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# Kick Back....more
- URL: https://www.thoughtsfromtheroad.blog/kick-back-more/
- Published: 2026-08-06T18:52:13.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-06T19:27:55.000Z
- Author: Matt Doherty

Something obviously happened to trigger my writing the last post on kick backs. Then the next day, I got a couple of calls. A couple more the following day. There seems to be a little bit of a buzz around this topic.

I think a lot of us may know of times in the past when maybe a person was found to have their hands 'in the till' as it were. And, yeah, they get fired and their reputation goes into the toilet for a while. But nothing else happens, and on we go. I personally think this was more common back in the bad old days than today. At least I sure hope so.

The action itself is fraud is it not? I am not a lawyer, but I spoke to one before writing this, and yeah what I described in my last post is fraud; ***intentional deception to gain unlawfully***. So I hope we can agree that the action of taking or giving a kick back with someone else's money is wrong. 

I am not going to get into a discussion about rock n roll accounting. I am not stupid and know that a LOT goes on in our business that could possibly be considered dubious on both sides of the ledger. I also am not naive and know that this sort of thing is not going to stop because of a few phone calls and some amount of indignation. 

To managers and business managers: You are responsible for your client's money. Be vigilant and if something seems wrong, it just might be, so check it out. 

To young, upcoming production professionals: Just don't. You are jeopardizing your career and it simply is not worth it. And it is as illegal as breaking into someone house and taking their shit.

As a friend said to me....twenty grand today means nothing when considered in the scale of a career that spans (hopefully) a few decades.

My last thought (I promise) is this. Speak openly about this. Don't worry that you shouldn't because someone might hear you and you might lose work or be uncool. Call it for what it is...stealing. If we keep it in the shadows then it may well keep going. Shine a light on it and watch it shrivel. 

Happy to see thieves get fired, if that is the punishment their victims deem suitable. Maybe that will change one day.