I had a chat with Michelle McClaren the other night. She called me from the east coast in Connecticut where she was dancing and told me this story about a shoot she did the last week in January- one for which she was supposed to be paid $1,000. And that’s where the story gets interesting.
McClaren had her check bounced and said if the matter couldn’t be resolved by February 6, she was going to the press.
McClaren worked for Paul Lindsey who wrote her the check.
“The last time I was in Los Angeles he asked me to shoot for him,” explains McClaren.
“I’ve been asked to shoot for him a couple of times and I know him from the Hottest Girl in Porn Contest and parties and he seemed cool.”
McClaren’s call time Wednesday, the day of the shoot, was 1 pm.
“There was no makeup artist; Bill Glyde was supposed to show, he doesn’t show,” she continues.
“I said you want me to call somebody else, and he [Lindsey] said hold on. I said, okay, fine. He didn’t want me to call any of my male talent friends. He said let’s hold on. So I wound up doing the scene with him [Lindsey] instead. So I put my makeup on. I also called TJ Cummings and he said I could come now. I said, Paul, what do you think? He goes just me today.”
According to the deal, McClaren was supposed to work with Cummings the following day. But McClaren is wondering whether Glyde had ever been notified about the shoot.
“But according to Paul he flaked,” states McClaren. “He was supposed to be here. Paul then supposedly called Lisa Anne’s agency and talked to this guy named Anthony. According to Paul, Billy wouldn’t answer his cellphone, and the people in the agency weren’t giving him an answer, either.”
According to McClaren she agreed to work with both Glyde and TJ Cummings for what she thought was “a nice deal”.
“So I did the scene with Paul, and he cut me a personal check,” McClaren continues.
She says she again asked if the scene with Cummings was on for the following day and was assured it was.
“I come back the next day and TJ starts calling me in the morning saying I haven’t got any information out of this guy [Lindsey] about location or anything else. Then I called Paul and he said I’ve already texted him [Cummings]. But TJ kept telling me he hadn’t.”
McClaren says the Thursday shoot then kept getting pushed back one hour then another hour.
“When I started driving over to the shoot, Paul texted me that he had just got off the phone with TJ and that could I do it tomorrow [Friday]. He wouldn’t answer the cellphone. He was just doing the text-thing.”
However McClaren couldn’t do the shoot Friday because she had a previous commitment with a French photographer.
“Paul knew I wasn’t available that Friday because I had already explained that to him.”
But what also bothers McClaren is that after she received the personal check Wednesday afternoon, Lindsey later that evening wanted, instead, to give her a company check and told her that he would give her two company checks covering the two scenes.
“But when he flaked on me Thursday I got pissed off and deposited that personal check,” says McClaren.
“Then I ended up leaving LA to go home. Then I checked my bank account online February 4th. A $1,000 was missing. I called the bank and, sure as shit, they said the check had bounced. Then I call Paul and he doesn’t answer the phone. Then I start texting him. He says in a text it happened because he did a transferring of accounts and it overlapsed. I was stumped for a minute then I called some of my friends.”
McClaren said as of the night she called me with her story, the check wasn’t made good.
She says when she notified Lindsey of her intentions, he apparently texted her back saying that when she was all tweaked out in the past he covered for her.
“He did get me shoots before when I was messed up,” McClaren admits.
“But I told him that was the past and I don’t give a fuck what people thought of me then or now. I have my shit together. Besides, that doesn’t have anything to do with this. I was messed up back in the day but I assure you, I’m not, now. We’re talking about a check. It’s turning out this guy’s a clown and I thought he was a cool guy.”
According to McClaren, Pam Peaks also called Lindsey on her behalf. And on McClaren’s last occasion to speak to Lindsey, he was mad because she had talked about this with other people.
“He also said you’re making a bigger thing out of this than it needs to be. He says I made a mistake, sorry. I asked him why he didn’t redeposit the money and why wasn’t it in my account. He said what do you mean? I don’t bank with Wells Fargo.”
McClaren, who’s been in the business on and off about 3 ½ years, says this is the first time something like this has happened to her.
