A Must Watch - Do You See Yourself?
Harlan Ellison's on fire in this 3:24 piece excerpted from the upcoming feature documentary on him "DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH" "about his experiences dealing with the packaging company for MGM on Babalon 5, includng their possible inclusion of one of his on -camera interviews about the series in their DVD for the series, which they don't want to pay him a dime for, they want it donated.
In the beginning, he says:
(Video, Full Post & Comments, after the Jump)
" a young woman calls me" about the a video interview he's done about his role on Babylon 5, and he recounts "she says 'we'd like to use it on the DVD, can that be arranged', I said, absolutely, all you've got to do is pay me, and she says 'what?', I said you gotta pay me, she said 'well, everyone else is just doing it for nothing', and I said 'everybody else may be an a*shole, but I'm not, I said, 'by what right would you call me and ask me to work for nothing, do you get a paycheck?" 'well yes' (she responded)....'how dare you call me and want me to work for nothing', 'well it would be good publicity' (she responded), 'lady, tell that to someone a little older than you who has just fallen off the turnip truck, there is no publicity value in my being on the DVD...the only value for me is to put money in my hand..."
This video is worth your time, to be sure. If you see yourself hearing the same thing from photo editors or art buyers looking for things for free (or for pennies on the dollar) and then actually considering doing so, that's not a good sign.
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13 comments:
Simply suberb.
The thing that we have to remember is that there are a lot of people that just want to work for free.
But we are professional and we can't work for free.
Well sometimes I work for free upon special social project, but working for free means that I'm not payed but all the other expenses are. Travel, assistant and so on.
I really appreciate this blog.
What a wonderful video. He's told the exact truth and he isn't the only one this pisses off, professional photographers are treated the same exact way. It's been ingrained into the public's eye to get whatever you can for free.
The worthless amateurs have lowered the standards of a lot of lot of businesses in the publics point of view, not just photography and writing and it gets very frustrating to continuously have to prove yourself.
This video should be on every news station in america, several times a day.
So glad someone FINALLY had the guts to stand up and say what we've all been thinking!
I learned the hard way the working for free wont get you anything except an empty wallet.
Good for him for sticking up for himself!
To quote a old movie..."The Perfect Storm", amateurs have lowered the standards and professional having to eat their pride or not work, give the storm its perfect form. 'The Professional Photographer's Perfect Storm by Dr. Henry Oles adds a doubble whammy'. A must read!
oh...he KICKED BUTT!!!
that was awesome!
I must have watched this six times today, it's that good. Geez, that guy gives a good interview...I wonder if he's ever written a book?
Has Harlan Ellison ever written a book? Harlan wrote the book on writing books! He's one of my favorite writers and has written Hollywood and TV screenplays, political and film criticism, and is most famous for science fiction/fantasy. But his most important contribution has been his unwavering belief in the sanctity of copyright and the artist's control of his own damn work. He has written dozens of books and thousands of essays. His website www.harlanellison.com will provide hours of entertainment just on his battles against internet piracy and copyright thieves. If you ever get a chance to listen to Ellison in person, no matter what the venue - go. He will always hammer home how important it is to control your art.
I'll remember this excellent commentary the next time a parent at a high school sporting event asks me, "do you give the pictures away for free?"
If I had $50 for everytime I've been asked that over the past 20-plus years, I'd be rich!!!!
Then, they seem incredulous when you tell them, "No, but you may go to online to see which ones you'd like to purchase."
One mother actually said, "I'll get my brother to take them at the next game...he has a camera." I wanted to say "great" but I just kept my mouth shut and went back to shooting.
I just didn't feel like getting dragged down into a discussion over PNS cameras vs professional bodies, quality of images, experience, etc.
I'd just like to raise a point: has anyone paid YouTube a fee to watch this? Has YouTube paid Ellison anything for use of his point of view this clip?
Are we not part of the problem?
Andrew --
The movie producers posted that segment on YouTube as promotion for the movie, as far as I can tell.
John
This blog cracks me up at times. Not quite sure many consumers would want to deal with the pompass a** photographers you read on here at times. Worry about your own business, and not what others are doing bringing you down. Those people that are getting the free pictures would never be your customers anyways LMAO, and if they are in your market....you are shooting the wrong stuff.
That is such a great find and so very true! I can really relate to this one! Thanks for posting it!
Why did he agree to do the long interview for no pay in the first place? Did he do it on spec?
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