Arts Council England’s Jobs and News bulletin posted details of an animation competition being run by the Cabinet Office, no less.
It’s tagged ‘unpaid, volunteer work’, with a line that “Cabinet Office states that this opportunity is exempt from the national minimum wage.” Yes. They’re really doing is asking animators to work for nothing.
It goes like this..you email them for a script, then submit then submit an expression of interest and a 30 second animation. And then..
A shortlisted group of applicants will be invited to produce a 3 min video.
Three minutes! No payment. No cash prizes. No mention of any production costs. However, the lucky winner will “have their work submitted on a website with global reach and will receive a letter of recommendation.”
And I’m guessing they want the films delivered in a couple of weeks.
It’s one thing to pitch for commercial work if there’s a paying job in the offing, or to run a ‘competition’ for existing work. Red Bull’s Canimation is pushing it..an example of the trend to get creative people (animators!) to work for nothing but the prospect of ‘profile’. But for the government to be asking people to work for nothing seems an unashamed rip-off.
Did the author of the script get paid? Do the people running the cabinet office get paid?