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Samples for Freelancers

I am interested to know other company's policies on giving a freelancer who worked on a part of a job a sample of the finished piece for their portfolio. (ie: copywriter, designer, illustrator, etc.) Thanks!

Cathy Thorin Hawkins Advertising Business Manager www.hawkinsadv.com

We always give samples to freelancers (usually illustrators or photographers) who have contributed to a project. Typically we request that this art be used for self-promotional materials only and state that on our purchase order.

Deb Harrington Princess of Power

I usually give them two samples if things are in short supply

Best,

Natalie Gerngross

It's appropriate. You should not feel threatened by a freelancer. Most clients hire a firm for their depth and collective offerings not just for the creative talent. As an agency owner an former freelancer I know the value good samples bring to an individual and feel they can claim some ownership if they were indeed a part of the work. Hopefully your freelancer is honest and of high integrity to only claim his/her participation. If not they will probably not succeed in stealing your work anyway.

Sonny Goodall

Yes. Always a good idea. Any agency/studio should be building in samples when the order is made. We do 50. Most go into the files for reference or to show other potential clients, but we do try to get a couple of samples of the finished product out to our freelance providers who helped us achieve success with the project.

It makes them happy. They like working with us. The client gets a better product.

Take care,

Phil Watkins creative director Wilson Chapman Advertising

They earned the right to put it in their book every bit as much as you earned the right to show it as work for your agency. It's the creative person's equivalent to a line item on their resume. Or think of it this way: To get work from you, they had to show work that they'd done. If you want them to succeed, they need to keep showing newer and better work (assuming it is good work, and if it isn't why would someone want a sample, anyway?) as they do it for other shops, like yours. Most photographers and illustrators, these days, already have provisions in their contracts to what parts of a job you own, and what rights remain theirs. Still, the better way to look at this is that you have people who you have to count on from time to time. One act of quid pro quo--read: goodwill--is to make sure that your freelancers get samples, too. Even better goodwill is to ask them before they ask you--as in: How many samples do you need? One man's opinion.

Frank Merriam