Craigslist is just about the most useful tool an honest, hardworking producer of video shorts could have.  To make a project move, you have to surround yourself with other energetic talents, and craigslist is a wonderful way to write a few paragraphs about what you’re doing, and have some really cool (and some really freaky) individuals reply that they want to create together.

Obnoxious part?  Getting “flagged & removed.”  This is a worth-while process that craigs has in place, allowing the community to strike down ads if they are inappropriate or violate policy.  However, if you put a listing up in the “gigs” section that doesn’t pay, people tend to strike it down.  My ads are always well within the rules–in fact, you must click a radio button indicating that a job is unpaid, so users can search by that option, eliminating unpaid gigs if they desire–but there are craigs readers who have taken it upon themselves to create a culture of paid gigs.  Reading the discussion forum about this problem, one hears the various voices of wisdom shrug and say there’s not much to be done, that a few people just don’t want unpaid gigs to survive.

Of course I understand that I’m asking people with marketable skills to come work on my projects, and that in a way it’s insulting that there shouldn’t be money involved.  But I’m not being greedy; I absolutely cannot pay people.  I don’t know how to write an ad that says, “There are a lot of people out there who might exploit you or ask you to work on a project that sucks.  But I’m one of the good guys, honest.”  (Because that’s what the bad guys say, too, of course.)  Meanwhile, there are plenty, plenty, plenty of people who are happy to gain experience and build their portfolios by working unpaid projects.  The self-appointed craigslist police keep those people from meeting us good guys.

Anyone know any other good places I can recruit crew?  Ones with LESS than a 50% chance of my ad getting banned in the first 24 hours?

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