It's Time To Begin Diversifying Your Creative Skillset

Immediately after graduating university in 2014 and becoming a professional videographer, I removed the safety net of my part-time retail job to force myself to make my exciting new career as a self-employed filmmaker work. I had never felt so free! I was my own boss and I could set my own hours, this was everything I had ever wanted!
That was until I realised that I didn’t know what I wanted to do. What path would I take to begin taking on paid work? What was I going to specialise in to start paying myself a wage?

This will likely be something that every professional in any creative industry will have felt when they began their career. Having specialist knowledge on something can really catapult you leagues ahead from the many other freelancers who are trying to get into the same positions and jobs as you.
However, on the other hand, it can also restrict you from opportunities in other positions you might want to try. For instance, if you follow the route that I took and fully immerse yourself into wedding filmmaking you may find it more difficult to get work on film sets that require you to be available for months at a time.

You will need to figure out for yourself if the trade-off of dedicating yourself to a specialised facet of filmmaking will prevent you from other opportunities later on.

For me, I have definitely found this to be true. Working primarily as a wedding filmmaker for the past six years has been really fun and very rewarding but it has definitely caused me to lose out on some inspiring opportunities. Weddings are incredibly seasonal and are usually at weekends, stopping me from getting jobs for sports coverage or short films where they film on a Saturday and Sunday.
Working weddings means I wear many hats, often all at the same time. I’m a camera operator, audio technician, lighting and set designer, not to mention all the organisation I need to do too to make sure the shoot happens smoothly, and of course there’s all the editing, colouring and sound design after the shoot. I have an excellent grasp on all of the different aspects that go into film and video production, but I am often just seen as ‘the wedding guy’ when applying for work outside of my niche.

All of this is to say that my choice of allowing myself to fall deep into a niche of only one small part of video production as a whole has almost anchored me to my specialisation. It stunted my growth for opportunities in other avenues of filmmaking despite my knowledge of how to pull off a successful project.
This year I have been actively trying to pick myself up and de-integrate myself so closely with weddings by attempting to create ad-spec work for social media. In some ways, I’m trying to rebrand myself as more of a ‘generalist’ within the industry as a whole.

Relearning and repurposing skills like blogging, marketing and SEO to allow me to take fewer weddings, film more of the work I want, and even allow me to pursue some passion projects I had left on a hard drive gathering dust is a very exciting prospect. It sounds like basic stuff, but for me, it’s like a breath of fresh air.
So what exactly am I hoping to achieve by reinventing my skills and my career? Well by beginning this journey as something of a ‘jack of all trades’ I hope to discover a place where I am able to truly enjoy the creative freedom to shoot what I want when I want to. And I think that you should be doing the same. Whether you’re fresh out of studying an arts degree or have been working in the film and TV industry as a freelancer for a while now, I think there has never been a more important time than now to begin diversifying your skillset.

If nothing else, 2020 has been a perfect example of how critical it is to be multi-skilled in more than one area. Governments across the world have implemented lockdowns of varying degrees that have affected different sectors in different ways.
Looking purely at the photography and film industries the number of people who can be on a set at any one time has been significantly reduced, and while it won’t be forever it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. A lighting technician is far more likely to be brought on set if they also have experience as a sound recordist for instance.

Beyond this though it is also important to generalise your skillset for your own creativity and enjoyment. Learning new skills and being able to practice them in real-world scenarios is fun. Gaining the knowledge to do something broadens your horizons and enlarges the pool of experience you have to draw on for future projects.
It may seem counterproductive to any purist filmmaking sensibilities you might have, but learning entrepreneurial skills is likely the best path you can set yourself on. Knowing how to market your work and how to seize the opportunities laid in front of you is going to be the true key to your long term success, not only monetarily but also for your own creativity.
Being able to supplement your income from traditional film and video jobs with that from a business opportunity you took will give you more free time to truly work on what makes your heart sing. And who wouldn’t want to work on their passion projects 24/7?

While it may not be the right path for everyone, I truly do believe that now is the best time for those of us currently in the industry, and those about to enter it, to embrace and adopt the ‘jack of all trades’ lifestyle.
Repurpose the skills you already have and enjoy the process of diversifying what you thought was previously possible. Very soon setting aside dedicated time every week to make yourself more versatile to work on a set or as a freelancer will become the new normal.

The landscape of the creative industries may be changing but we live in an age where it is possible to learn so much in such a short period of time. Embrace the changes that are coming our way and ride the wave of innovation to design the perfect balance between your professional and personal works.