Silencing the talents

A LONG time ago, in one of many conversations I would have with friends who were writing freelance for various magazines and publications, and sharing horror stories about missed checks and unpaid articles, I articulated how writers should come together and list down and call out these publications. The better to protect each other and begin the process of empowering ourselves in the face of creative abuse and exploitation.

It is at the heart of my continued insistence that there is a need for a real artists union in this country. One that protects member-writers, artists, illustrators, editors, musicians from abusive contractual employers, at the same time that it assures these contractors that employing union-artists will mean getting the service they ask for.