Should I say no to taking up responsibility for my new teammate?

[zibby]

I've been working as a freelance publicist and translator for several years, mainly on film related projects.

In the past years, I've worked on a film festival co-organized by a non-profit organization and a film company which I previously worked at before switching to freelance. My previous boss and colleagues have great trust in me given my track record when I worked there full-time before, and the people in the NGO are also very fond of me because I always manage to deliver what they want - since they're non-profit, they rely very much on sponsors and funding to make this film festival happen. It's rather young festival, this year is only its 4th edition. In the past years they managed to get funds from a large shopping mall, which in return, I had to bear the responsibility of pleasing this "big boss" by generating massive media coverage, and to draw in as many visitors as possible to the mall during the festival period (the films were screened in a cinema inside that mall, and there were other events/activities we held that happened in mall which lasted for the whole summer). So indeed it was a very stressful job for me, with many unexpected workloads since I was not only doing PR for the film festival but also for the mall - which was certainly not what I was told when I signed up for the job. But still, due to my sense of responsibility and also inability to say "No", I always fulfil everyone's expectations and they are happy with what I do. And so every year, they want me back to work on the film festival for them.

But this year, I've decided to quit PR completely. I'm not taking any more PR jobs and I've switched to translation and copywriting entirely, since I can no longer handle the workload and stress of PR jobs. So when they approached me again to work on the festival, I told them they had to find someone else. But this guy who works in the NGO, let's call him John here, didn't give up because he thinks that I'm rather suggestible - he thinks that I'd probably give in if he keeps on saying how much they need me, and how meaningful this project is etc. etc.... just like how I accepted unreasonable requests of doing whatever the shopping mall wanted me to do in the previous years. But this time I didn't give in. And at last we have made a deal that I'm only doing copywriting jobs for the festival this year, and he has then found another freelance publicist to do the PR work.

We had a meeting earlier last month and that was the first time I met the new publicist. John introduced me as their previous publicist and now kind of a "PR consultant" to the team, and suggested that I'd show the new publicist the ropes and provide PR support to the team. He speaks very highly of me (but I think it's his way of getting me do what he wants me to do) and makes it like I will be leading the PR team even though I'm not taking the frontline role this year. But all I know is I will only be doing the copywriting part, period. Not to say I don't think that the new publicist, who looks older than me, would think she'd need to consult me. Actually, I could feel there's some sense of rivalry between us, like the highly-praised publicist who steps back this year (but still taking control) V.S. the new publicist who has to show her worth by doing better than I did. I actually didn't say anything on the meeting regarding any PR issues because I wanted to keep my hands off it, and the new publicist kind of tried showing her capability by saying that she knows a lot of media and influencers whom she would pitched for coverage, and also said that she thinks the job is rather easy and fun to do, when being asked whether she felt stressed after getting to know what the project would be about. But actually, this year's scale is much smaller than the previous editions I worked on, due to the pandemic situation and also with the shopping mall dropping out from the project. I'm not interested in competing with her, but the way she described this project as easy and fun still made me feel like... well you have no idea how hard it was before!

Anyway, I just focus on what I signed up to do, and in the past weeks I've been working on the festival booklet and press releases etc... while I have heard nothing from the publicist. Somehow she is not in the loop in almost all conversation within the team, except the times when I sent out press release drafts to her to have a look. We're going to have a press conference later this month, with our festival ambassador (a celebrity) attending. In my past experience, I had already confirmed press interviews and rundown with the ambassador by this time, but all I know is, John hasn't even passed the celebrity's contact to the new publicist at this point, and he has been taking the role of communicating with the celebrity all this time - but obviously nothing has been done since he's not the person who's arranging press interviews for the celebrity... and then, the publicist doesn't seem like she knows she has to come up with an interview list for the celebrity. Just NOTHING is done YET! I don't understand why John doesn't pass the duty to the new publicist. In the past years, I had to take up the roles of communicating with the celebrity ambassador and also with the 'big boss' (the shopping mall) right from the start and I was always on my own. And then, a few days ago, he called me and asked if he could pass me the role of contacting the celebrity ambassador because he had too much workload and he couldn't handle it... He was like crying for help and he probably thought I would agree out of compassion. But I simply told him that he should have passed that to the publicist because it's her job, not mine. He then asked me if I could lead the new publicist on the coming press conference, and I answered him that I could only share my past experience to her but I'm not going to lead her - that's not what I signed up for. 

I think he's trying to make me feel pity for him so that I would give in and take up some PR roles, even though I've made it clear that I'm only the copywriter this time. He's not delegating work to the new publicist because (perhaps) he doesn't trust her and (quite certainly) he's only trying to get me do it. I mean, I also feel worried when I see that the new publicist doesn't seem to have any idea on how to work on the coming press conference, but still, I'm only taking the copywriter's role and a copywriter's service fee this time (which is like only 1/5 of the fee I'd charge for taking the PR role) - there is no way I'm going to take up more responsibilities then we've agreed on at the first place! 

Today we had another meeting, and seeing how the new publicist still hasn't come up with an interview list for the celebrity ambassador really worried me. I tried to tell her how I did the job in the previous years without looking like I'm lecturing her/leading her... but she still seemed so lost... She is not familiar with the entertainment, film, and cultural media - while this job actually requires you to generate media coverage in almost every beat/section you can think of... Although it's a film festival for kids and families, parenting section media (which she is familiar with) is not the only section she's actually required to pitch... She's actually expected to create mass coverage but she doesn't seem to know... And today she asked me how many pieces of coverage I had generated in the previous year, and asked if there were like 40 to 50 pieces (she said it like there's no way I could have more than 50)... But I actually had over 200 pieces of coverage each year - on print, TV, radio, online, and on multiple sections... Actually she's already lucky that the shopping mall has dropped out this year, and so there is no 'big boss' to serve, and she doesn't need to write anything since I'm hired to do all the writing work... It really is a much easier job to do this year.... She doesn't need to have 200 pieces of coverage like I did because I was chased for coverage every week by the mall in previous years (honestly I couldn't beat myself and break my own record and that's one reason why I quit PR... I was required to create more coverage each year and I just couldn't anymore), but I guess 50 pieces for the whole festival would be too few... she would at least need 100 so that the organizers would be happy I think...

After today's meeting, John asked me if I felt worried about the new publicist and media coverage... I know that he is trying to push me to get involved... I mean, I've worked on this project for some years and I do want to see it go well, but I didn't sign up for PR work this time... and if I do get involved, I probably won't get extra pay and perhaps the new publicist would take the credits for what I do for her since there is no way other people could tell who did what. 

What would you suggest me to do in this situation?

Edited June 4, 2021 by zibby

[introverted1]

Unless you want to either lead the PR effort or take it over, keep maintaining your boundary that you are the copywriter and that's it. Let John know that you have not been paying close attention to what the new PR person is/is not doing.  If you have a checklist of activities you performed in the role, then you can share that with John,but if I am understanding the situation correctly, John hired the PR person and is the one to manage her.  Similarly, when the PR person asks youhow many pieces of coverage she should have, you can answer something to the effect of "I had 200 pieces but the festival has changed this year, so you should check with John."  Just keep pushing things back to John.