Earning a living as a Freelance Director
I just read this blog post in the Guardian from this summer about the secret lives of freelance directors having day jobs. This is a problem in the US as well. If you're not financially backed in some way, it's almost impossible to be a freelance director. Many of us take many more jobs than we should have, instead of focusing on one project at a time, leading to some less-than-artistically-amazing work. I sometimes ponder what a wonder it is that any spectacular work happens in the theatre. I left my last temp job about five years ago. I was teaching Mon-Thurs and answering phones at an accounting firm on Fridays. The small bump in my monthly income was significant to me at the time. Me and most of my friends have day jobs as college teachers, or on artistic staffs. My mentor, Anna D. Shapiro basically told just those were our options, "name me one director who just lives off of their freelance directing." she challenged me and my grad school cohort. Ther...