Photo: Kirill Balobanov

Commercial jobs disguised as TFP

In a TFP collaboration job, the photographer, the models, the stylists and the assistants are working completely free of charge. When someone earns money in a TFP, something doesn't adds up.

TFP jobs are not only the ideal way to get started in model photography, they are also the secret tool of many professionals to perfect themselves and create their own style, giving free rein to creativity without any client specifications.

Many times, TFP collaborations yield incredible artistic results that would very well be used for commercial purposes and have nothing to envy from professionally managed productions.

Unfortunately, on too many occasions we find companies and professionals looking for models, photographers, stylists and other artists to carry out work that will be used for commercial purposes, but without offering financial compensation. Those are the dreaded false TFP.

When is it ok to do TFP?

  • When the purpose of the entire team is to learn or improve.
  • When the resulting artworks are not going to be used commercially and no one on the team makes money with them.
  • If you need to start your portfolio or your book.
  • If you want to test ideas.
  • If the photos will be published in a magazine as an artistic work without commercial purpose and the entire team will be mentioned in the credits.

When should you not accept TFP?

  • When a brand or a company will use the resulting artworks to promote its products or services commercially.
  • When they require you to release your image or authorship rights in abusive terms.
  • When you don't get anything useful in return.

A TFP job cannot have commercial purposes

It is inevitable to find people who publish job offers and castings as TFP but with commercial purposes. Most of the time they look for amateur photographers, models or artists, and are willing to sacrifice the quality of the work to save the cost of hiring professionals.

If, despite everything, you decide to accept a job of this type, we recommend that you do so exclusively under the following circumstances:

  • When you have no experience, or very little.
  • If the quality of the team's portfolios seems good to you, so that the resulting work will be useful to you.
  • Whether the required image or authorship rights transfer is reasonable.

How do commercial TFPs harm the industry?

  • They undermine the value of artists' copyrights and models' image rights.
  • They impede the work of professionals, generating tough competition.
  • They make the careers of those who want to become professionals difficult.
  • They degrade the artistic quality of the advertising and photography industry.

How do we at Litmind act on this problem?

We believe that commercial jobs should be paid, and we try to get this message across to companies that post commercial jobs and castings as TFP on Litmind. However, as with so many other things, the solution is not as simple as it seems.

The notion of what is a commercial work and what is not remains difficult to understand for many, especially if they are just starting out. The type of remuneration to offer, the amount they must pay and even the legal hiring processes that take place in a commercial job are uncharted territory for many.

We try to help companies that really need to do commercial TFP jobs, but with certain limitations. We only allow castings and TFP collaborations for commercial purposes when they meet certain requirements, such as:

  1. When looking exclusively for models or artists without experience.
  2. When the transfer of image and authorship rights is requested for one year or less, geographically limited to a single country or region, and only for use on social networks and the brand's website.
  3. When the production is organized directly by the brand, and not through an agency or production company.
  4. When the company fits the microempresa definition as per the European Union recommendation 2003/361/CE, and is less than 2 years old.
  5. When the company agrees to deliver the entire resulting work to all members of the team, with an unlimited transfer of use rights.

What steps do we follow when someone tries to publish a commercial job as a TFP?

  • We explain the problem as best we can, providing the company with information so they understand it, including a link to this article.
  • We verify that both the job posting and the company meet the requirements to publish a TFP commercial job.
  • We invite them to modify the job posting to offer financial compensation, even if it is small.
  • We ensure that there is no ambiguity, marking the advertisement so that it is identified as a commercial TFP. We add the following notice to the announcement:
    • This is a non-paid job but with a commercial purpose.
    • Job seeking only people without experience.
    • We recommend you to take this job only if you consider it will serve you as a learning experience.
  • We allow users to configure in their settings whether or not they want to receive job postings of this type.

A reflection for those who organize TFP for commercial purposes

The photographers, stylists and models who are capable of building up a successful campaign are not amateurs: They are artists who made this craft their profession. They are able to understand the client's needs, communicate professionally and design complex productions that go far beyond some simple photos.

It's understandable that newly created brands need to save budget on advertising, but it could be argued that that's precisely the last thing they should do. Even with a small budget you will be able to find experienced professionals on sites like Litmind that will be able to turn your brand into a competitive contendent with beatiful and inspiring artworks that entice your clients to love your brand.

In this society of extreme advertising invasion where the consumer's attention is more tied to the image than to the product, trying to be competitive by saving on advertising seems counterintuitive.

We recommend companies that find themselves with this dilemma to remember what they really need: The bare-minimum photos to just simply get by without any real competitiveness, or a campaign that will shape the brand's image forever with a clear message, created by professional artists?


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