@Steven – Good point. The other day I was watching Ice Road Truckers, have you seen that? It is so dangerous they make a years salary in two months, in theory. One young guy basically had his bank account wiped out by a medical bill so pretty much had to start over. So the headline billing looks great until you realize what they are risking.

@Jordan – The best is when you get paid well for doing what you love

@Advice Network – Yeah, the media know who pays their wages and don’t want to bite the hands that feed them

@Adam – Good point about living expenses. My brother is a session musician but has to live in London, his rent for an apartment is double our mortgage for a house.

@Randa – I do but I am grateful my clients are usually excellent at paying on time

@charlie – It seems a mess the whole situation but at least they keep trying to talk I guess.

@Nathania – Yes they could negotiate but very very few will feel they have the bargaining power. As you say, there are thousands ready and willing to take their place for whatever is on offer.

@Jermayn – Heh, well I hope I haven’t gotten too many people down

@Anne – Oh yeah, people get what they are willing to accept. You should be able to get residuals from ghost writing books, plus there are ways to get a kind of residual from web writing, such as profit share, commissions or traffic bonuses, etc.

@Lou – Absolutely. Without getting too specific I can wholeheartedly agree with what you say about book deals taking longer than you would expect!

Book deals have a lot of the same bizarre down time. Last year I was approached to write a book about advertising photography. There was no question the publisher wanted me to write the book and no question that I wanted to write the book. It still took four months for my agent and the publisher to work out the details of the contract. (Word of advice to new writers – no matter how grateful you are to get a book deal, never, ever, sign the first contract the publisher hands you.) That only left six months to write the book. True I could have started while the negotiations were occurring, but if the deal went bad, I would have been screwed.

Residuals are how we survive in between gigs. Or while lengthy negotiations happen. Deals in Hollywood and publishing move about as fast as molasses in winter. Mortgage payments and other bills don’t. The monthly residual checks keep us all afloat. They take the place of working at restaurant or cafe after you get going as a writer.

Thanks to Chris for the post, and great to see all the comments.

Lou

But I find many writers get exactly what they think they’re worth… and the range of that view is huge.

A

Every writer has the ability to negotiate above and beyond the WGA minimum. But all of these writers accepted the jobs, and probably very gladly. There are tons of other people wanting to work on these shows.

Additionally, they are not year-round gigs. If someone wants to be a TV or film writer, you have to realize the risk going in.

It would be crazy of me to ask my clients for a percentage of every sale of every page I write web content for. I accept my salary and I do my work. I don’t walk off my job because I’m not getting residuals. If I did, not so many people would be hurt. But this strike is hurting Production Assistants, makeup and hair artists, set designers, and camera people. What about their families?

It’s America, and so writers can strike if they want to. But they are threatening the very existence of the Guild that got them into a strike in the first place.

My husband and I purposefully have chosen the path of independent filmmaking so we have complete control of creative, story, marketing, production, distribution and yes, revenue.

And, yeah, a lot of it has to do with residuals.

I remember the baseball strike a few years back. The buzz was all about spoiled players making a million a day aren’t they crybabies for opposing a salary cap.

But owners of teams don’t have a profit cap. Nobody ever called them spoiled or crybabies.

They lack the negotiating skills and take jobs that are at a lowball price for fear of not getting the job at all.

You have to have a good rebuttal when a client says they can get services cheaper. That’s why I only work on projects that I would consider doing for free but explain why the price is what it is.

Only work on projects you know you are going to absolutely love, not jobs that pay the bills that you hate.

A couple of other points include freelancers having to supply their own benefits like health care and freelancers having to spend the time finding work in the first place. Not to mention all the work that goes into learning the craft.

Thanks for the link, great find Deb

Still many freelancers aren’t paid what they’re worth. When I worked in publishing it was always the freelance writers who would get the shaft. My editor’s reasoning is that they’re happy to stay home all day and don’t have much overhead. This can’t be further from the truth – we may not have general office overhead, but we have bills to pay.

Have you ever read the Craigslist Curmudgeon? If not you should, he offers a very funny look at the cheapskates advertising for writers.

Great post,

Deb

@Kate – I think it is only going to get worse as from what I have seen freelancers of all types have seen fees devalued over the years. Somehow if your writing appears in print rather than on screen you can still scrape a few more pennies

@raj – My vacations are always combined with at least some working. I haven’t had a 100% internet-free week since around 2003.

@Dean – Yeah I don’t think people realize how stressful it can be not knowing where the next mortgage payment is going to come from. Yes you get to work in your PJs, take duvet days, and watch TV at 10:30am, but also when there is work to do you HAVE to do it otherwise you end up with a pile of bills and no way to deal with them.

@Jeff – Heh, “I can assure you we are well known for paying on time”. Yeah, that’s what they all say. Even funnier when combined with “give us a good deal on this one and there is more work in the pipeline for you”. No, pay my full rate on time this invoice and I will see about discounting the next one

I’d always heard tales of freelancers working too hard and having no work life balance, but I thought “that must just be down to choice or greed – if I was on ££s per week I’d only work half the hours I do now and live it up for the rest”.

How wrong was I – the time I was paid for was only a fraction of my working week – there was all the admin to be done too, not to mention trying to line up the next job.

I daren’t take holidays, I couldn’t afford to be without my income.

Also one of my major problems was that I didn’t like to charge people for things.. I didn’t see the value of what I did, so felt cheeky asking for money for doing it.

Ah well you live and learn though – but it can be an expensive lesson.

Cheers Chris

Also, I don’t know what it is about Canada, but I always have to fight moron headhunters about getting a rate I deserve. I’ve only worked in the states once but I had no problem getting a good rate – and apparently I asked too little as a guy with less skills was making $20/hr more than me in Atlanta. In Canada, it seems that no matter what I ask, the headhunter won’t send me in for the interview without forcing me to accept less. (It also happened for salaried work.)

So why do I do freelance? Because of freedom of variety and especially no stagnation of role. Also, since I don’t vacation a lot, I can take some time off between gigs. Problem is, if you take too long, it can ruin your career in some niches.

In a way, freelancers are in a similar situation to professional footballers from the 1950s. A small number will earn huge amounts but the rest are getting peanuts, and in the long run will be worse off than people who work for an employer. Maybe we need the freelance equivalent of Jimmy Hill to demand better pay and conditions.