I am a contractor (1099) that works in the entertainment field as an audio visual technician / stagehand. There is one company that I have already emailed my invoice to for a job that has already been completed and I have not been paid yet. The hiring manager of the company calls me to say they can not honor to pay me the amount I have invoiced them for. The job I completed is called a "strike", a strike consist of 4-5 hours max of work. The rate agreed upon is $150 for that amount of time, any time beyond 4-5 hours I charge a full "setup" rate of $300. A "setup" consist of no more than 10 hours of work. The strike was 7 hours of work and I invoiced the company for a full setup rate because it went well over the agreed upon time I had agreed to work. I would like more advice on how to handle this situation, a mechanics lien seems appropriate but could be costly and time consuming to file and execute.