How I Prepare to Wrap on a Job - And Being Between Gigs

Hello everyone,

Part of the package of working in Film & TV is that you also join the exciting, scary world of freelancing. Whilst the freedom to take/reject jobs as you want and take as much time off between gigs as you want is great, not having a 100% airtight stream of income and not always knowing where your next pay check is going to come from can be pretty scary.

I always try to keep myself in pole position for any jobs that would suit me, especially when the contract I’m on is coming to an end.

I recently wrapped on a big job so I thought I would share my process of how I prepare for being in-between gigs, and how I start to line up the next one!

NI Screen 

When I know I’m coming up to the last few weeks of a job, I always keep a close eye on Northern Ireland Screen’s social media pages, and regularly check the ‘Calls for Crew’ page on their website. This is a great way to keep on top of knowing which productions are looking for people, and then I can send off my application straight away!

Chat

I also always make a point of chatting to my co-workers about the project/my contract ending. I always ask about if they know what they’re going on to next, make sure they know that I’ll be available and throw in a little ‘Ooh, bring me on with you!’ joke to put the idea in their heads. They may also know of a production that’s crewing up and could potentially do an e-intro or put you in contact with someone, it’s all about the networking!

Blog

The reason I started this blog was to make sure that my posts/social media would be popping up on my industry contacts’ feeds regularly, and could serve as an extended version of my CV by letting them know what I’m up to (and my growing experience level)

The blog has been a fantastic tool for my career, so (even after a dry spell where I haven’t posted in a while) I always make sure to post on here more frequently in the weeks coming up to wrap and mention in those posts that I am wrapping up on a job and will be available soon, I’m always planting seeds on here! You could do the same thing if you run a YouTube channel or podcast, I promise it’s absolutely worth it.

Social Media

Social media is a great way to reinforce the usefulness of the blog to let people know when I’m off a job/available to work, ‘Wrap Party/Drinks’ or ‘Last Day’ posts and captions are great for this. 

Things like ‘holiday’ or ‘fun day trips/activities during the week’ posts are also a great way to subtly remind potential recruiters that you A, exist, and B, are available for work!

Reach Out to My Black Book

From my time with the Royal Television Society, and my previous jobs, I’ve actually gathered quite the list of NI-based industry contacts. So, when I’m coming to a close on a job, I always make sure to update my CV, and send it out (absolutely NOT on a single chain email, it’s lazy, rude and people can spot it a mile off) to each of my industry contacts to let them all know when I’m available.

Touch Base with my Side Hustles

As a new entrant & freelancer, I think it’s always a good idea to have a side hustle or two that you can cut down on when you’re on a job, and then pick back up again when you’re free to.

During my last break between jobs, I did quite a lot of ‘one day-ers’ for my mum’s hairdressers (where I used to work as a teenager), I’m also paid to write social media posts for a local business, as well as some promotional work for ACA Models. When the contract I’m currently on is coming to a close, I’ll make sure to let them both know that I’ll be available for more work soon!

Enjoy the Break

If you’ve been proactive, the rest is really out of your control and all I can say is to make sure you enjoy the break and rest up! I ended up filling my break with so many days from my side hustles that (other than my week in Magaluf) I barely stopped!

Being between contracts is just one of those scary parts of being a freelancer, but you just have to have faith in yourself and trust that the phone will ring again soon 🤍