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CB Bad Business Partners Review of Z nation TV / David Zanardi
Z nation TV / David Zanardi

Z nation TV / David Zanardi review: unpaid invoices 6

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11:09 am EST
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Months ago I answered a job ad for Z Nation TV, (ostensibly David Zanardi) for an easy one day shoot for his “show”, in which I would provide my lighting gear and services as gaffer. The shoot was a nightmare, for many reasons I won’t go into in length here. But as I watched him ignore a “card full” warning on his camera, letting talent (that waited around all day to perform) work in front of a camera that was not running, for the last three hours of our day…I knew I was going to have big problems collecting my invoice.

Of course after many months, and countless emails/calls I NEVER recieved payment. In my latest call to him he said he was in a town where there was no Chase bank for 50 miles, so he could not deposit a check in his account to send payment. I think perhaps he is spending his holiday in the Congo, since I think it’s impossible to avoid the grip of a Chase bank in America.

Even worse, I got one of my friends to work for him on days that I was not available. He has yet to be paid for several days worth of work.

After posting about him online, I've gotten emails from several crew members that were not paid for their services. It looks like none of us will be paid, but maybe a bit of public shame will help before I go file in small claims court.

After searching David out on the web we found another shooter in Austin, Travis who worked for David for a month and was not payed for his services either. I believe he was even given a rubber check as “payment”. We also found this news story about David Zanardi’s extensive fraud schemes in the past: http://www.tapmecontest.org/entries/2011_assets/AAAA_30_San%20Antonio_MacCornackJohn2b.pdf

So a word of warning…DO NOT under any circumstances work for Z Nation TV / David Zanardi…unless you like working for free.

Update by robmneilson
Jan 24, 2013 1:36 am EST

After being told that payment would go out the 17th, then the 18th of January 2013 I still have not been paid as of 1/24/13. David Zanardi should not be hiring crew members if he cannot afford to pay them.

Update by robmneilson
Jan 29, 2013 4:43 pm EST

Wow, it's now 1/29 and they tell me payment is still coming. David, and Z Nation producers...maybe you should ensure you have the money to pay crew before you hire them?

Update by robmneilson
Feb 28, 2013 12:03 pm EST

as of 2/28/13 payment has still not come despite a couple of emails from a Z Nation producer saying payment was days away.

6 comments
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Eve005
, US
May 04, 2020 3:27 am EDT

David Zanardi is a conman. There is no other way to describe him. He lied to get me on board his company, which I found out after months of work and zero payments with promises of money coming that he hadn't even registered the company and couldn't even afford the nominal fee to register the business. He finally registered the company "Solax Studios" months later (I found out a few months ago that his parents wrote the cheque for this amount and the transfer of the copyright of a script) after I had left due to his anger, yelling, constant drama, lack of money and constant lies from this despicable man.

He picked the name Solax Studios because it was a company in the early 1900s and why he's using their good name in order to lead people to believe it's a long standing professional studio, when it's nothing of the sort. Watch out for him and anyone associated to the screenplay "Queen Bess". He owes me thousands of dollars, which is agreed in a written contract with lie after lie that it's coming, which it never does.

Do yourself a favour and do not get involved with this person. You'll end up going insane and lose your money believing his nonsense that "money is on the way". He is living a delusional life full of grandeur, but in reality he's a drunk who calls up with blame and anger. I wouldn't trust him or anyone that works with him. He's a somewhat decent screenplay writer, but not good enough to produce without huge changes to the story. He believes he's the best writer on the planet, when he's far from it and every script I have read from his requires a complete rewrite.

He forged documents pretending he was already divorced when he met his second wife and was removed as a Lawyer in Florida after being found guilty of fraud, stealing, et cetera. He has said numerous times he's directed a film, but he hasn't, just more lies in order to get himself on IMDB.

There is a woman who reached out to me on IMDB who he owes $250, 000 but as he keeps moving and stays off the grid, she can't get him into the court room to answer for his fraud and theft.

The best thing you can do is not work for him, not even for a day unless you want to work for free.

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Erika Jacobsen
, US
Jul 05, 2018 12:36 pm EDT

I was approached on Linkedin by a David Zanardi to Line Produce an upcoming film and he jumped at the chance to hire me without asking for resume. I found this weird and googled him, which is how I ended up here. Is this the same guy? Here is his LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-zanardi-6134115a/

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sjonU
, US
Jan 07, 2017 6:11 pm EST

Hell, I edited his damn tv show and some other projects. He owed my quite a bit and finally he caught up so I did another of his shows, but he got me for $1500 on that one. Quite the con artist. If anyone knows where he is, please email me at sjon@sjon.org. I plan to sue him for what he owes me.

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Gretchen Smith-Joines
, US
Jul 11, 2020 12:18 pm EDT
Replying to comment of sjonU

David, contacted me through LinkedIn. He asked me to read for a part in a new production being filmed in Austin, Texas, called “The Recipe.” He is listed as CEO Solax Film Studios. I hope that helps. Something seemed a bit off and now I know why.

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Lexilui
Austin, US
Apr 30, 2015 3:11 pm EDT

I also have been working for months now and haven't been paid always lies and excuses as to why and where the money is. I'm in the process of suing him now.

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ElleF
, US
Sep 12, 2013 4:41 am EDT

Same thing happened to me after providing makeup services for an October 2012 shoot in Houston, TX. The shoot for the show was supposed to take place at one particular location and then was moved to a home. I wonder now if he ever had the original location secured. I looked up the business information for Z Nation TV and contacted one of the other business contacts. It is almost a year later and I never received payment. I still have all the emails and logs of the contact. I also found out that he had been dis-barred in another state from practicing law due to fraud. I was really going to file a complaint in small claims courts but it would have been more of my time being used.