Top tips for applying to creative commissions
A screenshot of Mona Lisa Saperstein from Parks and Recreation saying "MONEY PLEASE!"
Rising's Creative Practice Coordinator Eli lays out the essentials of putting together a basic pitch for a commission.
Hi everyone! Eli here from Rising to offer some of my top tips for applying for commissions. You could also use it as a starting point for pitching and budgeting for funding/open calls but this will be the most useful for people applying for our £100 Creative Commissions.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I have had a lot of applications rejected. But I have also had a few accepted, and I believe that every declined application, as annoying as they are, can be good practice for the next one — particularly if you can get feedback.
This is also the absolute basics. I encourage you to do your own thinking around each of these suggestions to figure out how they can work best for you. All brains are different!
FIRST: ARE YOU ACTUALLY RESPONDING TO THE PROMPT?
Whether it's a call for submissions to a zine, an application process for a lucrative job opportunity, or a tiny commission like ours, there are always people who don't read the call-out properly. Make sure what you're pitching is relevant. Read the prompt. Then, read it again. Read your pitch. Does it answer what the prompt is asking or are you just seeing what you want to see? There's no point pitching a beautiful illustration series about the wonders of swimming If the call-out is about food. Please. Do yourself a favour and double-check.
The same goes for any criteria provided by the commissioners: they will be using anything they provide to assess any submissions, so make sure you've had a quick read of everything.
The Overview
Now we know you're on the right track, can you offer a brief introduction to your concept? Key themes you want to explore, something that has inspired/prompted you to come up with this idea? Set the scene for the person reading your idea—remember, they're coming to this totally cold. What do they need to know?
TAKE THE READER BY THE HAND
The people you’re pitching to aren’t mind-readers. Imagine you’re taking them by the hand and guiding them through your idea. What will they see? Hear? Touch? What will you be trying to get the audience to experience? Is there a narrative you’ll be following or a feeling you’re trying to create? Spell it out.
MONEY: Realistic and Proportionate?
This is a big one—particularly for our Creative Commissions.
When we’re offering out a commission, we will always consider whether the idea you are pitching matches with the amount of money you’d be paid to do it. Remember: your time is valuable, and you should be paid for it. Don’t pitch something incredibly ambitious and time-consuming when the fee is small — either you won’t get the commission (boo!) or you will, and you’ll end up getting a really bad deal. It’s far, far better to pitch something smaller that matches the fee perfectly.
Here’s a basic way to work out whether your idea matches the fee:
You should be getting paid at least the real living wage (£9.30/hour outside of London).
How much do you estimate your idea will take? (Don’t kid yourself and say ‘2 hours’ when you know full well it’s a day and a half).
Living Wage (at least!!!!!) x Hours You Estimate = The Bare Minimum
Let’s say you’re pitching a photo essay, and you think it’ll take you about 2hours to plan the images you want to take, 1 hour total to travel to & from your locations, 2 hours to shoot, and about 4 hours to edit and present the images. That’s 9 hours of work (at least!), not including the time you should take for breaks, adjusting for any errors, and protecting your wellbeing. Let’s add on another 2 hours for that. So that’s 11 hours.
Meaning the fee for that photo essay should be at least £102.30. Bare minimum.
Things this fee doesn’t account for: the time you spent learning the editing software which now means you only take 4 hours to edit; the fee for that software; expenses like travel or food; your personal insight and expertise…. and more!
Really, you’d want the fee to start at £150/£200 plus expenses (and as you get more experience this will go up and up).
(Another basic rule of thumb: starter day rate for an early-career freelancer is usually between £80-£150.)
TALKING SPECIFICALLY ABOUT OUR £100 CREATIVE COMMISSIONS, WITH ALL THAT IN MIND:
£100 is not a lot of money. These commissions are a way for us to put a bit of money in the hands of young people during a global pandemic, whilst giving an opportunity to be creative.
Any pitches should be very brief and take you a very short amount of time to come up with. I’m talking no more than an hour. If you can come up with something in 20 minutes, 10 minutes, one minute—even better! As long as you’ve covered all the bases above, that’s all we need.
Any ideas pitched should be doable in less than 8 hours (absolute maximum).
We hope that one day we’ll be able to offer out massive, f*ck-off funding for something enormous and brilliant, but until then keep it pocket-sized and easy.
Final tip: If feedback is offered, take it!
That one speaks for itself.
TO RECAP:
1. Set The Scene.
2. Take the Reader by the Hand [SPELL IT OUT].
3. MONEY: Realistic and Proportionate.
4. Get Feedback If You Can
I hope that helps. Good luck pitching!