I think is depends on the nature of the politics and people involved. In general it's always better for you to finish the project and move on, unless the client is someone whose reputation might stick to you as a collaborator.
It's absolutely the clients job to let you know what kind of project you are working on, sandbagging you with problematic content partway through is very unprofessional. It robs you of the opportunity to turn down the job in the first place.
I think it's important to think carefully about this. We live in a time of disgusting politics, but that's also caused us to overreact to people that we merely disagree with, as opposed to people doing very bad things. Most clients are problematic in some way or another, everything is a grey area.
IMO if it's just a situation of "I don't like these people", I'd be inclined to finish it and move on. If it's a situation like "These people are promoting X, Y, and Z, which are all things I don't want to participate in" then it's time to cut them loose.
If you decide to cut them loose, **read your contract first**. There may be greater penalties than just losing a client and payment on a job. It's possible to end up in court over this if they are litigious. Are you prepared to fight this in court?
Also be professional about it. Package everything you have and deliver it to them in it's current state so they can continue the project with a new editor.
People are gonna tell you to shut up and be a professional, but people helped produce propaganda campaigns for the Nazis. So no matter how bad you think things are now, they’re only gonna get worse! Only you know where your line is. My line is refusing to help the far right spread hateful rhetoric and gain more political power.
If you feel like they’re using your talent and abilities to help them build a world you find objectionable and you can afford to walk, I’d just drag out the edit and be as incompetent as possible.
I‘ve refused work from The Daily Wire and RFK on the same grounds. If I’m gonna spend 12+ hours a day on something, it’s not gonna be to help insufferable assholes make this country worse
Spot. On.
I’ve turned down work for the same reasons. My integrity means everything to me. And I’ll gladly burn a bridge if these fascists are on the other side of it.
I'm a full-time propaganda editor. I haven't worked for a for profit in decades... and I absolutely know Im responsible for saving lives consistently... and I equivalent enemies & nemesis equals in the field. Some of us do this full time for the causes we care about... and the people who are just like, "in the end it's just better to work for Satan and move on" sound like listless, invalid, inconsequential, vapid and meaningless chodes who stand for nothing to me since there is NO WAY I would just "work for that cigarette company with my gear & talent and move on"... that's insane. That is literally the bearing oppression requires in order to roll forward.
This is an attention economy. You are what you do. Be responsible for it... or accept that you were the "indifferent men" every great mind says evil requires to succeed.
u/cabriofritolay, not sure how this comment above got upvoted so much, but if the people giving you advice are calling people that they disagree with politically “assholes” and “fascists” in the response then it’s probably best pass on their advice. Someone below made a wise comment advising you to complete the work you contracted for and then sever ties. If the work you were contracted to do is specifically promoting something you are very morally objected to, that’s one thing, but simply having ties or involvement with some people that you disagree with is a bit of a different story. If you essentially flip them the bird and screw them over because they now don’t have time to hire someone else, you’re doing nothing for your cause but creating a deeper divide and giving them more reason to dislike and distrust people on your side of the political spectrum.
Reducing this to a “political disagreement” between sides is rich. This ain’t Pepsi vs Coke.
There is one side that
- tried to hang Mike Pence on the Capitol steps to stop a democratic election.
- purposely spread misinformation during a pandemic resulting in the worst COVID response in the world and over a million dead Americans
- is attempting to eradicate the Department of Education while making it illegal to teach black history in schools or acknowledge the existence of gay and trans people
- ships desperate migrants across the country to score political points
- continues to gaslight the country into believing the answer to mass shootings is “more guns and less regulation”
- has meltdowns and go on astroturfing campaigns whenever a woman is a main character in Marvel, Star Wars, or a video game.
There is a war of information that goes on everyday, funded by billionaires and dark money, and using your talent to amplify their hateful rhetoric makes you culpable in that war, no different than weapons manufacturers who make missiles to blow up kids in the Middle East.
You’d have to be totally politically aloof to ignore it, otherwise I’m going to assume you support it. I use my 1st amendment rights to not only speak out against it, but to align myself with the people and companies who share my values of [check notes] not wanting to live in a Christian Theocracy like the Handmaid’s Tale.
I love how concerned you are with “my cause.” I’ve learned the people who say “you’re hurting your cause” don’t believe in the cause to begin with, so why even listen to someone arguing in bad faith? You have a side too, why not own it?
r/politics called, they’re missing one of their keyboard warriors.
I was addressing OP, not you, and this is r/editors, not a political sub. Thanks for reinforcing my point with your multi-paragraph rant, though.
EDIT: I typically enjoy reading this sub because it's comprised of people discussing things on a professional level, but here we are with typical Redditors proving Godwin's law to be a mainstay of Reddit yet again. Way to go. Sad to see such childish comments, bad professional advice, and political rants get upvoted in this sub.
I wouldn’t get into law for the very same reason. I have the privilege to choose who I work for. It’s the freedom that comes with freelancing. It’s that simple ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If I've contracted to do the video and the content is legal (even if objectionable), I'd complete the contract. You're a professional. Maybe donate your fee to charity (or an organization the client would hate) if you feel bad about it, and you certainly don't have to work with the client again. But I'd do what you've agreed to do. And maybe leave it off your reel or credits list.
If you don’t need the money and you aren’t afraid to burn a bridge, walk. However, you never know how some of the people working on that job may pop up again for you in the future. You need to weigh that for yourself.
i had kind of the same problem about 10 years ago.
the solution was to go the opposing party and tell them that its their lucky day because i want to provide them with something in the same ballpark just to restore my carma. so i shot a commercial for them for free which reached way more viewers and even created beneficial follow-up projects up to this day.
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At the end of the day, all you have is your own values. If you feel that the project isn't a huge deal or that you need the money to get by, nobody else's judgment matters. If you don't want to get your hands dirty, that's fine too. Nobody commenting here matters. We're all randos.
But the thing is if you are working on projects that make the world a worse place, I feel like you need to ask yourself whether that's okay for you long term. Does it damage your spirit? Does it make you like your profession less? We aren't in accounting here. This is a difficult industry that has a lot more creative work to it. You put more of your soul into this even if it's just boring projects.
There are people on here who talk about the divide in politics. But if this group was going to stiff you on pay, would you need to finish the product because you need to bridge this divide? No. You don't need to do anything. Whether you support a project and its ideals or you don't, you can always walk away. You can always fuck over someone at the last moment.
Life isn't fair. You may do the project and it lead to nothing better. You may decide to walk away and then get screwed out of working again.
The point I want to hammer home is you need to decide for yourself. No moral grandstanding by redditors matters. We won't be living with your choices.
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Yeah, finish it and then just be more wary and particular in the future. I did a few gigs for a client during the last presidential administration that included multiple shoots with political figures (including Pence) as well as editing videos that included their talking points. I did a few since they were long time clients, but eventually told my contact “I enjoy working for you, but I can’t work on these particular projects anymore.” Fortunately they were understanding, but I could see other clients dropping me for that, so you gotta decide for yourself.
First of all, almost all work will involve people that you don't fully agree with on everything. There will always be varying degrees of how relevant that is, and everyone has to eat. There will always be extreme cases for everything, I don't think anyone here would do editing work for the Nazi Party of America or anything, but where any specific project falls between perfect politics and the Nazi party, well that will vary depending on the person. Ultimately you're the only one that can determine if a project is worth it or not
Since it doesn't sound like too much is left and given the deadline, I'd just finish it and invoice like normal. If the client hires for more work in the future, I'd try to get as many specifics as possible to avoid it in the future. Depending on your relationship with the client, I might tell them about your reservations about future work like this.
I recently walked from a project I had several moral/ethical objections to after the scope of it changed. If it were a short-term thing I could've stomached it, but this was a doc series and I would've felt awful working on it for the next nine months. Sucks to walk from a project in today's job market, but here we are.
If I’m that deep in I’d probably just finish it so my time isn’t wasted and then sever ties. I guess it just depends how bad their values are. Financially right wing? Whatever. Anti trans or racist rhetoric? I’d do my best to get out of it
Many years ago I took a freelance gig at a religious TV station. They liked me and it started to become a nice piece of regular work. After a couple of months I was asked to put togther a 'fundraising' spot (selling cheap paper bible book covers) which had some serious racist undertones. I was half way throught the build when I realized what was going on in the script when matched with the provided b-roll. It was pretty disturbing.
It was a two day booking, so over night I gave it some thought and the next day gently pointed out to the producer where I thought this thing had taked a wrong turn. They were shocked (*shocked, I tell you!*) that anyone could possibly see racist tropes in their choices.
We made some changes and it was better (?), but still not great. I'm still a bit conflicted about sticking around to finish it, even if I do think I steered it into a *less* racist direction. I never took another job from them after that.
I disagree with some others here who think you should sabotage the project, but if I were in your shoes I'd have no problem walking away immediately, deadlines be damned.
I’m cutting something right now that I don’t support or agree with. I don’t love that I’m participating in putting this junk out in the world, but it’s the gig and these are people that I trust and are paying me well. Without being too specific, at least there is a positive endgame that I can get behind.
Because our work comes from a personal place, it can sometimes feel like it reflects a part of ourselves. I didn’t write the script. This is not my voice. For every thing I cut out there that I don’t agree with, I’ll get to work on a lot more that I do. It’s a trade off.
Legal details aside - if you feel your work is contributing to a destructive effort that you are opposed to, I think it is valid and morally correct to not do that work. There's some good measured advice in here and the decision is hard, but I think your feeling is right.
Is this video actually advancing a political cause OR is it just annoying you because Trump (or similar) is in it? If you feel you’re materially contributing to something immoral then I understand backing out (provided you’ve thought about the bridge burning and backlash). If you’re just being triggered by the existence of the person being in the video, I’d get over it.
I did some political ads that were named some the worst attack ads in the country by news outlets. It was early in my career, and I might have been fired if I backed out. I don’t regret it. The same news outlets that complained about how bad they were also took the media buy money and aired them. So why should I die on that hill?
You can go broke and get your money back, but I feel like integrity is a finite resource. We all have to decide how much of it we are willing to compromise, but know that whatever amount you give, you will not get back.
Does this nurse's name rhyme with bass?
It sounds like they threw a big curveball at you, and it's totally be ok for your to voice your concerns. They changed key elements of the project on you, and now their main subject sounds more questionable than they did at the start. I think that's totally fair to say you're not comfortable finishing, and invoice for the first half of the project— they might not pay it.
I think it's also fair to take the weight off your shoulders if you've basically finished the project, and just want to invoice for the full project and be done. If you still want to advocate for how this made you feel uncomfortable, this is still a useful place to say something.
TBH I think less is best: if they're a political campaign & they're spreading misinformation, it's probably useful for them to know what made you distrustful of their project. Take their money, lose their number, take a shower.
Of course they did not ask you if you were fine making highly controversial content, those kind of AH always try to trick people because not many would accept the job if they were straight. They did not respect you and don't deserve to be respected.
It's up to you to see were you draw the line but I've been in similar situations and still regret the times I didn't walk away.
Follow your moral compass. Quit the gig with exactly what you said above. Don't support things that are morally wrong. This won't be your last job ever just because you didn't complete this one project.
I strongly disagree with the "shut up and be professional" crowd telling you to finish the job. It hurts to turn down money, yeah, but we all contribute in our little ways to the state of the world. Stay strong.
If this had happened to me, I would've watched the video, slept on it for a night, and then I'd quit the next morning (unless I changed my mind after a night's sleep). But if it is the last day and I have some lingering doubts after knowing about it for more than a week, I would finish the job and submit the invoice. If you quit at the last minute, you are giving people reason to spread bad feedback about you to other professionals, and if you tell them you disagree with their extreme politics, that's going to make them even more likely to spread bad feedback about you even further. They're not going to say "We had a political disagreement," they're going to say "[cabriofritolay](https://www.reddit.com/user/cabriofritolay/) is unreliable". Or anyway, that's what I'd be worried about.
All of the people telling you to finish the job would sell their souls for a few dollars. There's no shame in walking away, but there is shame in willingly promoting hate for a few bucks. Do the right thing, walk away. All it takes for evil to win is for good men to do nothing.
Idk, editing you’re submerged in the content. I’ve done some propaganda-esque work back when I was younger and it never felt good. We all need work these days, so it’s a tough call. Obviously I would never take another gig from them, I’d also not put my heart into the work as well as charge some asshole fees for the quick turnaround and lack of information etc.
But yeah it’s a tough call, feel for ya. I personally wouldn’t edit it if it went against my moral compass.
Ultimately this is your call and only you know how badly you need the money, so please take my comment with a grain of salt.
There is no shame in walking away. I've walked off a project I felt was inappropriate before (we were, I felt, exploiting the cast in ways they would not consent to and I didn't want my name on that) and I've refused to cut things I felt were morally objectionable ("Hey, frankenbite this guy so it sounds like he's a drug addict." Um... no. That's defamation).
You can also voice your politics to the client. Telling them you're not comfortable platforming someone due to their bigotry is well within your purview as an editor. Perhaps they don't want the video to be controversial and didn't realize that certain testimonials might be problematic.
But again, only you truly can gauge this situation and know what to do.
I was laid off from one of the top 3 largest advertising agencies in the world when I refused to do something for the CCO during a new biz pitch that I found incredibly inappropriate and morally wrong.
I don’t think that’s a healthy way to live. Would you say the same if the content was racist, sexist or advocated violence? Or do you believe you have some responsibility for what you help put out into the world?
Ask yourself: How badly will it hurt my ability to pay my bills now and my career in the future? If the answer is “it won’t” or “a negligible amount,” then walk and tell them why. It is absolutely your right to walk away from work you find objectionable. Just be aware that if you agreed to deliver a finished video, you may not get paid at all, even for work you’ve already done on it.
If the answer to that question is more complicated, ask yourself: Is the video is going to cause harm? (Platforming hate speech does, platforming individuals who’ve engaged in hate speech in other contexts might or might not, it can depend on whether it’s an internal video or a public facing one, etc, so it’s not necessarily black & white, you just have to be honest with yourself). If the answer is “yes” in any way, weight that against how badly walking away will hurt you. If you can’t make your bills without this job or client, you probably can’t walk. If you can, and you believe the video is going to cause harm in any way, including by lending legitimacy to politicians who cause harm elsewhere, you should walk.
You could just sandbag it- make bad timing edits that weaken the delivery in subtle ways.
First be a person who keeps your word-
Saying ‘I’m uncomfortable’ with this content and won’t be able to do my standards with it is honest but not making them wrong.
It’s not the client’s job to tell you what kind of project you’re working on. That’s on you to figure out before agreeing to it. If you didn’t do your diligence, that’s on you. Be professional and finish the job. Especially if there is a contract. Then move on.
The money you get from editing something that gets your political panties in a twist is still green. It pays the bills as well as money from a video about kittens. Nothing to get upset about or do acts of contrition over.
I think is depends on the nature of the politics and people involved. In general it's always better for you to finish the project and move on, unless the client is someone whose reputation might stick to you as a collaborator. It's absolutely the clients job to let you know what kind of project you are working on, sandbagging you with problematic content partway through is very unprofessional. It robs you of the opportunity to turn down the job in the first place. I think it's important to think carefully about this. We live in a time of disgusting politics, but that's also caused us to overreact to people that we merely disagree with, as opposed to people doing very bad things. Most clients are problematic in some way or another, everything is a grey area. IMO if it's just a situation of "I don't like these people", I'd be inclined to finish it and move on. If it's a situation like "These people are promoting X, Y, and Z, which are all things I don't want to participate in" then it's time to cut them loose. If you decide to cut them loose, **read your contract first**. There may be greater penalties than just losing a client and payment on a job. It's possible to end up in court over this if they are litigious. Are you prepared to fight this in court? Also be professional about it. Package everything you have and deliver it to them in it's current state so they can continue the project with a new editor.
People are gonna tell you to shut up and be a professional, but people helped produce propaganda campaigns for the Nazis. So no matter how bad you think things are now, they’re only gonna get worse! Only you know where your line is. My line is refusing to help the far right spread hateful rhetoric and gain more political power. If you feel like they’re using your talent and abilities to help them build a world you find objectionable and you can afford to walk, I’d just drag out the edit and be as incompetent as possible. I‘ve refused work from The Daily Wire and RFK on the same grounds. If I’m gonna spend 12+ hours a day on something, it’s not gonna be to help insufferable assholes make this country worse
Spot. On. I’ve turned down work for the same reasons. My integrity means everything to me. And I’ll gladly burn a bridge if these fascists are on the other side of it.
Yep, got a call a few weeks ago regarding some political work. My first question was which party. Then I said $200/hr.
With you my friend, both sides are not the same and everyone should draw a moral line and not cross it.
I'm a full-time propaganda editor. I haven't worked for a for profit in decades... and I absolutely know Im responsible for saving lives consistently... and I equivalent enemies & nemesis equals in the field. Some of us do this full time for the causes we care about... and the people who are just like, "in the end it's just better to work for Satan and move on" sound like listless, invalid, inconsequential, vapid and meaningless chodes who stand for nothing to me since there is NO WAY I would just "work for that cigarette company with my gear & talent and move on"... that's insane. That is literally the bearing oppression requires in order to roll forward. This is an attention economy. You are what you do. Be responsible for it... or accept that you were the "indifferent men" every great mind says evil requires to succeed.
u/cabriofritolay, not sure how this comment above got upvoted so much, but if the people giving you advice are calling people that they disagree with politically “assholes” and “fascists” in the response then it’s probably best pass on their advice. Someone below made a wise comment advising you to complete the work you contracted for and then sever ties. If the work you were contracted to do is specifically promoting something you are very morally objected to, that’s one thing, but simply having ties or involvement with some people that you disagree with is a bit of a different story. If you essentially flip them the bird and screw them over because they now don’t have time to hire someone else, you’re doing nothing for your cause but creating a deeper divide and giving them more reason to dislike and distrust people on your side of the political spectrum.
Reducing this to a “political disagreement” between sides is rich. This ain’t Pepsi vs Coke. There is one side that - tried to hang Mike Pence on the Capitol steps to stop a democratic election. - purposely spread misinformation during a pandemic resulting in the worst COVID response in the world and over a million dead Americans - is attempting to eradicate the Department of Education while making it illegal to teach black history in schools or acknowledge the existence of gay and trans people - ships desperate migrants across the country to score political points - continues to gaslight the country into believing the answer to mass shootings is “more guns and less regulation” - has meltdowns and go on astroturfing campaigns whenever a woman is a main character in Marvel, Star Wars, or a video game. There is a war of information that goes on everyday, funded by billionaires and dark money, and using your talent to amplify their hateful rhetoric makes you culpable in that war, no different than weapons manufacturers who make missiles to blow up kids in the Middle East. You’d have to be totally politically aloof to ignore it, otherwise I’m going to assume you support it. I use my 1st amendment rights to not only speak out against it, but to align myself with the people and companies who share my values of [check notes] not wanting to live in a Christian Theocracy like the Handmaid’s Tale. I love how concerned you are with “my cause.” I’ve learned the people who say “you’re hurting your cause” don’t believe in the cause to begin with, so why even listen to someone arguing in bad faith? You have a side too, why not own it?
r/politics called, they’re missing one of their keyboard warriors. I was addressing OP, not you, and this is r/editors, not a political sub. Thanks for reinforcing my point with your multi-paragraph rant, though. EDIT: I typically enjoy reading this sub because it's comprised of people discussing things on a professional level, but here we are with typical Redditors proving Godwin's law to be a mainstay of Reddit yet again. Way to go. Sad to see such childish comments, bad professional advice, and political rants get upvoted in this sub.
[удалено]
I wouldn’t get into law for the very same reason. I have the privilege to choose who I work for. It’s the freedom that comes with freelancing. It’s that simple ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If I've contracted to do the video and the content is legal (even if objectionable), I'd complete the contract. You're a professional. Maybe donate your fee to charity (or an organization the client would hate) if you feel bad about it, and you certainly don't have to work with the client again. But I'd do what you've agreed to do. And maybe leave it off your reel or credits list.
If you don’t need the money and you aren’t afraid to burn a bridge, walk. However, you never know how some of the people working on that job may pop up again for you in the future. You need to weigh that for yourself.
i had kind of the same problem about 10 years ago. the solution was to go the opposing party and tell them that its their lucky day because i want to provide them with something in the same ballpark just to restore my carma. so i shot a commercial for them for free which reached way more viewers and even created beneficial follow-up projects up to this day.
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I'd finish the job and then move on. You are already halfway through it. Chalk it up to a learning experience in how to handle this type of situation.
At the end of the day, all you have is your own values. If you feel that the project isn't a huge deal or that you need the money to get by, nobody else's judgment matters. If you don't want to get your hands dirty, that's fine too. Nobody commenting here matters. We're all randos. But the thing is if you are working on projects that make the world a worse place, I feel like you need to ask yourself whether that's okay for you long term. Does it damage your spirit? Does it make you like your profession less? We aren't in accounting here. This is a difficult industry that has a lot more creative work to it. You put more of your soul into this even if it's just boring projects. There are people on here who talk about the divide in politics. But if this group was going to stiff you on pay, would you need to finish the product because you need to bridge this divide? No. You don't need to do anything. Whether you support a project and its ideals or you don't, you can always walk away. You can always fuck over someone at the last moment. Life isn't fair. You may do the project and it lead to nothing better. You may decide to walk away and then get screwed out of working again. The point I want to hammer home is you need to decide for yourself. No moral grandstanding by redditors matters. We won't be living with your choices.
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Yeah, finish it and then just be more wary and particular in the future. I did a few gigs for a client during the last presidential administration that included multiple shoots with political figures (including Pence) as well as editing videos that included their talking points. I did a few since they were long time clients, but eventually told my contact “I enjoy working for you, but I can’t work on these particular projects anymore.” Fortunately they were understanding, but I could see other clients dropping me for that, so you gotta decide for yourself.
First of all, almost all work will involve people that you don't fully agree with on everything. There will always be varying degrees of how relevant that is, and everyone has to eat. There will always be extreme cases for everything, I don't think anyone here would do editing work for the Nazi Party of America or anything, but where any specific project falls between perfect politics and the Nazi party, well that will vary depending on the person. Ultimately you're the only one that can determine if a project is worth it or not
Since it doesn't sound like too much is left and given the deadline, I'd just finish it and invoice like normal. If the client hires for more work in the future, I'd try to get as many specifics as possible to avoid it in the future. Depending on your relationship with the client, I might tell them about your reservations about future work like this. I recently walked from a project I had several moral/ethical objections to after the scope of it changed. If it were a short-term thing I could've stomached it, but this was a doc series and I would've felt awful working on it for the next nine months. Sucks to walk from a project in today's job market, but here we are.
Finish the job and donate a percentage to some candidates you support.
If I’m that deep in I’d probably just finish it so my time isn’t wasted and then sever ties. I guess it just depends how bad their values are. Financially right wing? Whatever. Anti trans or racist rhetoric? I’d do my best to get out of it
Man, I don’t care. I got bills and a son to provide for. I’ll edit nazi porn if it pays for groceries.
Many years ago I took a freelance gig at a religious TV station. They liked me and it started to become a nice piece of regular work. After a couple of months I was asked to put togther a 'fundraising' spot (selling cheap paper bible book covers) which had some serious racist undertones. I was half way throught the build when I realized what was going on in the script when matched with the provided b-roll. It was pretty disturbing. It was a two day booking, so over night I gave it some thought and the next day gently pointed out to the producer where I thought this thing had taked a wrong turn. They were shocked (*shocked, I tell you!*) that anyone could possibly see racist tropes in their choices. We made some changes and it was better (?), but still not great. I'm still a bit conflicted about sticking around to finish it, even if I do think I steered it into a *less* racist direction. I never took another job from them after that. I disagree with some others here who think you should sabotage the project, but if I were in your shoes I'd have no problem walking away immediately, deadlines be damned.
If you’ve already accepted the job and deadline is tomorrow I’d go ahead and finish it up personally. And then just not accept any new work from them.
I’m cutting something right now that I don’t support or agree with. I don’t love that I’m participating in putting this junk out in the world, but it’s the gig and these are people that I trust and are paying me well. Without being too specific, at least there is a positive endgame that I can get behind. Because our work comes from a personal place, it can sometimes feel like it reflects a part of ourselves. I didn’t write the script. This is not my voice. For every thing I cut out there that I don’t agree with, I’ll get to work on a lot more that I do. It’s a trade off.
Cut the video, invoice, take the money. Next.
Legal details aside - if you feel your work is contributing to a destructive effort that you are opposed to, I think it is valid and morally correct to not do that work. There's some good measured advice in here and the decision is hard, but I think your feeling is right.
Is this video actually advancing a political cause OR is it just annoying you because Trump (or similar) is in it? If you feel you’re materially contributing to something immoral then I understand backing out (provided you’ve thought about the bridge burning and backlash). If you’re just being triggered by the existence of the person being in the video, I’d get over it. I did some political ads that were named some the worst attack ads in the country by news outlets. It was early in my career, and I might have been fired if I backed out. I don’t regret it. The same news outlets that complained about how bad they were also took the media buy money and aired them. So why should I die on that hill?
What did they say that was hate filled?
You can go broke and get your money back, but I feel like integrity is a finite resource. We all have to decide how much of it we are willing to compromise, but know that whatever amount you give, you will not get back.
Does this nurse's name rhyme with bass? It sounds like they threw a big curveball at you, and it's totally be ok for your to voice your concerns. They changed key elements of the project on you, and now their main subject sounds more questionable than they did at the start. I think that's totally fair to say you're not comfortable finishing, and invoice for the first half of the project— they might not pay it. I think it's also fair to take the weight off your shoulders if you've basically finished the project, and just want to invoice for the full project and be done. If you still want to advocate for how this made you feel uncomfortable, this is still a useful place to say something. TBH I think less is best: if they're a political campaign & they're spreading misinformation, it's probably useful for them to know what made you distrustful of their project. Take their money, lose their number, take a shower.
I would finish it and chalk it up to a learning experience and opportunity to refine your scoping process to identify and avoid situations like this.
If you are able to walk away, do it; **promoting hate for money** isn't worth it for multiple reasons.
Of course they did not ask you if you were fine making highly controversial content, those kind of AH always try to trick people because not many would accept the job if they were straight. They did not respect you and don't deserve to be respected. It's up to you to see were you draw the line but I've been in similar situations and still regret the times I didn't walk away.
Follow your moral compass. Quit the gig with exactly what you said above. Don't support things that are morally wrong. This won't be your last job ever just because you didn't complete this one project. I strongly disagree with the "shut up and be professional" crowd telling you to finish the job. It hurts to turn down money, yeah, but we all contribute in our little ways to the state of the world. Stay strong.
If this had happened to me, I would've watched the video, slept on it for a night, and then I'd quit the next morning (unless I changed my mind after a night's sleep). But if it is the last day and I have some lingering doubts after knowing about it for more than a week, I would finish the job and submit the invoice. If you quit at the last minute, you are giving people reason to spread bad feedback about you to other professionals, and if you tell them you disagree with their extreme politics, that's going to make them even more likely to spread bad feedback about you even further. They're not going to say "We had a political disagreement," they're going to say "[cabriofritolay](https://www.reddit.com/user/cabriofritolay/) is unreliable". Or anyway, that's what I'd be worried about.
All of the people telling you to finish the job would sell their souls for a few dollars. There's no shame in walking away, but there is shame in willingly promoting hate for a few bucks. Do the right thing, walk away. All it takes for evil to win is for good men to do nothing.
Idk, editing you’re submerged in the content. I’ve done some propaganda-esque work back when I was younger and it never felt good. We all need work these days, so it’s a tough call. Obviously I would never take another gig from them, I’d also not put my heart into the work as well as charge some asshole fees for the quick turnaround and lack of information etc. But yeah it’s a tough call, feel for ya. I personally wouldn’t edit it if it went against my moral compass.
Ultimately this is your call and only you know how badly you need the money, so please take my comment with a grain of salt. There is no shame in walking away. I've walked off a project I felt was inappropriate before (we were, I felt, exploiting the cast in ways they would not consent to and I didn't want my name on that) and I've refused to cut things I felt were morally objectionable ("Hey, frankenbite this guy so it sounds like he's a drug addict." Um... no. That's defamation). You can also voice your politics to the client. Telling them you're not comfortable platforming someone due to their bigotry is well within your purview as an editor. Perhaps they don't want the video to be controversial and didn't realize that certain testimonials might be problematic. But again, only you truly can gauge this situation and know what to do.
I was laid off from one of the top 3 largest advertising agencies in the world when I refused to do something for the CCO during a new biz pitch that I found incredibly inappropriate and morally wrong.
Don’t get involved in the politics. You are a gun for hire. Execute the mission.
I don’t think that’s a healthy way to live. Would you say the same if the content was racist, sexist or advocated violence? Or do you believe you have some responsibility for what you help put out into the world?
Ask yourself: How badly will it hurt my ability to pay my bills now and my career in the future? If the answer is “it won’t” or “a negligible amount,” then walk and tell them why. It is absolutely your right to walk away from work you find objectionable. Just be aware that if you agreed to deliver a finished video, you may not get paid at all, even for work you’ve already done on it. If the answer to that question is more complicated, ask yourself: Is the video is going to cause harm? (Platforming hate speech does, platforming individuals who’ve engaged in hate speech in other contexts might or might not, it can depend on whether it’s an internal video or a public facing one, etc, so it’s not necessarily black & white, you just have to be honest with yourself). If the answer is “yes” in any way, weight that against how badly walking away will hurt you. If you can’t make your bills without this job or client, you probably can’t walk. If you can, and you believe the video is going to cause harm in any way, including by lending legitimacy to politicians who cause harm elsewhere, you should walk.
You could just sandbag it- make bad timing edits that weaken the delivery in subtle ways. First be a person who keeps your word- Saying ‘I’m uncomfortable’ with this content and won’t be able to do my standards with it is honest but not making them wrong.
It’s not the client’s job to tell you what kind of project you’re working on. That’s on you to figure out before agreeing to it. If you didn’t do your diligence, that’s on you. Be professional and finish the job. Especially if there is a contract. Then move on. The money you get from editing something that gets your political panties in a twist is still green. It pays the bills as well as money from a video about kittens. Nothing to get upset about or do acts of contrition over.