It has been dispiriting – although sadly, for anyone who’s been in this business for more than the briefest moment, not entirely surprising – to have heard so many recent reports about shows leaving freelancers and suppliers unpaid. As a pretty much lifelong freelancer, I’ve been there. If you’ve been affected by the recent spate of this, I feel your pain.
But the question is: why do we keep falling for it? Someone you don’t know calls and offers you some work on a show you know little or nothing about. Because of the precarious nature of freelance work and the very precise deadline for paying the rent/mortgage each month, you say yes, agree on a (hopefully reasonable) daily rate or fee, show up at the allotted time and do the work. Then, you send an invoice, probably noting that the payment is due in seven, 14 or 28 days, knowing that time frame might well be ignored. You basically cross your fingers and hope for the best.
At some point in your career, the worst will happen instead. So, the question is: why do we all keep putting ourselves in this position?
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I get that it’s a two-way deal – that the producer fears handing over money to someone who just doesn’t show up. But that’s not how it works elsewhere; builders or solicitors want money up front before they’ll do anything. Meanwhile, Equity holds a bond from most producers to protect its members. Companies supplying equipment to shows will have done credit checks and probably taken a deposit before a producer gets any of their gear. So why do we take it on trust?
One problem for solo freelancers is that they don’t have the time or resources to be more careful. There is no equivalent to the accounts or admin teams of a larger company. A separate, but probably related, topic is that I can feel the decline of this way of working. The background costs – whether admin burdens, software licences or expensive specialist tools – are getting very high for an individual. I think we’ll see more freelancers banding together into collectives or companies, effectively to share these behind-the-scenes costs.
It would be hard to do an opening night with the audio, lighting and video files missing because they hadn’t been paid for
But they’ll still need to be careful. We must all be clear on when the money is due, ideally in instalments if it’s a long project, with the last payment before the ‘deliverables’ are handed over and before the opening night – the latter is notionally the standard final payment date for the creative team. It would be hard to do an opening night with the audio, lighting and video files missing because they hadn’t been paid for.
Will any of us actually be that bold? No. Why? Because none of us want to be that difficult, grumpy freelancer who never gets employed again – that would be worse than occasionally failing to get paid. That, of course, means the only way for this to happen would be for us all to agree to do it – and stick to that pledge.
Source: Rob Halliday: Why do theatre freelancers keep falling for unreliable pay?
