Pro Bono

Jon Rosenbloom · April 22, 2008

As everyone has said, stay away from this one. Them asking you to indemnify them against your leaving sounds awfully close to a scam. But, some freebies are worth doing. I met Jim Denault (Boys Don't Cry, Six Feet Under) on a freebie, then did four or five features with him, and got my union card on the last one. Just keep your BS detector on high, and try to self-drive to these jobs so you can self-drive away when they don't work out!

Michele Peterson · June 5, 2008

Many people have worked for free (myself included) and found future work from some. Everyone will promise copy, credit, meals and future work. Copy, credit and meals, is not an alternative to payThey likely won't have money next time, and be seeking new people to expoilt for free labor all over again.

I've only worked for free on short shoots, so 4 days would meet one qualification for me. The poeple also have to understand that what I want out of it is knowledge, if they don't have more than me, or are not willing to teach, then my only recourse is to walk.

Why work for someone that is going to leave you high and dry if you get seriously hurt and can never work again for the rest of your life?

The difference between professional and amateur (in film, sports or anything) is being paid for it. You have to think of yourself as a pro, before others will.

I've only worked for free, when I really get what I want out of it and it doesn't interfere with my paying gigs. My first time loading a film camera, I did for free as a camera PA. If I screwed up, it wasn'te held against me, because they knew I was learning. I specially sought out that no-stress situation to start with. Since it was a low budget, if I screwed up, the people I work withon bigger TV show shooting video wouldn't know of it and hold it against me either.

I have worked for free only on low budgets, but not no-budgets. The AC's above me on above shoot, were being paid (low rates, but money) so there was a paying position to move up to if it worked out. If no one is being paid, where is there to go?

I have gripped in the past a little bit, and when I did, I never chose a job on what camera they used. As an AC yes, but not as a grip.

Jonathan Bowerbank · June 5, 2008

If you're just starting and need the experience solely for getting experience, than it's always worth it to work on as many shoots as possible (paid or unpaid). But if you're an experienced full time grip who needs gigs to support yourself, then run away from it. You're not committing any industry suicide on any level if you're turning down probono gigs.

Having recently come to the realization that I'm too experienced to work for free (except if I'm doing a friend/colleague a favor on a personal project), I'm finding that it's getting easier and easier to turn down the unpaid gigs and as a result I'm gradually getting labeled as an AC/DP for hire, which is nice.

There's just a point in your professional life where you have to start saying NO

Brad Grimmett · June 6, 2008

There's just a point in your professional life where you have to start saying NO

I think there was an actor who was quoted as saying, "The most important thing to learn in this business is when to say no." I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point. I think it's important for most people in this business to learn just that.

Satsuki Murashige · June 7, 2008

Having recently come to the realization that I'm too experienced to work for free (except if I'm doing a friend/colleague a favor on a personal project), I'm finding that it's getting easier and easier to turn down the unpaid gigs and as a result I'm gradually getting labeled as an AC/DP for hire, which is nice.

I had this exact same epiphany back in January. I was AC'ing a freebie student short on the way to shooting another freebie short the following week, and my friend who was crewing on the first shoot and directing the latter asked me in an offhand way one day, "So, what are you doing still working on these things? You should be getting paid." And though it was kind of shocking to hear that from him, it also made something click inside my head. I had a self-conscious Van Wilder moment, realizing "hey, I don't belong here anymore, I need to get the hell out." I guess the hard part is that unless you're lucky, no one will tell you that you're ready for the big leagues (or even for AAA) and call you up - you need to make a conscious decision to start showing up there yourself.

So since then, I've felt free to turn down or back out of freebies that I felt wouldn't offer me anything. I started to put myself and my career first. And I've been getting an ever increasing amount of paid work since then, so it was the best career decision I've ever made.

Walter Graff · June 7, 2008

I'm saddened to see this 'new' economy of working for free that perpetuates the industry, or should I say the new industry. I never worked for free when I began, never was asked, nor had to. People always paid for any work we did. Even if t was making their own feature. The pay wasn't always great, but it was always offered and that made doing the jobs more bearable than knowing you worked real hard for 18 hours only to say goodbye and go home with less money in your pocket than you started with. Today the industry has grown to include what in the older days would have been home filmmakers. Now those same 'homemade' projects have become legitimate, yet they still expect the same 'home' pay schedule, which is will you help me do this for nothing. Oh, I'll buy you a burger and give you a copy of the project. And the problem with it is twofold. First folks offer no money. Second, folks accept that and create a trend that becomes the norm which is an industry where everyone works for nothing and is expected to, or when they get paid, are paid much lower scales than they deserve. If everyone said no to free jobs we'd have two thing occur. First we'd set standards for people to work. In other words pay me for work, or don't do it. And second, a lot of crap that should never be made would not be made, or if it was, at least people would get paid what they are worth, or at least something for the hard work they do. When I started out, I went to a new studio in NY called SilverCup and asked to work for free. They said yes. But that was different. It was a completely professional place where I knew if I got a bit of experience, I could get paid to work. It took a few days before clients were offering me work. I say work for free if it is going to give you a step up in knowledge and offer you a new means to find paying work. If it's some rag tag production shooting with a prosumer camera, and hoping their 'film' will win some sort fo award and propel them into the real film industry, it probably will give you little in terms of a step up in knowledge, and more important, no real road to real work. And in the end the result should always be knowledge and better work potential, and better pay. To many young folks look at work as what is going to be my next job and can I pay my rent, rather than how to I sustain a career doing this for fourty years.