by Leo Wiles
06 November 2015
We had an interesting response from Wednesday’s post across our social media, and if you’ve been following the Freeline feed this week, it’s been burning up the wires with great commentary and camaraderie on how to deal with being offered exposure rather than cash. All along the lines of: “Sorry, I don’t work for free”. And the video above, made by an ad agency who refuse to work ‘on spec’ any more, is fast going viral. No surprises why; it follows a guy asking a range of professionals from other industries if he can ‘try before he buys’. Hilarious, brilliant and hopefully, a sign that the worm is turning.
Because chances are, if you’re freelance, you’ve been offered the once-in-a-lifetime job that doesn’t pay but is going to be sooooooo good for you, a career booster, an opportunity to meet so many potential clients and other such BS. The problem is, if you write for free you’re potentially turning down paid work to fit the free gig in. It also makes it ever so hard in the future to negotiate proper rates – and it undermines our industry. Hey, as my nan used to say, ‘Why pay for the cow when you can milk it for free?’ – although she wasn’t talking about writing!
It happens so often, especially with my photography, that instead of politely declining the ‘work’ as is my normal play, I have recurring fantasies of logging into the make-your-own-T-shirt company, Threadless, where I design a white t-shirt sporting the words Fuck You Pay Me in black type. I have almost daily fantasies of wearing it to meetings.
But, in lieu of inflammatory t-shirts, here are some scripts of what you can say when asked this curly question:
“People die from exposure, don’t you know.”
“Exposure won’t feed my children.” (Yes, I have used this.)
“You may be better off exploiting a student or somebody else you don’t want to work with in the future.”
“If it’s such a quick and easy job I am sure you will find someone in your office, perhaps yourself, who can do it during your salaried hours.”
“Actually I am inundated with paid work right now and don’t have time, [or the inclination], for unpaid work.”
“I’m sorry I have a strict work policy – I don’t write for free.”
“Sorry – like other professional services such as your plumber, dentist or lawyer, I don’t work for free.”
“Are you being paid for your role in this project? So why would you expect me to kick in my 20 plus year experience and time for free?”
“Thank you, but I’m really happy with my profile / Klout score / Google ranking and don’t need your help in raising it.”
If you can’t find the words, or like me are conflict adverse, maybe you could email them Oatmeal’s very cute and poignant cartoon to explain your point of view.
While most of these responses are tongue in cheek, it’s important to recognise that it’s unlikely to be a professional person asking. That is, someone with whom you want to have future dealings with. So stay professional, play nice, know your rights and don’t say yes to work that will leave you resentful and doubting your own abilities.
However if those options still don’t work for you, email me and once I have ten people I’ll put in a group order for t-shirt declaring loud and proud putain vous me payez – because doesn’t everything, especially the truth, sound better in French?
Do you have a tried and tested script you use when asked to work for free? We’d love to hear about it!
Love that video! It should be a series!
I was asked to write on spec once by a features editor who I’d worked with a lot before. She’d moved to a new mag and it was a new genre… and the policy was that all new writers to the mag wrote on spec. But, I just couldn’t do it. I said much as I loved the mag and was excited at the prospect of writing for it (and her, again), I was too busy these days to write on spec, and if the policy changed, to get in touch with me. I was disappointed and all set to let it go, but two weeks later I had a paid commission in my inbox.
PS. Leo I believe there are already some takers for the t-shirt 🙂
Hey Rach, and any interested parties,
I have ordered a prototype raglan style with a politely worded FR version: Yes I love my vocation. But you know what… Fuck You, Pay Me!
If you’re keen msg me via FB Leo Wiles
“Excuse me, I don’t mean to be rude, but what’s in it for him?” is something I have actually said in defence of a friend who’d been asked to provide his services for free. Maybe we should all start asking for evidence that the ‘exposure’ leads to better financial outcomes for the writer and see how many of these organisations can front up with the research.
Nice call, great one to add to the list. :0
This is great, thank you. I think that writers who are still trying to move away from spec work or very low paid work feel like they can’t use some of these arguments , as they don’t have an excess of paid tasks to justify their stance and often have a case of imposter syndrome. If you’re relatively new to the freelance world you often don’t feel like you’re good enough to turn down free work. I think in this case your time is just as precious though, as you have to support your writing by working another job for most of the week. There is still so much pressure to work for free so this article is appreciated!
Thanks Erin for the thumbs up. I’m really pleased you got something out of it. As a freelance a big part of the negotiation process is making up your mind what you feel your work is worth and then the hard bit, holding the line.
Leo, this is a superb post and I am so glad you are exploring this topic.
A few weeks ago, a former student of mine who is now working for a large media entity that I will not name – new to Australia and they notoriously don’t pay contributors – asked if I was interested in writing a piece for his new employer, for free, reassuring me it would be good exposure for my career.”
My response – “After 30 years of doing this – and teaching you how to as well – I am not too sure how much more exposed I can get. Thanks anyway.”
A wise friend told me when I began freelancing in 1994 that, “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys – and we are not monkeys.” It is a good philosophy and one I have kept to always. What we do as writers is a skill and it has a value and we should never let it be treated as a giveaway talent.
Rachel Smith’s tale of holding her ground in a polite, professional but firm manner is a lesson for all – the work came back to her when they realised they were dealing with a professional – not to mention, one hell of a fine writer too!
By the way Leo, I will take one of those T-shirts please, in a Large.
I know John the gall of some people is incredibly. The thing that really gets my goat is when they say; ‘Could you just do x y z’ like it’s something you could do in five minutes and therefore wouldn’t require payment for some reason.
I had someone ask me to re-nose a series of videos, I hadn’t made, couching it with the just word. What it taught me is that the person asking has NO idea what they were actually asking me to do.
And zero understanding that the reason it is easy and quick for you is that you have thirty years of career experience to draw upon.