28th February 2024

6min read

February 2024 sees me in my fifth year as a freelancer, so it’s a good opportunity to reflect on the journey and perhaps share some insights into what I know now with that experience under my belt.

My freelance career began at the start of 2020, having left my almost four years of full time employment at a TV production company in Manchester, providing in-house graphics and VFX services. Leaving was tough, but I knew if I carried on there I would be completely burned out within a matter of a few years. Probably less. So it was the right decision.

That is not to say freelancing isn’t tough too, it is (more on that later), but how does freelancing solve the problem of burnout?

The cause of burnout can be different for everyone. It might be that you’re no longer interested in the work, a lack of variety, poor management, demotivated by lower pay, just to name a few examples. For me it was about work/life balance and recognising that I could do the same work I enjoy, but on far more flexible terms.

The benefit to work/life balance is highly dependent on your freelance model. Some freelancers will take long contracts with companies (many of them on-site) for 6 months to a year. Maybe more, but I’m not sure how common that is. And yes, I consider 6 months in the freelance world to be a long contract! This model could still leave you with no work/life balance for the duration of the contract, and lead to burnout, if that’s a problem for you.

I tend not to take long contracts, instead focusing on smaller pockets of projects that range anywhere from days to a few months, and working remotely. This is a great way to keep things fresh and productive. The trade off is this is generally a more stressful model and not for the faint of heart, because you’re relying on lots of different projects coming in regularly as opposed to the perceived security of a longer contract.

Which brings me to my next thought – job security is an illusion. Freelancing made me realise this, because as a freelancer you have to wear all the hats from boss to button-pusher. In a full time role, your job is reliant on your boss continuing to bring new work into the business, and if they fail, you’re out of the job and there’s nothing you can do about it. As a freelancer, you are responsible for bringing the work in, and if you fail, that’s on you. Your livelihood rests entirely in your hands. I like that.

Speaking of wearing lots of hats, let’s dive into that a bit more. To be a successful freelancer, you really do have to be able to do everything. As well as being on top of your game in the freelance services you provide, you also have to be CEO, website admin, marketer, sales rep, HR, accounts… the list goes on, and on, and on. So while it’s true you can earn a lot more money in a shorter space of time compared to a full-time salary, thus needing to work less, you will spend a good chunk of the time you’re not actively working on a project dealing with the day to day running of the business. Then you can have your free time.

Shifting focus now to freelancing in a post-Covid world. When I began my freelance journey, the Covid-19 pandemic hit just a matter of a few months in. This was not good timing, or so it seemed. I must acknowledge a lot of terrible things happened to a lot of people in this period, but the pandemic did have the knock-on effect of changing the landscape of work culture which proved to be hugely beneficial.

At the beginning, I naively thought clients would generally accept a remote-working freelance artist. But that turned out generally not to be the case. So whilst I did have some work lined up at the start, I’m not sure I would have been able to sustain the remote freelance model beyond the first year if it wasn’t for the pandemic. I would have needed a shift to more on-site roles. As it happens the pandemic did hit and, literally overnight, the entire industry moved to remote working and that became a norm that has seeped into the way we still work today. Businesses’ attitudes toward flexible working, where they can accommodate it, changed forever.

This brings us to the present, with the pandemic feeling like a distant memory. Now I consider the flipside of the remote working boom. Over the past few years there has been a gigantic influx of people setting up remote freelance businesses, and it’s fantastic that they are now empowered to do so in light of the shift in work culture. However, that does mean the market is now oversaturated. Coupled with the recent strikes in the film and TV industry, the state of the UK economy, and the bubble bursting on the post-Covid production boom, it is the perfect storm. The vast majority of my fellow experienced freelance artists are either out of work entirely and have been for months on end, or have much less work than normal. I don’t think Pixel Catcher would have been financially viable by the end of year one had I launched it within the past 12 months and been amongst all the other new startups vying for clients. It’s not impossible, but unlikely. I get to speak to a lot of fantastic freelancers on my Instagram, and I’ve seen too many having to pack in within their first year through no fault of their own, the current state of the industry just can’t support them. Compounding this, I have also seen a shift away from fully remote roles to hybrid, with a sprinkling of on-site. Living in the countryside with a dog to look after, this isn’t my favourite trend, but I remain optimistic that there will still be some space for remote workers.

Finally, the future. As ever, we don’t have a crystal ball, but things are starting to pick up for TV & Film freelancers, and I think it will be largely back into the swing of things by summer. I have been lucky enough to be kept busy through this more turbulent year in the industry, and as productions are getting in gear again I am heading into the fifth year of Pixel Catcher with eager anticipation of things to come. I can only hope the success of freelancing continues, but we must never rest on our laurels.

I love networking with fellow freelancers in the Film & TV industry, I fully believe in the sense of community and helping each other out where possible. I do sometimes defer work to other freelancers where their skills are better suited or I haven’t got capacity, or I bring them onboard to help me on projects. Head to the Contact page to find out how you can get in touch with questions, portfolios, or just to say hello.