WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Are all of us really going back “into the office”? Are companies going to stay in some kind of office/work from home hybrid state when Covid “ends”? And how will that effect the freelance world?
I’ve been freelance for more of my long career than I’ve worked under contract—but most of that was really “permalance”, years at one place at a time, a steady 5 ( oh, who am I kidding, 7) days a week and regardless of my technical employment status—I always felt I was part of a creative team. But, these past two years of Covid changed that. Last year alone, I’ve worked freelance gigs at 5 different trailer companies and directly for an equal number of independent producers. All of them over zoom and remotely—and the majority, for people I have yet to meet in person…
I spent years envisioning the day we could all work remotely—and now that a global pandemic has forced us into it—I wonder if I should have been careful what I wished for…
I like to think that I am good at what I do, and I’ve gotten enough peer reviewed feedback to believe that may in fact be true—but, I am also self aware enough to know that any time my work has really shined, it is when I was part of a team that supported me, had my back and believed in me (or, to be honest, just made me think they did). I hope my experiences in the last two years are not the norm, but I fear that they could be a signal of a worrisome trend.
Even before Covid and the work-from-home new normal, working freelance was often a roll of the dice, sometimes a challenging new project that the staff was just too busy to get to could be a blast, but more often filling in for a vacationing editor on existing projects, that were sometimes just button pushing would just be busy work. But, now, Covid has put things on steroids. I worry that the isolation caused by the necessity of working remotely can do some real damage to the creative process. I’ve virtually met some really great people and we’ve managed to collaborate quite well—but, then, I meet a producer over zoom and he spends a large part of our very first conversation telling me how awful freelance editors are (he knows I am one, right?) and badmouthing the client’s project we are about to “work together” on... Spoiler alert—it was not a successful collaboration. I gave it my all. I did a shit job. It was one of the only three truly awful editing experiences I’ve had in thirty years. But, it really helped me realize something about myself, I will walk through fire for someone I think has my back and without meaning to… I will do a pretty crap job for an asshole.
I can’t be the only one out here who needs the right environment to do really kick ass work. Is there a way forward for freelancers working remotely, that can still nurture their creativity?
I sure hope so.
I’ve been freelance for more of my long career than I’ve worked under contract—but most of that was really “permalance”, years at one place at a time, a steady 5 ( oh, who am I kidding, 7) days a week and regardless of my technical employment status—I always felt I was part of a creative team. But, these past two years of Covid changed that. Last year alone, I’ve worked freelance gigs at 5 different trailer companies and directly for an equal number of independent producers. All of them over zoom and remotely—and the majority, for people I have yet to meet in person…
I spent years envisioning the day we could all work remotely—and now that a global pandemic has forced us into it—I wonder if I should have been careful what I wished for…
I like to think that I am good at what I do, and I’ve gotten enough peer reviewed feedback to believe that may in fact be true—but, I am also self aware enough to know that any time my work has really shined, it is when I was part of a team that supported me, had my back and believed in me (or, to be honest, just made me think they did). I hope my experiences in the last two years are not the norm, but I fear that they could be a signal of a worrisome trend.
Even before Covid and the work-from-home new normal, working freelance was often a roll of the dice, sometimes a challenging new project that the staff was just too busy to get to could be a blast, but more often filling in for a vacationing editor on existing projects, that were sometimes just button pushing would just be busy work. But, now, Covid has put things on steroids. I worry that the isolation caused by the necessity of working remotely can do some real damage to the creative process. I’ve virtually met some really great people and we’ve managed to collaborate quite well—but, then, I meet a producer over zoom and he spends a large part of our very first conversation telling me how awful freelance editors are (he knows I am one, right?) and badmouthing the client’s project we are about to “work together” on... Spoiler alert—it was not a successful collaboration. I gave it my all. I did a shit job. It was one of the only three truly awful editing experiences I’ve had in thirty years. But, it really helped me realize something about myself, I will walk through fire for someone I think has my back and without meaning to… I will do a pretty crap job for an asshole.
I can’t be the only one out here who needs the right environment to do really kick ass work. Is there a way forward for freelancers working remotely, that can still nurture their creativity?
I sure hope so.
