Is it worth it?

Finally a reprieve!

After what seems like a horrendously difficult year so far, things finally feel as though they are getting back to normal, death of Michael Jackson aside of course.                                                     

 

I’m now in the running for not one but two good jobs at reputable companies which is quite a relief. It’s not often I turn to the teacher training pamphlets but I came dangerously close this time.

A lot of people I’ve been speaking to are asking similar questions of themselves, the question we freelancers don’t like to entertain; is it really worth it?

Now, you may be one of those lucky people who has a wonderful career, you’re never out of work, you get paid well and are never exploited, your craft and hard work are respected and you enjoy every day of your job. I hate to break the news to you but if this is the case, you’re in a very small percentile of people who work in our industry.

I doubt there is a person reading this who hasn’t suffered a 20 hour day followed by another 20 hour day or who has worked their butt off sacrificing weddings, births, reunions for work only to be cursed out by a co-worker who have themselves made the error they blame you for.

Sure, the pay is (usually) good and we all often laugh at how this sure beats working for a living. But when I tell people the nitty gritty of the work I do, the hours, dedication, the sheer volume of work I have to contend with they are often understandably shocked and most likely secretly glad they don’t work in television or film for a living.

But now that work is becoming scarcer and if possible people are being even more exploited (shorter schedules, less staff, impossible budgets), it’s perfectly viable to ask whether it really is worth it. For the most part my colleagues have no job security, no sick pay or overtime and the idea of a 401K is laughable. Sure there are unions and freelancers union are going a long way towards providing benefits but it just doesn’t provide the same job security.

With this in mind it is certainly understandable that people are questioning how to make it work. I mentioned a few weeks ago about having temping as a back up and that certainly is an option. But for a lot of people who have families and mortgages to pay the need for a steady paycheck is a priority and trying to work out what skills are transferrable from a career in television can be pretty tricky. Even harder is convincing people from other industries that you’re serious about making the move.

Hopefully next week I’ll have good news to share and be able to provide inside scoops from one of the two jobs I’m gunning for, if not next week will read: Film industry Bloggers, The English Teacher.