At least 35 freelance photographers and videographers have still not been paid by a marketing company for work during Toronto’s 2018 Pride festivities, several months later.

Collectively, they are owed thousands from Moov Marketing, whose director told the Star it hired the freelancers, is unable able to foot the bill and has closed.

Sean Coolahan, a freelance videographer, said Moov still owes him $425 for his work editing photos and a video of the June 23 Dyke March that was posted to Pride Toronto’s YouTube page.

“A lot of us are new to this whole freelance thing. It just goes to show that you should always make a copy of your contract, take a photo of it and make sure it goes through for approval,” Coolahan said.

Similarly, Erin Richardson, a freelancer and film student at Sheridan College, said Moov owes her $1,625 for editing work during Pride.

Richardson said she worked several 13- to 14-hour days over the course of three months for Moov, a company she called a “big-name client.” She said she was counting on the money to help her get through a summer in which she worked at an unpaid internship.

Another freelancer, videographer and editor James Ramlal, said he is owed $700.

“It should have been my most paying job for the summer,” he said.

Alex Roberts, who is listed as a director at Moov Marketing Group Inc., according to corporate listings, told the Star he has been dealing with health issues and the company has shut down.

He said about 35 freelancers have not been paid, and said the company plans to go through bankruptcy.

“We went through some trouble, we tried to relaunch it and it failed,” he said. “The company has no money.”

A video freelancer Sean Coolahan says he edited for Moov Marketing, which was posted to Pride Toronto's YouTube page.

Olivia Nuamah, executive director of Pride Toronto, told the Star the freelancers were running back and forth “24 hours” a day, during Pride and said she had no idea they had not been paid until a freelancer recently reached out to her.

Nuamah said Pride had an in-kind agreement for Moov to take photos and video of the festival. Pride did not pay Moov, she said, but had an agreement to share the work on social media.

Nuamah said if the freelancers still haven’t been paid by the end of the year, Pride will “absolutely commit to paying them, they did a great job for us.”

“They worked their asses off,” she said.

According to Roberts and Moov’s website, the company hired dozens of videographers, photographers and editors to document the weekend. Five freelancers who spoke to the Star said they were offered $25 an hour.

The freelancers who spoke to the Star said when they contacted Roberts to follow up on their contracts, he was evasive, referred to his health problems and, when pressed, said the company had closed and stopped responding entirely.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

On its website, Moov markets itself as “a full-service marketing, branding, advertising agency,” that helps businesses plan, design and execute their marketing campaigns.

A page on the company’s website showcasing its work during Pride said the company had 65 total photographers and videographers, and 10 editors during the festival.

On the page, Moov said its objective was “was to create positive sharable content which would showcase positivity and ongoing community initiatives.”

The work posted to Moov’s website and Pride Toronto’s YouTube page is credited to a company called Gay Living Media, which Roberts told the Star he created in 2016.