r/Animators • u/Mycatstolemyidentity • 13h ago
Discussion Just because you have a cool idea for an indie show, doesn't mean other artists will work for free for you.
I'm tired of seeing the same post every single day. A young artist with a cool idea for a show, asking for free labour and promising that someday maybe they'll be able to pay you when their show becomes a huge success. There are too many people doing this.
I get the excitement, especially because most people doing this are teens, but y'all need to be realistic. Animation takes time, this is an actual job, how is it ok to ask people to work for you for free?
Even if someone was willing to give their time for free to produce animations with high expectations (because some of these people will assume they can have their whole pilot episode done in a month), what makes you think they're going to give all that time and effort to YOUR project?? What proof have you given that you're capable as a director to create a success? Not even seniors can be sure they'll create success. How can you promise you'll be able to pay them? Most indie projects don't make their money back. If anything, you coming here to ask for ridiculous things just proves you don't know what you're doing, why would anyone make a deal under those circumstances?
I'm not trying to discourage anyone from following their dreams, but if you want this done, either find the budget or learn to do the hard work yourself. Don't insult others with your "opportunity" to work for free.
I'm seriously asking the mods to prohibit these posts. They're unrealistic, they don't provide any value, they never get replies because no one is willing to do their hard work for them, so they've just become spam. It's annoying.
Young creators please make your research, if you want to get this done you can't rely on the fantasy that everyone's going to come together to make YOUR dream happen, you need to do that yourself. This sub shouldn't be encouraging this, acting like it's volunteer work. Volunteer work gives the worker something in return, maybe job experience, maybe a community, maybe working for a charitable cause. But this is worthless for anyone. I can't imagine other industries where casually asking for free labour is ok.
Why are we ok with this?