In 30 years of professional buying, selling, communicating, and negotiating about 35mm films, I have never dealt with such a dishonest, ignorant, moron, as Steve Newton of Cinevision Corp in Atlanta, Georgia. There is always that one incident, or one person, that is so difficult to work with that you actually decide, for the very first time in 30 years, to take the time to write to others, warning them about how he deals with other people.

Steve Newton sells 35mm films. From my direct experience, he will agree on a deal, then not communicate while he tries to get a better deal. When he finally does reply, he will make arbitrary changes, mostly about the agreed price, but sometimes adding shipping charges that were included in the original deal (verified by emails). When asked to justify the changes, he will not reply, leaving you hanging, not knowing the status. If you concede to his will, he will alter the agreement again. He will avoid inquiries as to the status, try to secure payment illegally, then lie about what he is doing, or try to place the blame on you. This may have worked in the old days before email records, but everything is documented now. When you try to verify the agreement by sending a prior email of the agreement, he will ignore you. I really think that he finds pleasure in keeping you guessing. This is not only a horrible way to conduct business, but also treat customers who would become repeat customers. More important it is just bad Karma, and no way to be a decent person on this Earth. Either honor your agreements or do not make them. Be a man.

The world of 35mm film collectors is a small one. After my negative experience with Steve Newton, I had more awareness of his name as it came up in conversations and forum posts. Nearly everyone in the 35mm circle of participants has a story about Steve Newton of Cinevision. One person that I spoke with told me that after negotiating a deal on a group of films, the buyer decided to drive out to Atlanta to Steve's office to pick the films up. After driving nearly 1000 miles, Steve decided that he would not honor his end of the deal, demanded more money, then cancelled. This is an extreme example of an ongoing theme in dealing with Steve Newton. Several others have actually visited Newton's office. All of them said that he was difficult to work with. Two said that he changed his agreed pricing. Most of the dozen different stories follow the same pattern. A deal is agreed to by Newton, he does not honor it, but wants more money than he agreed to. This is even seen on eBay. He will list an item for a price. When it does not sell he will relist it higher. When it will not sell again, he will continually raise the price. Although it is his choice to set his prices, and he is not harming anyone by doing so, it does seem to be odd behavior, since most seller drop the price instead of raising it when the item does not sell.