Technical Direction Tidbits: Recently, I talked to a couple of designers that I have worked with previously about an upcoming potential job. They told me that they wouldn’t do it “on spec” which, I have to admit, took me back a bit because I didn’t expect them to do the work for free.
In theatre, designers, in my experience, are hired based on their reputation, portfolio, and so forth. It is common for certain directors to request a certain designer based on the show and a previously existing relationship. Designers, at least professionally, are not expected to work for free. Once hired, they are expected to make the design work for the director.
7 comments:
I'm absolutely shocked that there are designers willing to work for free. I'm curious as to what type of theatre space it was that had that environment. I can see that as being the case for community theatre but any other application is surprising. I can also see the dangerous slope of doing favors. I've often found myself being the yesman in theaters which has led me to taking on too many tasks. Theatre is definitely a weird place when it comes to how much should be charged for actions.
There is definitely a middle ground for the entertainment industry when it comes to being paid for design work. It seems that designers should be open to doing favors early on to make connections so I can see where designers are concerned about being signed on to do something free later in their careers. I'v actually been giving this issue some thought recently. Where is the line for what you should be paid for and what is reasonable not to be paid for? Should designers always expect to be paid or will that expectation harm them in the long run? I have heard of these cases going both ways but, as a young designer, it is troubling finding the fine line of when to do work for free or when you should be expected to be paid.
I'm always interested to see how designers get paid. For commercial world, I've heard about the differences between designers getting paid a flat project fee and getting a lower payment and royalties. I've never really heard of a designer not getting paid before, but what this article is saying definitely makes sense. My parents actually had a related problem, but from the other side when dealing with architects. We were paying them by the hour for design work, but they werent designing what we asked them to and then they were still charging us for it.
I first thought this article was about design in the sense of scenic, lighting, costumes, etc. but the discussion of a technical design fee is still interesting. This ties to a conversation we had with Kevin the other day about shops doing bids for projects. He got at a similar point to the article, that if you specify the work and materials that are to be used in the proposal, then it protects the client and the shop. If the the shop spends less than it thought, the client gets some money back. If the client changes their mind to something more expensive, the shop is protected by the contract or the client can decide to stay with what they first asked for. I believe an "above-board" and professional relationship is the key to dealing with something that could become awkward if it was too personal or tried to take a manipulative route.
It's interesting to see how designers get paid, aswell as how they get hired for certain jobs. It's also always interesting to hear about designers starting out for free. It's always a dangerous thing to start a job for free, or outside of a contract, and there are lots of stories out there about clients who screw designers over and try to keep the design. If a friend asked me to work on a project I would feel bad about charging them, but what about the next project? I feel that doing things for free is a dangerous habit to get into, and one can't survive just by doing favors for people.
I think this is one of those dilemmas that cant have a hard and fast rule. It depends on where you are in your career as well as your relationship. If you have already worked with this theater or shop then you should get paid for prototypes. If not its not completely out of line for someone to know what they are paying for. If you don't have a portfolio extensive enough for the employer to be confident and you want to work this job then i don't think its out of line to give them a "free sample" of sorts. At the end of the day its what the designer is comfortable with and what the employer is comfortable with and whether or not those interests can mesh well.
I think it is absurd that designers should work for free. If you're putting time and thought into a project for a client, you should be compensated in some way for the work. I agree that the exact standards for compensation are still quite murky and require a fair amount of thought. I'm still not sure if an hourly design fee makes more sense than a flat project fee. I would imagine this is complicated by the fact that designers work at different speeds. Regardless, designers should not work for free!
Post a Comment