Slave Labor Goes Beyond Craig's List

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

I get job alerts from Indeed.com and was alerted to a job for an editor on Mandy.com where an employer wants an editor to work as an intern and supply their own computers and equipment with Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects to edit productions for a director anywhere from 20 to 40 hours a week for FREE!

The internship may last 3 to 4 months.

What a deal! ;) :no:
 
Not quite the same thing, but last year I put in a bid to do the audio post on a feature. I did not get the job; they decided to go with someone who was a little less expensive.

Several months ago they contacted me; the person they had hired instead of me had disappeared with all of the money they had paid him and all of the drives they had supplied him. However, they still have $250 left and would I please do a complete audio post for them in two months? They would also absolutely guarantee me a screen credit and I would even get listed in IMDB!!!
 
Alcove Audio said:
Several months ago they contacted me; the person they had hired instead of me had disappeared with all of the money they had paid him and all of the drives they had supplied him. However, they still have $250 left and would I please do a complete audio post for them in two months? They would also absolutely guarantee me a screen credit and I would even get listed in IMDB!!!
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Don't accept their offer unless you get a free DVD of the movie. Just isn't worth it without the DVD.
 
Alcove Audio said:
However, they still have $250 left and would I please do a complete audio post for them in two months? They would also absolutely guarantee me a screen credit and I would even get listed in IMDB!!!
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I hope their "feature" is about two minutes long. :lol:
Crazy people.

Screen credit.
Niiiiice. :rolleyes:
 
Hey, copy and credit is a perfect recompense for folks with no established portfolio of past work to get paid work... but that's generally only a few projects before they have (hopefully) enough reel footage to get the paid gigs.
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
an employer wants an editor to work as an intern and supply their own computers and equipment (...)
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The vast majority of unpaid internships I see posted on job boards are illegal under federal law. These are the six criteria they have for a valid unpaid internship:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

It sounds like that job violates at least number 4, probably numbers 1&3 as well. Number 2 is debatable - any experience can be beneficial, but taken in consideration with #4 I'd consider any internship where the employer benefits as much or more than the intern to count against #2.
 
This past weekend was actually my first legit unpaid intern from the local Art Institute. He did some AD work in preproduction and was my scripty on set. He did a good job and will probably get an A- based on my evaluations. That being said, I'd actually rather low pay somebody because I couldn't work this guy as hard as I would work someone I was paying.
 
(rant)

Dude. This is a 1st World Problem.

It's not even close to slavery.

Next time someone kidnaps you at the age of 5, sells you to some other douche-bag, who takes you halfway across the world locks you in a room, chains you to a desk, and forces you to edit for 18 hours a day - beating you with a stick if you go to slow, you can call it slavery.

Until they it's just shitty business practices of douche-bags who want to take advantage of folks trying to find any way to advance their career that they can.

There's plenty of actual modern-day slavery happening world wide.


(sorry for the short rant, jetlag and lack of food has really screwed me up, but I'm kinda sick of the word "slavery" being thrown around in these cases.)
 
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AMEN!!!
Does everyone here pay Union Scale for every job on their production?
I didn't I confess. I'm an "under-payer."

David.rhsc said:
(rant)

Dude. This is a 1st World Problem.


It's not even close to slavery.

Next time someone kidnaps you at the age of 5, sells you to some other douche-bag, who takes you halfway across the world locks you in a room, chains you to a desk, and forces you to edit for 18 hours a day - beating you with a stick if you go to slow, you can call it slavery.

Until they it's just shitty business practices of douche-bags who want to take advantage of folks trying to find any way to advance their career that they can.

There's plenty of actual modern-day slavery happening world wide.


(sorry for the short rant, jetlag and lack of food has really screwed me up, but I'm kinda sick of the word "slavery" being thrown around in these cases.)
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Don't misunderstand - I somewhat agree with the sentiment. Low pay gigs and no pay gigs are two different animals. Kudos to you for paying a day rate, even if it's just amounts to gas money for the day.

Even union folks will work for below scale (or gratis) under the right conditions. Check the other CL complaint thread, I think I posted a lengthy response about ways to determine when a gratis gig is worth doing and when it's douche-baggery.

But I'm cranky, and the use of the word made me an angry panda today. Heh.
 
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If someone wants you to donate your time for no pay and bring your own computer and software, can't you at least offer to buy them lunch and pay their transportation? This "employer" here doesn't even offer that much.
 
David.rhsc said:
(rant)

Dude. This is a 1st World Problem.

It's not even close to slavery.

Next time someone kidnaps you at the age of 5, sells you to some other douche-bag, who takes you halfway across the world locks you in a room, chains you to a desk, and forces you to edit for 18 hours a day - beating you with a stick if you go to slow, you can call it slavery.

Until they it's just shitty business practices of douche-bags who want to take advantage of folks trying to find any way to advance their career that they can.

There's plenty of actual modern-day slavery happening world wide.


(sorry for the short rant, jetlag and lack of food has really screwed me up, but I'm kinda sick of the word "slavery" being thrown around in these cases.)
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You are absolutely right! There are such happening even in today's world of people being kidnapped and shipped to another part of the world for such labor.

I also know what it is like to stand on line with homeless people to turn in enough bottles and cans to afford even a 2 litter Diet Pepsi in my refrigerator because my job does not pay me enough to cover my monthly bills. It's very depressing I can't even get an interview for a part-time job.

I ask myself why this person cannot offer something to an intern to attract even a film student to spend the time. A screen credit? Lunch? College credit?
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
You are absolutely right! There are such happening even in today's world of people being kidnapped and shipped to another part of the world for such labor.

I also know what it is like to stand on line with homeless people to turn in enough bottles and cans to afford even a 2 litter Diet Pepsi in my refrigerator because my job does not pay me enough to cover my monthly bills. It's very depressing I can't even get an interview for a part-time job.

I ask myself why this person cannot offer something to an intern to attract even a film student to spend the time. A screen credit? Lunch? College credit?
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Drink water. I thought we went over this months ago. :)
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
I ask myself why this person cannot offer something to an intern to attract even a film student to spend the time. A screen credit? Lunch? College credit?
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I can afford to give my interns pity parties and TS tickets to Gophuckyoorself. :lol:

Choo! Choo!
trainRideTwo.jpg


Nah.
Juss joking.
I can't even afford those.

I can stick to screen credit, just like I'm getting, without the bonus ulcers. ;)
 
Murdock said:
Drink water. I thought we went over this months ago. :)
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Caffeine is an addictive drug. I get all I can drink for free at work with coffee and tea. All I need is one week's vacation away from work and I get constant headaches with a caffeine fix.

Rayw,

Your screen credit is more than what this "employer" offered.
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
You are absolutely right! There are such happening even in today's world of people being kidnapped and shipped to another part of the world for such labor.

I also know what it is like to stand on line with homeless people to turn in enough bottles and cans to afford even a 2 litter Diet Pepsi in my refrigerator because my job does not pay me enough to cover my monthly bills. It's very depressing I can't even get an interview for a part-time job.

I ask myself why this person cannot offer something to an intern to attract even a film student to spend the time. A screen credit? Lunch? College credit?
Click to expand...

It's tough out there right now, hang in there. I barely made ends meet freelancing most of last year (actually made less than i did the previous year) and around Feb/Mar of this year I thought I was going to have to give it up and go back to info tech for a while. Then along comes this gig out of the blue, just when things were their darkest. Been working solid since the last week of March, and I'm writing this right now from Munich on a job for the for the same client.

Crazy ups and downs in this business my friend. Got to be able to weather the lows. I've never been good at saving, nor have I ever really had much money anyway - so changing habits to suit the unsteady income has been difficult, but it can be done.

As far as why that person cannot offer something in exchange, well, I'll hazard a guess that it's a matter of "won't" not "can't." Some folks are just irredeemable jerk-nozzles. Also, there's a whole lot of Trustafarians in the media industry. Those folks can afford to take these shit gigs because someone else is footing their bills. Those folks were born with an "unfair advantage" (borrowed from an AU blog about media industry freelancing). The rest of us have to create our own "unfair advantages" any way we can.

Anyway, I totally agree and sympathize my friend. Keep walking, keep struggling, keep pushing on. Wasn't trying to flame or anything (though I do feel calling unpaid media work slavery is hyperbole of the wrong kind), yesterday was sort of rough, but I think I am adjusting to being 9 hours off my schedule. Managed to actually get almost 5 hours of sleep last night, rather than 3. Heh.
 
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