Maki Naro created a very nice comic strip about why artists — and it applies to writers and other creative folks as well — should not work for "spec" (i.e., you do the work and then they decide if they're going to use it and maybe pay you for it).
I've written about this here many times but I'm probably overdue to say it again. Yeah, once in a while doing spec work leads to a real job just as once in a while, buying a lottery ticket leads to 45 million dollars. It's not a good idea to gamble your life and career on those odds. I understand the temptation when no one's buying your work to gamble on a longshot but it's almost certainly a longer shot than you imagine.
One reason is that quite often, there's really no contest there to win. The people asking you to submit spec work may not really be that serious — or in a position to buy anything. I can think of a dozen guys who in the last dozen years were going around trying to get folks to write and draw stories of their characters on spec. Each of them made it sound like he was launching a new comic book company and if he liked what you did, you could get a lot of great-paying work for his new line.
But the thing was that not one of the dozen or so guys I'm thinking of really had a new company. What they all had was a dream and no funding. Oh — and also the hope that if they amassed some great pages of their characters — which would cost them nothing — they could use those pages to impress potential investors. That was what was going on there but it's not what those who did spec work for them thought was going on.
Think of it this way: If one of those guys had approached you about investing $1000 in his alleged company, you would have run the other way. So why would you ever want to do $1000 worth of free work for him?
Also, remember this: When a publisher or producer has no investment in a project, it's real easy for them to drop it. When those guys failed to get their companies launched, they went on to other dreams 'n' schemes. If you'd decided to do spec work for them, you might have finished it, sent it in and then found out they'd abandoned the whole project. That happens a lot.
So is all spec work bad? No. But all spec work is not the same. There's spec work you do for others and there's spec work you do for yourself. The latter is usually fine. The former is not. If someone announces they're looking for submissions of graphic novel proposals or ghost stories for an anthology…well, that's spec work you can do for yourself. If this publisher doesn't buy it, you can submit it to plenty of others.
If the publisher of Crotch Monster Comics solicits stories for that book and you sit down and create one, that's spec work for them. If they say no, you're probably stuck with the material because they're the only ones buying Crotch Monster stories. (And of course, if they do want it, you've made it easier for them to offer you low money for it. They know you have no other way to get paid for that work you've already done than to take their offer.)
And it is occasionally (note the italics for emphasis) possible to do spec work in a benevolent and mature situation. When I started out in comics, I wrote Disney comics for Disney that were published overseas, as well as American Disney comics and other books based on Warner Brothers characters and Hanna-Barbera characters and other licensed properties for Western Publishing's Gold Key line. This was all technically spec work because if I wrote a Bugs Bunny story and the editor didn't like it, he could reject it and I didn't get paid for it.
I would not work that way today but back then, it was an acceptable arrangement. The firm was honest (and very professional) and my editor liked my work and bought about 90% of what I submitted, plus I was able to place some of that 10% elsewhere. For instance, if he bounced one of my Super Goof stories, I could usually sell it to the Disney foreign comics program…and I have a twelve-page Daffy Duck script I'm still hoping to sell to Crotch Monster Comics. I just have to do a minor rewrite to change Elmer Fudd into the Crotch Monster…or as I'm calling him, the Cwotch Monster.
That said, it'd also possible to get an unreal offer from a legitimate company and even for real work to mysteriously turn into spec work. I don't think I've told this story here before…
About twenty-five years ago, I was contacted by a producer at a big animation studio. This was a real company with many shows on the air. I had worked for the firm before, though not for this particular producer who was new there. She was a nice lady who said she liked my work. They had just sold a new series and that was absolutely true. She called me in, showed me the characters and the pilot script and said she'd like me to write the second episode. I usually try not to talk money and to let a lawyer or agent handle that but she mentioned a price and it was fine.
I went home and wrote an outline for an episode. I sent it in. She loved it and asked me to proceed directly to script and to please hurry. I hurried and wrote the script and sent it over to her. She called and said she loved it and she couldn't wait for her boss to read it.
A few days later, her boss called to tell me he thought it was superb and he was sorry I went to all that trouble because they'd decided to save money by having the scripts for that show written in Canada by Canadian writers. He said my "spec script" (he pointedly described it as such) could not be purchased.
I told him it was not a spec script. It was an assignment. His producer had commissioned it and his firm owed me the agreed-upon amount. He said that regardless of what that producer might have led me to believe, she was not authorized to purchase any scripts on behalf of his company. Only he could and he hadn't. He added, "Our janitor can't commit to pay anyone for a script either."
Well, you can imagine how much I enjoyed this conversation. It ended with me telling him my lawyer would talk with his lawyer. An hour later, the producer called me in tears. She said she was certain she'd been told to go ahead and purchase scripts and they'd even told her the price she could pay…the amount she had promised me. But then she said, "I guess it was all one of those misunderstandings. I'm really, really sorry about it. I hope we can work together soon on something we're having written in this country."
In other words: "They've decided to get the writing done for less money in Canada so they're reneging on the script deal we had and because I want to keep my job here, I'm going to go along with it. Oh — and I hope you'll give us the chance to do this to you again!"
Lawyers conferred and mine told me, "They're lying but I don't think this one's worth pursuing. Even if we win it, it'll wind up costing you more than you'd collect and you might not collect." I deferred to his wisdom and wished I'd had more of that precious commodity in the first place. The point, of course, is that sometimes even an established company can weasel out on paying for spec work. They can even occasionally do it when it wasn't spec work by insisting it was. (What I should have done: Have my agent call their Business Affairs person to verify the assignment before I began writing.)
I have also been screwed over a few times on genuine spec work and have learned not to do it. It's not just a matter of not wanting to work for free. In many cases, it's also a matter of not wanting to do work that you slave over and then you submit it and then nothing ever becomes of it. No one produces or publishes it. No one may even read it. When they have one of those "contests" that Maki Naro rails against, I'll bet a lot of submissions are never considered.
An agent for voiceover actors told me a story recently: A client of hers was the spokesperson for a big, national advertising campaign. His voice was very much identified with the product and when his contract expired and they began negotiating a renewal, he asked for a significant raise. The company refused. They threatened to replace him. He said, "You wouldn't dare." They had someone go post notices on Internet forums where aspiring voice actors gather. The notices said they were looking for a new voice for this national advertising campaign.
They posted some ad copy and an e-mail address for submissions. Anyone who wanted to audition could record the ad copy and send an MP3 file to the address. Hundreds if not thousands of demos resulted. I don't know exactly how many were received but I know how many were listened to: Zero. By the time the first arrived, they'd already settled on a new contract with the old voice.
You'd be amazed how often this kind of thing happens and not just in voiceover. Sometimes, a contest or open competition is what it is but sometimes, it's just a way of reminding the folks they do want to hire that there are legions of wanna-bes out there who are so eager, they'll work for almost nothing…or less.
As I said, I know it can be frustrating when you have the passion and you think you have the talent…but no one is buying. I understand the temptation to roll the dice and produce something on spec for someone else but unless you know the potential buyers and really trust them, it's too often a colossal waste of time and energy.
You're better off doing spec work for yourself. I mean, doesn't that make sense? Do stuff you can sell to a lot of different markets instead of just one. The better the odds, the better your chance to win. Besides, who the hell wants to write for Crotch Monster Comics, anyway?