|
Why start your own business? Why work as a freelance?
Routes in, education, training, gaining experience, seeking
opportunities, developing new skills.
Anyone who tries to find work in the Media Industries soon
becomes aware that the industry is dominated by people who
work freelance. This is particularly true for jobs in production
areas such as directors, producers, researchers, camera and
sound people, animators, and designers. If you are planning
to work in any of these areas you will certainly need to work
as a freelance for part of your career. Working as a freelance
broadly describes a one-person entity or partnership who finds
work from job to job, working for lots of different employers.
For tax purposes you will probably be self-employed and meet
all your tax obligations under that designation.
Moving from short-term job to short-term job without any
guarantees or security can be a great challenge and many people
really enjoy the unpredictable lifestyle and the chance to
apply their skills on a variety of projects and work with
a range of different people. If you are good at what you do,
reliable and self motivated, you may get all kinds of interesting
and sometimes well-paid work. You'll often get the opportunity
to travel and get the tax benefits of being self-employed.
But it is a risk: getting work depends not just on talent,
but on your ability to sell yourself, to develop a network
of contacts, to negotiate a fair rate of pay and to organise
the business side of your work effectively.
For most people, the desire to earn a living doing the thing
you love to do provides the motivation for setting up in business
as a media professional. The process of planning and managing
a career as a media producer means understanding how the media
is managed and organised in order to exploit creative opportunities.
It is an industry that is notorious for short-term contracts
and instability. If you decide to establish a freelance career
in the industry you are going to need drive, passion and ambition
as well as good contacts, strong interpersonal skills and
sound business awareness.
Most media freelances chose freelancing because it is the
only work available to them in the area in which they want
to work. There are various routes in but a qualification in
media production or other relevant area, then gaining experience,
seeking out opportunities, developing your skills and a network
of friends and contacts in the industry will all help you
to achieve success as a freelance.
 |
|
Our Media Professionals introduce themselves, and talk about
the the routes they took into their careers, including their
first jobs after University and their reasons for choosing to
freelance.
 |
1.1
Victoria Noble
Introduces herself and talks about her career to date |
 |
1.2
Vin Arthey
Introduces himself and talks about his career to date |
 |
1.3
Christine Molloy
Introduces herself and her company 'Desperate Optimists'
|
 |
1.4
Mike Fox
Introduces himself and talks about his career to date |
 |
1.5
Kate Broome
Introduces herself and talks about her career to date
|
 |
1.6
Sarah Beecham and Graham Howard
Introduce themselves and their company 'Art of Memory'. |
|
1.7
Victoria
Talks about her first jobs after graduating University,
and how she managed to climb internal ladders to gain
experience for her freelance career. |
|
1.8
Kate
Talks about how she got into TV and film, her first jobs
after graduating, and how they led to her first documentary
commissions. |
|
1.9
Sarah and Graham
Explain how they got into their industry |
|
1.10
Christine
Explains how she got into her industry |
|
1.11
Mike
Explains how he got into his industry and why he chooses
to freelance |
This section has aimed to provide you with an overview of
routes into the industry for freelance media professionals
based on the personal experience of people actually doing
the jobs. You should have gathered an understanding of the
transferable skills required, and have an indication of the
kind of tenacity, spirit and level of commitment required
to achieve success and to sustain a small business or a freelance
career. You clearly need to have a true commitment to what
you are doing, and you will need to be working to your strengths
and talents. You will need to have the courage to take risks
and the ability to recognise the opportunities that come you
way.
 |
| Task 1 - Your Key Qualities and Motivating
Factors |
|
| Task 1 is designed to help you achieve an insight
into what is important to you and what motivates
you to achieve your very best, and assist you in
researching the jobs and roles in which you would
flourish. Download and print
out the Task 1 worksheet. |
|
This task should have helped you to recognise your strengths
and your favourite skills; it could have also alerted you
to possible difficulties you could face if you choose to work
outside or against some of your clear motivating factors.
Think about the gap between what you do well and what the
qualities are for the role you seek.
 |
|
|
This process will assist you in addressing the
Personnel section of the Business Plan. Go to
the following websites to see how your skills
match the job descriptions.
Make a list of the jobs and roles that interest
you and relate your skills and experience to the
requirements of the job. E.g.
Production Assistant
An essential part of the production
team, PAs provide vital administrative support.
A wealth of material is created by a production
office such as scripts, call sheets and daily
reports. The Production Assistant will be involved
in producing these as well as booking hotels,
hiring equipment and sorting travel arrangements.
My skills
I'm well organised and can
manage my time effectively.
I enjoy working under pressure.
I am confident about talking to people and using
the telephone.
I have good team skills.
|
|
|
