TOPIC: Working for Nothing... A guide for producers

Recently there have been a number of requests for videomakers to help out on projects. A lot of these requests are based on the belief that videographers sit at home, twiddling their thumbs, too dim to think of their own projects. As a result, we jump for joy at the chance to work for nothing.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Challenging" someone to make a video isn't the way to do it. If I feel the need to make a music video for free I'm not going to put weeks of effort into a project for someone who doesn't appreciate my skills and thinks that I have nothing better to do.

Let's have a reality check. I have never booked a crew member based on a youtube video, nor have any of the music companies done that (despite their publicity, geared to give them "street cred" with the punters). So, in other words, a youtube video isn't going to start anyone's career and as soon as the band gets enough money to make a decent video, they're going to employ professionals, not some bloke who did a youtube freebie. Likewise, a freebie music video on a CV is a waste of time when it comes to working in "the industry" (God, how I hate that term), it comes in the "hobbies" category and, although it shows that you have an interest in videomaking, it will not help your career in any way.

In the same way, there are dozens of "producers" who come up with ideas for a youtube series, internet tv or suchlike. These are often people who don't want to risk maxing out their credit cards, getting a bank loan or borrowing off their friends. However they are quite happy to get videographers to risk time and money on a project which, statistics show, won't make money. At the moment less than one percent of internet start-ups make enough money to enable one person to live from their earnings. Even less make enough to pay anyone else. (This is based on the hours invested compared with working flipping burgers, you"ll earn more per hour at McBurger than running a website).
Even more interesting, according to my union, whereas the percentage of producers making a profit from their initial project is running at about 10%, the number of crew earning from such projects is less than one percent.

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