Harlan Ellison -- Pay the Writer

andreasyeah1994007 Says:

Apr 13, 2012 - Una brought me here

AthameMorrigan Says:

Apr 13, 2012 - I love this man!

TomBrooklyn Says:

Apr 14, 2012 - haha. lol. good finish. strong from start to finish.

z9trajkovski Says:

Apr 15, 2012 - god damn right, they always want you to do stuff for free

ADenny12 Says:

Apr 16, 2012 - He's right. Nothing better than good writing & when a show doesn't use good writing, it's so apparent & is why there is so much schlocky tv & cinema out there. On the other hand, a relative of mine was helping with a TV show shoot-he is non-union. An elec cord needed to be plugged in; that was all & the shoot had to wait for over 1 hr for a union guy to come out & plug in the cord b/c non-union workers were forbidden to do so. Stupid extremes on either end.

spoonito Says:

Apr 18, 2012 - uhhhh, did the uploader pay him to put this on youtube?

confusedmatthew Says:

Apr 24, 2012 - For the record, I WOULD go to a gas station and ask them to give me free gas. lol.

MayPhoenix Says:

Apr 25, 2012 - A living legend...

maxmajormgmt Says:

Apr 27, 2012 - I agree with MrQuantumEguana I understand wanting to be paid but we all aren't being approached by major entities like wb....

MultiSmartass1 Says:

May 3, 2012 - Its the corporate mentality-get people for nothing if you can and cheap,if you have to.I have been a writer and freelance journalist for 17 years now and I dont work that much now because the economy screwed things up for even experienced freelancers like me and the internet is paying jack shit to writers for content for sites.I cant comprehend the logic of writers getting paid $20-40 maybe $50 for articles 500-750 words when I have made $100-1,000 on such articles.Its a crime.

bill4long Says:

May 10, 2012 - Fuck you, pay me!

djsoy Says:

May 10, 2012 - "YOU COULD GO TO THE STORE AND BUY IT MOTHAF*CKA!" 2:55 awesomeness

ocaiden1 Says:

May 13, 2012 - Oh harlan Ellison is awesome. He was brilliant as the voice of AM in I have no mouth and I must scream. There was a truly sinister and evil way with which he delivered his performance.Harlan Ellis is a genius.

MrAnthonyVance Says:

May 13, 2012 - I love Harlan's honesty more than I love pussy. Love him!

blackroostercreation Says:

May 14, 2012 - It's even worse than that. A lot of sites end up paying writers .7 cents per word ... and the writers keep taking the assignments. I try to tell them that you're just making things worse, but they won't listen. Honestly, though, a lot of sites are only paying 2-4 cents per word, at most.

MultiSmartass1 Says:

May 14, 2012 - At least 7 cents per word is close to a decent cents per word rate.When I started it was 10 cents a word on average.Then again, I wrote for publications not websites when I was younger.2-4 cents per word is not a joke but its an insult.I understand that writers want to work and get paid but they should consider this:If they were offered regualr 9 hour per day part or full-time jobs that paid a penny per hour would they take it?Bet the answer is no.Yet they gladly take it for writing?

blackroostercreation Says:

May 14, 2012 - Oh no, I should have worded that a bit differently. I didn't mean 7 cents. I meant .7 cent. Meaning NOT EVEN A PENNY PER WORD. Can you believe that? That's tantamount to slave labor. An average article takes about 30-45 minutes, depending on the research needed, and the person will get a whopping $2.80. A number of writers on these sites will BEG the other writers not to take these sweat shop prices, but someone always does. Which means the companies will keep getting away with it.

MultiSmartass1 Says:

May 14, 2012 - This is why I call the internet and world wide web the "digital sweatshop" nowdays.Writers are getting paid as much and even far less than I made when I wrote for small publications years ago.This is why i dont write much now-the fees are too fucking small.As Ellsion said here " they always want the writer to write for free."Like him, I dont take a piss without getting paid.I wish i do the speaking circuit nationally discussing this stuff.These writer s need to learn.

FEPhotographyTX Says:

May 17, 2012 - I love this man.

TheEvilDaystar Says:

May 22, 2012 - Replace writter with photographer and everything applies 100%. CNN firing 50 staff because people are stupid enough to give content away for free, the advent of microsotck where you have to sell thousands of images from one shoot to even break even (IstockPhoto keeps 80% of the sale and sells images for next to nothing), idiots with facy cameras doing weddings for 300$ and thinking they are making money ... writers, we photographers feel your pain.

TheEvilDaystar Says:

May 22, 2012 - A small amendment ... if you enjoyed this video, check out "Vendor Client Relationships" the Scofield Editorial.HILLARIOUS!

gorboy Says:

May 29, 2012 - lol I love Harlan's honesty XD

MeEatEgg Says:

May 29, 2012 - A-FUCKING-MEN!!! Could not have been better executed. BTW.. that goes for ALL artists... Think about all the "downloads", "shared music" you and those you know have engaged in. Think about who did NOT get paid for that and who you did NOT support and whom you may never hear of again because that artist could not sustain themselves as artists.. ACROSS THE BOARD!!! THINK>>

scribbler0415 Says:

May 29, 2012 - Any writing that's been "commoditized" (i.e., the required quality is so low that thousands of writers have the skills) will pay lousy rates. That's Econ 101. But to conclude that's the reality across the entire freelance writing world is flawed thinking. If you want to make much higher rates (~$50-125 an hour, because skills haven't been commoditized), look into the "commercial" writing world (one I've been in for nearly 20 years). Just Google The Well-Fed Writer...

MultiSmartass1 Says:

May 29, 2012 - I dont know who you are but it doesnt sound like you are a freelance journalist/writer or a real writerTake a look at some of the posts here and you will see that rates for freelancers and writers have plunged precipitously.This is largely because a lot of writers are wriitng material on the internet and getting paid a pittance if at all.If you think these people are lying, take it up with them not with me.Also aim your sales pitch at them and not me.I have been in the wriitng game 17 years