Fast Forward Lays off Staff

[Kanegrundar]

I'm sure Sov Press will manage. And yes, FFE's money woes are nothing new. I've been attempting to see some kind of payment come my way for the last 6 months or so. I was pleased that the 4 books I contributed to were getting more favorably reviewed than those in FFE's past. Guess 4 more writing credits are better than nothing.

I've heard of a few others complaining about FFE not paying their freelancers. Makes me wonder if those that were laid off will even want to do business with them in the future if there is no garauntee of compensation. Napftor, did you even get your writer's copy of your books?

Kane

 

[Napftor]

I've heard of a few others complaining about FFE not paying their freelancers. Makes me wonder if those that were laid off will even want to do business with them in the future if there is no garauntee of compensation. Napftor, did you even get your writer's copy of your books?

Kane

As a matter of fact, I did. Grabbed the first books I could at GenCon. The rest came out after the convention and I bugged Jim Ward later this year. I believe he personally sent them and they arrived a month or so ago. Obviously, this was before his termination from FFE (since he is nowhere to be found today).

As for the half a grand the company owed me, I decided to take John Danovich's offer of product in leiu of cash. I figure I can at least Ebay the books at some point and make...well, something for my trouble.

 

[Ghostwind]

At least you got something out of it, Bret. I know more than one freelancer who is owed money for work done nearly two years ago. Given that kind of track record, it's a wonder anyone is willing to work for Fast Forward on a freelancing basis.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Wow. A half a grand is enough for me to stay on them for it until I got it. Product for payment would be ok for me if I wasn't in need of money for my time. Sadly that isn't the case and FFE's got a poor reputation of late (with good reason, IMO) so trying to sell the books may or may not pay out. Especially if they're only going for $2 on Ebay...

Kane

 

[Napftor]

Wow. A half a grand is enough for me to stay on them for it until I got it. Product for payment would be ok for me if I wasn't in need of money for my time...
Kane

My time is certainly as precious as the next person's, but I don't freelance for a living (thank God!) and so don't need to go after them with a vengeance. Another factor was hearing the true direness of FFE's status and realizing that I'd better grab something before there is no company left to talk to. I'm pretty easy going and there's soooooo many d20 companies out there to try and write for. So the losses have been cut and we're moving on. With any luck, I'll continue to make a name for myself in the community and "prosper" (as much as anyone can prosper in the d20 biz) among the companies that continue to turn a profit. Needless to say, FFE is not one of these.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I can truly understand the position. Hopefully other companies will learn from FFE's mistakes and not make them in the future.

Kane

 

[vrykyl]

I wonder what Sovereign Press is going to do now that they aren't part of FFE?

Seasons greetings, everyone!

Just so everyone understands, Fast Forward Entertainment never produced products for Sovereign Press. We had an agreement with FFE for sales and marketing, which ended recently.

Fast Forward's recent loss of employees, while unfortunate (and I hope the best for our good friends who were full-time employees) was our gain in that we hired Renae Chambers as our Director of Sales. Renae was our original sales person going back to 2001 and has worked with us during our entire relationship with Fast Forward.

Sovereign Press is working hard on our product schedule for 2004. The Dragonlance Dungeon Master's Screen should be in game stores now, and we've revised our schedule on Dragonlance.com.

Thanks for your support. We look forward to 2004!

Jamie Chambers
Vice President
Sovereign Press, Inc.

 

[Elemental]

I don't really know much about the company, but this doesn't bode well for the Crossgen licence, one of the products I was really hoping to see. Fingers crossed that a company with a better rep gets the licence if they do sink.

 

[tleilaxu]

personally, all the products of fast forward i've perused have seemed pretty lousy. if the whole business folds shop i won't be surprised. i don't know anyone who has bought them. good luck for everyone involved, but honestly the product hasn't made an impression on the market (obviously).

 

[Nightfall]

Well there were a few gems weren't there Psion?

In any case I don't wish ill to anyone I won't be sorry to see FFE go. That said, I'm glad that Soverign Stone is continuing to improve. So good luck to you guys there!