@Mark_the_Harp - In an era and a trade where so many people do gratis work with the hope of advancement, this is a very valid topic. Thanks for posting this

this is fantastic!!! Great find. I loved reading her blog commentary, too.

Work for free or don't work at all. You're choice.

@jokerzd2 If you're good at something, never do it for free... unless it's for a legit charity or your mother. :)

Meh.

That chart will damage your career, unless you are currently highly paid and have no desire for advancement.

Working for free is the usual method for advancing your career in show business. If you have no experience, you make coffee for free as a PA until they see how useful you are, and they put you on the payroll. If you're a 2nd AC and you want to move up to 1st, you go and do some small films as a 1st AC for free before you ask your DP friends to give you a bump. You get your experience on free jobs, instead of learning on a paying job.

If you want to change your market niche (like going from a car DP to a fashion DP), you will work for free for a while until you build up enough samples so that people will hire you for fashion.

Working for free is very valuable for learning/gaining experience, building a body of work and meeting people who can help you get the job you want.

If you want to get a better job, don't ask "how much?" ask "what can I gain from this?"

I don't think the chart is suggesting you don't work for free - there are lots of "Yes, I should" options after all. As the title says, it's a good test of "should I" work for free. I think if you have a good reason, like @Roberto above, then why not? Altruism, or the good of mankind, or to express thanks for a favour? I think that comes under the remit of owing the proverbial kidney, as the chart puts it.

However, @AdR says, there are reasons other than payment why you might like to do the work. Definitely that should be a 5th choice in the middle, ie Will it lead to advancement? Advancement could mean skills, kudos, industry connections, stuff for the CV / showreel, publicity etc. That's a major missing bit of this graphic, I think, and @AdR you are right to draw attention to it.

I think the key to doing this in a healthy way that respects you and your "customer" is that it must be YOUR choice. If you work for free, YOU must decide to do it, not be pressured or guilted into it. If it's a cause you support, or something you would like to do, of course why not? Unfortunately the pressure and guilt happens all too often in the creative arena but only if we let it. I guess I'm more sensitive to this with my musician hat on, because I've been bitten in the bum once too often by that. With music, people think it's somehow doing you a favour to ask you to travel at your expense to and from their venue and provide your equipment, time and skills for nothing. And it's always where I don't properly negotiate things where this has happened. The last time I did this for a charity (actually, a commercial business which gave some of the profits of its sales to charity) the only thing I asked in return was a mention of my name - I covered all the fuel and everything. And guess what - they credited someone else with my music. So forgive me if I sound bitter! Although maybe that wasn't what most people would consider a charity at all.

Yes - that's it - a contract.

I think the only time a contract is not necessary is when you are so keen to support a cause that you are happy to do whatever, without worrying about the return, because it's "what you want to do". With anything else, a contract (whether in writing, whether money is involved or not) allows both sides to be clear about what's within and what's outside the scope of the work. Where it goes wrong often is where you are dealing with people who don't understand what they need / are asking for / are expecting,

@mee Absolutely. As long as you're happy, it sounds a great arrangement. I did a free charity event (actually the one I mentioned in my last but one post) and someone afterwards contacted me to ask me to play for a dinner. I'm doing that tomorrow (a music one, not a GH2 one) so even after ranting about being stitched up by this charity, actually I did get something out of it after all. Nice to get money (or gear) in return for your time and skills.

LOL

I'm not so sure about working for free, but if you are in a lull where there is no work, why not? Downside is that many people, myself included, form indelible first impressions. Long term, I think it is better to have market leverage, where you are perceived as supplying a service that is hard to find.

A simple yes or no would do. ;-)