When the topic of freelance writing costs and prices comes up, I always think of a story told to me by a fellow freelancer. Here it is: feel free to use it.

A w//ell-known freelance ad writer stopped in at the shoot for a commercial he scripted, just to press the flesh. It was a big-time film production, with a huge crew and the requisite bevy of agency and client hangers-on. He watched as the on-camera talent endlessly repeated a fairly pedestrian line he was having an uncommonly hard time interpreting. As costly shoot time dragged on, the agency account executive and the client pulled the copywriter aside. "This is costing us a fortune," they said. "Could you come up with something that would work better?" The writer nodded, grabbed a pad of paper and walked over to a dark corner of the studio. A few minutes later he returned and handed the account exec a sheet from the pad. The AEs face immediately brightened. The client read it and pronounced it brilliant. The talent delivered it flawlessly, thus saving the shoot. At the wrap party, the client spoke to the writer. "Of course, I expect you to charge me for your work. How much will it be?" "That'll be $1200," said the writer. "$1200?" the client exclaimed, "Why, that took you only three minutes to write!" The writer fixed him with a firm, confident stare. "Buddy," he said, "that took me twenty five years to write."//

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