No I don't work for free...

I get a lot of offers for free and expenses only work these days, which means I also have to turn a lot of work down. The thing is that people seem to think that I'll work for free purely because I did it for a little while during a period in which, I was trying to get into sound recording for films and TV.

The typical request pans out a little like this:

     “Hi, I'm a film producer, can you come and work for us for 6 days? It's just that the guy we called first said he couldn't do it... but he said you might be interested and said you were very good at what you do... The thing is, we don't have any money, so we can only pay your expenses... But we will provide you with free sandwiches and coffee all weekend... Oh you need equipment to do your job? Well can't you bring your own? That would help us out if we didn't have to hire it in...”

This kind of shit pisses me off beyond all belief. Sure building contacts could be good, but to be honest 95% of the stuff I've worked on has on the whole never been commercially successful.

I love film making, and I find the whole process to be exciting, inspiring and challenging, in equal measure. Many things have come and gone, but for one thing, the people I've met on film shoots are closer to me than a great number of the people I went to uni, college or school with.

The worst thing about the dilemma is that I have a very viable second job earning a respectable wage, working for a film consumables company in a wide variety of roles. So many that I end up challenging myself purely through the scheduling my day. No one of the things that I do here is particularly intellectually stimulating. The people are nice, but it's a long way from being the ride that is actual film making.

I need money, I have things I want to do with my life that only money can afford me... Hence my current stance and usual response:

     “Hi, film producer, I appreciate the offer and will be sure to show my colleague my appreciation for thinking of me when he said he was unavailable. The thing is that what I do, I do to a professional level, and, thus, expect to be paid reasonably well for my services. Minimum wage would suffice. You might ask; “why not do it for the love of the trade?”, but there you are unfortunately misusing the word trade. If it were a trade then I would get something in return, something that could be considered compensation for the work that I will be doing, or even the time that I've lost. I don't think that any amount of free coffee and sandwiches, which I can drink/eat over the course of 6 days, could amount the value added to your production by work taken out by me. Sure I'd love to help out, bend over backwards and not only perform my job and loan you the equipment for free, but also courier said equipment, worth a few thousand pounds, across London, by public transport, without insurance...”

I probably would have enjoyed doing the work, but I get bored of people thinking that I'm going to give a damn about their project, when they pay me nothing, and give me nothing to get motivated about. At least send me a fucking script to determine whether or not this "great story", which you somehow can't get any money to produce, is actually worth making.

Good luck,

In the words of The Joker:

     "If your good at something never do it for free"