Advice on how to set up a contract for a paid brainstorming session about client's project?

[melroen]

Hi,

I want to ask for advice from experienced freelancers here on the forum.

I'm new to the platform with only three jobs so far and no JSS score yet and not allowed to create a consultation catalog project until  I have a rising talent badge. 

I am a writer specializing in screenwriting, film, and tv treatment pitches, and story development. I  have an interview Tuesday with a potential new client who needs story development for his fiction project. He is not a writer and needs someone to do his based on his concept.

However, he wants to do a brainstorming session as the first step followed by a contract to develop a plot/ story outline as he puts it to "bounce ideas off each other" to see if his project is viable. In other words, pick my brains for free lol. I don't work without a contract ever.

I have suggested during our message exchanges to set up a contract for an hourly paid consultation. Having already experienced project scope creep in my last fixed-price contract, I want to be fairly paid for my expertise and time. Is it possible to use the work diary time tracker for a consultation-type scenario as the first contract? If all goes well with our initial contract, my suggestion would be to set up an hourly contract for the story development outline.

For a complex project, with a client who has "ideas" but no significant source material to work from, or real understanding of how time-consuming and meticulous story development is. I want to avoid falling into the trap of a fixed-price contract's project scope creep.

Any concrete suggestions would be appreciated. 

Thank you!

Melissa

[sajal36]

I believe you must not start work for the client until the contract is done. You can go for the hourly contract with the client and you can use hte work diary for logging your hours automatically.

You will need to install Upwork for Desktop app and each time you start work you can track time through the app. The hours logs are automatically uploaded to the upwork site by app and you will covered under hourly payment protection   Hourly payment protection .  

[melroen]

Thank you for your prompt reply. I  am new to Upwork, but I have been freelancing for years. I never work until a contract s in place. I just wanted to confirm with experienced Upwork freelancers that payment protection is in place. Also, the client can designate how many brainstorming hours he will need, so it's to his advantage too.

[sajal36 · Accepted solution]

Yes. Going hourly in such scenario is always correct as you will be under hourly payment protection.

[spectralua]

Hourly applicable for anything. Dont matter what you are doing if this task agreed before. 

[melroen]

Thank you, Mykola for taking the time to answer my question. I just wanted to confirm the feasibility of using the work diary for this kind of scenario. 🙌

[bobafett999]

Don't do it for free.  He wants to gather ideas for free and learn.  Set up a consulting contract for half and hour or so.  Be evasive without giving too much details.  

[melroen]

We all have different services and skills to offer clients. When I'm developing a detailed fiction story there are certain aspects (deliverables) that aren't necessarily tangible (like a website developer who's working with code.) When a client only has an initial concept there is a lot of front-end work like research on their topic involved, and communication is essential for me to understand his/her concept and be able to deliver a result that meets the client's expectations. Brainstorming s part of the initial work. so obviously a freelancer needs to be paid.