If you are
a regular who follows my blog you would know the issues that I have had with
this gig that I am donating my time on.
Hell last Friday’s rant was about a similar subject. This week I am going to discus why you
shouldn’t take free work.
Giving out
your services for free is like a hooker giving out complimentary sex, it only
benefits one person. It also makes you
look cheep, desperate, and lacking experience.
Now this is how I feel after taking this gig, minus the lacking
part. No matter what even if they
promise future paid work for you, if they don’t have money now what makes you
think they will have money in the future projects. They will not magically become famous off of
one short film that is playing at a local film festival.
Now
starting out you might be tempted to do free work, don’t! If you want to break into the industry or
even get some kind of taste what it is like you can do one of two things. The first is taking up an internship (most helpful
if you went to school or are currently in school). With internship you will be running medial
tasks like coffee runner, but if you work it wisely your supervisor or someone
will show you a new skill set. The
second is to shadow a professional for a day or week. This is great for anyone curious about a
particular job and wants to find out more info.
While yes these are not paying you are getting something out of it, a
skill set and knowledge.
Already a
professional, well this handy chart depicts how to handle a variety of people
who ask you to do work:
If you click on the link you can see that no matter what,
always say no to a company or director who ask you to work for free. I would say the only time you should donate
your time and work would be for close family and a charity that would make your
reel and resume look good.
I would
love to thank http://www.shouldiworkforfree.com/ for sweet graphic. If you have any suggestions on what I should
bitch about next week leave me a comment or any of your own personal horror stories
of jobs gone wrong. See you Monday for a
wrap up of my week.
See you on the other side.
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