Hyphenated creatives
[this is a stream of consciousness post forgive me if it sounds like im rambling]
In the span of my 10 year long career as a working creative, there is one regret that I have and will always come back to. I wish I made it a point to specialize in 1 thing and stick with it. When I see specialized people now, they’re the ones getting the fatter checks, more peace of mind and more respect in and outside of set / studio.
i’m a jack of all trades, master of none type of person…. for now… because my journey of being “specialized” recently started. When i first started working, i was in a mindset of taking whatever work came my way, and figuring it out. so much time spent problem solving shit that i honestly dont really care about… i did it because the money motivated me. Chasing money turned me into a hyphenated creative…within the creative world. I can shoot, edit, light, sound mix, you name it, but can i isolate and phase out a high frequency static feedback that lives somewhere between 4k and 8k? i dont know the name of every piece of grip gear and i’ve never setup an ARRI skypanel 360… nor have i ever shot with an Alexa LF combo’d with anamorphic glass. i’m just… somewhere in the middle… still learning everything at once…all the time. its really effing exhausting lol.
I feel like creative people always start out as a “this is my side thing” person. Its too scary to go all-in so I’m gonna hold onto this serving job or bartending job… or im gonna do this while i work at my corporate job… i mean it may work for some people, and i’m sure there is a long list of people that have found success while moonlighting their passions.
and what happens after you’ve crossed that threshold? what happens after your passion pays the bills and you can let go of whatever other job was holding you over to focus fully on what it is that you were sent on this earth to do?
on the flipside of that train of thought… there are so many people that fail… because holding a job and working on your passion project at the same time will cause a burn out. its so hard to juggle all that, and as you get older shit gets even harder. its impossible.
my reality in the situation is this… would you go to a surgeon that was also trying to get his magicians license? hail nah you’d want to go to the top doctor if you needed surgery right? why don’t more creative people think this way when it comes to their craft? why is always gotta be “when preparation meets luck”? why can’t it be hard f*ckin work and repetition? probably because its not sexy sounding that way. everyone loves that breaking success story.. no one wants to hear the hard work story.
i personally dislike hyphenated creatives. why crowd the room if your only half way in it in the first place? there are so many people that are giving everything they got to reach their goals… and your just giving it a try testing the waters hoping for a lucky break? to me its nonsensical and a big problem. if youre truly talented, why not just give yourself a time limit and just…. push? struggle a little bit and see where it takes you? yea its exhausting and its really hard but… it’s those experiences that mold you and turn you into everything you need to be to make it work.
if youre someone thats reading this not knowing what to do and your on the fence… my suggestion is to jump off and land back on the safe side. i’m not saying you dont belong here, im just saying youre making it harder for those that are really trying to make it work with what they got. the market is more saturated than the dog rescue market, and no one is coming to pick up the pups. this life is so challenging sometimes… the lessons learned of hitting rock bottom more than once is valuable beyond basic comprehension.
time for bed… got a shoot tomorrow <3
