Every time I shoot and post a breaking news video online- a great weather shot, for example- I know I am going to get a DM from multiple TV news outlets asking to use my video. My standard reply is, “Are you asking for a free video?” I go out and drive in very bad weather, walk in a very dangerous neighborhood at night or get to the breaking news scene first. Meanwhile, these people sitting in a newsroom getting paid a lot of money and benefits, want free videos. I feel your pain, frustration and anger, Mr. Ellison. RIP
Quiet quitting is in itself a bullshit term because it's literally just doing your job for the hours your scheduled. That's not quitting that's doing your job.
Harlan was amazing. My favorite part is at 01:54 - "What is Warner Bros.--out with an eyepatch and tin cup on the street?" This is why he's one of my favorite writers. And absolutely correct about why creative people deserve to be properly compensated for their effort.
He is right! People should stick up and fight for their right to be treated and paid fairly for their work! This video should be a daily required viewing for every creative person out there.
You know what he's talking about, right? He's talking about the people who, still to THIS VERY DAY, think that "credit"/"Publicity"/"Exposure"/Etc. are a valid way to pay someone for their hard work. You hear it all the time in the creative industry, literally every single day, someone is making the proposal to a creative that their work is valuated to a credit in a description or video that nobody reads or gives two craps about. It's asinine, and it's insulting to the creatives of the world, who frankly are the foundation of all of our entertainment. Kevin MacLeod said it best: "Credit and a sandwich, gets me a sandwich."
Lest any of you youngsters not know this...the Babylon 5 DVDs made about half a billion dollars (yes, BILLION). They were around 100 bucks a pop PER SEASON (five seasons), and if memory serves, one season came out about every six months or so starting around 2003 (fans easily forked out about $500 over a couple of years as they came out). HALF A BILLION DOLLARS, with a "B". Harlan's anger is not overblown or misplaced. Warner Bros. treated the show like shit, while it made them tons of money on first airing (which is why it kept airing and never got cancelled, although it was moved to TNT when PTEN went under, which was no fault of the show's), and THEN made them HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DVD SALES. Also if memory serves, the computer effects should have been quite easily convertible to HD (the entire show was made with HD in mind, as everyone anticipated it was right around the corner...and it was, but that corner was around 10 years away instead of 2 or 3), but Warner Bros. threw away all the computer drives...which basically means any HD/blu ray release of the show would have to redo all the effects from scratch. Even some of the film negatives were not treated very well (you can still see imperfections in the wide screen transfers to DVD).
@@nunyabizness6595 I've been watching already. Everything looks better than in the DVD and broadcast versions. They rescanned all the original negatives in 4k, then converted to HD. The effects shots are definitely better than the original versions, but they are not as good as they could be (there are fan recreations on youtube that are better). Still, I am satisfied and rewatching the series for the first time in years. Nothing so far really looks terrible, except maybe the shot in "Mind War" where Sinclair and Talia Winters are traveling on that train thing through the center of the station. What the hell was that thing called, lol? Anyway, it still looks bad, but is slightly better than the original.
Y'know, I hired an illustrator to make an illustration for a story I wrote. The one we settled on was good and I paid him. 50% before, 50% on completion. I'd decided to hire him because I liked his work and he'd been published (for $) in a publication I like a lot. So some talk on general prices, a sketch or two, and then "Ok, I'll go with # ...., I've sent 50% ahead" with the rest ready to send when done - save/archive agreement so no problem with ownership... But, formatting the story for publication - just a short story I was looking through his art and some simple CG i'd used, stock art like Dore (historical thing) and noticed he did a sketch for one idea for the cover - but the sketch just a simple drawing, loose digital painting worked real good for a small sub-illustration. And know what? I sent an email - "I'd like to use your sketch for 'cover design #2' - in the story also, as a small side illustration near the .... place in it. I'll pay you ...." ---Not saying $ specifics coz it changes over time And he emailed back, was cool with that. So I paid him, also used the sketch which wasn't complete but in a smaller format looked real good. It's a matter of respect which we all need to show.
I like his attitude! Back in my advertising exec days, clients would sometimes want me to do "side" work for them while I was also working for a major newspaper. I'd tell them "you can't afford me". 😆
I'm not a writer, but this just seems to go with everything regarding being self employed. I cut up a few short soundbites to have as my ring tone. Just a reminder... every day!
He's absolutely right. If morons would stop working for free or for "exposure" then we in the creative fields wouldn't have to deal with this crap. It's conditioning people.
Absolutely THE most brilliant commentary on the unpaid writer problem around. I've shared it countless times. Though it's from a film called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth," this is reality with sharp teeth. As Harlan astutely notes, reality bites when you're asked to provide professional services for nothing. Since he made these remarks, plenty of publications -- from the Atlantic Monthly to the Huffington Post -- have had their own free-writer crises, as writers stand up and say "hell no" to this insidious practice.
That's the cherry on top of the terrible treatment writers receive. The corporation wants their work for free, and there is no effort to even thank them with a complimentary copy of the end product. Good for Harlan, get paid!
Yep, as a digital and traditional artist, I have to fight tooth and nail when I have people trying to undercut me, and not by a little, by a whole freaking lot. Same deal, they want to walk away with my content for absolutely less than dirt.
This is making a smidgen of rounds on the twitter TL, and it's never felt more true than ever, considering the writer's strike lol. He's completely right.
The single Thumbs Down that this video got was from Warner Brothers. What theaters are they playing that movie at? Send me a free ticket so that your movie will get free publicity. LOLOLOLOLOL So glad to see the existing Hollywood on the skids. It'll be replaced with a renaissance like the world has never imagined.
HELLyeah. I'm sure lots of young kids today just out of college in the creative arts get gas-lit with this BS. "Oh, you're getting exposure when you do stuff for peanuts or for nothing." Or "You should feel honored to be doing this for the company." Honored?! Look, this is BUSINESS. I'll do charity work on my own time. If you want my time and talent/skills, pay up.
That's the problem, people think artists (and yes, writers are artists) are doing something so easy that they're interchangeable and replaceable at a moment's notice, they don't understand the work that goes into it. People who are actually good at it are rare.
Engineers always think they're the cream of the economy. Then the shale oil market collapsed and they were getting laid off left and right the same as everybody else.
Yes, Harlan. I don't have the vast majority of my science fiction stories up on the web BECAUSE the magazines that PAID me for the print issues offered me NOTHING if they could also "put it up" and garner money from the ads they run beside them. Likewise, I don't make TH-cam vids or Facebook material. I've had 3 million monthly readers when, like Ted Sturgeon, I wrote for Hustler.
jonnyduffy101: Methinks you don't make TH-cam vids or post anything interesting on Facebook because you don't have anything original to say. I've seen your rare posts on FB -- and they typically evince ideas 30 years out of date. Obviously you don't have to publish your works -- even the "vast majority," lolz -- online, that's understandable, but I know and have heard some writers -- from the pros, to mid-level, to beginners -- discuss their using the net as a marketing/publicity tool. I would think a supposed Science Fiction writer would know how to navigate the new paradigm, the global media-verse. Alas. Harlan is light-years beyond you, and his situation is entirely different.
I still have a hard time assuming I should be paid for something that I want to do. I welcome the notion of getting paid, but I write because I want to write. I'm obviously not a businessman.
There is another Ellison rant about how when people pay you they think you work for them, Ellison says they may think that, but he doesn't work for anyone, words to live by
@John Moss Taxes are independent of if I need the procedure or not. There's no "oh, you have shitty health, you have to pay more tax to receive treatment"
This guy: "Amateurs are undercutting the professionals by doing things for free! There's no professionalism!" Also this guy: "If you don't buy me a free DVD I'm going to burn your house down." Very professional.
You missing the point on purpose? He's saying not only do they expect you to do it for free... They wont even send you a copy of the DVD. He's giving an example of how cheap and greedy these companies can be.
He is saying that even if he gave consent for them to use his interview for the dvd, they wouldn't even bother to send him a free DVD as a thank you at least.
The free copy is standard practice for any writer contributing to a publication--in this case, a DVD. In the olden days, when you would write a story for "Analog" or "Azimov's", you would get paid for the story (often "by the word", ie, they would count the words and you'd get paid a certain amount per word, if you can believe it), and in "contributor's copies"--so you have an official record of your work. The "free" DVD set would cost Warner Bros. virtually nothing. Telling him to go buy the set for $100, which was the price back then, would be a slap in the face--especially given that collectively the DVD sets made around half a billion dollars (yes, BILLION). Consumers/fans really have no idea the scale of money Harlan is talking about here, and he's just talking about a small fee for himself...that Warner Bros. ignored.
@@Argonnosi It's a collaboration. We live in a society. If everyone pays a tiny bit then we insure that everyone gets medical care if they are unfortunate enough to get sick. It's a public good. If you pay for car insurance then you don't complain that your car never got stolen.
@@cakestalker But I do complain when bad drivers force my rates up, because they do, because that is how insurance works. And I complain at government waste, which I know a lot about, because I'm a CPA, and it sometimes seems I call the IRS every day about things they're screwing up. And if our government can't even get it's collections in order, do you honestly expect them to properly manage medical funding?
I can't quite see what he's on about. He was asked. He could say yes and he could say no. He chose no. Why the righteous indignation? Further, does he see the irony in putting this on TH-cam for free? If amateurs do it for free, then it is nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with Ellison. You do your thing, let others do theirs. The person who phoned, who was given such a hard time (at least that's what we're told) was doing her job. Did you really pile into her? Bully her as you have suggested? I am a professional writer. I am writing this for free. That has nothing to do with you.
Thanks for replying to my post. Sorry it has taken me this long to come back to you. I understand what you are saying. In fact I agree that it would be lovely if everyone got paid for their work. I've been asked to write for free, and to write for half my normal fee. I'm not cheap, but I've got more than enough work. I can't blame those that ask. I do occasionally work for nothing, not even expenses, apart from an acknowledgement. So one can't blame people for asking. But if he is telling the truth, he was very rude to a person who was probably only doing what she was told to do. In fact, he was objectionable. As he's so particular about money, perhaps someone should tell him that politeness costs nothing apart from a little consideration for others. Derek
Not sure if you're still interested in an answer, but I've just stumbled across this video. Ellison's point is that professionals who work in creative/intellectual fields such as writing, art, translation, music etc. have to fight harder and harder just to be able to maintain a sustainable level of income because amateurs (whom the guy, in his unmistakable and eloquent style, refers to as "assholes" near the beginning) that do a (very often shitty) job for the "exposure dollar". Artists have to pay real money to eat, be clothed, have a roof above their heads, smoke crack etc. like anyone else, and to be able to do a consistently good job in this field involves years of learning just like in any other. Have you ever seen a plumber do the plumbing for all houses in a district to advertise their services? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense economically speaking, does it. Why would someone in the creative fields have to tolerate moochers then? In fact, many amateurs I have previously spoken to are honestly convinced that they can do just as good a job as the professionals despite not having learned the trade (due to their alleged innate talents which are further fostered by hugboxes around the internet), they just need to get a broader audience to finally get that publishing deal. Moreover, due to the ubiquitous nature of the aforementioned low-quality works, the trades themselves also get less and less recognition. (On the market, I mean, I'm not referring to the functionally illiterate relatives going "So you're a writer, eh? When are you getting a real job?".)
Harvey Yates I prefer Neil Gaiman’s video on book piracy, his views are much more in tune with reality and what really happens when you give books away for free. Granted, this video focuses on a video recording, and I think he has every right to ask for payment for that, definitely he overreacted but that’s just Harlan being Harlan. But when it comes to the books, see Neil’s video, and I think he gives an honest, calm explanation of how book “piracy” is nothing more than another promotional tool to expose people to your work.
"Writing is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none."--Jules Renard
Every time I shoot and post a breaking news video online- a great weather shot, for example- I know I am going to get a DM from multiple TV news outlets asking to use my video. My standard reply is, “Are you asking for a free video?” I go out and drive in very bad weather, walk in a very dangerous neighborhood at night or get to the breaking news scene first. Meanwhile, these people sitting in a newsroom getting paid a lot of money and benefits, want free videos. I feel your pain, frustration and anger, Mr. Ellison. RIP
This is the bullshit "quiet quitting" is about. Bosses are just mad they're not getting their free lunch anymore. Pay the writer!
Good point.
Quiet quitting is in itself a bullshit term because it's literally just doing your job for the hours your scheduled. That's not quitting that's doing your job.
I watch this every once in a while to cheer myself up.
Art is not a charity, it is a service to man
God rest this Icon of Scifi. What an absolute legend and he is absolutely right.
Harlan was amazing. My favorite part is at 01:54 - "What is Warner Bros.--out with an eyepatch and tin cup on the street?" This is why he's one of my favorite writers. And absolutely correct about why creative people deserve to be properly compensated for their effort.
so timely the algorithm showing me this while there is a writers strike
RIP Harlan
Except the woke writers get paid plenty. False equivalency
Exposure: what you die from when you can't afford to keep a roof over your head.
Audio of AM torturing Ted with his memories of humanity before the nukes fell
He is right! People should stick up and fight for their right to be treated and paid fairly for their work! This video should be a daily required viewing for every creative person out there.
He's right about all of this. It applies to all jobs - writers, web designers, video game developers, etc.
plot twist: they didn't pay him for this interview.
But this interview was his idea. SOMEBODY ELSE was asking him to work for free.
@@Keviva007 No, no, no: PAY THE WRITER... except when they're making a movie about you?
This was a revelation! It’s launched me on an Ellison binge! (This clip can be found at ≈ the 14:14 mark of the movie.)
Yes they did pay him.@@BoopSnoot
You know what he's talking about, right? He's talking about the people who, still to THIS VERY DAY, think that "credit"/"Publicity"/"Exposure"/Etc. are a valid way to pay someone for their hard work. You hear it all the time in the creative industry, literally every single day, someone is making the proposal to a creative that their work is valuated to a credit in a description or video that nobody reads or gives two craps about. It's asinine, and it's insulting to the creatives of the world, who frankly are the foundation of all of our entertainment.
Kevin MacLeod said it best: "Credit and a sandwich, gets me a sandwich."
Watched this a million. It's Ellison. I cant not. I miss that guy. Wish he had lived longer than 84.
Lest any of you youngsters not know this...the Babylon 5 DVDs made about half a billion dollars (yes, BILLION). They were around 100 bucks a pop PER SEASON (five seasons), and if memory serves, one season came out about every six months or so starting around 2003 (fans easily forked out about $500 over a couple of years as they came out). HALF A BILLION DOLLARS, with a "B". Harlan's anger is not overblown or misplaced. Warner Bros. treated the show like shit, while it made them tons of money on first airing (which is why it kept airing and never got cancelled, although it was moved to TNT when PTEN went under, which was no fault of the show's), and THEN made them HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DVD SALES. Also if memory serves, the computer effects should have been quite easily convertible to HD (the entire show was made with HD in mind, as everyone anticipated it was right around the corner...and it was, but that corner was around 10 years away instead of 2 or 3), but Warner Bros. threw away all the computer drives...which basically means any HD/blu ray release of the show would have to redo all the effects from scratch. Even some of the film negatives were not treated very well (you can still see imperfections in the wide screen transfers to DVD).
The show will be on hbo max with enhanced and improved HD effects. That and the snyder cut should get subscribers on board. At least HBO hopes
@@nunyabizness6595 I've been watching already. Everything looks better than in the DVD and broadcast versions. They rescanned all the original negatives in 4k, then converted to HD. The effects shots are definitely better than the original versions, but they are not as good as they could be (there are fan recreations on youtube that are better). Still, I am satisfied and rewatching the series for the first time in years. Nothing so far really looks terrible, except maybe the shot in "Mind War" where Sinclair and Talia Winters are traveling on that train thing through the center of the station. What the hell was that thing called, lol? Anyway, it still looks bad, but is slightly better than the original.
Y'know, I hired an illustrator to make an illustration for a story I wrote. The one we settled on was good and I paid him. 50% before, 50% on completion. I'd decided to hire him because I liked his work and he'd been published (for $) in a publication I like a lot. So some talk on general prices, a sketch or two, and then "Ok, I'll go with # ...., I've sent 50% ahead" with the rest ready to send when done - save/archive agreement so no problem with ownership...
But, formatting the story for publication - just a short story I was looking through his art and some simple CG i'd used, stock art like Dore (historical thing) and noticed he did a sketch for one idea for the cover - but the sketch just a simple drawing, loose digital painting worked real good for a small sub-illustration.
And know what?
I sent an email - "I'd like to use your sketch for 'cover design #2' - in the story also, as a small side illustration near the .... place in it. I'll pay you ...."
---Not saying $ specifics coz it changes over time
And he emailed back, was cool with that. So I paid him, also used the sketch which wasn't complete but in a smaller format looked real good.
It's a matter of respect which we all need to show.
In a better world, you wouldn't be a hero. But you are.
You sir are a legit good boss. I wish more bosses were like you
THIS......this is his all time greatest and most accurate rant.
Writers strike! Pay the writers!!
Funny (/s) how this is still more relevant than ever....
Came here out of curiosity, left w wonderful advice
Jesus how relevant is this right now with the ongoing strikes.
So incredibly relevant right now
Just raised prices on my ebooks and paperbacks. This was a reassuring kick in the pants. Probably should watch it once a month.
‘It’ll be great exposure..’
I like his attitude! Back in my advertising exec days, clients would sometimes want me to do "side" work for them while I was also working for a major newspaper. I'd tell them "you can't afford me". 😆
WGA Strike 2023!!
I'm not a writer, but this just seems to go with everything regarding being self employed. I cut up a few short soundbites to have as my ring tone. Just a reminder... every day!
He's absolutely right. If morons would stop working for free or for "exposure" then we in the creative fields wouldn't have to deal with this crap. It's conditioning people.
+graphicartdude Spot on!
Absolutely THE most brilliant commentary on the unpaid writer problem around. I've shared it countless times. Though it's from a film called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth," this is reality with sharp teeth. As Harlan astutely notes, reality bites when you're asked to provide professional services for nothing. Since he made these remarks, plenty of publications -- from the Atlantic Monthly to the Huffington Post -- have had their own free-writer crises, as writers stand up and say "hell no" to this insidious practice.
That's the cherry on top of the terrible treatment writers receive. The corporation wants their work for free, and there is no effort to even thank them with a complimentary copy of the end product.
Good for Harlan, get paid!
and i fall in love ! All creative job need to pay ...
Yep, as a digital and traditional artist, I have to fight tooth and nail when I have people trying to undercut me, and not by a little, by a whole freaking lot. Same deal, they want to walk away with my content for absolutely less than dirt.
Very prescient observation, in light of the current writers' strike...
Agreed.
PAY THE FUCKING WRITER... rip Harlan. You are a god in the stars, the universe noticed. :)
Thanks for your Nuggets of Truth!
The writers guild strike of 2023
He makes you think and laugh all at the same time.
I miss him so much.
This is making a smidgen of rounds on the twitter TL, and it's never felt more true than ever, considering the writer's strike lol. He's completely right.
Love Harlan!
Man I love Harlan Ellison way off talking.
HAR HAR HAR! Definitely gonna' miss this guy
Cross my palm with silver. I’m going a use that.
Thank you for this. Rest in peace.
RIP Harlan Ellison
God i love this bastard he reminds me of a drunk relative
Except Harlan did not drink.
Bravo! That's my kind of guy!
Inspirational
Love it
Immernoch noch Lieblingsvideo in Sachen Honorar.
Genius he was.
Word!
respect
Damn right.
💯
Amen
And it's happening again as the WGA is on strike!
'Everything has a price' - Charlton Heston (55 days at Peking)
They probably wouldn't have sent him a copy of the upcoming Bluray set either
Out.Standing.
Replace the word writer with musician, that's what I go through.
The single Thumbs Down that this video got was from Warner Brothers. What theaters are they playing that movie at? Send me a free ticket so that your movie will get free publicity. LOLOLOLOLOL
So glad to see the existing Hollywood on the skids. It'll be replaced with a renaissance like the world has never imagined.
I'd tell WB to go to the store and buy it motha fucka lol
"Fuck you. Pay me."
- Kanye West
Musicians do the same thing. It pisses me off, too.
Harlan Ellison could be a comedian. Harlan, become a comedian.
He was actually, I believe he was hanging with jazz cats and performing his routine after them.
HELLyeah. I'm sure lots of young kids today just out of college in the creative arts get gas-lit with this BS. "Oh, you're getting exposure when you do stuff for peanuts or for nothing." Or "You should feel honored to be doing this for the company." Honored?! Look, this is BUSINESS. I'll do charity work on my own time. If you want my time and talent/skills, pay up.
Also, ironically, I doubt Erik is making money off of this clip.
He made the film. He gets paid for its use.
I showed this vídeo to my brother that studies engineering, and said "well there's millons of writers your value is low"
Tell your brother 'yes' there are millions of bad writers. There isn't another Harlan Ellison
That's the problem, people think artists (and yes, writers are artists) are doing something so easy that they're interchangeable and replaceable at a moment's notice, they don't understand the work that goes into it. People who are actually good at it are rare.
There are millions of engineers and a lot more engineering students.
Maybe they should be working for free, too.
Engineers always think they're the cream of the economy. Then the shale oil market collapsed and they were getting laid off left and right the same as everybody else.
Engineers get laid off en masse all the time. And they'll cry at the injustice as loudly as they'd crowed about smart they were in the good times.
He's god**** right!
Aaron Clarey wpuld aporove, blood brothers 😆
Yes, Harlan. I don't have the vast majority of my science fiction stories up on the web BECAUSE the magazines that PAID me for the print issues offered me NOTHING if they could also "put it up" and garner money from the ads they run beside them. Likewise, I don't make TH-cam vids or Facebook material. I've had 3 million monthly readers when, like Ted Sturgeon, I wrote for Hustler.
jonnyduffy101: Methinks you don't make TH-cam vids or post anything interesting on Facebook because you don't have anything original to say. I've seen your rare posts on FB -- and they typically evince ideas 30 years out of date.
Obviously you don't have to publish your works -- even the "vast majority," lolz -- online, that's understandable, but I know and have heard some writers -- from the pros, to mid-level, to beginners -- discuss their using the net as a marketing/publicity tool. I would think a supposed Science Fiction writer would know how to navigate the new paradigm, the global media-verse. Alas.
Harlan is light-years beyond you, and his situation is entirely different.
I wonder if he got paid for this interview 😂
Yes he did.
It's nuts the writer gets stiffed so often.
It's the single most important part of any production and gets treated as though it's nothing.
I still have a hard time assuming I should be paid for something that I want to do. I welcome the notion of getting paid, but I write because I want to write. I'm obviously not a businessman.
There is another Ellison rant about how when people pay you they think you work for them, Ellison says they may think that, but he doesn't work for anyone, words to live by
Actually I do go to my doctor to get my spleen removed for nothing.
But then, I'm not "free" like america
Taxes, you're paying taxes.
@John Moss Taxes are independent of if I need the procedure or not. There's no "oh, you have shitty health, you have to pay more tax to receive treatment"
Harlan would have have had SO much more work if he were easier to work with. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little.
LOL Do you have any notion of the sheer volume of his published work? Letting people steal from you is not giving a little to get a little.
@@pendorran No - I mean movies and TV productions. He didn't have a great rep in those departments as he loved to sue and attack.
Well, chaber, I don't remember bubkis about Babylon 5, except for the bad CGI.
This guy: "Amateurs are undercutting the professionals by doing things for free! There's no professionalism!"
Also this guy: "If you don't buy me a free DVD I'm going to burn your house down."
Very professional.
You missing the point on purpose? He's saying not only do they expect you to do it for free... They wont even send you a copy of the DVD. He's giving an example of how cheap and greedy these companies can be.
He is saying that even if he gave consent for them to use his interview for the dvd, they wouldn't even bother to send him a free DVD as a thank you at least.
The free copy is standard practice for any writer contributing to a publication--in this case, a DVD. In the olden days, when you would write a story for "Analog" or "Azimov's", you would get paid for the story (often "by the word", ie, they would count the words and you'd get paid a certain amount per word, if you can believe it), and in "contributor's copies"--so you have an official record of your work. The "free" DVD set would cost Warner Bros. virtually nothing. Telling him to go buy the set for $100, which was the price back then, would be a slap in the face--especially given that collectively the DVD sets made around half a billion dollars (yes, BILLION). Consumers/fans really have no idea the scale of money Harlan is talking about here, and he's just talking about a small fee for himself...that Warner Bros. ignored.
He wants to be paid for making stuff up get our of here man. You ruined the place then want compensation
Explain.
Do less drugs, pal
Ironic if he voted for Obama and supports Obamacare. Ha!
Obamacare doesn't make doctors work for free.
@@AirAtNight6977 It just makes people pay for services that other people receive.
@@Argonnosi It's a collaboration. We live in a society. If everyone pays a tiny bit then we insure that everyone gets medical care if they are unfortunate enough to get sick. It's a public good. If you pay for car insurance then you don't complain that your car never got stolen.
@@cakestalker But I do complain when bad drivers force my rates up, because they do, because that is how insurance works. And I complain at government waste, which I know a lot about, because I'm a CPA, and it sometimes seems I call the IRS every day about things they're screwing up. And if our government can't even get it's collections in order, do you honestly expect them to properly manage medical funding?
@@Argonnosi That's how all insurance works, putz.
I can't quite see what he's on about. He was asked. He could say yes and he could say no. He chose no. Why the righteous indignation? Further, does he see the irony in putting this on TH-cam for free?
If amateurs do it for free, then it is nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with Ellison. You do your thing, let others do theirs. The person who phoned, who was given such a hard time (at least that's what we're told) was doing her job. Did you really pile into her? Bully her as you have suggested?
I am a professional writer. I am writing this for free. That has nothing to do with you.
+Harvey Yates His point is that writing is deserving of payment because of the creative energy involved.
Thanks for replying to my post. Sorry it has taken me this long to come back to you. I understand what you are saying. In fact I agree that it would be lovely if everyone got paid for their work.
I've been asked to write for free, and to write for half my normal fee. I'm not cheap, but I've got more than enough work. I can't blame those that ask. I do occasionally work for nothing, not even expenses, apart from an acknowledgement. So one can't blame people for asking. But if he is telling the truth, he was very rude to a person who was probably only doing what she was told to do. In fact, he was objectionable.
As he's so particular about money, perhaps someone should tell him that politeness costs nothing apart from a little consideration for others.
Derek
Harvey Yates
Actually the CPM ($ per 1000 views) were 1-5 bux monetized, so yeah he got paid.
Not sure if you're still interested in an answer, but I've just stumbled across this video.
Ellison's point is that professionals who work in creative/intellectual fields such as writing, art, translation, music etc. have to fight harder and harder just to be able to maintain a sustainable level of income because amateurs (whom the guy, in his unmistakable and eloquent style, refers to as "assholes" near the beginning) that do a (very often shitty) job for the "exposure dollar". Artists have to pay real money to eat, be clothed, have a roof above their heads, smoke crack etc. like anyone else, and to be able to do a consistently good job in this field involves years of learning just like in any other. Have you ever seen a plumber do the plumbing for all houses in a district to advertise their services? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense economically speaking, does it. Why would someone in the creative fields have to tolerate moochers then?
In fact, many amateurs I have previously spoken to are honestly convinced that they can do just as good a job as the professionals despite not having learned the trade (due to their alleged innate talents which are further fostered by hugboxes around the internet), they just need to get a broader audience to finally get that publishing deal.
Moreover, due to the ubiquitous nature of the aforementioned low-quality works, the trades themselves also get less and less recognition. (On the market, I mean, I'm not referring to the functionally illiterate relatives going "So you're a writer, eh? When are you getting a real job?".)
Harvey Yates I prefer Neil Gaiman’s video on book piracy, his views are much more in tune with reality and what really happens when you give books away for free. Granted, this video focuses on a video recording, and I think he has every right to ask for payment for that, definitely he overreacted but that’s just Harlan being Harlan. But when it comes to the books, see Neil’s video, and I think he gives an honest, calm explanation of how book “piracy” is nothing more than another promotional tool to expose people to your work.