PP3- Valuing yourself as a practitioner

In early September I was contacted via a peer by a Sports Science PHD student looking for an animator to disseminate his research in a series of animations for social media. After briefly discussing the project via social media we met up in person on the Leeds Beckett campus in Headingley to discuss ideas. 

After an initial hour of brainstorming we both seemed set on an idea to create a series of short social media animations (totally at around 2-3 minutes) disseminating the research in his paper in a clear visual way, similar to Infographic animations like 'Kurzgesagt- in a Nutshell' or 'The Infographic Show' on Youtube. We decided on a clean infographic-like vector-based design aesthetic created in After Effects using rigged characters animated in DUIK. The time frame for delivery we decided upon was around 2-3 months working 1 day a week for minimum wage. At the end of the meeting things seemed to have gone by smoothly, my client just had to discuss paying me with his supervisor who was funding the project.

Unfortunately when he got back to me, he informed me his supervisor was instead offering what I worked out to be half of the minimum wage. For the quantity of work I was being asked to do over the period of time I was being asked to do it, this would have proved to be a waste of time. So, I had to turn his offer down.

As a practitioner it is important to value your labour, and by accepting work for less than the minimum wage when my time could be spent more productively, you're actively setting an unhealthy precedent for anyone entering the industry in the position of a freelancer.