Yeah, I would agree with you if this was the case with most of these “Unpaid Collaboration” threads. I would agree with you if these threads talked about finding someone to work with as a partner or within a group where everyone was contributing to the idea.
Then, I would agree with you.
But in most cases, these threads that ask for a writer or an artist for free are undoubtedly vague, and fall under the lines of “if you’re interested, email me” while still being vague. How can I, as a creator, be confident in signing onto a project if I’m not giving anything to get be interested in?
This has nothing to do with if someone’s been published or have a spot at ComicCon. In any case, those are generally traditional methods of showing “that you made it”; currently, not everyone is scrambling to get published in those ways.
There are more ways to get published now, and not everyone will say those are the only ways you’ve “made it” as a creator. Some people don’t even care about being published and well-known – they just want to make money via Patreon or Paypal or some other site.
But that’s not really the main point.
This has to do with someone asking a writer or an artist to sign onto something and essentially expecting them to carry the project, and you see that a lot in some of these collaboration posts.
There’s a difference between having a few projects that were done without pay but were beneficial and just signing onto anything because “it might help me get ahead”.
They don’t specify what they’re looking for a lot of the times; they’ll specify it’s unpaid, but they don’t explain:
If they want a partnership or not. If it’s a partnership - then yes, it makes sense they might not have a lot of scripts ready or a lot of art made because they want their partner to provide content as well. Both parties are on even grounds.
What content they’ve created for the project already. It’s mostly “I have an idea” (which fits better for potential partnerships than finding a writer/artist to help them) – not a lot of them have scripts written out or artwork made. Rather – if they do – they’re not going to show it until someone says, “I’ll do it”.
What can they provide if it’s not a partnership. Partnerships provide some ownership to the content. If someone is not asking for that, what can they offer to the writer/artist that’s not money? Yeah, not everyone can pay money, and that’s something we all acknowledge. But we also must acknowledge that people shouldn’t be expected to do things for free. You cannot bank on the idea of “this might help me get ahead”. You have to know for sure that you want to do this for fun or that this is beneficial to you in the long run (career-wise or personal).
The ones that do get picked? They did the opposite of these problems.
They were specific, they explained the whys and hows, and they allowed the writer/artist to be part of the creative process instead of asking for an employee.
And yes, those were unpaid as well, but they allowed the creator to feel like they were part of the project – to the point where they didn’t care that they weren’t being paid.
At the end of the day, yeah – most people in these forums can’t afford to pay for a writer or an artist. And most people here understand that (and most who do have a few projects and experiences under their belt). But at the same time, because we understand that, we have to make sure that these are projects we want to sign on and that people are more willing to do partnerships than looking for employees for free .
We still live in an age where any experience is better than no experience. But we also live in an age where people more cautious about these things. We don’t just accept anything now – we ask questions, we negotiate, and we sell our work. More importantly, we make sure this is something we want to sign up on.
You don't already have to be published or well-known to know say "I'm not feeling it", and it's changes a lot so it's not like that.
Yeah, take on some free projects, but have a balance and know when it's a good investment for yourself.
Because the worst thing that could happen with projects like these is the feeling of wasting your time and the other party’s time. And that’s no fun at all.