PARENTS
So, have you started looking for work after Aardman yet?

ME
I've thought about it

PARENTS
Well you can't have long left now

ME
My contract ends in mid-January

PARENTS
That's coming up

ME
It's five and a half months away. Unless I find another job on an animated feature film, most jobs I want won't even last five and a half months.

PARENTS
Oh.

 

I guess when your parents have changed jobs perhaps about 10-15 times between them over two working careers, this media freelance lark is a difficult concept. 

 

It's becoming more difficult these days to find people who have had the same job their whole lives since leaving formal education, but tv/ film freelancers go some way beyond that. Has anyone tried recently to fill in a "previous work" section on an application form (e.g. voluntary work)? That can become a lengthy process. Same when it comes to previous addreses - I've moved for my current job, I'd probably move again (after what I'm assuming will be a move back to London in early 2012), I'd like to work in other countries... and people who haven't had close experience of this sort of lifestyle just don't understand.

Other times, people can't move around, on account of family commitments. A editor friend of mine has just gone to China for a month leaving his wife and two young daughters at home, for an offer too good to refuse when compared to the relatively slim pickings he has at home. It's a short contract, good pay, and something which won't happen too often - but he has to choose which jobs he takes and which jobs he can't. Sometimes jobs can't be refused, sometimes they have to be to the detriment of career, and usually there's some form of sacrifice involved in waving goodbye to friends and family, having no job security, not making plans for social events too far in the future...

But then there are the exciting challenges of making things work in different settings. Constant learning opportunities. A steady supply of new people to work with. Cultural shifts and inputs to enrich your life.  New experiences. Different content every day. Year on year technological advancements. Final products to show for all of those days (and nights) of work.

Job satisfaction.

 

 

Agent Kay

Oh yeah, it's worth it. If you're strong enough

- Men in Black, 1997