An update on the growing entanglement with Edgeworx Studios, nee Edgeworx, Inc., a bicoastal production house that’s looking increasingly shady behind all the bright happy credit sequences they produce for the likes of Real Housewives, HBO, and the Discovery Channel. We’ve been communicating with members over the course of months, and I wanted to get the whole history down in one place for you, because quite frankly, Freelancers Union is feeling ready to write a new and much more aggressive chapter here. Back when we were sifting through the results of our annual survey of freelancers, we found that 77% of freelancers haven’t been paid at some point in their careers, and almost half hadn’t been paid at some point in the last twelve months. Such an endemic problem called for immediate action. We launched the Get Paid, Not Played campaign and asked you who these seemingly ubiquitous deadbeats were. We got hundreds of responses, and Edgeworx stood out as a repeat player. We wanted to run straight to the press and blow the lid off this thing, but many members—even those missing thousands of dollars—were reluctant (quite understandably) to go public for fear of being seen as troublemakers by any potential clients. So we thought, okay, maybe some quiet diplomacy would be a good way to start. Our Executive Director Sara Horowitz wrote a letter nicely asking Edgeworx if they’d like to stop screwing over their freelancers or have a meeting with us to discuss what seemed to be a recurring issue in their relationship to independent workers. Edgeworx responded and asked us very nicely to not be a player-hater. They basically said that they were heartbroken over “being liquidated” and not having any money to pay their freelancers but were committed that their new company, Edgeworx Studios, would be a straight shooter. We wrote them again and said we don’t hate the player, we hate the game. Pay up. Sit down with us and talk, maybe we can help one another and these freelancers. Meanwhile, we did some investigating. Edgeworx never officially filed for bankruptcy, and they seem to be building their “new” company with the reputation of all the great work they—and their freelance victims—produced before they supposedly lost so much money they had to close up shop. Oh wait. The shop appears to be open. Edgeworx never wrote back. But we won’t take silence for an answer. We want Edgeworx to pay its workers and pledge to fair standards of conduct moving forward. If you want that too, take action. Call them up (212.929.0229) or [send an email](mailto:info@edgeworxstudios.com; advocacy@freelancersunion.org)—they may not get back to you, but copy us at advocacy@freelancersunion.org and we’ll make sure you’re heard.)