Don’t sign a freelance contract or employment agreement until you’ve heard from our panel of experts about how to negotiate like a pro. Learn how to detect common contract traps, protect your rights and land the pay you deserve.
Panelists: Andrew Bender, Randy Dotinga, Robin Rauzi, Shaun Spalding, Sean Taylor
Award-winning travel and food writer ANDREW BENDER writes the Seat 1A travel site for Forbes and articles and guide books for dozens of other publications from the Los Angeles Times to Lonely Planet. His coverage of Palm Springs and California’s deserts for Lonely Planet received the prestigious Eureka! Travel Writing Award from Visit California, and his annual Top 10 Food Trends and Gift Guide for Travelers articles for Forbes have become required reading in their industries. Yet another travel writer with an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, he is also a cross-cultural consultant, working with multinational businesses about overcoming cultural differences.
RANDY DOTINGA is former president of the American Society of Journalists & Authors, a 1,200-member nonprofit association that serves as a voice and resource for independent writers. He has been a full-time freelance journalist for nearly 20 years.
ROBIN RAUZI is a freelance editor specializing in nonfiction, particularly op-eds and other forms of persuasive writing. She was a full-time writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times for 13 years, during which time she worked on entertainment, travel and opinion desks. Her last position was articles editor for the Op Ed page, which meant collaborating with activists, academics, politicians and other subject matter experts to craft lively and convincing essays. She started Get Rauzi Editorial Services in 2009 to provide line editing to companies, nonprofits, writers and publications. (She continues to provide temporary vacation-relief editing for the Times.) She’s edited scores of corporate white papers and reports, edited books on the farm bill and climate change, drafted development materials for the LA Phil, and built a few websites too. In mid-2017, she launched a online personal writing program called 40 Days & 40 Writes, which you can read about at birdsinabarrel.com. Rauzi’s approach to editing is deeply shaped by journalism, where it’s the job of an editor to collaborate with a writer to produce the best work in service of the reader. Years on a daily newspaper also mean she gets up to speed on new topics in a hurry and turns things around on a tight deadline. Rauzi has a bachelor’s in screenwriting from University of Southern California and a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio University. She has four cats, practices yoga three times a week, sings in two choirs and grows the best backyard avocados in Silver Lake.
SHAUN SPALDING is an intellectual property attorney specializing in digital entertainment transactions/licensing and assistant director of New Media Rights, a San Diego-based nonprofit that represents creators and startups working on educational or innovative projects who may not otherwise be able to afford legal services. He is also a professor at California Western School of Law.
SEAN TAYLOR joined the SAG-AFTRA San Francisco/Northern California local as the Executive Director in the fall of 2016. Prior to leading the San Francisco/Northern California SAG-AFTRA local, Sean served as the Assistant Executive Director/ Central Regional Director at Actors’ Equity Association. Taylor holds a Juris Doctorate from Chicago’s John Marshall School of Law and came to SAG-AFTRA with extensive experience in contract enforcement and negotiations.