I really couldn’t believe an Australian studio (even a bad one) would pay such low wages. A lot of Canadians go there to work. But with all those middle-man (probably taking a huge chunk while they do NOTHING) is why that happens. Blah.

When you get the work straight from the studio doing it, you get paid what it’s worth (usually).

I took a peek at your stuff and you’re *very* talented and deserve much better money. You really shouldn’t sell yourself short!

Do keep in touch and let me know how things go.

Cheers.
~K

Tell me about it. That’s the problem with getting work from ‘middle-men’. You see, the show is originally from australia, then outsourced to Malaysia, then outsourced to my local contact, THEN outsourced it to me. Too many changing of hands I should say. That’s why I told him that I won’t work on any more storyboards unless they increase it to the ‘industry standard’ or at least close to it. It’s just isn’t worth it.

The only positive I got out of that deal was a great chance to have fun doing the boards. If you have the time, you can check some of it out in my blog site too, although I ‘blurred’ out the details (ie. dialogue, title of the show) and I just posted random pages. Just go to http://www.jomasantiago.blogspot.com if you can.

Thanks for reminding all of us that we really shouldn’t sell ourselves short. Believe it or not, my favorite quote came from the Joker character from The Dark Knight. He said, “If you’re good at something, never do it for free!” And it’s so true, especially in our profession where we can get easily exploited by other people.

And you’re right, some studios will think that they can get these boards done this cheap and it might be a precedent. So we have to refuse this type of treatment. I consider this a lesson learned that won’t happen again.

Again, thanks for the insight and I read your blog everyday to inspire me and educate me at the same time!

Have a great day!

Joma

If you put a zero at the end of that $445, it would still be quite low for a 12 minute cartoon in North America. It should be between $5000 and $7000, believe it or not.

That is a crime and makes me very sad. Sad that people/studios try to pay this pittance for that much work and sad that people feel trapped that they have to take it.

And when people take the work for that kind of money it hurts everybody (please don’t think I’m blaming you for taking it…not at all). It brings the value of the work down and then bad studios think this is all it’s worth. And it’s not.

I don’t care that your cost of living is probably lower than mine (it has to be…I live in the ‘officially’ most unaffordable city in the world! Ha!) . It’s the same work. Yes, studios send plenty of work to cheaper countries and I understand that. But what you got paid is ridiculous for a months worth of work (if not more) and should *at least* reflect your regular cost of living. And I doubt that $445 a month is what it costs you to live.

You are better off working on your own stuff for free. *sigh*

I have no solution obviously. But when things were tight around here last year, I got offered a crap job for crap money and refused it on principle. Yes, I could have used the cash, but it wouldn’t have been worth it for me. It was just too much work for way too little cash. And I can’t bring myself to ‘crap it out’ and make horrible boards to make up for it.

But it was ‘worth it’ for other people. They took it. And now that studio thinks they can always get boards that cheaply. Not good. What would happen if everyone refused to do it? I guess they’d have to find more money, huh?

I feel very strongly about this stuff.

I hope you find better work with better pay without selling yourself short. And I know it’s hard. But your talent and abilities are worth something. Period.

Glad to have you here.

~K

I like the way you said that they’re basically paying for your experience and that’s the toughest part in dealing with some studios and some people. All they say is that the characters are ’simple’ to draw so it’s not that big of a deal, therefore, the rates aren’t that high. They totally miss the point.

I actually have a question, how much is a standard 12-minute storyboard for television these days? I just ask this because I just worked on a 12-minute episode of an Australian animated tv show and i just got paid $445 US. I did it in a month and ended up with 190 pages and 337 scenes. Now tell me this is ridiculous, right? Like I said, I might as well be working for free. The reason I accepted this is because I just wanted to make a good enough impression to get another gig from them, hopefully, where they’ll pay me the ‘industry rate’. But I got so disenchanted with the whole thing and I’d just like to know what you can say about this. So that’s also why I want to know the going rate for these types of boards, so I have a ‘jump off point’ when I’m negotiating for other storyboard work.

I’m glad I found this blog of yours, and I gotta tell ya, sometimes it’s as though you were speaking directly to me. I can relate with most of what you said, especially on this topic. You’re right, we should never sell ourselves short.

More power and I look forward to more insightful topics!

Your story is another great example of when working for free paid off.

You were clear about what you wanted to get out of it: experience, a reference, hone your professionalism skills. And money wasn’t as important at the time.

BUT you knew when to say “no” and draw the line. I’ve seen people in your shoes who stay on and keep working for free WAY longer than they should, just to please someone else. They are really just being taking advantage of.

You didn’t let that happen and I applaud you! You got what you wanted, they got some good work (on time and on budget) and everyone is happy. And you never know when that will pay off even more down the road.

You totally got the point of this article. Yay!

Define your reward, indeed.
K

Your post is up as a recent post in our Australian blog since one of my colleague’s has just discovered your excellent blog. Takes a while for the internet information packet beetles to travel the wires from your side of the world to where it’s always summer.

I just graduated as an animator and participated in a non-moneyed animation job over here. The aim was to do a short sequence and apply the craft and skills (professionalism) to get a good written reference to add to my resume for the other job I was aiming for and am I’m now starting.

I needed some ‘experience’ and references more than I needed the cash at the moment. The goal being to build some positive references and start developing links and relationships within the local animation industry.

I stuck to my guns when I got through my workload on time (on budget ) and with good reviews from the producer. Who then offered me more work in a more senior role on the same project at the same rate. That would then have taken too much of my time. I was flattered but that’s when I said “no thanks”. The producer was cool with that and standing by the agreement I got a nice reference for my CV, and then got the real job that was the real goal.

So that was my only experience of working for free as a new graduate animator.

Now that I have fully read your post, I feel even more clear on how to make working for free work and the reasons not to work for free. Working for free doesn’t always mean working for no reward. Define your reward. Working for free isn’t a career path but it might be a stepping stone.

[...] J. Lloyd is a Storyboard Artist and teacher with a fascinating blog. She addressed this subject as it relates to storyboard artists, but I think that illustrators will find it chock full of stuff [...]

I’m glad you still found it helpful. You’re right, it can apply to any creative field. It’s usually the creative types that get screwed over with stuff like this. Never doctors or accountants…hmm…

Thanks for the compliment and ‘hear you’ soon.
K

I tend to ask myslef if I will still value myself and my work if I agree to do “pro-bono” work. If the answer is yes, and it’s something I’m passionate about…or at least care about… I set my boundaries and enjoy the ride…letting them know this is a one-time deal.

I LOVE your blog and am envious *in a friendly sort of way* of your talent!

Sue

That’s great to hear about your experience with Craigslist! I’m sure those ‘good jobs’ do exist…just gotta do a little digging to find them. I don’t want to make a blanket statement that everything on CL is bad. I’m probably taking the animator’s view on that one. As in the big studios usually don’t post there.

And your views on the self-taught thing is valuable too. Getting feedback and working with a client is training too…for sure. Weather you’ve been trained or not, it’s still an education…an ongoing one.
-K