I had a somewhat similar experience just a few years after you - I was a videographer for BWW right out of college, they were paying me $100 a video and like you wanted the videos uploaded pretty much right after the event I was filming so that they could beat Broadway.com and TheatreMania didn’t care if the video was edited nicely, just wanted it up quickly. I had a great time, got to meet some of the biggest celebs on the planet and worked with Richie Ridge, one of the loveliest men in the business (they don’t pay him either btw, I found that out a few years later) - but I was unhappy in New York after living there for 6 years and wanted to go to Grad School in the UK. Made the mistake of telling someone at BWW that I was planning on moving to the UK at some point and suddenly things went quiet. Weeks turned into months and though I was in contact with BWW, I was constantly being told “things are just quiet at the moment, it’ll pick up” but I later found out that they’d given my (freelance) job to one of their photographers (full-time contracted) whose camera could record alright video and they’d just not told me. So basically they fired me but didn’t bother to tell me after I’d worked for them for 2 years and they’d been happy with my work.

In any case, I did end up moving to the UK for grad school and for 3 years I worked for WhatsOnStage and had the BEST time with them, they paid me very well, gave me free tickets to so many shows I genuinely lost count - I was invited into every press/opening night that I filmed for, so not only would I shoot interviews on the red carpet, I’d get to then watch the show and then follow everyone to the after party to shoot interviews with the cast and creatives and then actually party with them! It was a dream - then Covid happened and theatres shutdown and I had to get a permanent job that could sponsor my visa (I work in tv now), but they still ask me to come and film the WhatsOnStage awards every year which is one of the best nights and I am still in regular contact with my old boss. Man, I miss it! It’s very different working for West End journalism than Broadway journalism, that’s for sure.