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 p.2 #3 · A warning for amateurs... | |
RDKirk wrote:
 , Ellison has been a "pompous ass" for about 50 years, and it doesn't seem to have harmed either his bank account or his job prospects in all that time.
This video has to be comprehended in the proper context.
Ellison's rant isn't about amateurs at all. It's about major corporations thinking they have the right to take unfair advantage of everyone because would-be professionals allow it. In this case, a major commercial production company expected him--an extremely well-respected writer who has been at the top of his genre for decades--to work "for exposure."
The irony is that they want him for the project because of his name recognition...he doesn't need them, they need him. He recognizes that he would be the only person on the project not being paid--the cameraman is getting paid, the executives are getting paid, the stockholders are getting paid, even the coffee boy is getting paid.
These major corporations feel they can stiff the writer because so many would-be professional writers have been willing to allow major corporations to profit on their give-away labor. So he's angry, and justifiably so.
...Show more →
+1000.
I wish people in all creative professions, at all levels, understood this. Creativity has immense economic value. Yet the failure to have that value recognized by the consumers of the creative product is the responsibility of those who produce it.
People want to point at each other and say "it's the amateur's fault / it's the professional's fault." And all the while the corporations are laughing their way to the bank. It's an arbitrage opportunity for them. Like any self-interested party, you cannot blame them for trying to seek the best possible deal. there is a cost/benefit calculation involved and they know they have an entire spectrum to choose from, from the seasoned professional who charges an arm and a leg for reliably top-notch work, to the starving amateur who will sell his soul for a promise.
Let me tell you a story. I used to give away my artwork because I thought the recipients would understand the value of my gift. Instead, they saw it as nothing more than a token, something I could mass produce. And in many instances these same people would casually ask for more. "Oh, a friend's birthday is coming up. Can I have one of your pieces to send to her?" WTF. Yeah, um, no.
At first I blamed them for being so callous. Then I woke up and realized I had only myself to blame for creating that false expectation. By and large, people do not understand the value of a work product unless it can be expressed as a dollar figure. When I gave my stuff away, I basically said, "here, the value of this is $0." So now, I don't. Not even family members get my stuff for free. If it's a rare and special occasion, I will print it, frame it, box it, wrap it, do the whole thing up so professionally that one arrives at the inescapable conclusion that a lot of money was spent to make it. But no, I no longer give my work away for birthdays or holidays, because even then it's better to go to a store and buy some junk from Pottery Barn because then they see it has come from some corporation. That I bought it, and therefore has value.
Now, to get one of my pieces as a gift, you have to be a ridiculously special person in my life. More special than family. Everyone else can pay me what I think it's worth.
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