☕ Contracts - The Kiss Of Death?

From The Archives: Written 09/19/2024

"You're always about the contracts," is a phrase which plagues me regularly. It's never meant to be discouraging towards me, or how I captain my ship, it's only ever used as a slight dig between good friends.

But I can't help but wonder, am I spoiling a seed before it's even begun to sprout? Before I've even had the chance to water it? Am I carving an end of life date on a tombstone before the "Born" date?

Life as a freelancer has never been easy, nor will it ever be. If it were, everyone would be doing it right? I, myself, have often debated whether or not I want to continue down this path in the first place. Even writing this piece is making me reconsider everything I've ever done since the beginning of my professional life. Being a freelancer is, basically, manning your ship through the treacherous waters of the North Sea on a boat you built... With scrap wood you found.

Maybe with a sail.

No life vest or preserver.

Oh, and no crew.

It's common to have the North Sea engulf your boat many times, likely hundreds. Still, the key to being a good freelancer is being able to ride the waves of uncertainty as they often offer unique situations upon which you can learn. If you wreck, you have the newfound knowledge to rebuild, and tackle it again, hopefully successfully this time. But it's very rare that anyone ever truly teaches you how to brace the waters of this North Sea metaphor. Maybe that metaphor worked? Maybe it didn't.

Basically what I'm saying for the non-freelancers out there is: Freelancing is hard. You have no guidance and you're just left to "figure it out". Freelancing in entertainment is even harder as it's not solely based off of what you know but also who you know and the timing of everything mixed in with it. As I've always said, 80% personality, 20% skill to garner a successful career in entertainment. Although, I can't take full credit. Credit is always due where it's needed, my department chair Yuri was the one who told us that. And how right he was.

Enter: Contracts.

A pivotal piece of any freelancing puzzle. Usually just a piece of paper, signed by both parties, to detail the job(s) agreed upon, timeline, and budget of a specific project or service. Simple right?

Well, maybe.

Nobody likes them. Businesses don't, artists don't, and I don't. They're a tedious formality that are meant to protect both client and freelancer in the case that something doesn't go the way either party originally planned. But how does that fit this narrative of the 'kiss of death'?

Well, the contract comment hasn't been the first time I've gotten this comment from a friend. People have always told me that I can be a bit "intense" when it comes to the formalities of the business. I won't argue with them on that, I can be, but I wouldn't say it's uncalled for. I thrive in the creativity of what I do, so I'd rather rip the Band-Aid off the not-so-fun elements of business quickly.

I haven't been working in my profession for very long (about 7 years; a few in college before that) but it didn't take me long to get a taste of the interesting practices of some "collaborators" in entertainment. Everything from low-bidding, refusal of full-payment to outright no payment, hours of extra [unpaid] labor, and unrealistic expectations with threats to tarnish my industry reputation -- there's a reason why there are so many unions surrounding this industry, and likely more forming. An industry that, at times, is synonymous with exploitation, and not just in my field. It can happen to professionals at any stage in their career, in any career path.

Beaten, broken, and battered early on, I knew I had to learn and learn fast otherwise I wouldn't survive.

And how did I survive?

Being upfront about contracts and mentioning them in the same breath as "What's your budget?"

But at what cost? Projects?

Much like the budget talks, contract talks are never personal attacks, though some may take it as such. "Why can't you just trust me?" "Is there very necessary?" "I have a tight turnaround, I can't worry about paperwork right now." unfortunately, the days of going off someones goodwill are far and few between, I might even argue they're gone entirely. Prime example: Mick Gordon v Bethesda/ID

I highly recommend giving that article a read, it's long, but that's because he came with receipts. To think that this still happens on this large of a stage. People often joke about how the music industry is synonymous with this type of behavior, people frequently forget there's plenty of other entertainment avenues that can (and also) get exploited on the regular. Crew on film sets, actors, indie projects of any caliber, fine artists, and more, it's wild to me that there are still a handful of folks that don't operate with some agreement/contract in hand or on their minds. I'm equal parts worried, but also envious that they're able to conduct business that way.

If neither party is protected or held accountable, neither party benefits long-term.

This is why I inherently worry that even mentioning the words "Contract" or "Budget" in an email are already the final nail in the coffin for most projects or professional relationships. Why does it have to be this way? Why is there emotion tied to either of those words? Working as a creative/freelancer you have to learn to separate yourself from your art when it comes to doing business but where do you draw that line between goodwill and being protected?

Normalize talking openly about contracts. Start the conversation with a contract, end it on a creative note.

The world could be a better place.