Freelancers Do Not Work ‘For Free’

‘Tact’, my colleague, is the only way,
For a freelancer to get his promised fee.
Predictably so, I learnt it the hard way,
In pompous Delhi thus happened the epiphany.

Dream-makers was the company’s name,
A ‘big-tag’, hot-shot media house,
They made you toil your rear off,
And treated you like a puny mouse.

Interns would flock there like cattle,
Just to get a working chance,
The boss bossed around like a grand Turk all day,
Around him succumbing employees would dance.

My naivety came paired with a Master’s degree,
And a humble prior work-experience record too,
As a script writer at Dream-makers I would get,
Per month, ten grands into two.

Of course there were no written-contracts,
Ridiculous! Are you out of your mind?
A rookie freelancer demanding such legal formalities,
Must bid adieu to the project and step behind.

So I trudge for three new moons,
Work on three top-line lifestyle shows,
On the much-awaited pay-day,
A horde of excuses, my producer throws:

“We didn’t use your scripts.”
“The channel’s not paying up too.”
“The TRP’s are at an all-time low.”
“Plagiarize from other sources, did you?”

The string of excuses were abundant,
The boss was either busy, ill or away,
Dozens of rounds between Palam Vihar and Panchsheel,
Yet no sign of receiving my due pay!

I wrote many emails,
In scorn and desperation,
The matter kept getting delayed,
For a ‘sine-die’ duration.

“Nothing unusual!”, my friends said,
While I felt cheated, deluded and deprived,
I was a fool to not have a written contract,
My hard earned money was to me denied.

I conceived of ideas to sue them,
Made points to win the case,
I would defame Dream-makers, I resolved,
And get my payment with grace.

In another week, I disowned that idea too.
And settled with my doomed destiny,
Mom had warned, “Media is a dirty swindle”,
Perhaps, this was how things were meant to be!

It’s been three years since the episode,
And I’ve seen those shows on TV,
Dream-Makers here become Dream-breakers,
Just another side of the much-hyped media industry!

Thank God, I went through that grind!
For life slapped me with a much-needed lesson,
Do not get bedazzled by all that jazz of the business,
As a freelancer follow the ethics of your profession.

You would be made to toil as much as anyone else,
Why get beguiled by tricky smiles and balmy words?
Remember – it is not your daddy’s business,
So, play by the rulebook in this theatre of absurds.

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