Poll: Will You Work for Free for Exposure?  

Poll

by Johnnie BehiriOctober 3^rd, 2024

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In this week’s poll, we want to touch on a sensitive matter: working for FREE, aka “for exposure.” If you have been in this business for a while, I bet you’ve found yourself in a situation more than once where colleagues/friends/a production company approach you with a very “tempting” deal. Work for us for free, and in return, we will: A – Hire you and your services when we get the money to complete the production; B – We will make you and your work famous by crediting you; C – Work for us for free and you will have another gig to add to your portfolio; or D – Work for free, and enjoy mingling with the rest of the team and the great catering we have arranged for filming day…

Working for free/for exposure for any of the reasons mentioned above is really up to the individual to judge and accept (or not). A lot of it depends on your current status in your professional life. If you are a beginner, the promises others make might seem appealing, especially if you believe an opportunity like that could offer a push forward. If you are an established working professional, you might consider working for free, not for the exposure, of course, but rather if the topic of the project is interesting for you to explore personally. So we are not here to judge your motives in working for free but rather to hear if you are willing to do so, and if yes, under what conditions? Interestingly enough, when circulating this topic among our team, we found out that for some, working for free led to their eventually participating in well-paid productions.

In any case, I hope that we can all agree that the “in-between” is the less desirable thing, meaning working for a reduced fee…(So either you are fully paid for your job or work for free).

In fact, in our current Focus Check podcast episode, Nino and I are talking about this exact topic, sharing our personal experiences when asked to “work for free for exposure.”

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We would love it if you could share your thoughts on this topic with us. Have you ever been asked to work for free in the past, and did you accept or decline the offer? Do you think working for free for any kind of reason is worth it? Comments in the section below!