestions and opinions. James says no and starts threatening to file a cybercrime complaint to get the money back. My head starts spinning, and I start crying, immediately going on mute. The partner suggests I get a chance to rework the intro, but James is set on threatening me with the cybercrime complaint. That would mean my bank account being frozen, etc. I'm not sure, but I do not want that. I continue to be humiliated by James and the editor as they make more backhanded comments (script is sh*t, I could've hired a scriptwriter for $150 who will make the best of scripts, the video editor keeps on saying I used Claude when I didn't, even telling James, "Why didn't he just write scripts himself?", commenting on my narration sounding too perfect, so obviously it's AI (sorry I speak better English lol)). James says he has lost money as the video editor had started working on making the video with the current script. But that doesn't make sense. How would they just hand everything off without checking? I expected a round or 2 of revisions.
ALL THE WHILE THEY HAD JUST READ 7 LINES OF NARRATION AND WATCHED 15 SECONDS OF FOOTAGE FROM THE SCRIPT I WROTE!!
I cry, immediately arrange money needed to pay him, repay the money, revoke access to the Google Docs script, and cry more. I'm removed from the meeting.
I don't work with clients from my country because they either expect diamond stuff at the rate of peanuts or they pull scams like this. I'm pretty sure James isn't his name. His real name is Dev Rastogi, operating under Grippers India LLC. He runs Rush Factor channel.
Just a heads up for anyone who starts to work with him.
I'm going to be taking a long break and cry some more. And focus on the only good clients I have. The humiliation I faced today is something I never wanna go through again. I lost days of my time + 2 hours in this meeting getting humiliated.
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TL;DR : I took a $400/script job from someone calling himself James from Dr Brutality after connecting through YTJobs. I spent several days working on the case and submitted a full script with additional research, titles, an outline, etc. During the review call, they had barely reviewed it, around 7 lines of narration and 15 seconds of footage, before heavily criticizing it and accusing me of using AI.
When I offered to revise the script, James demanded a refund and threatened to file a cybercrime complaint. After being humiliated and overwhelmed during the call, I eventually returned the money and revoked access to the script. I lost several days of work and two hours of my time over this. Sharing this as a warning to other writers considering working with him. He owns Rush Factor channel.