Be Kind to Moth
A short comic based on this post that’s been going around.
Today is the 3rd year anniversary of “Be Kind to Moth”.
If only then I had a glimpse of where I would go from there!
Reposted from http://ift.tt/2bCG0OK.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1qNmIN5.
I’m looking at a preliminary, completely fucking basic, bare minimum budget for a project coming up soon and like, it’s still so much money. It’s under-compensating people relative to their creative worth and not getting so much of the stuff we want and need, and using free sets and (some) free equipment, and it’s still thousands of dollars for two days and I have no idea how we’re gonna pull it together.
I say this because I’m looking at this, thinking how tempting it would be – and, quite frankly, how easy it would be – to call in favors and ask people to do some of these things for free. But you can’t. You can’t do that. We’re not in high school or college anymore, we’re not at the high end of the entertainment industry where we get paid the big bucks and can do fun side projects for free, but the people I know are working entertainment industry professionals, scraping by, and you can’t ask people to do what they’ve trained at, what they’re good at, how they make (never enough) money, for free, because it’s shitty. We aren’t entitled to make movies, no matter how much we want to, and if you’re doing something that requires a number of people, a lot of talent, you’ve gotta make sure everyone has something to gain from it.
Not exposure.
I don’t say this to pat myself on the back and be like LOOK AT ME, I’M DOING THE RIGHT THING. I say it because I get how fucking tempting it is to fuck people over and excuse it somehow. It really is. When you wanna do something so bad and it seems so far out of reach because money’s a fucking bitch that rules and ruins our lives (or rather, the lack of it does). And I talk about this a lot, about not screwing people over, about paying your cast and crew, because I know I’m too proud to be a hypocrite about it. I’m keeping myself accountable, like I want to keep everyone else accountable, and I hope you all will too.
Anyway. Ranting. Time to go off and drink and draw up plans to rob a small bank.
This post makes a lot more sense knowing what I know now.
Here’s where the In the Dark Indiegogo campaign is at as of a few seconds ago:
I hope they make the goal. But there’s a side of me that’s also kind of fascinated by what Rachel’s going to do if they fall short.
But she’s also an actual person, and treating actual people’s agonizing dilemmas as entertainment is shitty (even though it’s also the basis of about 75% of what’s on TV these days). So I apologize for that side of me. Fuck off, side of me.
I’m pulling for you to make the goal, Rachel. I hope you get to make the film on your own terms. But if you fall short, please think about keeping the option open that, if the people you wish you could be compensating better decide they want to go ahead and do it anyway for less, it’s okay if that happens.
You’re doing everything you can to fight against people being taken advantage of. If your friends and co-creators appreciate that and choose to make you a (big, significant, and not to be minimized) in-kind donation by doing the project for less money than they deserve, that’s not the same thing as you going into it from the outset cynically intending to take advantage of them. I know it’s a slippery slope, and you were making a stand on principle. But if you have a chance to make something great, and if people want to help you do that, I think it’s okay for you let them.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1KyudLs.
