Five Ways to Get Paid As A Freelance Creative
Reading Notes
5-6 Minute Read | Laptop or Tablet Recommended
Topics and Themes
Freelance compensation methods; Creative autonomy and networking; Importance of written agreements
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TL;DR, here's five ways you can get paid as a freelance creative:
Money
Creative Autonomy
Reputation Promotion & Access to a New Network
Solidified Working Relationship
Future Favors
#1: Money
This is obvious, and money feels awesome to receive. After all, if you do work, you should get paid in moolah, Right? Cold hard cash keeps things extremely simple. Do the work, receive money, be done with it.
Though it never hurts my feelings to receive money straight up for creative work, I don’t get annoyed if it’s not part of the offer. If someone wishes to collaborate with me but doesn't have any money to give, that's when the form of payment gets more interesting (let’s keep it clean, y’all).
#2: Creative Autonomy
If you don't get paid in money, you could negotiate to get paid in creative autonomy.
If you work in film like I do, that would mean a director would give you carte blanche do your work any damned way you please. If you are a director of photography (DP for short), the director will agree to trust what you think is best and won't overly fuss with your choices on set. If you're a visual artist, your employer will receive your work and possibly agree to give you one or two notes of feedback, tops. In other words, creative autonomy is all about doing what you want to do, and the employer getting less of a say about it than if they paid your full price.
In the late ‘90s, Samuel L. Jackson accepted a large pay cut to take the leading role in the movie The Red Violin. He liked the role quite a bit, but the film was independently-financed, meaning that the film didn't have a whole lot of money to offer him. He ended up taking the role in exchange for less money but a ton of creative autonomy. He got the chance to portray the character he loved exactly how he wanted to, and the director of that movie, François Girard, got a Hollywood A-Lister on board.
#3: Reputational Promotion & Access to a New Network
You could also get paid in reputational promotion or access to a new network. This is when your employer agrees to boost your reputational credibility throughout his or her network, and you get access to that new network of people.
Basically, you ask your employer to write about your work, post videos about your work, or even (in my case) submit your work to film festivals on your behalf where it has the opportunity to be seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Perhaps your employer will directly tell you, "Look at my LinkedIn profile. If you want to be introduced to anyone, just give me the word."
My Mom creates incredibly detailed pencil portraits. She always expresses surprise that people find out about her, but it doesn't surprise me at all: Her portraits are so good that her clients automatically post her work, everywhere. Her reputation as a solid choice for pencil portraits has only risen over the decades, and she still receives commissions from people she doesn't know at all. Although she doesn't actively seek work as much as she did in the past, it's clear that all she needs to do is ask for introductions from past clients.
#4: Solidified Working Relationships
You could also get paid with a solidified working relationships. Perhaps you are a film editor looking to work with more film directors. Let’s say you meet one. Instead of pitching your services, perhaps you ask if this director needs anything done that you might be able to help with. If yes, then you have an opportunity for you to distinguish yourself to this director. After finishing the task, you could tell this director, "From here on out, you can expect good work if you employ me."
I have a friend who often chooses to get paid in solidified working relationships. He's a master networker who loves meeting new people. Working with him is smooth, easy, and drama-free. He always gets the job done, on time, and under budget. Sometimes, he'll offer to complete a very small task for someone he doesn’t know at all, a task that doesn't cost him too much time or effort. Often, this potential employer is quite pleased! The investment comes back to my friend in the future. Everyone loves to work with him. Needless to say, my friend works a lot.
#5: Future Favors
If money is out of the picture, but it seems like the person you’re working for has a great deal of clout, it might be worth it to ask for a future favor.
This isn’t nearly as tit-for-tat as it seems. A company I recently worked with does this in a gorgeous, giving, abundant way that’s full of love. I’ll call them Company A.
Company A often works for startups and up-and-coming artists who can’t afford their admittedly steeply priced services. When this is the case, Company A asks for favors, but here’s the kicker: They only agree to favors with people they know are highly able to deliver on those in the future.
Recently, this very same company cashed-in on a number of these favors. They were able to get live entertainment after they cashed in a favor they gained from doing work for a band. The band gained access to a whole new network of people (see above) and crushed the event. Company A also secured a venue for the performance after they cashed in a favor they gained from doing work with that venue in the past.
Caveats
There's always caveats to any approach, and I'd like to name four of them.
First, don't automatically assume money is off the table. It’s a bad idea to act as if money isn’t an option for you to receive! There's no substitute for money because, well, we can't eat good intentions or random acts of creative kindness. We all need money to survive as creatives, and there's no reason to shy away from that fact. We should always ask for what we're worth. Besides, money can usually be negotiated, even if it’s less than you normally charge.
Second, if money is out of the question, make sure to be super conscious of exactly how much time, effort, and resources you’ll require to complete that project. A lawyer friend of mine recommended that I turn down any offer that requires deferred monetary compensation but needs more than two or three hours a month of my time.
Let me be more transparent about this second point: Don't be a sucker. Be a giver who’s conscious of what you can give.
Third, get the compensation in writing. If you want to get introductions to a new network of people, say so and put that in your contract. If you want a new working relationship, ask for the employer to strongly consider hiring you the next time she/he has a need for a service like yours. If you want creative autonomy, make sure to state in the contract that you are allowed to explore and try something new, with only one iteration allowed!
Fourth, never accept a favor for payment if it’s offered to you. 99% of the time, that’s a bad idea.
Why you should write your compensation in the contract, even if it’s not money.
Writing the compensation in the contract does two things for you. It shows the employer that you're serious and probably won't accept working for anything less than money in the future.
Second, it makes it super clear exactly what you can, cannot, and will not do for that person. A little clarity goes a long way.
In Conclusion
I often giggle when I think about the film industry, at large. It's full of people who are hustling to get a creative vision on the big screen, to see a story get produced in the most epic way possible. If I wanted to be extraordinarily rich early in my life, I would've studied finance rather than music!
And yet, the creative rewards are so immense that I'm completely addicted to this lifestyle. I think we, the creatives, love to work because of that sense of creative achievement, that flow-state we get into when we're in the throes of the act of doing something important. It doesn’t hurt our feelings to experience success, either!
The final point I want to leave you with is that we need to be super creative in our approach to doing the work we want to do, and in continuing to do great work for the long-term. How and what we receive in return for our hard work matters. We can move forward, even if we’re not entirely well-known enough to demand a million dollars for our services.
I believe that compensation is a form of energy. The energy we put into a project should match the energy we receive from our employer. That energy often comes in the form of money, but not always. Get clarity on that compensation. This seems of the utmost importance to our long term creative happiness.