Setting the Record Straight about my Experience with Adriana Trevino
My Experience being Sexually Harassed and almost Swindled by Adriana Trevino
I have had people say to me along the lines of they found this article from a crazy woman when they googled me, I should get her to take it down. I have tried to mend this privately several times, and one last time before writing this... to no avail. I would prefer for us to let bygones be bygones and move on. But here we are.
Who is Adriana Trevino?
TMZ’s write up of her mirrors my experience with her clearly.
That is a line I never thought I would be writing...
I now realize the write up about her on TMZ, best explains the type of person I dealt with.
I was really naive at the time. It is a bit shocking for me to see that all again written so plainly, years later, and what I could have avoided. When I first met Adriana, a teacher I adored for years, sang praises of Adriana, at a private get together. I had recently made a web series, and Adriana approached me about hiring me to write a screenplay on her life. She mentioned how she had been led on by a man and had been conned out of money, and that she wanted to set the record straight. I foolishly was far too affected by this teacher’s supposed opinion of her, so I fully believed her version and I agreed. Now looking back on this, the warning was right there on TMZ the whole time.
What you can see above is how Adriana Trevino was accused of sexually harassing an artist and then trying to steal his property. I had a similar experience, unfortunately, and while Victor was legally able to force her to take his name off her inflammatory blog, a blog she uses to post public grievances…she is still trying to demean me, in the same manner, she demeaned him. So here we are, setting the record straight. Any time I try to resolve this directly with her, she calls it harassment, so I have no choice but to be here with you right now.
If Adriana Trevino were a man and did what she allegedly did to me and Victor, it would be considered a #MeToo story. I have a lot of compassion for the amount of internal damage one must have to behave this way. I think it is important that everyone is held to the same standard…and no one is allowed to get away with this type of behavior unmitigated.
I drew up a basic work agreement with payment terms via email to Adriana Trevino at the start. Now Adriana insisted, that as she was a producer, her lawyer would draft up the final contract to sign. She paid me the first installment as agreed, per my email agreement. We worked together for several weeks on her story, which also involved me spending hours of my own time in research over her claims.
As the weeks continued, I became very confused. I was pitched a story that a man had swindled her, pretending to love her, but truly just wanting money. I definitely felt sorry for her. I thought this would be a great and necessary story to tell. However, regularly, I experienced vulgar sex talk at meetings. Complete emotional teary breakdowns and spats of rage.
Over the course of a few weeks, she began revealing to me things about Victor in her own words….and to me it was starting to seem like he did not want to be with her….and she was holding him hostage. Very different than what I had been led to believe, but much closer to the depiction TMZ painted.
Not to mention when I was interviewing her for my writing, she shared she had started numerous other lawsuits against other people in other countries. She was seemingly proud as if she believed her experience in the courtroom as a translator, gave her an edge when she took people to court. When she shared this, red flags started popping off in my head. What had I gotten myself into?
Sure enough, when she filed against me, she threatened that she had far more experience in court and that I would lose. I did not lose the court case, but I did lose a lot of valuable time and peace.
Up until I met Adriana Trevino, I had managed to go through life without encountering any super lewd work situations. However, guess who showed me my first ever explicit penis pic? It was Adriana Trevino. When we were supposed to be signing this long-awaited contract at a cafe, instead she pulled out her phone and proudly showed me a penis shot that some guy sent her. When I think back on that, it really makes me sad for my younger self. Here I was trying to help this woman, without seeing who this woman really was and how badly it was hurting me.
While at the meeting, I asked again for the contract. Then she said she had been thinking about it and that she would not feel comfortable continuing our arrangement unless I signed on to direct as well. That seemed to come out of nowhere, and there was no way I was going to commit to even more time in this environment.
I cannot express fully how upset this made me for her to do this. It felt like she was strong-arming me. Trying to control what I did with my time.
Later after the meeting, I got the most astounding email from her.
She claimed I had not done the work, and asked for my first installment payment back. Wow, I was floored.
As a freelance artist, we are used to having so-called producers potentially exploit us, and I was adamant I would not be bullied. At this point, I was aware that her personality, as I could see it, would be very challenging to deal with in this regard. However, I was not going to let her screw me that badly. I already was now well into a project that I had to cut my losses on, I was already losing. I was paid so little for all the hours with her, writing, and research time too. It really bothered me that she was trying to control what I did in my spare time while working for her. Of course, years later, I can reread that TMZ article, and realize the warning was here, I just wasn't willing to see it.
WRAPPING IT UP
Adriana Trevino files suit against me, demanding I remit payment, as she claims I did no work; we disagree, we go to court.
The judge dismissed her suit completely. He then asked me if there were additional pages I wished to submit, so he could order her to pay me even more money to honor what we had set up with one another via email. I did have more pages, but I declined, as I wasn't interested in giving her more of my material.
My principles were more important than more money, and I realized I was in an unstable situation and needed out. Once we reached the point where she took me to court over lying about all the hours I had invested in her story, I just wanted to separate and move on with my life. If a man pulled behavior like it would be a sensation, and that is not ok. It is not ok for any of us to behave like this to one another.
To summarize:
We entered into a small claims court case because she is the one that filed it.
They do not allow transcripts to be given. I know because I asked for the transcripts from the judge as it would have been much easier for me to just post that for everyone.
Secondly, her lawsuit was dismissed. The judge sided with me and I was not ordered to pay anything back. He asked me if I had even more pages to remit, as per our email, because there were grounds for her to give me an additional payment.
What she failed to include in her online version, is that she was so hostile to me in the courtroom that the judge actually ordered a sheriff to remove her from the courtroom.
He told me to stay inside. And he told the sheriff to make sure Adriana left the courthouse completely before I was to be let out.
Victor Alfieri ended up having to sue her to have her remove his name and get back film footage. We seem to be on that same road again...
Fact: Adriana Trevino's lawsuit against me was dismissed in my favor.
I learned an important lesson; to never again rush into working with someone, especially based on the praise of another, and when red flags present themselves, trust your instincts and move on.
Please learn from my experience and do the same to protect yourself in the future.
Sincerely,
Andrea Dolbec