I say this as someone who's won two main prizes so I'm not bitter, just honest; the problem with Tongal is that way too often they have their contests where they are working with a client like Paramount (specifically for the Bumblee campaign) and they'll dangle a carrot of a big prize 'if' you're selected. You put all of this time and out of pocket money into the projects (which would be fine if you're going to do spec work anyway) but way too often it just disappears - no prize to anyone. No explanation and if you get one it's usually it's "the client didn't like any of the entries" but that wasn't what you were promised. You can't run contests and keep taking away the prizes, you still owe the contest the prize money, whether the client likes the ones or not. And, what's popped up now is that they will have you do the editing work for a spot... then you "might" get paid if they like your cut. How it's supposed to work is that you pitch yourself based on your reel then you get hired for the job 'then' you edit. But, again, if you're desperate and need stuff for your reel, that's on you and the potential of getting paid might be worth it. They mean well but they need to do a better job of the bait and switch. After the fourth project just disappeared (after the winners weren't being announced), I quit. If I'm doing spec work for free (with no potential of getting paid), I'll fund the types of commercials I'd rather do... not random clients.
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