WFC: Winning hearts and minds the WFC way

[james_davis_nicoll]

MRK’s very strong feelings about the WFC award specs and paying artists

Comments

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

Even in a field of work where people feel comfortable with the idea that everyone should work on a volunteer basis, that's kinda bold.

I wonder if the manufacturer's expected to give away their work too.

[ironyoxide.livejournal.com]

If you don't pay the people who unload your trucks, who hand out soft drinks, if you don't pay your security, then not paying your artists isn't much of a stretch.

"Fuck you, pay me" obviously only applies to the important people.

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

So if WF hasn't any money, what happens with the hefty WF memberships?

[rosefox]

Each convention's organizing entity is encouraged (but not required) to pass profits along to the next set of organizers, primarily to offset the cost of manufacturing the award statuettes.

[oldcharliebrown.livejournal.com]

Some, yes, but it is not a lot of money, per se, that is needed to manufacture the statuettes. The bulk of the profits go to the hosting organization and stay there, which is usually tens of thousands of dollars. In DC’s case it was eighty thousand dollars. In others it may be closer to forty thousand dollars, on average. It is a cash cow, and usually designed to put more money into local coffers. I know WSFA is still sitting on giant gobs of cash from the last time they hosted World Fantasy, back in 2003. The financials used to be public and online, but I think it was somewhere in the area of thirty thousand dollars, maybe forty? (Yes, the WSFA Journal confirms this, now that I have checked). In any case most of the money these days comes from two major sources: membership fees, and the souvenir book. Rina really brought home the bacon with the latter, in 2014. So much money . . . In any case the hosting organizations honestly work at the behest of the WFC board, or Hartwell originally, so assigning money to the awards should not be a major issue. It could be even a requirement, much like the harassment policies, as part of their proposals to the board, with this much money assigned . . .

[rosefox]

This comment from dd_b is instructive.

This was my assessment last year:

The only conclusion I can draw from the evidence I have--with full acknowledgment that I may be missing something--is that it works the other way around from what I originally thought: WFC exists to make money for hosting organizations, and the WFAs exist to draw people to WFC. The centering of profit gives rise to the belief that anyone who can't afford to attend isn't worth having around, award-nominated or not. Once that belief is accepted, all the rest of the policies make perfect sense.

I have seen no reason to change it since.

[oldcharliebrown.livejournal.com]

Sadly you are correct and I don't see it changing any time soon. Alas, it occurs to me what worked for Readercon, alas, would not work here, too. Crippling a WFC only hurts the hosting organization, and very little else. With WFC essentially unincorporated and not a legal entity whatsoever it is even harder to leverage pressure. :(

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

It's a rackett -- a rackett that everyone knows is a rackett yet goes right along with it because it gives in return -- well, that's the part that's unclear. Somebody gets an ugly statue, that s/he pays for?

[rosefox]

People don't really notice that it's a racket because it's billed as a "professional conference" and they expect to pay more for those.

[(Anonymous)]

Fairly typical of some conventions, I think. I remember when I was nominated for an Origins award (for tabletop gaming), no one bothered to contact me; when I won, no one bothered to let me know until a few months later; when I contacted them to confirm, they had misplaced the actual award.... They told me they could make me one from next year's stock - if I wanted to pay for it myself. No thanks...

[(Anonymous)]

As a photographer, I find it interesting that many writers think "exposure" is fair compensation for using my photographs but get their knickers in a knot if someone wants to do them the same favor with their words...

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

Don't even get me started. It's the same for graphics. I don't mind doing work for free, and I do a lot of it, but when I'm expected to do work for free, or someone uploading it to pirate site argues that the "exposure" is just compensation, I get annoyed.

[malkaesther.livejournal.com]

I'm not a photographer or graphic designer or musician but this attitude always annoys me. If you want your work respected respect others work.

[soon_lee]

I thought John Picacio might have jumped the gun last year. I was wrong. Sorry John.

[freshninja.livejournal.com]

He makes good points, but calling Wil Wheaton a major celebrity is pretty funny.

[soon_lee]

It might be like a saying that's become commonplace, World famous in New Zealand, that Wil Wheaton is World Famous in fandom.

[tandw.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know how much the sculptor (Gahan Wilson, IIRC) was paid for the previous award?