There's not much you can do about most of these ridiculous offers, but one thing you can do is flag on Craigs List. Any ad placed under the "Television/Radio Jobs" heading must carry with it an offer of payment. Spec, deferred, "get experience" is not allowed. If there were enough people flagging, those ads would get closed down. Its not much, but its one thing you can do. I check my local Craigs List and always flag job ads that don't offer payment.

HA! I think i know the DP and The Key Grip on this shoot. I've got to find this post. I think it's a 30k project they're shooting on the varicam!

my favorite ads go something like this:


Well known and award winning studio now looking for Camera person, Lighting person, Sound man, Director and actors for a movie already going to several festivals including Tribeca!

Join our emmy award winning team and get ready to make a great movie!

Pay is deferred but you'll get copy and credit of course!
GREAT for new actors and actresses as we will be putting this on imdb.com!



Must own all of your own equipment!

moviestudio10056@hotmail.com

You find a website for them, it's on geocities, it looks like crap and all it talks about is the $50 fee to turn in a headshot for acting for their "movie"


Yep.

Camera-person to film documentary
Reply to: info@trehmusic.com
Date: 2007-06-06, 11:23AM CDT


Seeking individual with digital video camera to film documentary style two individuals for 8 weeks (Through August 12th) as they study and take the Texas Bar Exam. The footage maybe used at a later date as a pilot for a reality show. Previous filming experience desired but not required. Shooting will consist of 3-4 days each week (days of the week and times are flexible) Pay is a flat fee of $300. This is a great way to gain additional filming experience and participation in the pilot or series if the show is later picked up and produced. We are looking to begin filming immediately. Please contact Marie at 713-376-3975, or email inquires to info@trehmusic.com.




* Location: Houston near Downtown
* Compensation: Pay is a flat fee of $300.
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Phone calls about this job are ok.
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

3 days a week, 8 hours, 8 weeks. < $2 an hour. Even if it was 4 hours, it would still be under $4. You would think someone working with the legal field might know about federal law at a minimum.

that law must not apply in all situations, otherwise, how could people ask others to work for free?

If what I heard was correct, years ago our local cable office had to start paying its interns something because of labor laws.

I'm shooting a low budget feature next month. We're paying very little but I'm upfront with everyone about it. What money we have is going for equipment, food, insurance and locations. I haven't placed an ad on Craiglist, I don't need to, but I don't think this kind of offer is insulting. For most it is just a tradeoff, low or no pay for experience. I do also get experienced people who work on corporate videos or industrial films willing to take a shot with me because they want to make the leap to narratives.

I would agree that you are one of the honest ones that isn't demanding or misleading and acting like you are the messiah of the industry. You must not have read this entire thread because it's been stated several times that we are aware of the honest people but unfortunately there are more people wanting something for nothing for projects that will go nowhere overshadowing the reasonable posts. Just take a look at Craig's List at any given time. It's absolutely ridiculous! Here is a recent post that accurately describes what's going on.

This is a perfect example of the problem. These people have no idea what they're getting involved with. They are asking a total stranger to provide about $50K-$60K of gear and they don't have a clue about what they are doing! The film alone will cost more than they could ever imagine! Maybe they could get Kodak or Fuji to give them $20K worth of film too. Just another group that thinks their project is IT!

I think they just changed the definition of PA.

Craigslist people are already trying to PAY us like PAs, now I guess they figure they might as well CALL us PAs!

HD cameraman wanted

Reply to: gigs-357160581@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-06-21, 11:30AM PDT


We are looking for somene with a high end HD camera to shoot our feature film. We really want someone with some hollywood experiance or really good skills in movie making. We will buy the tapes for the camera. You will receive our thanks, and we will buy you a beer once the filming is done.


Location: se
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
Compensation: no pay

Dear god in heaven, surely that one is someone's idea of a joke...

But then again, having read the rest of this thread...

Beer counts as money in Portland...